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Is it possible that two things can be true? Perhaps he wasn’t the right choice then, maturity, etc and that the years in Alabama allowed him to reflect on that and adjust accordingly and may now be ready? It’s also possible that once an AD lets a ship sail, they move on. i think one of the big issues with the current GH3 staff is they are all young and inexperienced. They really leaded a JW type assistant to help this out. Instead, we have 4 young guys figuring it out on the fly while getting promoted weeks into their tenure with no reason for it, well in advance of any on court production.

I agree with you that re: budget we are peers and could expect to have the same things UMass has based on that. I was only trying to explore why it is that even though we are budgetary peers, we have an entirely different NIL reality. The reason is that UMass has a built in diehard fanbase and UB has like, me and 50 other people. UMass has had dedicated organized fans since long before UB returned to D1. Both my folks are dual UMass and UB alums, and I remember as a kid going to a WNY alumni watch party for the 1996 Final Four vs Kentucky. I imagine their AD has close relationships with them which helped when it came time to form the collective. UMass is also just more of a sports school sadly. They compete for National titles in hockey. That doesn't excuse ADMA's sluggish acceptance of NIL, but I hope we can learn from them and other more advanced peer institutions.

Huge fan of Frank Martin heck of a coach and serious recruiter. He took University of South Carolina to final 4 during his 10yrs there. This is his second year at UMass and already +2 in conference play. His style of play and overall experience MAC MBB is on notice when they officially join. The good thing though he has reset the market for MAC MBB coaches and staff salaries.

On paper it seems like a great move for everything except football. Their basketball program (while no, it's not Gonzaga) will raise the overall tides of the conference and they'll compete at a high level. Academically it seems like a slam dunk and gives UB an academic peer in the conference. Football doesn't move the needle much, but overall I think this is a pretty nice get for the MAC.

Julius Erving just turned 74. His last two choices for college were UB and UMass. He went to UMass because they hired his high school coach as an assistant. This per former UB man's and women's basketball coach and former AD, Ed Muto. Sprry for the triple post. It did not look like the first attempt was posted.

UMass joining has to be a good thing for UB right? Either it signals an expanding MAC that includes more schools like UB or the top of the MAC or maybe it gives UB a partner to join another current conference more east coast based or one that doesn't even exist yet Personally feel UB should be in a conference more east coast/atlantic based, heck even our recruiting seems to be headed that direction in recent years

UMass welcome to the MAC and…our state of Ohio favored MAC conference refs especially around tournament time.

Glad you're still on the UB bandwagon... :-) Tequila up!

Welcome aboard. Happy to have a fellow flagship school join.

Pulled this data from Verbal Commits to see the landscape of the MAC. I sorted it by open offers to the current HS junior class as that stood out to me the most. I know our staff hasn't even been here for a full year, but they had a full summer and now nearly a full HS season to evaluate. Why do we offer so few kids? For 2025, we have one commit (hand-delivered from DC by Cage) and three offers (one of which was made by the previous staff). We're also one of three to not have an offer out to 2026 yet. A possible explanation could be the staff is looking more to the transfer portal after a big freshman class that I imagine was challenging to assemble. Also they likely know that next season has to be much better for job security's sake, so more established talent is preferred.