UMass > MAC for all sports in 2025-2026

[zmart]

All we can hope for now is that 3 or 4 schools leave the ACC and we get an invite to replace them.

 

[freescooter]

The AAC has changed a lot since we left...

That’s right. And time has passed. I remember when we were NEVER going to play BC in anything ever again. Guess what? We play them in lots of things. We’ve played them in basketball, football, baseball, we are in a conference for mens and womens hockey and they wee one of the biggest supporters for adding us. We now play Syracuse in football. Basically the world changes. We have a series with Pitt in the works. Animosities wane over time. And things that make sense overtake things things that are problematic. UMass was never joining the MAC for all sports. Remember that? Again, times and circumstances changed.

 

[freescooter]

Any time you can get a team that is regularly in the bottom 10, you grab em.

Right. So the Big10 took Rutgers because…? The ACC took Cal because they like their uniforms, I guess.

 

[UCFBfan]

This Independence crap is all gonna hit the wall when conferences, P2/4 ones, decide to increase conference games to 9 and teams decide they can't fit games against an Indy in their schedule. When teams start buying out future games vs us, or "pushing them to a later date", then the sky is really falling. Right now, we just look like a loner who is waiting for the prom queen who'll never show.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

We could be paying the AAC both exit and some entry fees and maybe still keep our game with UMass during rivalry week. That would be great!

 

[UCMB88]

Random question somewhat related to this topic - how do the logistics work for transporting gear game to game? Does a UMAss just keep a warehouse and truck local in Ohio and transport from there - then they would need 2 of everything? I'd think a Cal/Stamford might do the same for ACC. Or is there shared equipment that teams use locally? What did we do in the AAC and the southern schools?

All of the schools have an 18 wheeler they utilize to transport the football equipment to every away game. There is actually a website dedicated to these trucks:
Equipment Transport Trucks Of Football

 

[cellocgg]

All we can hope for now is that 3 or 4 schools leave the ACC and we get an invite to replace them.

Big 12?

 

[jostar1]

The AAC has changed a lot since we left...

Mike Aresco, the American Athletic Conference’s only commissioner in the league’s 11-year history, has announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.

 

[Vowelguy]

Right. So the Big10 took Rutgers because…? The ACC took Cal because they like their uniforms, I guess.

Rutgers brought NY/NJ cable boxes back when that mattered, access to one of the better HS recruiting in NJ, and a small extension of the conference footprint, among other things.

 

[Skiblets]

This has to nudge the AD towards some action no?

 

[How Sway?!]

This has to nudge the AD towards some action no?

No, because we're not UMass

 

[buddy]

This has to nudge the AD towards some action no?

I think he did what he could. The Big 12 snub really hurt. I don't know what more he can possibly do. It is clear that the ACC doesn't want UConn, and they are likely the only power conference lifeline. The only hope I see is that ESPN comes to its senses and rescues UConn. It would have been nice if our state politicians put some heat on them, but that also appears unlikely.

 

[huskymedic]

This has to nudge the AD towards some action no?

Nah... ride the current wave till it crashes to shore. It's not dire yet - the unionization activity circling private universities across the landscape will leave some current "haves" - "having not" and they will be forced to reevaluate their current positions in college sports. Its not going to get better for a number of institutions and increased costs may create openings. My gut sez UConn needs to hold out a bit longer (unless the ability to schedule desirable games/recruit/fund NIL crashes to a halt).

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I really wonder if we’ve talked recently to them about football. Independence has no future.

I’m actually doing a 180 in this. In a few years there will be no football conferences and hoops and Olympics will be in regional conferences. UConn IS the future

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I think he did what he could. The Big 12 snub really hurt. I don't know what more he can possibly do. It is clear that the ACC doesn't want UConn, and they are likely the only power conference lifeline. The only hope I see is that ESPN comes to its senses and rescues UConn. It would have been nice if our state politicians put some heat on them, but that also appears unlikely.

Gameday coming to Storrs was …interesting?

 

[Vowelguy]

This has to nudge the AD towards some action no?

To do what exactly?

 

[jostar1]

Big 12?

