UMass To The MAC: UMass Football Joining The MAC College Football Conference In 2025

Back in March of this year the MAC made known that UMass was to be coming back into the league on the 1 st of July 2025.

That means, now for the first time in more than a decade of A-10 membership that UMass has conference home. Here is more information about this move and the impact that the move will have on Minutemen football team.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst & MAC Conference Partnership and Schedule

Again, with the exception of football and men’s rowing, most of UMass’ sports will transition to MAC play after the 2024-25 academic year. Those are football, men & women basketball , baseball men & women cross country, field hockey, track & field both for men and women, women’s lacrosse women soccer, softball, swimming and diving men & women, and women tennis.

Today UMass is an independent football member but in other sports, the athletic team plays in the Atlantic 10 conference.

“Being one of the top public research universities in the United States with a strong history of intercollegiate athletics, UMass Amherst has a perfect potential to become a part of the Mid-American Conference which comprises the similarly ranked institutions,” said Javier A. Reyes, Chancellor. “Institutional missions, values as well as the transformational tasks of impacting our respective communities make us allies with the MAC We look forward to this partnership in athletics not only because it would waken up the MAC and its members to a new dawn spearheaded by the likes of the UMass Amherst but we also see this partnership as privileged to take the profile of UMass Amherst and everyone in the MAC to a new level of

Where And In What Conference Is The UMass Football Team Competing In?

UMass football program has been independent since the year 2015. The Minutemen were in the MAC before that though.

UMass played its first season in FBS in the 2012. The Minutemen competed in the MAC for three years before moving to a classification of independent.

A membership in football will be the addition of the thirteenth member in to UMass to the MAC. They conference is eliminating divisions for 2024 and operation year forward.

MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said in a statement, “Today is a historical day for the Mid-American Conference because it’s our pride to accept the University of Massachusetts in our conference. ” Adding UMass is the next step in making the programs even stronger we are becoming collectively. Cordial invitations go to their student-athletes, coaches, administrators, alumni and fans to the Conference.

“This is a rare chance to bring in a state flagship institution with strong academic and athletics components,” he said, looking to the future and future joint efforts in creating the best conditions for the student-athletes to develop their talents to the fullest.

UMass’ Football Record

They played in the ‘’2023’’ and had a disappointing season posting a 4-8 record. That was Minutemen’s best record since the 2018 season.

They UMass has not recorded any winning season nor has it participated in a bowl game since they opted for the FBS status in 2012. The Minutemen represent the FBS with having a 24-112 record.

“The entire athletics program will enhance significantly by integrating and cooperating with the MAC and the institutions,” stated UMass Athletic Director, Ryan Bamford. “When thinking about the future for us, in this very tumultuous and unsteady collegiate athletic landscape, it is imperative that we have conference counterparts with similar institutional mission statements, focus and investment into athletic programs that matches our own, and commitments to the success of athletics, yet the transition to MAC will then grant even further resources and the ability for our department to self develop and expand in ways that will tremendously aid in the targeted academic achievement of our students

UMass Football 2024 Schedule

Returning to MAC, UMass plays five opponents in 2024.

The Minutemen have non-conference games against Eastern Michigan at home on the 31st of August and against Toledo and Buffalo on Sep 7 and Sep 14, respectively.

UMass also has Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 28 and Northern Illinois on Oct. 5 on the road.

The Minutemen will also be facing Liberty and UConn, Central Connecticut State and Wagner from the FCS and Power Four Missouri, Mississippi State, and Georgia.

UMass’ Football Head Coach and the entire coaching staff

By the year 2024, Don Brown will be in his third year in his second tenure as UMass’ head coach. He has certainly not impressed in the last couple of years guiding the Minutemen to a paltry 4-20.

Brown was also the head of UMass from 2004-2008. The Minutemen were 43-19 at that time which was the best five year run in the programs history. It earned two conference championships and qualified for the FCS playoffs twice.

Brown is also coaching at other FBS programs prior to the year 2022 as a defensive coordinator most notably at Arizona in the 2021 season, Michigan between 2016 and 2020 seasons, at Boston College between 2013 and 2015 season, at Connecticut between 2011 and 2012 seasons, and at Maryland between the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

NCAA Announces it is willing to compensate College Football Players

Very recently, the NCAA came to an understanding with the Power Four leagues to allow payment to the athletes. This obviously affects UMass.

This is in the wake of the NCAA’s agreeing to settle in two federal antitrust cases where former college athletes will be paid after they weren’t permitted to thrive monetarily off of their names, images, and likenesses while in college. This will apparently lead to the governing body of college sports paying, about $2. 7 billion over 10 years to former and current athletes as reported by ESPN.

The rest shall be borned by other sources but the NCAA will finance about an equivalent of its nearly half. And out of that remaining half, exactly two-thirds shall be borne by non-Power Four conferences and programs.