Game 5, 2025: Western Michigan (10/4)

[JoleonLescottsHair]

dropping the entire program wait, hold up. Show me a post of yours from 2014 where you suggest dropping football.

Here’s just one. There’s more. Try not to be an asshole.

I believe the program should be dropped down a level or closed up.

I look forward to a “DUN, this is from 2015, not 2014 ” response.

Fool.

[OutlawPete]

To all the people saying "drop football," could we maybe try this thing with a different AD before we go to that step? Just a thought.

The one - and possibly only - thing I'll defend Bamford on is making the MAC move. We could be in the American right now if Bamford had made the right moves, or not made some moves, but that's another story that maybe will be written someday. The "stability" that being in a conference brings is huge. It helps finances, scheduling, and recruiting, among other things. Unfortunately it took this long to find a home and it's only the first season so we're going to have to wait to see tangible results.

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

[stevemaz]

I sit here trying to think of another department on campus (let think of say business or engineering) that if they were ranked nationally as one of the the worst in the nation that any sane human would say "hey, lets throw 50 million at the problem and see what happens".

Some people have lost their collective sanity when it comes to this football program. This is not a short-term blip, this is a failed institution. They are now cannibalizing other programs to try to resurrect what long-ago died. And to me that is the real problem.

Here is what I say, if the true lovers of football can raise enough money in isolation to cover the operating budget of the team without any support beyond the very basics, then it continues. And if not, that money get reallocated to teams that have a chance at viability. Because all this three-year plan does is get us into an even bigger hole that they can then say "we can't bail now we just invested all this money".

This is truly bordering on infinite stupidity at this point.

blah blah blah.. Starting Jan 1 schools can contribute 22 mil to student athlete bonuses and UMass is going to do that. I dont think all the schools in the MAC will. By 2027 we are in contention to win the MAC title in football along with just about every other sport.

Um maz…. All schools can do that. Do you think umass will be the only school to take advantage?

i dont as previously discussed..about 80-90 will..maybe more initially and i dont think all 12 in MAC will

[jjmc85]

To all the people saying "drop football," could we maybe try this thing with a different AD before we go to that step? Just a thought.

The one - and possibly only - thing I'll defend Bamford on is making the MAC move. We could be in the American right now if Bamford had made the right moves, or not made some moves, but that's another story that maybe will be written someday. The "stability" that being in a conference brings is huge. It helps finances, scheduling, and recruiting, among other things. Unfortunately it took this long to find a home and it's only the first season so we're going to have to wait to see tangible results.

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

Honest question- what move(s) should Bamford have made that would have resulted in UMass being in the American right now?

Also, he gets no credit for women’s basketball or men’s ice hockey? What about women’s field hockey and their final four run last year?

[kdogg8173]

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

There's been a lot of focus on Bamford, the stadium, and the program in general, that I think this is actually be lost in the weeds to an extent. I'm with you, he's not a good coach and I'll think we'll be looking for another in the not too distant future. The offense is the worst in the country (and arguably in the last decade), the defense is eh, and the recruiting is atrocious.

At least with Montgomery, who doesn't have a great resume, they were at least competetive and Hairston showed a ton of potentical. I don't even know what to call this years team and Hairston has regressed.

On EEI this morning, Wiggy was saying he's not seeing any accountability with Coach H. He also said he played on his phone most of the game so maybe not the most in-tune analysis

[Used to be VOR]

To all the people saying "drop football," could we maybe try this thing with a different AD before we go to that step? Just a thought.

The one - and possibly only - thing I'll defend Bamford on is making the MAC move. We could be in the American right now if Bamford had made the right moves, or not made some moves, but that's another story that maybe will be written someday. The "stability" that being in a conference brings is huge. It helps finances, scheduling, and recruiting, among other things. Unfortunately it took this long to find a home and it's only the first season so we're going to have to wait to see tangible results.

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

See this is the logic I just simply cannot relate to at this point.

