Miami (Ohio) head coach Chuck Martin watches from the sideline during the second half of the Mid-American Conference championship game against Toledo on Dec. 2, 2023, in Detroit.
AP file
AMHERST – One of the benefits of the UMass football program’s move to the MAC is the possibility of playing in the conference championship game. This is because the Minutemen were independent of his FBS and he could not play for eight years.
The Daily Hampshire Gazette spoke with Miami (Ohio) 2023 MAC Champion Head Coach Chuck Martin to learn more about the benefits of playing for a conference title.
“It means so much more than a bowl game,” Martin said. “When you're an independent at the University of Massachusetts, you're probably not playing your best. You're probably not playing at the University of Michigan for a national title, but what are you playing for? How do I go to a bowl game? Bowl games are amazing. I love bowl games, but the (MAC) Championship Game is one of the nine championship games, our The intensity, the energy, the stress, the pressure of playing in the NCAA Championship Game. That's our big dance.”
At Thursday's press conference announcing Massachusetts' move to the MAC, Massachusetts athletic director Ryan Bamford acknowledged how difficult it would be for Massachusetts to play outside the conference. UMass was an associate member of the MAC in football from 2012 until 2015, but was tied to Temple's conference membership. When Temple decided to leave, the MAC gave the University of Massachusetts an ultimatum: stay for all sports or leave for football.
UMass has decided to remain in the Atlantic 10 and become independent from the FBS. Bamford, who took the University of Massachusetts job in 2015, admitted he wanted to keep the University of Massachusetts' other sports in the Atlantic 10 and find an affiliated home for football, but the conference and its media partners said affiliate membership There was no interest in it, only regular members. membership.
“Being independent wasn't a very good long-term strategy,” Bamford said. “We had young guys in the locker room downstairs who hadn't had a chance to compete for a conference championship in eight years. It's hard to be around student-athletes and not have that ability.”
Massachusetts men's basketball coach Frank Martin echoed that sentiment.
“All of us coaches in this room are in the league,” Martin said. “At the end of the season they give you a trophy and they say go. (The football team) deserves that opportunity too.”
Rene Ingoglia, a Massachusetts Hall of Famer and two-time All-American in football, told the Daily Hampshire Gazette last week that playing in a conference championship moves the team toward more specific goals throughout the year. He said that he could work on it.
“As a former player, you want to play for something every year,” Ingoglia said.
Chuck Martin coached to the BCS National Championship Game as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator in 2012 before his time at Miami. However, since its inception in 2013, only one school in the Group of Five (Cincinnati in 2021) has participated in the College Football Playoff.
“Just the experience (of the MAC Championship Game), that’s what we’re doing,” Martin said. “We all want to be in the national championship game, but realistically, for most of us, that's probably not going to happen… Now, for the kids at the Massachusetts schools, you have to compete for that every year.” Will I ever have a chance? That's why I still coach, because I want to get that game. That game means everything.”
While MIT technically could have made it to the bowl game as an independent team with the required six wins (season-high three wins for an FBS team), Chuck Martin He argued that the team is spending the year chasing a conference championship, not its potential. A bowl game against a non-conference opponent.
“How can you go into this year thinking you can win six games to play in a bowl that no one cares about and no one is paying attention to?” Martin said. “That's nice, but we're the only 18 team playing this (conference championship) weekend. The rest of college football is done, but we're left with 18 and the spotlight is on us. There is.”
And for the MAC in particular, there will be further benefits during conference championship weekend at Ford Field, which has hosted the title game for the past 20 seasons. Last year, 20,200 people attended the game and 1.29 million watched Miami beat Toledo 23-14 on ESPN.
“The first Saturday in December is pretty special,” Martin said. “Working all your life, going to championship games, being on ESPN…For us, the venue Ford Field makes it 10 times better. It's really cool. It's really, really cool.”
