University of Massachusets Athletics
Answers To Ask The A.D., Part VI
May 31, 2005 | General
May 31, 2005
With the UMass teams' competition complete for 2004-05, here's the latest installment of "Ask The A.D." with John McCutcheon. After finishing his first full year at UMass, the A.D., addresses various topics from basketball scheduling to media coverage in Boston. Check out his latest answers.
Question: Good selection on our new basketball coach. Are there any plans to upgrade the non-conference schedule and try to pick up a stronger radio affiliate in the Boston area? Sometimes I am unable to be near a computer to pick up the game.
From, Stephen A. Veiga, Class of '73
Ipswich, MA
McCutcheon: The schedule is still being put together but as we have discussed in this forum previously it is a real science constructing the right schedule. We already have some very attractive match-ups on the schedule and some return dates from prior contracts to fulfill. When building the schedule you have to have a goal in mind. For us that goal is what schedule best positions us to make the NCAA tournament.
RPI, as most of you know, is a huge factor in that process. The single most important factor in the RPI is winning. There is no such thing as a good loss in the RPI calculation. The second most important factor in the RPI is that your conference wins in the non conference schedule as a group. We obviously can't control how the other A-10 schools will do but we must put together a schedule that allows for wins. This does not mean a "cup cake" schedule but as silly as this sounds wins are much better than losses if you want to go to the NCAA Tournament.
Question: New England has become a hot bed of golf -- both in terms of the quality of junior players and the quality of courses available. Have you ever considered adding varsity golf for both the men and the women?
Sincerely,
John Connelly, Toledo, Ohio
McCutcheon: I would love to start golf programs but unfortunately we do not have the resources to do so. In fact many of our existing sports are not fully funded so until that is done we really can't consider adding more sports.
Question: I ask this question as to handicapped accessability at The Softball Complex and at the Men's Lacrosse Garber Field.
I was told by your office that both venues were handicapped accessible. Well, accessibility includes the ability to watch the game. I attempted to watch a game at The Softball field in my wheelchair.
Not possible because the circumference of the field is blocked at wheelchair height by fencing and tarps. I circled the field looking for an "accessible" site, there is none. I eventually pulled and crawled up the stairs in the bleachers behind home plate to watch.
As an alumnus of the University , this is quite embarrassing. One to ask an honest question and then to receive an inaccurate answer.
I hope that this is not the situation at the lacrosse field and that sometime in the future I will be able to actually watch a Softball game without mountain climbing !!
Sincerely, Jim Brooks
Northampton
McCutcheon: First, Jim let me apologize for the experience you had at softball. No excuses on this one. We need to improve the wheelchair accessibility and viewing locations at softball, soccer, and lacrosse. The seating at all of those venues is bleachers but I am sure we can provide a platform that improves the situation significantly. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Question: I have heard that funding for the varsity ski team will be cut or the team will be cut from the sports program or something to this effect, is this true? If so, why is this? Thanks.
From Marshall Rivers,
Pembroke, Mass.
McCutcheon: No, we are not cutting the ski programs. We did meet with both teams to review their budgets and structure. The end result is that we now have a staffing and budget plan that will be much more efficient and supportive for both teams.
Question: I have noticed that news coverage of UMass athletics is minimal in the Boston area. From my experience, this makes following our teams difficult, and imagine this lack of coverage causes UMass to be an afterthought to most casual sports fans in the area. It seems UMass games (football, basketball, hockey, etc) only get coverage when the games are televised, but other programs such as BC get coverage even when there is no live television broadcast of the game.
Has any thought been given to providing news stations with footage of non-televised games (maybe this is something the sports management department could organize at minimal cost) to increase UMass' visibility in eastern Massachusetts? Also, would it be possible to partner with a public station to provide coverage of home basketball, hockey, or football games that are not scheduled to be televised otherwise, such as is done with UNH hockey games?
Thanks.
Joe, Medford, Mass.
McCutcheon: Joe, Thanks for your interest and enthusiasm. I think we're beginning to penetrate the Boston market more than we have in the last few years. Over the last month we have had features on NESN Television about Travis Ford, the lacrosse team in the NCAAs and baseball's Matt Torra. NESN and the network stations all showed highlights of lacrosse for the NCAA games. In the newspapers, the Globe has written several feature stories on UMass athletes (lacrosse's Sean Morris, Jeff Zywicki and baseball's Matt Torra) in addition to having a staff writer Michael Vega cover the NCAA Tournament games for lacrosse. The Globe also covered the softball team in the NCAA's at Texas. The Globe also has had several more stories on Travis Ford and his recruiting for the upcoming season.
As far as more television coverage we would love it and our staff is working hard on getting more stories on TV in Boston. Right now, we have to pay for satellite uplinks for non-televised game highlights in Boston. BC is in Boston so the cameras are there at their accessibility. We hope to have more in the future.
So you know, we are working on streaming internet video coverage for many sports including football, hockey and basketball for next season so highlights will be available online.
