Tuesday--March 24th, 2015

Dan Malone says new UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford bring "intimate knowledge of FBS football".

Dan also has quotes from Bamford's former bosses on his appointment as UMass A.D.

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Matty Vautour reports Georgia Tech A.D. Mike Bobinski thinks Bamford will be "a great fit at UMass".

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UMass' official announcement here.

Georgia Tech's announcement here.

Ramblin' wreck blog "From the rumble seat" comments.

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From the Minutemen Club

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The UMass Blog certainly welcomes Ryan Bamford to UMass. I hope he is wildly successful in Amherst, stays six years and is then offered a multi-million dollar contract as A.D in a Power Five school.

He really needs to shake things up at UMass. I hope he receives the support he needs from the school administration and from UMass alums. We are currently punching under our weight in a number of sports. I think UMass is one of the nation's top public universities. In athletics, we should be able to perform at the level of other Group-of-Five schools.

Let's Go UMass!

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UMass will hold its Pro Day March 30th.

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Calls were made for UAB President Ray Watts to resign after documents indicate the school's press releases of the plan to cut UAB football were untrue.

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UMass Football News--November 29th, 2018

UPDATE:

As a Gridiron member, I received the following message from AD Ryan Bamford:

"Dear Gridiron Members,

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving season. 

 

I've received some feedback and questions over the last week from many of you, the public, and the media regarding our search process to find the next leader for the UMass Football Program.  I wanted to share my thought process with you regarding this very important search.

 

Prior to my arrival at UMass, the department often employed head coach search committees to assist in the head coach selection process. In my four years in Amherst, we have had a number of coaching searches that have followed this model which included broad participation from campus and community members. Specifically, our men's cross country, field hockey, women's soccer, women's tennis and baseball searches involved interview sessions and ultimately input from a number of constituent groups prior to making a hire. Conversely, when we conducted searches that yielded Greg Carvel (ice hockey), Tory Verdi (women's basketball) and Matt McCall (men's basketball) we limited the people associated with the search to maintain confidentiality and work efficiently through our recruiting efforts, interviews, candidate selection and contract negotiations in a quiet and effective manner.   

 

Based on our success in those searches and some additional reasons listed below, I've chosen to conduct the search process on my own with a small group of people consulting me, all who shall remain anonymous. Ultimately, I will select the next leader for UMass Football and will ask our Chancellor to accept my recommendation when the process nears completion.  

 

Please understand that I value the input I receive daily from people who care about UMass Athletics. I also see value in including people in our selection process for our next head coach but it is not always in the best interest of the process. At our level of Division I athletics, it is taxing to have a well-run confidential search that ensures the right hire and keeps all of our constituents happy.  That said, I am pleased that in the last 10 days I have secured feedback from many of you regarding the attributes you desire in our next head coach. This feedback has been crucial as I form the profile for our next head coach.  I can't thank those individuals enough for offering their insights and positive encouragement during this process.  

 

I decided to run the basketball, hockey and now football searches with a small group for a number of reasons. First, the confidentiality of the search is vitally important, and the conversations that I have with potential coaches must remain private.  For example, I would not have been able to secure Greg Carvel from St. Lawrence without a high-degree of confidentiality during that process.  It was important to Greg that his name not become public, and he only had meetings with myself and Chancellor Subbaswamy during his offline visits to Amherst. As a sitting head coach, I wanted to protect him so that if we did not come to terms of employment at UMass, it did not jeopardize Greg at St. Lawrence.  

 

In addition, I need to be extremely nimble during this search process. I've been on/off airplanes a great deal this last week, and will continue to do-so throughout this weekend and possibly in to next week.  Because of this, it would be hard to mobilize a multi-person committee to fly across the country recruiting candidates and holding interviews on such short notice.  Most of my time meeting with candidates will be outside Western Massachusetts. This is standard practice for a job with this profile and intensified timeline.    

 

Also, with the increase in activity on social media and all the "unnamed" sources willing to share information, whether accurate or not, I felt it would be best taking the sole lead on this search, and not share any details until an agreement is finalized. 

 

I can't give you a specific timeline at this point for when we'll make the hire, just know that I'm working as hard as I can to find the best leader for the UMass Football Program.  I want to make all of you that have invested in this program proud of the man we bring to Amherst. 