I wonder about this, too. With the BIG and SEC becoming the P2, the BIG 12 has to hang their hat on becoming the best basketball conference in order to stay part of the conversation. They were snubbed when the BIG and SEC formed an advisory group to "address the significant challenges facing college athletics" without them.

 

[Greg]

St. Louis and Dayton to UMass?

If UCONN were to join, say the ACC or the Big some road trips would be across the country. To hell with regional rivalrie$. All that matter$ i$ money.

 

[Exit 4]

I wonder about this, too. With the BIG and SEC becoming the P2, the BIG 12 has to hang their hat on becoming the best basketball conference in order to stay part of the conversation. They were snubbed when the BIG and SEC formed an advisory group to "address the significant challenges facing college athletics" without them.

And when you look at the B12 map it’s rather apparent they could use more markets. The challenge is getting them to stop daydreaming about raiding the ACC to fix their markets issue.

 

[Alum86]

This Independence crap is all gonna hit the wall when conferences, P2/4 ones, decide to increase conference games to 9 and teams decide they can't fit games against an Indy in their schedule. When teams start buying out future games vs us, or "pushing them to a later date", then the sky is really falling. Right now, we just look like a loner who is waiting for the prom queen who'll never show.

All true. I am hoping Benedict knows what he is doing.

 

[jostar1]

And when you look at the B12 map it’s rather apparent they could use more markets. The challenge is getting them to stop daydreaming about raiding the ACC to fix their markets issue.

Maybe UConn can be included in the raid. I do think Yormark wants NYC.

 

[Bongo Fury]

That UConn KU game was pretty cool

 

[cellocgg]

Maybe UConn can be included in the raid. I do think Yormark wants NYC.

Not to mention bringing in some of the highest regular season viewership of any school of the season (and BE history), being the first non ESPN school this season to host GameDay, and apparently being 4th in the country for Basketball revenue

 

[Jimdish255]

All true. I am hoping Benedict knows what he is doing.

There appears to be a limited set of options, and they mostly depend of the fear/greed index of others.

 

[huskymedic]

More yada...yada...yada from Stewie:

https://twitter.com/theathleticcfb/status/1762838957082251626?s=12

-> Now that UMass and Army have found conferences to call home, how do you see UConn managing football given it doesn’t have the NBC safety net that Notre Dame has? — Andrew W., New York

You’ve got me. Any suggestions? From where I sit, Jim Mora is being handed a losing deck. UConn is the rare, rare school that has opted to prioritize basketball over football in terms of its conference alignment. And it’s hard to argue the results. The men’s program was floundering during its years in the AAC. Since rejoining the Big East, Dan Hurley has won one national title and is contending for another. The Huskies are back where they once belonged in the national conversation. Mission accomplished.

But UConn football is out there on an island, playing a hodgepodge schedule that has a few Power 5 foes (this year: at Maryland, at Duke, Wake Forest and at Syracuse) and a bunch of yawners (Merrimack, FAU, Buffalo, Temple, Rice, Georgia State, at Syracuse and at UMass). In Mora’s first season, the Huskies went 6-6, earning an invite to the Myrtle Beach Bowl. I guess that’s something. But this is the same program that reached the 2010 Fiesta Bowl as a BCS-conference member. And many Huskies fans still hold out hope of returning to the power-conference level.

So UConn is stuck in football purgatory. Joining the MAC, as UMass did, is not desirable to the fan base, even if the MAC were open to taking the Huskies in football only. Which, if you can’t have the men’s and women’s basketball programs, what’s the point? And it’s not like joining the MAC would provide some sort of financial salvation. In 2022, the conference brought in just $35.7 million in revenue, total. That’s less than $3 million per school (and not all that revenue gets distributed to the schools). That’s barely a dent in the reported $35.8 million university subsidy UConn needed to meet its budget in 2023.

So despite the fact UConn and Notre Dame are the only remaining independents, it’s still probably UConn’s only feasible option that wouldn’t jeopardize basketball. The good news is, the school has booked at least 11 opponents each season through 2027. But with no conference championship to play for, and no realistic path to the CFP, it feels like a hollow existence. It frankly would make more sense to drop back down to FCS, where the Huskies memorably reached the playoff quarterfinals in 1998, but the fan base — most notably QB great Dan Orlovsky — would mutiny. <