UMassHoops.com

Steve81 wrote: Wed May 21, 2025 10:41 am

InnervisionsUMASS wrote: Wed May 21, 2025 7:46 am The current state of the program is still bad. The hope is that it gets better. It has my support to do so.

The record was bad, but the state of the program has improved as we watched the offense and kicking team execute. The atmosphere in the locker room is good and hope the staff can get us more wins, than most here would venture.

Can UMass sell hope? Why college football’s losingest program believes it can win
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/635432 ... nil-coach/

Matt Baker's article is good and was talked about in this mornings podcast of Minuteman Command hosted by ESPN personalities Rene Ingoglia and Mike Corey. Matt, author subject of this thread had no knowledge of UMass and is a national writer for the nytimes/athletic. He interviewed 20 people for the story, including over an hour with Rene. Will post the podcast and is from 12:30 mark through 14:45 or 2 minutes listening time. Next week podcast will be dedicated to this article.
https://youtu.be/T24qBgJ4flw

The current state of the program is still bad. The hope is that it gets better. It has my support to do so.

I always like to go back to the public school rankings as I believe it is going to be the best schools that are able to compete in a transforming NCAA. UMass is the highest ranked public school in the FBS outside of the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC.

stevemaz wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 4:29 am I always like to go back to the public school rankings as I believe it is going to be the best schools that are able to compete in a transforming NCAA. UMass is the highest ranked public school in the FBS outside of the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC.

Yep, and imagine if Athletics had full support of the U and alumni over the years.

Well, the latest Podcast is out talking about the article on UMass past and how the transition was set for failure without support by all. Mike Crery reference's the research for the Lightening in a Bottle with perspective and about UMass and UConn basketball. There is a reference to UCF about change and being in the MAC. This time UMass is entering the MAC with full financial support, however there are some professors posting on social media and fans not wanting UMass Football to succeed and it is only hurting. Love this quote, during Cals first year in the Cage, fans were booing and Call turned around and asked the fans to instead, "Cheer for us".

The first 10 minutes is not on the topic and suggest starting at the 10 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/HtqJBIi6JUw

Steve81 wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 9:15 am Well, the latest Podcast is out talking about the article on UMass past and how the transition was set for failure without support by all. Mike Crery reference's the research for the Lightening in a Bottle with perspective and about UMass and UConn basketball. There is a reference to UCF about change and being in the MAC. This time UMass is entering the MAC with full financial support, however there are some professors posting on social media and fans not wanting UMass Football to succeed and it is only hurting. Love this quote, during Cals first year in the Cage, fans were booing and Call turned around and asked the fans to instead, "Cheer for us".

The first 10 minutes is not on the topic and suggest starting at the 10 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/HtqJBIi6JUw

- 13+ years of administrative ineptitude will generally foster negativity Steve.

- Existing in a region where people by and large do not care about sports as much as social issues will generally foster negativity Steve.

- Living in a State that Gives a Shit-Not about the 413 area code will foster negativity Steve.


Also if you have not been paying attention to the bigger picture... higher education is under a significant amount of fire for its excesses (and increasing) of cost and fractional returns. So now Umass chooses to throw money at this with a person in charge who I am skeptical of even being able to dress himself in the morning.


There is a lot more to this than "Football is good / Football is bad". The actual sport itself is just a small fraction for the negativity around here. Umass educators are mostly save the world, holier than thou, social elitists who look down on neanderthal athletes. You are not going to change those people. Max Page would be considered a moderate by today's University employees.

You are surrounded by like minded people who love sports and are actively engaged in them.... but you/we are the minority and by a ridiculously large margin - most especially in our part of the state. The up hill battle this program is facing is not going to get better just because they are now going to throw money at it. The deeply rooted "other obstacles" I have described above are much more to overcome than just having the highest paid coaches in the conference.

Nah eldonabe, some people just like to bitch. See it all the time during basketball game posts. The easiest thing to do is to criticize and bitch and some people are lazy and what they do. Line from the Rolling Stone Little T & A

Joints rocking could be anytime at all
But the bitch keeps bitching
Snitcher keeps snitching

....

I’m wiping the FBS slate clean, this is our 1st season in FBS football as far as I’m concerned. We are now appropriately funded for G5 FBS football as a MAC member.
The past is the past and I’m ready to go for Temple on August 30th.