 

Thank you for your understanding during this pursuit. I look forward to introducing the next coach to you very soon!

 

Please feel free to share any additional thoughts or feedback with me directly at rbamford@umass.edu."

 

Thank you, and Go UMass!

 

Ryan Bamford

 

 Note that I'm NOT going e-mail Mr. Bamford. What can I say? Hire a winning coach. He knows that. If I were to contact him, I would say that I support him and the UMass football program.

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Andy Isabella wins the Harry Agganis/Harold Zimman Award. If you've never read it: The Harry Agganis story.

Hogs Haven still thinks UMass is in the MAC, but does a good job of covering Isabella's game against Georgia.

Pro Football Focus looks at the top performances by players from the 46 non-bowl eligible teams.

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Underdog Dyansty looks at Maine's Joe Harasymiak as a candidate for the UMass head coaching position.

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UConn's Daily Campus writers debate the low point of the the Huskies season. Several of them quote to loss to UMass.

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UMass Football News--September 8th, 2017

A quick look at Old Dominion:

The Monarchs return 15 starters from a team that went 10-3 in 2016. Their season included a 24-20 win over Eastern Michigan in the Bahamas Bowl. ODU returns their all-time leading rusher Ray Lawry (3,338 career yards). In 2016 they averaged 430.8 yards/game and 35.1 points/game that was good for #50 and #31 in the nation respectively. Against Albany new QB Blake LaRussa went 14-20 161 yards and 1 TD. He did throw 2 INT's.

On defense the Monarchs were solid in 2016. They were #2 in the C-USA in scoring defense (27.2 points/game). They have two of the top DE's in the Group of Five conferences: Bunmi Rotimi and Oshane Ximines. The two combined for 14.5 sacks in 2016. They had three sacks and 3.5 TFL against Albany last week. Old Dominion held UMass to 16 points last year in what was probably Andrew Ford's poorest game. He'll probably see a lot of pressure from the Monarchs defensive line again Saturday.

UMass does have a chance to catch the Monarchs looking ahead as their next two opponents after the Minutemen are North Carolina and Virginia Tech.

Old Dominion is just a solid Group-of-Five team. Defense is probably their strong point. The Monarchs held nine 2016 opponents to 28 points or less. They held Albany to 17 points and 275 yards of total offense last Saturday. The Monarchs had 9.0 TFL against the Great Danes.

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Connor Ryan of MassLive says UMass looks to rebound.

Matty Vautour says Old Dominion expects an improved UMass team.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Monarchs-Minutemen game.

SB Nation picks UMass to beat the point spread.

The Enterprise-News predicts UMass over Old Dominion 28-24.

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Good news starved UMass fans got some encouraging news yesterday when UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford received a contract extension through 2022.

Matty Vautour has a post on Bamford's contract.

UMass' announcement of Bamford's extension.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Bamford's extension.

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Conference USA turned down Liberty's bid to join the conference, but the Flames are looking to have the last laugh.

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Wednesday--March 25th, 2015

Dan Malone has three impressions from Ryan Bamford's first press conference.

Bamford says he's not going to shy away from the challenges inherent in the UMass football program.

Chancellor Subbaswamy says Bamford is a marvelous fit for the athletic department.

Matty Vautour reports Bamford will have a full plate issues to deal with. One positive thing about the timing is Bamford will be able to bring in two lieutenants. That should help balance the power of entrenched interests. Being able to have his own team should be a positive for him and for the department.

The Boston Herald says UMass introduces its new athletic director.

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SB Nation previews 2015 OOC opponent Florida International.

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Former Buffalo HC Jeff Quinn is hired as a non-coaching assistant at Notre Dame.

The Irish get three 2016 verbals.

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Speaking of Buffalo, the Bulls start their Spring practice with new HC Lance Leipold.

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Thursday--March 26th, 2015

If you didn't watch Josh Maurer's interview with Ryan Bamford, you should. Most of the questions are about football and Bamford's responses are interesting. He said the same thing Coach Whipple said during his hire---- UMass has the resources to win at the FBS level. When talking about a conference Bamford says building the brand (meaning winning) is important our chances to get into a conference.