If we follow your logic, and we try a new AD and it is still failing, in will come the crowd that will say that this new AD just needs a chance to bring in his own coaching hire. Then if that doesn't go well, the refrain of lets give him one more chance to "turn this thing around". Then we will get a new AD, clamor for more finances, and the merry-go-round starts all over again.

I have a genuine question for the people on the "other side" of this issue. Is there any level of performance failure, any amount of financial losses, on any series of events at all that would make you change your mind?

My guess is for many, there is not and that is why we will likely continue plummeting over the cliff that is UMass Football.

[Merlin Samuels]

To all the people saying "drop football," could we maybe try this thing with a different AD before we go to that step? Just a thought.

The one - and possibly only - thing I'll defend Bamford on is making the MAC move. We could be in the American right now if Bamford had made the right moves, or not made some moves, but that's another story that maybe will be written someday. The "stability" that being in a conference brings is huge. It helps finances, scheduling, and recruiting, among other things. Unfortunately it took this long to find a home and it's only the first season so we're going to have to wait to see tangible results.

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

Honest question- what move(s) should Bamford have made that would have resulted in UMass being in the American right now?

Also, he gets no credit for women’s basketball or men’s ice hockey? What about women’s field hockey and their final four run last year?

IMO, he could have pushed for MAC membership a decade ago. Settling in and playing for conference championships and bowl games would have brought stability a decade earlier. This could have set us up for a chance to join the American when they were looking.

I like Bamford and I applaud the move to the MAC. I think he fired a couple couples prematurely, but overall this move (finally) was the right one so he made up for it in my opinion.

[Merlin Samuels]

To all the people saying "drop football," could we maybe try this thing with a different AD before we go to that step? Just a thought.

The one - and possibly only - thing I'll defend Bamford on is making the MAC move. We could be in the American right now if Bamford had made the right moves, or not made some moves, but that's another story that maybe will be written someday. The "stability" that being in a conference brings is huge. It helps finances, scheduling, and recruiting, among other things. Unfortunately it took this long to find a home and it's only the first season so we're going to have to wait to see tangible results.

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

See this is the logic I just simply cannot relate to at this point.

If we follow your logic, and we try a new AD and it is still failing, in will come the crowd that will say that this new AD just needs a chance to bring in his own coaching hire. Then if that doesn't go well, the refrain of lets give him one more chance to "turn this thing around". Then we will get a new AD, clamor for more finances, and the merry-go-round starts all over again.

I have a genuine question for the people on the "other side" of this issue. Is there any level of performance failure, any amount of financial losses, on any series of events at all that would make you change your mind?

My guess is for many, there is not and that is why we will likely continue plummeting over the cliff that is UMass Football.

There has never been a serious FBS effort until now. Playing as an Independent set the program back a decade and was essentially starting from scratch each season. It was a terrible decision.

[JoleonLescottsHair]

I have a genuine question for the people on the "other side" of this issue. Is there any level of performance failure, any amount of financial losses, on any series of events at all that would make you change your mind?

My guess is for many, there is not and that is why we will likely continue plummeting over the cliff that is UMass Football.

This pretty much nails it. 14 years of complete failure (on the field and as a multiplier) has evidently not changed enough minds to reverse the Greek tragedy.

[Used to be VOR]

There has never been a serious FBS effort until now. Playing as an Independent set the program back a decade and was essentially starting from scratch each season. It was a terrible decision.

Again, we were in the MAC before. That failed. We were independent (not by choice) and that failed. We have had multiple coaches, a new training facility (that was the last time I heard the story of how a capital investment would change things), and yet there was no serious FBS effort in your book.

Like I said, I know some people never will just admit that this is a failed experiment. I would argue that even if, by some miracle, we in 5 years were in MAC championship game how many people would even care at this point. The answer is very few. Most alumni try to pretend football doesn't exist, and laugh awkwardly when the ESPN bottom ten rankings come up.

