University of Massachusets Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Director of Athletics
- Location:
- 308 Mullins Center
- Alma Mater:
- Ithaca, 2000
- E-Mail:
Ryan Bamford was named the seventh permanent Director of Athletics in the history of University of Massachusetts on March 24, 2015.
In his first 10-plus years at the helm, Bamford's impact and influence on the progress and growth of UMass athletics have grown into integral sources of pride for the university and surrounding community.
Bamford orchestrated Massachusetts’ move to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as a full member, beginning on July 1, 2025. With the shift, Bamford secured a conference home for football while aligning with similarly situated public research universities to benefit the entire athletics program.
Under Bamford, the department finished 84th overall and first among all Atlantic 10 and MAC schools in the final 2024-25 Learfield Directors' Cup standings, which measures successful collegiate athletics programs based on NCAA postseason performance across all sports. It marked the best Learfield Directors' Cup finish in 25 years for UMass, dating back to a 51st-place ranking in the final 1998–99 standings. Also in the past year, Bamford hired highly-regarded football coach Joe Harasymiak, who most recently served as the defensive coordinator at Rutgers, as the 32nd head football coach in program history (announced on December 4).
Since Bamford arrived in western Massachusetts, he has led an influx of revenue generation while driving the athletics department budget from $34.2 million in 2015 to over $55 million. To help UMass compete among Division I FBS programs in a constantly changing athletics landscape, early in his UMass tenure Bamford negotiated lucrative long-term partnership agreements with Adidas and multi-media rights holder Learfield/IMG.
The department’s greatest financial metric for success under Bamford has been in fundraising. Bamford’s leadership has led to unprecedented fundraising growth for the Minutemen Club and recently launched Script U Scholarship Society, resulting in nearly $1.5 million raised since March 2025. During Bamford’s tenure, fundraising efforts have blossomed from $1.62 million (FY15) to as high as $8.4 million (FY23) while increasing the number of donors by more than 230 percent. Over the past six years, UMass Athletics has raised over $42 million, completed numerous facility projects and secured the first two fully funded scholarship endowments in department history.
UMass Athletics’ success under Bamford has extended beyond fundraising. Since 2015, 14 of the department’s 21 programs (67%) have captured at least one team or individual conference championship. In April 2021, the men’s hockey program won the NCAA Division I National Championship with a 5-0 win over St. Cloud State, just the third national title for UMass and first since 1998. The 2018-19 hockey team also reached the NCAA national championship game, three years after Bamford named Greg Carvel head coach of the Minutemen.
UMass won more conference regular season and tournament sports championships than any Atlantic 10 Conference member from 2015-2025, closing out the final season in the league with five titles in 2024-25. Additionally, the men's lacrosse (CAA before the A-10) and ice hockey (Hockey East) programs have claimed multiple league crowns during Bamford's tenure.
In 2019, Bamford introduced a comprehensive strategic vision, developed through a collaborative process focused on redefining its mission, values, and key priorities: Educate, Win, Inspire, and Invest. In response to the shifting landscape of Division I athletics—including changes in governance, revenue distribution and the evolving impact of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL)—the department is now undertaking significant updates to its strategic plan to align with current and future opportunities.
Bamford's recruitment of top-level head coaching talent, including men's basketball (Frank Martin), women's basketball (Tory Verdi and Mike Leflar), hockey (Greg Carvel) and football (Joe Harasymiak), has elevated the department's coaching roster and bodes well for the future of each program.
• In just his fifth season at UMass in 2020-21, Carvel's hockey program captured its first Hockey East tournament championship and first NCAA national championship. The 2018-19 team won the program’s first Hockey East regular-season championship and reached the NCAA national championship game for the first time in team history. Carvel was then named the 2019 Spencer Penrose Award winner, given annually as the CCM/AHCA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year. Sophomore defenseman Cale Makar was unanimously named the Hockey East Player of the Year and became the first player in UMass history to win the prestigious Hobey Baker Award. The Minutemen have earned a place in five of the last six NCAA tournaments.