He flatly says it's doable and I see no reason why he would say so in public if he felt it wasn't so.

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Dan Malone has a story about Blake Fronapfel's experience on the A.D. search committee.

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Matty Vautour has more quotes from Frohnapfel and Coach Whipple on Bamford's hiring.

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Bamforrd was congratulated by Michael Strickland and Bamford Tweeted back a joke about joining the ACC. Various media types yucked it up over that. And here.

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The Bloomfield Enterprise talks about Colorado's future schedule and spends a lot of time on the 2021 Buffs-Minutemen game.

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UMass gets a mention is this story by CBS Sports on who has the most returning starters for the 2015 season.

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Hustle Belt previews Kent State's 2015 season, and miracle of miracles, does not predict a win over UMass.

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UMass Football News--September 23rd, 2025

 UMass has their game notes for Missouri up.

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UMass Coach Harasymiak speaks to reporters in the Monday Press conference. 

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UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford speaks to reporters about improvements to McGuirk stadium. 

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Missouri's homecoming game against UMass is sold out. 

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Hustle Belt has MAC Musings after Week #4.

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The UMass Daily Collegian has UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford addresses the state of UMass football. 

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The Greenfield Recorder reports Coach Harasymiak names AJ Hairston as starting QB for the Missouri game.

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Wednesday--June 17th, 2015

Stats from Phil Steele's magazine:

Bad

UMass led the nation with five close losses. However 85.9% of teams with four or more close losses improved their record the next year.

The Minutemen were #120 out of 128 FBS teams in Steele's Special teams ranking. Lots of MAC company for UMass as Central Michigan was ranked #116, Eastern Michigan #118, Buffalo #119.

The Minutemen were also #120 in Sacks By with a meager 1.25 sacks/game.

Good

After two years of offensive futility, UMass was #56 in yards per play at 5.75, which was ahead of some traditional offensive powers such as BYU, Houston, Kentucky, Louisville and Oklahoma State.

The Minutemen were #49 in sacks per pass attempt with 5.4%, which again is pretty good, considering opponents knew UMass couldn't run the ball.

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Chat with UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford online today at 11:00 AM.

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Matty V. has a story about Ryan Bamford's plans for the athletic dept, cost-of-attendance and UMass' attempt to find a home for football.

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Early signing period will be voted on in the next 48 hours.

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Scout.com rates the quarterbacks Notre Dame will be facing in 2015 including Blake Frohnapfel.

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Fan Sided previews the 2015 Colorado Buffalos.

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The Chicago Sun-Times thinks Notre Dame's receiving duo of William Fuller and Corey Robinson are among the tops in FBS.

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UMass Football News--September 17th, 2017

I don't know if you caught A.D. Ryan Bamford's interview at halftime of the Temple game or not. He had a couple of interesting statements.

• Bamford said UMass was working on a indoor practice facility. He said the time frame was "a couple of years".
• Bamford stated that UMass was solvent as an Independent and scheduling was was complete for 2018 and almost complete for 2019. The Minutemen have games set as far out as 2023.
• The interview was conducted just after we had given up 14 points in about two and a half minutes at the end of the first half. Referring to success and possible conference affiliation he said UMass needed to win games and "we haven't learned how to do that yet".

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Minutemen's loss to Temple. He also attempts to figure out how many points UMass has lost because of the kicking game over the last four years.

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In yesterday's action:

Hawaii had a bye.

Coastal Carolina lost to UAB. Most football preview magazines had startup UAB last in Conference USA.

Old Dominion was crushed 23-53 by North Carolina at home.

Tennessee lost to Florida on a wild Hail Mary pass.

Ohio dominated Big 12 Kansas 43-20. 

Georgia Southern had a bye.

Appalachian State squeezed by Texas State 20-13.

Mississippi State routed LSU 37-7 to become the #2 team in the SEC behind only Alabama.

Maine had a bye.

Wisconsin rolled into Provo Saturday and crushed BYU 40-6.

