UMass AD begins the process of hiring a new football coach

UMass Athletic Director Ryan Bamford gave Walt Bell a two-year grace period to rebuild the Minutemen football program.

When the improvements he expected in the third year never materialized, Bamford relieved Bell of his duties in the aftermath of Saturday’s embarrassing 35-22 home loss to Rhode Island.

Bell was 2-23 overall, 1-8 this season. Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Alex Miller will serve as interim head coach for UMass’ final three games against Maine, Army and New Mexico State.

“I wasn’t anticipating having to make a coaching change,” said Bamford during a press briefing on Tuesday morning. “But I felt like, at this point in our season, there were some things just from a progressive standing of our football program and not seeing some of the progress we wanted on the field.

“He (Bell) came into a challenging situation three years ago and really was able to develop some things in our program to our benefit as we currently stand.

“It is a really great profession in a really tough business. This is one where we had to make a decision about how our football program is going forward. Ultimately my decision was in the best interests of that program and making a change to bring in a new leader.”

Bamford had immediate considerations for removing Bell before the end of the season. Bamford can start the process of finding a new head coach before the December recruitment deadline and to evaluate the top available talent in the NCAA transfer portal after the season.

“I have been on record in my six years we generally wait until the end of the year and look at every aspect of our program,” said Bamford. “Football is a little bit of a different animal in that we have a signing period in December on the 15th and we cannot miss a recruiting cycle.

“We can also fill our class with more transfers that are eligible right away from other institutions as well a junior colleges that can come mid-year.”

Bell, 37, was the offensive coordinator at Florida State when he signed a five-year deal with UMass in 2019 for a salary of $625,000 per year. UMass will only have to pay the differential if Bell accepts a coaching position from another school. Bamford said his football budget has grown from $7.5 million to $10.5 million and would appropriate a larger portion towards coaching salaries

UMass is one of seven Independent FBS programs, which is a difficult endeavor. UMass is looking to find a Group-5 conference willing to make a football only agreement which would allow the Minutemen to remain in the A-10 in other sports.

With conferences in a continual state of realignment without geographical boundaries, there are vacancies to be filled. But conference committees can be reluctant to accept a bid from an FBS team like UMass when they lose to and FCS program like Rhode Island.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3GZXqDU