• In 2023-24, Martin led the Minutemen to their best campaign since 2014, finishing with a 20-11 overall record and securing a top-four seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship. The campaign marked the program's first 20-win season since 2013-14 and first top-four seed since the 2007-08 season.
• In 2019-20, the women’s basketball team won 20 games for the first time since 1995-96 and hosted an Atlantic 10 Championship game for the first time in 22 years. In 2020-21, the Minutewomen lost in the A10 Championship game and earned a berth to the WNIT, winning multiple post-season games for the first time in program history. In 2021-22, the team won the Atlantic 10 championship for the first time in program history, appeared in the NCAA tournament and finished with a school-record 26 wins. Then in 2022-23, the program claimed its first-ever regular-season Atlantic 10 championship, put together a program-best, 12-game winning streak and added another appearance in the WNIT. Then in Leflar’s second season at the helm in 2024-25, the Minutewomen improved their win total by 12, posting the highest win percentage increase by a second-year DI head coach and the team advanced to the second round of the WNIT.
Bamford joined the department during the transition to FBS Independent status, navigating building 12-game regular-season schedules. He now leads the program into its next chapter as it re-joins the MAC in 2025, where it will compete for championships against peer institutions. Future non-conference opponents include road tilts at Iowa and Penn State and Bamford previously secured agreements for home-and-home contests against Missouri and Mississippi State as well as New England rivals Boston College and Connecticut. Prior to joining the MAC, Bamford secured agreements with ESPN regarding live and on-demand coverage of Massachusetts football games and a four-year bowl agreement with ESPN Events.
Several other programs have enjoyed unprecedented success during Bamford’s tenure. Women's indoor/outdoor track and field (2016, 2020, 2022, 2025), men’s cross country (2024), men's lacrosse (2018, 2019, 2022), rowing (2015, 2017), men's soccer (2017), tennis (2017, 2024), women's lacrosse (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), field hockey (2015, 2016, 2024), and men's swimming & diving (2016) have all won regular season and conference tournament titles since Bamford’s arrival.
The University’s impressive performances in competition have been matched only by its prowess in the classroom. In 2024-25, a league-high 370 student-athletes were named to the Atlantic 10’s Commissioner's Honor Roll and the department extended a streak of 18 consecutive semesters with at least a 3.0 or better departmental GPA. All 19 teams (indoor and outdoor T&F being a combined) had above a 3.1 term GPA for the spring 2025 semester, while 106 student-athletes had a 4.0 term GPA. The department posted the highest single-year APR score in its history for the 2023-24 academic year with a 994 (released by the NCAA in May 2025).
Bamford has also spearheaded upgrades for every UMass athletics facility, totaling more than $62 million. Massachusetts has made considerable investments to increase revenue generation and upgrade its facilities, including videoboard enhancements at the Mullins Center, McGuirk Alumni Stadium and Garber Field, and a centralized Video Production Suite in the Mullins Center for the department's broadcast and creative services units.
Most notably, UMass christened the $29.2 million Champions Center for the basketball programs in 2015 and the $10.5 million indoor football practice facility – an air-supported bubble and turf field practice space – in 2019. The 240-foot wide by 400-foot long turf facility offers an expanded space for teams to practice and the ability to work indoors during inclement weather and the winter season.
A $2 million locker room renovation project for the hockey program was completed in October 2021 and in 2023, a $2.2 million renovation of the Jim and Joanne Parker Strength and Conditioning Center was completed in the Boyden Building. Most recently a $2.4 million complete renovation of the football locker room was completed inside the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center. All three projects were funded entirely through philanthropy. The department is currently renovating Curry Hicks Cage, a historic campus facility that will become the full-time training venue for the cross country/track and field programs. With an estimated project completion in fall 2026, the $12.6 million project will rename the Cage the Jim and Ellen Hunt Performance Center.
BEFORE UMASS
Before arriving in Amherst, Bamford spent four years at Georgia Tech, including his final two as Senior Associate Director of Athletics. He was originally hired at Georgia Tech by current Miami (FL) AD Dan Radakovich in 2011.