Again, to each their own, but to me once they have to start using other sports because of this new investment in football I start saying we have overdosed on crazy pills.

[eldonabe]

To all the people saying "drop football," could we maybe try this thing with a different AD before we go to that step? Just a thought.

The one - and possibly only - thing I'll defend Bamford on is making the MAC move. We could be in the American right now if Bamford had made the right moves, or not made some moves, but that's another story that maybe will be written someday. The "stability" that being in a conference brings is huge. It helps finances, scheduling, and recruiting, among other things. Unfortunately it took this long to find a home and it's only the first season so we're going to have to wait to see tangible results.

If you're part of the UMass community talking about the football program in good faith, the biggest concern right now is whether Coach Harasymiak is a good coach. If Bamford screwed up again it's going to be even longer until we see those tangible results. And while I'm not a betting man, I know where my money would go right now on the question of whether Harasymiak is a good coach or not .

See this is the logic I just simply cannot relate to at this point.

If we follow your logic, and we try a new AD and it is still failing, in will come the crowd that will say that this new AD just needs a chance to bring in his own coaching hire. Then if that doesn't go well, the refrain of lets give him one more chance to "turn this thing around". Then we will get a new AD, clamor for more finances, and the merry-go-round starts all over again.

I have a genuine question for the people on the "other side" of this issue. Is there any level of performance failure, any amount of financial losses, on any series of events at all that would make you change your mind?

My guess is for many, there is not and that is why we will likely continue plummeting over the cliff that is UMass Football.

U-VOR I do think there is some level of mediocrity that would be acceptable to most. My definition is a 4-6 win season - occasionally they throw out a 7 or 8 win season for a Bowl game. The problem is we cannot even get to (my definition of) mediocre and the answers that keep coming from Whitmore (It has been a while, I assume the AD's offices are still there?) is "we are going to buy our way out of this". We are going to pay up for coaches and we are gonna pay up for players.... that will make everything better.

According to MAZ, that all but assures we will be no worse that 80-90 because that many schools will max out the payouts (including Umass).

I will fast forward a bit: There is an inevitable split coming and that may very well be the spending line. So let's say that is the cut, and Umass is one of those 80 schools to max out the pay. Now they are #80 out of 80 and will probably stay close to the bottom of that new group... is that OK with everyone? Last is last.



IMO - Umass cannot just spend out of this unless they go way over the top. They are THE worst FBS program - and yes money may attract a few players, but we are still in a shitty conference, and we have a trainwreck culture here, reputation is shit, and we play in a really bad stadium. That situation is only going to attract selfish and greedy players - how do you think that will play out? You bring in a big payroll - still lose 10 games in front of a half empty stadium and that roster turns over instantly.


My problem with "the spend" is that it is not a smart spend. It is no secret that if you want to play in that sandbox, it is going to cost a lot of money. Everyone with eyeballs knows that McGuick is a shithole and probably deep into the back 9 of it's existence. Many have accurately stated the even the mega stadiums exist around their old original building, but that does not seem to be the plan here and $30 Million dollars is just expensive paint and duct tape. I know they cannot just build a new stadium from zero, but if they cannot build out around the existing stadium they have a problem.

[Steve81]

There has never been a serious FBS effort until now. Playing as an Independent set the program back a decade and was essentially starting from scratch each season. It was a terrible decision.

Again, we were in the MAC before. That failed. We were independent (not by choice) and that failed. We have had multiple coaches, a new training facility (that was the last time I heard the story of how a capital investment would change things), and yet there was no serious FBS effort in your book.

Like I said, I know some people never will just admit that this is a failed experiment. I would argue that even if, by some miracle, we in 5 years were in MAC championship game how many people would even care at this point. The answer is very few. Most alumni try to pretend football doesn't exist, and laugh awkwardly when the ESPN bottom ten rankings come up.

Again, to each their own, but to me once they have to start using other sports because of this new investment in football I start saying we have overdosed on crazy pills.

