Post
by Mike0473 » Mon Jan 05, 2026 11:56 pm
I’m not looking to pile on blame toward Frank or any of the players. The reality is that we’ve been a mostly struggling program for a very long time. We dropped to a lower conference and, even there, we’re not exactly a top-tier team. So the bigger question for me is: where do we go from here?
We’ve cycled through several coaches and endured a lot of tough seasons. To be fair, there have been some good moments along the way, but just about every long-term hoops fan I know feels a real sadness about the overall decline of the program. No one is expecting a return to the magic of the 1990s. I graduated high school in 1991 and remember those years fondly too. But the college basketball landscape has changed dramatically since then. Financial realities have altered the sport in ways that make it hard for many programs to compete at all, not just UMass. Even March Madness feels a bit fragile long-term, with Cinderella stories becoming rarer and the tournament losing some of the magic it once had.
I don’t follow the program the way I used to, or even the way I did five or ten years ago. That’s not out of spite or retaliation toward UMass—it’s more that the space UMass hoops used to occupy in my life has slowly been filled by other things. The sustained losing has taken a toll. I honestly don’t know what kind of turnaround is realistic for the program. I understand the football-first mentality, but MAC basketball matchups don’t really excite me, and the travel distances make it harder to stay connected. I wish we played more New England opponents. I’m not even sure what level of success would fully re-engage me again, though I do believe that level exists. It’s just been a really rough ride.
I don’t think the UMass decision-makers wanted or expected things to end up this way. Like I said, I’m not interested in playing the blame game—that’s water under the bridge. I just wonder whether, ten years from now, we’ll still be having the same conversation. It feels like we need a new plan or strategy, but it’s hard to tell what’s realistic versus what’s just wishful thinking.
I don’t mean this to come across as overly negative. It’s just that what I’ve seen has gone from frustrating to genuinely worrying, especially when thinking about the long-term viability of the program itself—and, honestly, of many programs across the country.