Friday--June 19th, 2015

I received an e-mail with the following:


The Minutemen will take on the Fighting Irish in one of football's greatest venues, Notre Dame Stadium, on September 26. As a loyal UMass Football supporter, you are eligible to purchase up to 4 tickets to the game. Tickets are $75 each and can be purchased by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at 413-545-0810 or toll free at 1-866-UMASS-TIX (1-866-862-7784). Please order by Friday, July 17 to secure your tickets before it's too late.

All seat locations will be determined and assigned in late July based on your Minutemen Club membership level and then priority point total within each level.  The UMass seat block will consist of upper level corner/end zone seating at Notre Dame Stadium. Tickets will be mailed in early August.

Please note that requests for more than four tickets will be considered (based on availability) by Minutemen Club membership level and priority point total on July 20.  If tickets remain and we are able to fulfill your request, a ticket representative will contact you in late July to complete your additional purchase.  When ordering tickets, please indicate how many additional tickets you would be interested in if they become available.

Bleacher Report has a position-by-position 2015 review of Notre Dame's roster.

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Two stories by Dan Malone about UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford's plans.

Bamford wants to increase UMass support in the Boston Area.

If the Olympics comes to Boston, Bamford wants UMass involved.

How about some Olympic basketball in Mullins? The new practice center would be ready and then there's the Basketball Hall-of-Fame.

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Colorado HC Mike MacIntyre says better days are coming for the Buffs.

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A couple of UConn stories:

The Huskies need to take Villanova seriously. The Wildcats are loaded this year.

UConn flips a recruit from James Madison.

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Central Michigan's HC John Bonameco has throat cancer.

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Phil Steele looks at net upsets by team in 2014. The Minutemen had zero. UMass had at least two chances in 2014, but we have yet to upset a top MAC team or an OOC FBS team.

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Remember a while ago I had a post about Venezuela news readers promise to get naked if Venezuela won in Copa America? Well, Venezuela won (VERY NOT WORK SAFE)

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Friday--April 22nd, 2016

The UMass website has a "Sights and Sounds of the Spring Game" video.

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USA Today features UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford on a story about the inventive way schools are scheduling games. Bamford knows what he's doin', my friends. Nice to have UMass on the cutting edge instead of behind the curve.

Quote from the article:

“It just so happens that (Gamecocks men’s basketball coach) Frank Martin's wife is a track alum of UMass,” Bamford said. “Frank was great. He said, ‘This is a good RPI game, we've got do some of this on the road,’ so he said home-and-home, it's no problem. Then, when I was looking to fill the 18 schedule in football, and we have probably more of an opportunity to do it again.”

The Minutemen set up a similar deal with Georgia; they announced this week they’ll play a football game at Sanford Stadium in 2018, and the two men’s basketball teams will play a home-and-home series during 2017-18 and 2018-19"

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A Fantasy Football writer has Tajae Sharpe as #16 WR in the NFL Draft.

A Vikings page has Sharpe among "Day Three Dandies" 

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A Milwaukee paper looks at how scouts' opinions of players (in this case quarterbacks) fluctuate. Despite all the money and "analysis", it's a crap shoot how a player will adjust to Pro Football. Every time a player goes up a level, it's a different game with different rules and challenges. The prototypical example is Pats QB Tom Brady, who had just about the worst Combine numbers in the history of the event, and didn't set the world on fire at Michigan either.

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The Orlando Sentinel previews 2016 opponent Tulane.

The New Orleans Advocate says Tulane thinks they can run the ball this year.

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Monday--March 23rd, 2015

From the UMass football Twitter feed.

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Georgia Tech image

Dan Malone reports, according to sources, Georgia Tech associate director Ryan Bamford has been chosen as the next UMass A.D.

Matty Vautour also has a post on Bamford.

Let's hope Mr. Bamford provides the shot in the arm, the athletics department needs.

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The victim of an assault by yet un-named UMass football player is complaining that the player is receiving too lenient treatment. I don't condone any fighting. UMass football does not need anymore head winds than it already is experiencing. Keep in mind, however, that the linked article is only giving one side of the story.

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Miami (Ohio) signs a four-star defensive back.

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Forbes says college football players should be able to major in football.