I concur

wmmmfan wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 8:30 pm I’m wiping the FBS slate clean, this is our 1st season in FBS football as far as I’m concerned. We are now appropriately funded for G5 FBS football as a MAC member.
The past is the past and I’m ready to go for Temple on August 30th.

Sounds good to me.

wmmmfan wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 8:30 pm I’m wiping the FBS slate clean, this is our 1st season in FBS football as far as I’m concerned. We are now appropriately funded for G5 FBS football as a MAC member.
The past is the past and I’m ready to go for Temple on August 30th.

Well said. I agree!

wmmmfan wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 8:30 pm I’m wiping the FBS slate clean, this is our 1st season in FBS football as far as I’m concerned. We are now appropriately funded for G5 FBS football as a MAC member.
The past is the past and I’m ready to go for Temple on August 30th.

Fair way to look at it. Better than the fairy tale some have tried to spin.

LS71 wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 9:06 pm Hockey has been in the NCAAs 5 of the last seasons including a national championship and is in the country’s best hockey conference, yet that success is completely overlooked in this article.

I think it’s fair to say that UMass hockey has a better chance at another natty than football has at making a play-off.

Not that I wouldn’t love to see football be successful but it’d be better for football to aspire to hockey’s current success than to bemoan basketball’s fall from grace.

Catching up on some older posts and this one caught my eye.

LS71 - Hockey is a great sport but it is not going to pay any bills. Yes of course Football should aspire to have the success of Hockey more so than hoops - that is obvious based on simple performance and appearance metrics. Basketball should aspire to be like their Hockey program as well.

UMass needs Basketball to be relevant in concert with Football relevance to be sellable to a better conference at this point. Umass (and UConn for that matter) are not in a TV or Recruiting hotbed that would attract P4 needs. UConn cannot even get a sniff from P4 with a top 20 Basketball Program. I would argue Umass needs to be even better than "normal" for that attention because of those Media and Regional Talent shortcomings. Hockey is a nice desert to add to the meal, but P4 Hockey is barely an afterthought in the athletics landscape.


In order for this to work, MAC needs to get better as much as Umass does. 3 or 4 FBS wins in the WORST G5 conference means nothing at this point in the game. Worse still is coming in last in the worst conference and that outcome is on the table right now. Anyone who cannot acknowledge that is simply lying to themselves.

I honestly have no idea what to expect this year, nor do I really know what the ramifications are for any of the possible football (or basketball) outcomes this year.

- If they suck and only win 2 or 3 games (including the FCS game)... can that be sold as progress? Maybe???
- If they surprise and win 4 FBS games but are still near the bottom of MAC - is that enough to energize the Umass fan base?
- Does Football NEED to be better (record) this year to be considered on the right path? I don't know?





To me - Basketball 100% NEEDS to be better this year (in overall record). Taking this kind of step backwards in overall schedule strength and an overall record similar to last year will be brutal for the program and IMO should be enough to relieve Frank from his position. But then what? They will be in an abyss with hoops.


IMO Football has a little rope to play with here.. they are already one of the worst programs in the country. Establishing a new baseline may be OK this year. I expect a little more than that, but I can see it falling that way this year but still coming out of that feeling optimistic.

^ Hard to disagree with you.

It does seem like college hockey is getting more popular nationally though. Maybe the leading conferences get some TV money as the networks continue to look for content to sell.

If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them, as Yogi might've said. Basketball and football need to improve regardless of conference, to stop fans from staying home...parking fees notwithstanding.

LS71 wrote: Wed Jun 18, 2025 2:14 pm ^ Hard to disagree with you.

It does seem like college hockey is getting more popular nationally though. Maybe the leading conferences get some TV money as the networks continue to look for content to sell.

If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them, as Yogi might've said. Basketball and football need to improve regardless of conference, to stop fans from staying home...parking fees notwithstanding.

It is so hard to really tell outside of Viewership #'s. We live in a hard core Hockey Geographic so I think it is normal to assimilate our views to other parts of the country.

Look at the NBA Finals - poor ratings, but does that mean it is not popular etc.....


As for Football / MAC.... just give us some fucking wins and a/any reason for some optimism around here.