(04-06-2014 12:56 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 10:54 AM)SHWISH Wrote:  

(04-06-2014 10:38 AM)Niner National Wrote:  Seems that JMU is going to wait themselves into irrelevancy.

These schools can't be that stupid.

UMASS going indy makes no sense, they must have a plan b.
Same for JMU.

I'm not sure they do have a plan B.

Here is UMass' plan B

1) Somehow secure an all sports bid to the AAC - Don't see that happening. Would be pretty stupid on the AAC's part.
2) Somehow secure a football only bid to CUSA or the Belt. Neither of those are slam dunks
3) Drop football back to FCS - There is persistent and strong opposition to UMass' FBS move.
4) Persue life as a FBS independent - Could happen.

What you also don't understand is that the UMass' A-10 membership is VERY lucrative. And basketball drives the bus in Amherst. UMass basketball attendance average is comparable with their real football attendance.

#1 is true
#2 Believe is SBC Football-only. Never heard anything regarding CUSA football anywhere at UMass.
#3 is never talked about. Think about UMass firing Charle Molnar with two years left on his contract. It took a lot of people to be 100% all in for FBS; the Chancellor, President, Board of Trustees, and of course large donors. One, who paid the 880k plus on severance packages to the coaches. Not a penny from that is coming from the University or State.
#4. Thought about it and don't like the idea.
#5. Perhaps an all sports to CUSA but have not heard anything about that as well.

You guys know that I strongly prefer SBC Football only. This gives us a home and we should be solid by the time we play in conference. This will give the other transition teams time to come up to full scholarships before adding another transition team.

Hope it all happens and it should be an interesting month or so.

The attendance is not true, we had 20k plus games and no game under 10k. Attendance went up almost 50% between year one and two of FBS football. Expect another increase this year as well, especially with having Boston College for a home game even thou it's Labor Day week end.