A Look Ahead: UMass football will unveil its new look

A Look Ahead: UMass football will unveil its new look

Monday, January 2, 2012

1

AP FILE photo

University of Massachusetts athletics director John McCutcheon, left, named Notre Dame?s offensive coordinator Charley Molnar the new football coach. Molnar?s plans will be revealed in 2012.

AMHERST - In April, the University of Massachusetts made a significant commitment to the future of the football team.

With its conference, the Colonial Athletic Association, unraveling, UMass chose to invest in itself and upgrade its program to the top level - Football Bowl Subdivision.

The school announced in grand fashion at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough that the home of the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will host UMass home games. The team will join the Mid-American Conference and begin play in 2012. The Minutemen will be bowl-eligible in 2013.

The move has been debated all year. Questions and fears about the cost have surfaced. Issues were raised about the impact the move east would have on both the local fan base as well as local economies. On the football side, we found out who Charley Molnar was and what the new coach's immediate and long-term goals were for the program.

Over the next year we will learn more.

In the coming months Molnar will introduce his coaching staff. More importantly, his first recruiting class will be announced and it will certainly be analyzed. The inaugural class hasn't even set foot on campus and the weight of the program's future already rests on its shoulders.

Our first glimpse of Molnar's operation will come in late April during spring football sessions. Preseason practice begins in August, then shortly after that is the first game with Connecticut on Aug. 30 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn.

UMass scheduled some big-time nonconference opponents during its infant year. The team travels to Michigan Sept. 15. It nearly knocked off the Wolverines at the Big House in 2010. UMass also plays Indiana at Gillette Sept. 8 and at Vanderbilt Oct. 27.

By the end of the coming year we will have an idea of where UMass stands and how far it still has to go.

April 2011 was the opening kickoff.

Jan. 1, 2012, the clock officially started for UMass football. Hopefully, this year is full of good news.

Mike Moran is Gazette sports editor.

Source: http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/01/02/umass-football-will-unveil-its-new-look

christmas tree tax cmas cmas world series of poker joe walsh zsa zsa gabor heavy d dead