Friday-- January 30th, 2015

UMass Athletic Director John McCutcheon leaves for University of California Santa Barbara.

Dan Malone comments.

Ron Chimelis comments.

Matty Vautour has an article on McCutcheon leaving that includes some comments about UMass football.

The UMass Daily Collegian has a post on McCutcheon and his comments on leaving.

UC Santa Barbara college newspaper has the announcement.

The Boston Herald has some notes about the change. It also mentions BC will play two FCS teams this year. Only one FCS game counts towards bowl eligibility.

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Obviously, UMass needs a young and energetic person at AD. The recent formation of the Power Five alliance is a game changer (pun intended) for college athletics. This is really going to change all college sports.

If the Power Five go to a semi-pro model with paid athletes, what is that going to do to all other sports?The non-Power Five went along with the full-cost-of-attendance because, according to a number of reports, the fear the Power Five would take the basketball tourney with them. Tile IX changed the landscape of college sports. The Catholic schools could no longer put 90% of their assets into one or two sports. It effectively halved the athletic money available for those schools. Even mighty Notre Dame struggled with the new model.

The Power Five is going to make an even greater impact. What will happen? I don't know, but if paying a person says there is a value added to a product by their labor, will colleges really pay for track-and-field, cross country, swimming and other sports?

As for UMass football, obviously we need a conference. The bowl tie-ins, the media packages and the scheduling are necessary to control costs and stabilize the program.

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ESPN has more on the 2015 Boston College schedule.

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The Ralphie Report looks at Colorado's recruiting rankings.

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South Florida.com says former FIU head coach Mario Cristobal is doing well at Alabama while the Panthers flounder.

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