What the move to the MAC means for UMass
AMHERST — For close to a decade, UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford has been in an awkward spot.
UMass has been navigating uncertainty since its football program left the Mid-American Conference in 2015, with a stopgap model of independence that has shown itself to be unsustainable for any school not called Notre Dame.
The school’s most high-profile programs — football and men’s basketball — had opposing interests in the short term. Football needed a conference, but men’s basketball would suffer almost anywhere but the Atlantic 10.
Something had to give, and Bamford and UMass ended up right back where they started: On Thursday, the university held a press conference to introduce the Minutemen as the 13th member of the MAC, beginning in 2025.
The reaction from UMass fans was swift and polarized. Those with allegiances to football were largely thrilled that the program was finally taking a necessary step. Those who have followed the men’s basketball program that gave the school its greatest moment of national prominence were up in arms.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Bamford said. “But at the same time, I think, you know, now the work begins to change those hearts and minds.
“Here’s the deal: We’re not reducing our investment. In fact, we’re going to ratchet up our investment in men’s and women’s basketball.”
From a men’s basketball perspective, the A-10 had obvious appeal. UMass was a founding member of the hoops-focused league — 48 years is a lot to give up in history, tradition, and rivalries — and has long been one of the stronger mid-majors in college basketball.
It’s hard to argue that the MAC isn’t a significant step down. Of the 33 Division 1conferences in the country, KenPom has the A-10 as the eighth strongest. It ranks the MAC 24th.
Bamford argues that the leagues are getting closer. In 201314, the season before his arrival at UMass, the A-10 sent six teams to the men’s NCAA Tournament — more bids than the A-10 has managed over the last four seasons combined. The MAC has been a one-bid league since the turn of the century, but last year, the A-10 was one, too.
“The more that the Atlantic 10 was shifting in terms of its membership, I mean, the last few members we’ve added have all been smaller, private institutions,” Bamford said. “We just didn’t have the same dynamics and the same alignment of sort of priorities that some of the other member institutions did. And that’s OK. We just have to acknowledge that.”
The realignment is still a major wrench for a men’s basketball program in the midst of a revival under Frank Martin, with the Minutemen winning 20 games this year for the first time in a decade.
Martin, for his part, reaffirmed his commitment.
“Coaching in the Atlantic-10 is appealing to me; but I came here to coach at UMass,” Martin said. “With all due respect, last year we played these ‘longstanding rivalries’ — nobody came to games. We need people to root for UMass, and that’s what’s happening this year.
“As long as the school leadership — and they believed in me, and they haven’t lied to me since I’ve been here, so why would I not believe in their vision as to what’s best for us? As long as the school leadership is committed to allow us to continue to grow, I’m all in.”
The move to the MAC is almost certainly a benefit to the football program, which has not won more than four games in a season since making the leap to FBS in 2011. Coach Don Brown was enthusiastic about the future of his program.
UMass will enter the MAC in a strong position, with greater resources than any other team in the conference.
“I think the idea of a perfect fit kind of went out the window or the door years ago,” Bamford said. “This was our moment. We had to be proactive instead of, ultimately, being reactive . . . and not controlling our destiny and our fate in the way I think we do now.”