https://www.recorder.com/UMass-football-linked-to-UConn-s-impending-move-to-independence-29625699
He applauds UConn's move to independence, says a invitation to the AAC doesn't make sense for UMass, and thinks more schools will choose the independent route in the near future.
"“From a football standpoint, looking at a league like the American with UConn and Temple in there would have made some sense,” Bamford said. “Now, I don’t think it does and we’ve found that being an independent and getting a really good, competitive, balanced schedule is doable. Now having lived it for three years and scheduling for the next three or four, there’s no real impetus for us to get into a league when I think there’s going to be more independent football-playing schools in the next three-to-five years as there’s going to be conference realignment.”"
"“There’s going to be more schools that jump into independent realizing that we’ve done it and we can do it, and it’s not just Army and BYU and Notre Dame doing it, who are kind of outliers,” Bamford said. “It’s us and New Mexico State and Liberty and now UConn. We can do it, now all of us need to prove we can do it and win. It’s one thing to get a schedule, it’s another thing to go win against that schedule, that’s our next step, we need to start winning six, seven, eight games against a balanced schedule."
He applauds UConn's move to independence, says a invitation to the AAC doesn't make sense for UMass, and thinks more schools will choose the independent route in the near future.
"“From a football standpoint, looking at a league like the American with UConn and Temple in there would have made some sense,” Bamford said. “Now, I don’t think it does and we’ve found that being an independent and getting a really good, competitive, balanced schedule is doable. Now having lived it for three years and scheduling for the next three or four, there’s no real impetus for us to get into a league when I think there’s going to be more independent football-playing schools in the next three-to-five years as there’s going to be conference realignment.”"
"“There’s going to be more schools that jump into independent realizing that we’ve done it and we can do it, and it’s not just Army and BYU and Notre Dame doing it, who are kind of outliers,” Bamford said. “It’s us and New Mexico State and Liberty and now UConn. We can do it, now all of us need to prove we can do it and win. It’s one thing to get a schedule, it’s another thing to go win against that schedule, that’s our next step, we need to start winning six, seven, eight games against a balanced schedule."