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UMass Football News--August 29th, 2018

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Josh Walfish has an update on UMass news for Tuesday. Josh reports that Whipple would not comment on if suspended starters Jarell Addo and Isaiah Rogers would be available for BC. He did say injured DE Leon Flanagan would practice, but is "questionable" for Saturday. Addo's backup Tyrus LeBeau was out of a sling but is also questionable. Xavier Steele is the next man up after LeBeau. Jesse Britt is another starter should return.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on A.D. Ryan Bamford's August Facebook interview.

During halftime of last week's game Bamford said the Jacobson gift would be used to build a practice bubble outside of the stadium. My impression of what Bamford said is that the bubble would be erected over a new turf field. UMass certainly could use a turf practice field. Back in 2011 when Mrs Blog and I went to the UMass-Delaware game the Hens had two turf practice fields in addition to their stadium.

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Eagle Insider previews the UMass-BC game.

The Eagle Insider has weekly rundown of BC news and lists the UMass game as a "certain win".

BC Interruption looks at the Eagles depth chart.

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BC High has a nice story about UMass freshman DE Elijah Miranda and his brother Isaiah Miranda who plays for Boston College.

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A 247Sports writer predicts Georgia's 2018 season and rates UMass worse than Austin Peay.

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Wednesday--May 3rd, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has some thoughtful commentary on A.D. Ryan Bamford's Facebook appearance.

With no conference affiliation in the near future, UMass will not be able to make any large-scale improvements to McGuirk. The best thing UMass can do is win some games. That's the "fan experience" 95% of the fans want. It will also position the program to move if a conference opening does happen.

The previous administration peed on all our shoes by leaving us with that 2016 schedule. I like the fact Bamford and Whipple are planing future schedules that will give us a chance to win. In the real world, finances require we play at least two money games, probably three. I think Bamford has done an excellent job with his hires and will continue to make a positive impact on UMass football.

Whipple has done a good job adding to our recruiting stream with transfers: Frohnapfel, Breneman, Ford and Syracuse transfer Jordan Fredericks. Next stop is six wins and a bowl game...

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Adam Breneman is the top TE in the 2018 NFL draft according to a Bleacher Report article.

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Victor Cruz is anxious to play with another NFL team.

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Thursday--July 23rd, 2015

I received the following information about the MAC Conference Media Day


2015 MAC FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY LIVE ON ESPN3;

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 FROM FORD FIELD IN DETROIT

For Immediate Release—Monday, July 20, 2015

Cleveland, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference (MAC) will host its 2015 Football Media Day on Wednesday, July 29, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, from Ford Field in Detroit.  The MAC Football Media Day kicks off the 2015 season, which officially begins on Thursday, Sept. 3, and will conclude with the 2015 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game on Friday, Dec. 4 from Ford Field.

Once again this year’s MAC Football Media Day will be show live on ESPN3 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.  The ESPN3 production will highlight the league’s annual kickoff event as hosts Michael Reghi and Dustin Fox will visit with all MAC head coaches and several students throughout MAC Football Media Day.

Joining MAC Commissioner, Dr. Jon Steinbrecher for MAC Football Media Day will be head coaches from our member institutions and two students from each university.  Commissioner Steinbrecher will begin MAC Football Media Day and address the media at 11:00 am ET. All head coaches and students will be available to the media throughout the day.

In addition, the MAC will also have Michael Kelly, Chief Operating Officer of the College Football Playoff, and Bill Carollo, Coordinator of Football Officials for the Collegiate Officiating Consortium (MAC, Big Ten, Missouri Valley Conferences) as a participant in MAC Football Media Day.

Blake Frohnapfel and Jovan Santos-Knox will be the two UMass players who will accompany Coach Whipple to the Media Day.

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Dan Malone previews the UMass offensive line. One interesting player is former JUCO Ryan Johnson. He did not become eligible until after the season started last year. That meant he did not have summer camp. At 6-5 320 he was touted as a potential starter when he first signed. Johnson only has one year of eligibility left and it will be interesting to see if he cracks the starting lineup.

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Dan also has some comments on UMass AD Ryan Bamford's Twitter feed. Bamford says the Minutemen will play an FCS game every year. With a tough independent schedule coming up, a winnable FCS game will help.

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NFL.com has college football's 15 smartest players. The MAC is well represented.

