Second the MAC did not have to invoke the all-sports clause. They knew that would not be acceptable to us.
Read between the lines of this quote:
“This is not the outcome we anticipated when UMass was admitted as a football-only member. However, circumstances changed regarding our football membership and this is a result of those circumstances,” added Steinbrecher. “I want to thank University of Massachusetts Chancellor, Dr. Kumble Subbaswamy, and Director of Athletics, John McCutcheon, for their professionalism and understanding in reaching this amicable decision.”
Translation: Thanks for not pointing out in print what a screw job this is. We wanted you with Temple, but without the Owls...
Everyone knows I love UMass football. But leaving the MAC was the right thing for UMass and the athletic dept. There is no way UMass should be in MAC for basketball.
I think UMass is committed to FBS football. I don't think coach Whipple would have signed on without that commitment.
See this quote from the AD " McCutcheon said, "We remain committed to FBS football. Many institutions have successfully navigated this challenging period of conference realignment and we will do the same."
UMass obviously wanted to move to a different conference sometime. It would appear that McCutcheon thinks we have options.
Where does that leave UMass? We need to have Coach Whipple get us winning. We have two years to look for another conference. Conference USA with old foe Old Dominion is an option. So is the Sunbelt conference with old foes Appalachian State and Georgia State.
The AAC would be even better. We'd be back with UConn and Temple.That would be an attractive hoops league too.
Tulsa, a small religious school with 3,000 undergrads joined the AAC. If they did it, we can.
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Matty V. Says UMass made the right call. Note that I wrote the above before reading Matty's article.
Hustle Belt asks "What does this mean for the MAC?"
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From Coach Whipple's Twitter feed :" No matter what conference we join, UMass Football is committed to building champions The future has begun!
From me.
Let's Go UMass.
“This is not the outcome we anticipated when UMass was admitted as a
football-only member. However, circumstances changed regarding our
football membership and this is a result of those circumstances,” added
Steinbrecher. “I want to thank University of Massachusetts Chancellor,
Dr. Kumble Subbaswamy, and Director of Athletics, John McCutcheon, for
their professionalism and understanding in reaching this amicable
decision.”
“This is not the outcome we anticipated when UMass was admitted as a
football-only member. However, circumstances changed regarding our
football membership and this is a result of those circumstances,” added
Steinbrecher. “I want to thank University of Massachusetts Chancellor,
Dr. Kumble Subbaswamy, and Director of Athletics, John McCutcheon, for
their professionalism and understanding in reaching this amicable
decision.”
