UMass expected to return to MAC for all sports beginning in 2025 after 10-year absence, per reports

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UMass is expected to join the MAC in all sports starting in the 2025-26 academic year, according to multiple reports. This marks a return to the MAC for UMass’ football program, which competed in the league from 2012-15 after making the jump from the Football Championship Subdivision. UMass’ other sports currently compete in the Atlantic 10. 

UMass football has competed as an independent since its departure from the MAC in 2015. The Minutemen have gone through three different coaches and failed to make a bowl game in the years since. They just finished their second consecutive season under coach Don Brown, who himself made a return to the program ahead of the 2022 season. 

Brown led UMass from 2004-08 when it competed in the Atlantic 10 and then the Colonial Athletic Association. He won two conference titles and guided the program to two FCS playoff appearances before leaving in 2009. In two years since making his way back to Amherst, Brown has compiled a 4-20 record, but three of those victories came during the 2023 season to mark the program’s highest win total since 2018 when it went 4-8. 

The addition of UMass will increase the MAC’s membership to 13, an imbalance that would normally be rectified in a divisional format. However, the MAC announced in November that the 2023 season would be its last with divisions. Moving forward, teams will compete for a linear spot in the now 13-team standings, falling in line with a majority of conferences in the modern era. 

UMass’ history with MAC 

UMass began a move to the FBS level and earned support from the MAC in…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/umass-expected-to-return-to-mac-for-all-sports-beginning-in-2025-after-10-year-absence-per-reports/

Author : Will Backus

Publish date : 2024-02-26 20:56:28

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