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The Orlando Sentinel ranks Bowling Green as #36 in the nation, but says the Falcons' defense will have to mature quickly for Bowling Green to win the MAC championship.

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ESPN says Victor Cruz's return would make WR's a Giant strength.

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Saturday--April 29th, 2017

This article from News Advance.com reports Coach Whipple and AD Ryan Bamford have discussed adding Liberty to future UMass schedules. The article states Whipple and Bamford will meet this weekend to discuss future scheduling.

Liberty is in Lynchburg, Va if you've forgotten. BTW, the Flames are in the process of a $1 billion dollar  facilities construction that includes a indoor football practice facility.

The Flames are serious about their football.

UMass, Liberty, Army and New Mexico State could form a unofficial mini-conference. It would sure make scheduling easier.

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ESPN predicts Mississippi State has a 95% chance of win against the Minutemen when they meet on November 4th, 2017.

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Appalachian State lost five commitments to Power Five teams late in last year's recruiting period. The App State coaching trust thinks the new recruiting rules could help Group-of-Five schools.

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Saturday--May 13th, 2017

UPDATE: News Advance reports Liberty will play UMass on November 3rd 2018. The previously announced Minuteman schedule (see below) has Troy @ McGuirk on that date.

Troy HC Neal Brown is a former UMass player and assistant coach, so they may be OK with moving to 11/24. I'm sure the UMass brain trust would like to preserve 10/13 as an off date. Liberty's announcement has Troy playing the Flames on 10/13, so it would take a three-way swap to force a UMass-Troy game on that date. So that's a good thing.

The UMass Football Blog has always been a fan of Brown and his coaching. The history of Minutemen football would have been considerably different if the previous regime had hired Brown back in 2012...

UPDATE II: Mike Traini has another post (different from that below) on the Liberty game.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on the report UMass will play Liberty in 2018.

The current 2018 Minutemen schedule is:

09/1/18 @ Boston College

09/08/18 @ Georgia Southern

09/15/18 @ Florida International

09/22/18 Charlotte

09/29/18 @ Ohio

10/06/18 UCF

10/13/16 TBA

10/20/18 Coastal Carolina

10/27/18 @ UConn

11/03/18 Troy

11/10/18 BYU @ Gillette (like Notre Dame, BYU has a national following. UMass is hoping for a decent crowd at Gillette).

11/17/18 @ Georgia

11/24/18 TBA

That's a pretty tough schedule. Three Power Five teams plus potential AAC Champ UCF and potential Sun Belt Champ Troy. The Minutemen need a winnable game. Liberty fits the bill, although that would mean UMass would not have a FCS game in 2018. Note that the Flames are serious about their football, so they could get good quickly.

As mentioned UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford would like to preserve the mid-schedule bye week, but I doubt many of the Sun Belt teams will be enthusiastic about playing in New England in late November. We'll see how persuasive Bamford can be 😁

I'm usually doing the blog between 6:30 and 7:30 am, which is before the daily sports news cycle. If Liberty posts any news, I'll update the blog.

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The next frontier in college football player development: nutrition. 

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Wednesday--August 12th, 2015

The UMass website has a video interview with new UMass AD Ryan Bamford. From a football point of view, the most important section is where Bamford says UMass will pay COA to scholarship athletes. As you remember, the MAC adopted that policy last winter. UMass football would face a tough recruiting challenge if most Group of Five conference were offering COA and the Minutemen were not. We will have enough problems playing an independent schedule.

Dan Malone has a story on the decision.

Matty Vautour also has a post on the decision.

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Dan also has a preview on Akron. Zips head coach Terry Bowden has gone the transfer route since he became head coach. The Zips went 1-11 three straight years in 2010, 11 and 12. They went 5-7 in 2013 and 2014. Akron's defensive line will feature Jamal Marcus (Ohio State transfer), Rodney Cole (Iowa State transfer), SeVon Pittman (Ohio State transfer) and first-team All-Mac NT Cody Grice.

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Kelly #2/ Ashlee Espinal image

Dan quote a Nj.com article that dismissed freshman Daiquan Kelly will join the Minutemen as a redshirt for 2015.