And again, it was not properly funded and the old AD hired Morris and Molnar. Then we went independent, which was also the old AD's decision. We just built a bigger sh-t pile for Ryan to inherit and step in. With an ew Chancellor, we are finally investing and have a chance. I want to listen to the noon press conference, but if he says that no one has won the QB job, sh--t!!!! Since the two they recruited have not separated themselves, and won't be here next year, it seems they should just pick AJ and develop and scheme for him. Including his weakness of being rushed from the blind side.

[Rolling Ridge]

There's been a lot of focus on Bamford, the stadium, and the program in general, that I think this is actually be lost in the weeds to an extent. I'm with you, he's not a good coach and I'll think we'll be looking for another in the not too distant future. The offense is the worst in the country (and arguably in the last decade), the defense is eh, and the recruiting is atrocious.

I agree with you that the focus of the problem right now should be on the team’s performance. Harasymiak was on pretty much every short list of potential candidates during the last search. I don’t think many people here thought he was a terrible hire, and of those we could realistically land, he was probably among the best. There’s no question he didn’t come in and make the progress people were expecting, but that’s not unusual for a first-year coach inheriting a terrible team. Look at Calapari’s and Carvel’s records in their first years, not that much different from the previous coaches’ final seasons.

Harasymiak is rightly on the hot seat. This is really his problem, not Bamford’s, and it’s up to him to fix it. But I think labeling him as a “bad coach” is premature. One recruiting cycle was not enough to turn this team around.

IMO, he could have pushed for MAC membership a decade ago.

No, he couldn’t have. It was exactly a decade ago that we rejected the MAC’s ultimatum to go all sports, a decision made before Bamford was named AD. The decision was made for financial reasons and Bamford’s hands were tied. There was no path back to the MAC 10 years ago, or probably even five years ago, and the American wasn’t taking us. The only possible move I could have seen happening in that period was CUSA all sports, and that probably was as much of a financial dead end as the MAC.

More recently, the financial landscape has changed, making an all-sports move to the MAC possible and attractive, but I don’t think it was really possible much before now. I also think having a new Chancellor played a part.

I do agree with you that in the end, we wound up in the right spot, given that the American simply isn’t interested in us right now.

I have a genuine question for the people on the "other side" of this issue. Is there any level of performance failure, any amount of financial losses, on any series of events at all that would make you change your mind? … I know some people never will just admit that this is a failed experiment.

First off, I don’t consider FBS an “experiment.” University leadership has made the decision to move up, and from what I can see have given exactly zero consideration to reverting to our previous FCS status. It’s not an experiment. It’s a decision.

That said, similar to the decision to go 1-AA back in the late 1970s and the decision to go FBS in 2012, I think consideration should always be given to the status of football (or really any program at the University) to make sure it fits the needs of the institution at a given time. Different leadership and changing times will govern this evolution. As a football supporter (and a supporter of all UMass athletics) is there a potential moment or event in the future that would make me think football (or any other sport) is no longer viable? In theory, yes, but I would need to see the institution make a case that carrying the sport represented an unsustainable burden or was causing some sort of tangible harm.

As much as the losses suck, I don’t think that’s the case with football. Having a conference gives us a much better chance to field a competitive team but also makes a big difference for our long-term sustainability irrespective of winning. If folks don’t want to watch the team lose, don’t watch, but carrying football isn’t an existential issue for UMass. If it becomes one, then consideration should be given to dropping the sport, but just losing isn’t justification in my mind for cutting bait. Lots of our athletic programs have gone through dry periods. Yes, this one is probably the worst, but that doesn’t mean future success isn’t possible.

[devildawg3010]

Is there any truth that UMass was expecting the men's basketball program to get them into a conference?

[m626t]

Is there any truth that UMass was expecting the men's basketball program to get them into a conference?

Perhaps not an expectation, but a sincere hope. In my opinion, if that were the case, it ignores the fact that football and not hoops drives the college athletics bus.