UMassHoops.com

Well on a good note, we will be four years in FBS this year, two with The Whip, and we will better than UConn this year without any doubt.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... 5-opponent

ACC to count BYU as a P5 team Why not us too if we become Independent. Again, just kidding.

Steve81 wrote:

eldonabe wrote: Or the MAC... I am OK with what is going on, but the original plan of possibly defecting to a conference that is worse off (with the exception of wannabe big-boy football) was the sticking point moreso than chasing football in and of itself.

Edonable the underline part of your statement is Bull $hit. The clause in the MAC contract only existed IF the A10 went to the crapper after a Big East raid. The A10 never went in the crapper and we rejected the MAC all sports invite.

Not bullshit - I did say possibly - you cannot make a move like that to the MAC without a full move to them being one of [hopefully] may options. There were no guarantees, but it had to be a possibility - especially if Temple did not move out. If Temple stays the MAC has a lot more leverage to ask for full membership from both.

eldonabe wrote:

Steve81 wrote:

eldonabe wrote: Or the MAC... I am OK with what is going on, but the original plan of possibly defecting to a conference that is worse off (with the exception of wannabe big-boy football) was the sticking point moreso than chasing football in and of itself.

Edonable the underline part of your statement is Bull $hit. The clause in the MAC contract only existed IF the A10 went to the crapper after a Big East raid. The A10 never went in the crapper and we rejected the MAC all sports invite.

Not bullshit - I did say possibly - you cannot make a move like that to the MAC without a full move to them being one of [hopefully] may options. There were no guarantees, but it had to be a possibility - especially if Temple did not move out. If Temple stays the MAC has a lot more leverage to ask for full membership from both.

Again WTF, underline portion. The MAC had ZERO leverage if Temple stayed, it was an indefinite contract, unless section 7 Notice of Withdraw of Temple.

The MAC would have had what the wanted if Temple stayed.

I am not saying the Mac was a certainty... In fact it was probably plan Z on the list. I am sure when those discussions were going down mass gave done indication that it was a possibility otherwise why the hell would the MAC just rent them for 2 or 3 years? Either unassuming indicated a chance or the MAC thought they could covert them?

With the hiring of Ryan Bamford as AD now official, figured it might be time to revive this thread. Does this hire give us any additional hope of landing somewhere in FBS football? How do his ACC connections help in regards to getting into a conference like the American? Does someone in the ACC owe him a gigantic favor that can get UMass in?

He has his work cut out for him, that is for sure.

No. Doesn't change our chances one iota.

^ WHACK!

Ouch, that was quick and it hurt!

Didn't mean to come off like a jerk, I just think that an invitation to a conference for our entire athletic program goes WELL beyond "knowing a guy". Regardless of his background and connections, there is no way UMass gets invited to a conference unless it makes sense ($$$$$) to the members of the conference. The notion that his buddies might help change our conference outlook is plain silly, and I think the poster recognized that with the smiley face at the end.

The most we can hope for based on any connections he has is some scheduling love in football and hoops.

gosox22 wrote:With the hiring of Ryan Bamford as AD now official, figured it might be time to revive this thread. Does this hire give us any additional hope of landing somewhere in FBS football? How do his ACC connections help in regards to getting into a conference like the American? Does someone in the ACC owe him a gigantic favor that can get UMass in?

Nope, but UMass is all set now to receive an Ivy invitation.

Chris20 wrote:Didn't mean to come off like a jerk, I just think that an invitation to a conference for our entire athletic program goes WELL beyond "knowing a guy". Regardless of his background and connections, there is no way UMass gets invited to a conference unless it makes sense ($$$$$) to the members of the conference. The notion that his buddies might help change our conference outlook is plain silly, and I think the poster recognized that with the smiley face at the end.

The most we can hope for based on any connections he has is some scheduling love in football and hoops.

The questions I posed were to ask the question of "does it help us at all that this guy is from an ACC school." I didn't say "Hey look, this guys from the ACC, we're definitely getting into a conference now!" It was to spark a conversation about whether people thinks this helps or not. Obviously Chris's answer is a resounding no. And yes, the smiley face at the end was to make sure people knew I wasn't serious about him having pull into getting us into the ACC. That is obviously an absurd thing to believe.

It never hurts to "know" people, but unless the person you know is a billionaire and willing to build a stadium.... I don't think the stadium issue can be overstated. So far, UMass has made no stadium commitment to show potential conferences that we mean business. This chicken/egg situation with "we won't build anything unless we prove we can fill the existing stadium each game" is NOT going to get us anywhere with potential conferences. Somehow I think that name-brand conferences will be looking for something better than that.

At one sport luncheon when I was still in MA I spoke to the AD and several people about any plans for enlarging the seating at the FB stadium. Although nothing definite had been decided they had several options were being considered. I am sure that the new AD will be brought up to speed on that. You guys have to show some patients. It is not going to happen overnight. Lets get most of the home games back on campus and sell them out and justify the need to enlarge the stadium. Look at the second deck James Madison did to their stadium. I go past it every time we drive past it on I 81 going back and forth from MA to NC and back.

Berkman wrote:At one sport luncheon when I was still in MA I spoke to the AD and several people about any plans for enlarging the seating at the FB stadium. Although nothing definite had been decided they had several options were being considered. I am sure that the new AD will be brought up to speed on that. You guys have to show some patients.

If we show the school some patients we will get a bigger/updated stadium? How many of them do we need to show in order to at least get some restrooms inside of the stadium?