Matty Vautour also has a story on Kelly's dismissal and transfer. Matty says UMass has good insight into Kelley's situation as UMass linebackers coach Charles Walker coached for Penn State and Austin Whipple played for the Nittany Lions.

NJ.com article.

PennLive has a post.

I blogged about UMass recruiting Kelley back in 2013.

Kelley was rated a three-star player by 247Sports and the #9 overall rated player to come out of New Jersey in 2014.

Kelley could be an impact player for the Minutemen in the future. The UMass defense has been on the short side of recruiting numbers since we went FBS. That could be changing.

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Cleveland.com reports with Blake Frohnapfel and others, MAC East teams are strong at QB.

Cleveland.com also says MAC East teams have issues.

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A Bleacher Report writer has Tajae Sharpe as one of 15 Group-of-Five players you should know.

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The Boston College Blog "BC Interruption" previews Notre Dame and says the Irish won't have any trouble with "cupcake' UMass.

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Monday--May 9th, 2016

The Packers have Randall Jette's bio up on their website.

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The Tennessee Titans also have Tajae Sharpe's bio up.

The Titans draft class reports today.

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The Sun-Chronicle profiles sports agent Blaine Roche, who's newest client is Tajae Sharpe. Roche has a degree from UMass Amherst.

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Dan Malone has a story about UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford and reports Bamford is "even more positive" than he was a year ago.

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ESPN reports the college football playoffs are driving the Big 12's expansion.

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Coach Whipple uses a fullback in his pro-style offense, but football scoop says fullbacks are a dying breed.

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Tuesday--March 10th, 2015

New RB Coach Darius Smith works with UMass running backs

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Matty V. has an article on the search for a new A.D. He mentions Georgia Tech associate A.D. Ryan Bamford.

Bamford's Georgia Tech bio. Wikipedia entry. Handled football scheduling for the Ramblin Wrecks.

Matty also mentions former Rhode Island A.D. McElory's Rhode Island bio. This thread talks about him leaving Rhode Island. This article covers McElory's joining the Leffer Agency.

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SB Nation previews Akron. We get the Zips at home on November 11th. They're one of the games we'll have to win to make it to a six-win season.

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SB Nation previews Ball State.

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The NCAA bans cropped jerseys and "Mad Max" style helmet faceguards.

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CBS News covers a new treatment for knee injuries.

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Wednesday--March 22nd, 2017

Mark chguarelli of MassLive reports UMass TE Adam Breneman will receive the Francis X. Keating Award at the Western Massachusetts football banquet.

Breneman should rack up a ton of stats in 2017 catching passes from Andrew Ford. Whipple's pro-set offense works best with an effective TE and a power running game. Hopefully, Breneman will a great year and position himself well for the NFL draft. Along with good numbers, leading the Minutemen out of the wilderness with some wins would also be nice.

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Matty Vautour, the only beat reporter still covering UMass, reports on the opening of Spring practice for the Minutemen. Matty says Ross Comis is still recovering from a torn ACL, but is running. It usually takes a year to fully return from an ACL injury. It will probably be the middle of the 2017 season before he is 100%.

Matty also reports Matt Dawson has been named the defensive coordinator at Norfolk state.

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Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald reports new UMass defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham is starting to rebuild the Minutmen defense.

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This article by MassLive reporter Jordan Grice mentions UMass' Pro Day will be this Thursday.

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Coastal Carolina starts a stadium expansion. UMass will be the first FBS opponent to visit Brooks Stadium.

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The Portland News Herald reports on UMaine's criteria for scheduling FBS games. The Black Bears will play UMass and Central Florida in 2017.

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OT, but I think A.D. Ryan Bamford's decison to hire Pat Kelsey as HC of UMass hoops is a good one. I've been following UMass basketball as long as I have for football. The Minutemen program needs a high-energy guy. I accept we are a mid-major in sports, I will not concede we're doomed to be a low mid-major. With the budget and facilities UMass has, the Minutemen should be contenders for A10 crown, if not every year, then at least often.

So far, I like the hires Bamford has done as A.D.

Hope Kelsey brings five good years to UMass basketball. I'll be happy for him when he moves to a big-bucks ACC job. A resurgence in UMass basketball would also help in UMass finding an all-sports conference.

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