Good morning!
It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the UMass football team, who were outscored by a combined 121-20 at Florida State and Liberty and have been utterly ignored during the recent plethora of conference realignments. UMass walked away from the Mid-American Conference in 2015, an act of hubris that apparently still doesn’t sit well amongst FBS power brokers.
In Tuesday’s Recorder, Kyle Grabowski quoted UMass AD Ryan Bamford saying he’s working “24/7” to make UMass a made member. “With all this realignment there’s opportunities. … We’re trying to make sure that we’re hitting on all those relationships we’ve built, on all those seeds that we’ve planted over the last five years to see if they come to fruition.”
The only seed I’m aware of was planted four years ago when Hurricane Irma forced the UConn-South Florida game to be postponed. Bamford agreed to give up his date against USF so the two AAC schools could play the makeup game. Nice move but the AAC didn’t include UMass in its recent six-team expansion.
When coach Walt Bell was asked why the Minutemen weren’t invited to join the AAC, he implied that UMass simply doesn’t have the goods. “The commissioner (Mike Aresco) made a poignant statement about the nature of college football today. Programs that have invested in their infrastructure and invested resources into their programs were [those] that were rewarded with admission into the AAC.”
Translated that means that while Bamford’s out playing Johnny Appleseed, Bell continues to deal with the consequences of being underfunded. Good recruits commit to schools that don’t store their junk under the stadium grandstand or play to empty seats. UMass averages 10,338 fans a game, fifth lowest in the FBS. The fan game experience includes paying up to $40 to park, no senior discounts and getting hassled by security for trying to bring in a bottle of water.
Bamford was hired in 2015 for his “intimate knowledge of FBS football,” said Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy. During his tenure, the team is 15-57. Despite being the anchor team of the FBS, Bamford’s salary has doubled up to $500,000 according to CTHRUpayroll.
Recently, a sponsor who’s doled out hundreds of thousands to UMass complained to Subbaswamy about Bamford’s poor showing. Subby’s reply: “Although our football and men’s basketball programs have not recently had the competitive success we all desire, I remain confident in AD Bamford’s leadership and in his judgment about coaching and other staffing decisions.”
Initially, I thought Subbaswamy’s ambivalence was because Bamford’s contract expires in six months. Wrong. According to a reliable source, this summer he was quietly extended through 2026 and will get a $25,000 bonus if he’s able to get UMass into an FBS conference. No wonder he’s working 24/7 to get a deal done.
Phone calls seeking confirmation of Bamford’s contract extension went unanswered and messages weren’t returned by either Ed Blaguszewski or Nancy Miller at the UMass office of news and communications.
Bamford gets a gold star for hiring hockey coach Greg Carvel, but Carvel’s on record saying he wouldn’t have come to UMass if his friend Jack Arena at Amherst College hadn’t told him to take the job.
Meanwhile 37-year-old Walter Bell IV is signed through 2023 and is making $628,750 a year with a $939,212 buyout. From all accounts, Bell is a southern gentleman who treats his players well. He was born and raised in a small town near Nashville and hails from three generations of physicians. He was a wide receiver at Middle Tennessee State and majored in criminal justice. His staff was composed mostly of MTSU teammates and others whom he’d met at coaching stops at Maryland and Arkansas State.
Early on, he lost his best recruiter to Boston College. Aazaar Abdul-Rahim coached with Bell at the University of Maryland and recruited talent from the mid-Atlantic region. His deal with UMass was for $126,307; BC’s offer was north of $400,000, according to 247sports. A UMass blogger said that Abdul-Rahim “agonized” over leaving Amherst.
Yeah, like I agonize over choosing lobster or fish sticks.
Loyalty is a two way street and during the team’s hard times Bell has stuck with his two top assistants, co-coach Luke Paschall and defensive coordinator Tommy Restivo. Paschall was raised by Walt Bell’s father and mother from the time he was in middle school. They were teammates in high school and at MTSU, and coached together at Arkansas State and UNC.
Paschall was making $250,000 at UNC until Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora was fired. Today he’s the athletic department’s highest paid assistant coach ($201,800), followed by Restivo ($194,000) and assistant hockey coach Jared DeMichiel ($164,426 including bonuses).
Nearly everyone else from Bell’s inaugural staff is gone. Angelo Mirando was promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator last year and was making $101,487. Today he lives in Tampa and sells wireless hospital beds for a medical technology company.
Offensive line coach Jim Jackson was fired and went to Rice. Tight ends coach Jonathan Bills left for Florida Atlantic. Offensive line coach Micah James and running backs coach Fredi Knighten both left for Utah State, and defensive line coach Cedric Douglas left for the University of Buffalo where he’s making $92,000 according to the Buffalo News, about $15K more than he made at UMass.
Jim Reid, who coached UMass football from 1986-91 and won three league titles, replaced Douglas. Despite the team’s 1-7 record he says the Minutemen haven’t quit and aren’t demoralized. “No one’s going to get demoralized in my room. We have men. Mature men.
“I love the players I coach and the staff is great,” he added. “Coach Bell has been great to me. We’ll see if we can pull off two or three more wins.”
One of those W’s would have to be today against URI. After a 5-0 start, the Rams have lost three straight games by a combined score of 117-31. Their roster includes 22 Division I transfers, including quarterback Kasim Hill who was a walk-on at Tennessee.
USA Today’s combined ratings of Division I and I-AA teams has URI 189th and UMass 190th. Fans of a certain age will remember when these two teams played in the Yankee Conference. In those days, the Minutemen dominated, but what happens today is a mystery.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet95@yahoo.com