While at Georgia Tech, Bamford supervised the football, baseball and men's basketball programs and directed all internal operations, including oversight of sports medicine, player performance, equipment, facilities and game operations. From August 2013-September 2014, Bamford also oversaw all external operations (media rights, marketing, sales, communications, brand management). He played a key role with the Yellow Jackets' donor relations for fundraising scholarships, endowments and capital projects.
Each of his three Yellow Jacket sports programs was prominent at the national level, with football winning the 2014 Capital One Orange Bowl and finishing No. 7 in the nation, a Top-25 baseball program, and a renowned Atlantic Coast Conference basketball program. Bamford's primary function at Tech was the scheduling oversight for ACC and non-league games, including coordination with ACC and regional sports media partners.
Before Tech, Bamford spent eight-plus years at Yale, including the last five as Senior Associate AD. He was the sport supervisor for the football, men's basketball and fencing programs. He was also responsible for overseeing Yale's entire varsity sports operation (35 teams), including intercollegiate scheduling and the event management, equipment, sports medicine, and strength and conditioning units. In total, Bamford directed $22.0 million of the department’s $35.0 million budget.
The New Hampshire native has served on several NCAA, ACC, Atlantic 10, Hockey East, and Ivy League committees, including four years on the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee, serving as the chair in 2009 and 2010.
He began his college administration career at Springfield (Mass.) College as a graduate fellow, where he earned a master's degree in sports administration. He has also served in roles at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), Octagon Sports Marketing, and the University of New Hampshire.
PERSONAL
A 2000 graduate of Ithaca (N.Y.) College, Bamford was a standout basketball player for the Bombers. He left Ithaca as the school's single-season and career leader in 3-point field goals and third all-time in steals while finishing 13th on the career scoring list with more than 1,100 points.
Bamford comes from a family devoted to higher education and college athletics administration. His grandfather, George, was the long-time Director of Alumni Affairs at the University of New Hampshire. His father, Steve, was the Director of Athletics at Plymouth State University for 13 years before joining the ECAC in 2000 as a senior associate commissioner.
His wife, Erica (nee LaGrow), is a former All-America lacrosse player at the University of North Carolina and was a starting midfielder on the 2009 United States team that won the Women’s World Cup. She currently serves as the women's lacrosse head coach at Yale, leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back Ivy League championships in 2024 and 2025. The Bamford family has two sons.
NOTEWORTHY UMASS ATHLETICS ACCOMPLISHMENTS UNDER BAMFORD
• Athletics department revenues have increased by over 60 percent from $34.2 million (FY15) to over $55 million (FY25)
• Highest five-year fundraising total in department history (FY20 to FY24)
• Fundraising efforts have blossomed from $1.62 million (FY15) to as high as $8.4 million (FY23); Six straight years of at least $5 million raised annually.
• UMass has raised over $65 million under Bamford's leadership
• Negotiated lucrative long-term partnership agreements with Adidas and Learfield/IMG
• UMass won more conference regular season and tournament sport championships than any Atlantic 10 Conference peer from 2015-2025
• Men’s lacrosse (CAA), women’s lacrosse (Atlantic 10) and ice hockey (Hockey East) also posted multiple league titles during Bamford’s UMass tenure
• 14 of UMass’s 21 teams (66%) have won a team or individual league championship
• Facility upgrades at every athletics facility totaling over $62 million
• Opened $29.2 million Champions Center for UMass Basketball (2015) and $10.5 million Indoor Practice Facility at McGuirk Alumni Stadium (2019)
• In 2024-25, the department extended a streak of 18 consecutive semesters with at least a 3.0 or better departmental GPA
• All 19 of the department’s 19 teams (indoor and outdoor T&F being a combined) had above a 3.1 spring term GPA in 2024-25, while 92 student-athletes had a 106 term GPA
• Highest single-year APR score in department history (994), which was for the 2023-24 academic year (released by the NCAA in May 2025)
• Men’s Ice Hockey 2021 NCAA Division I national champions and 2019 NCAA national championship runner-up
• Hobey Baker award winner (2019 – Cale Makar)
• NCAA Woman of the Year finalist (2018 – Heather MacLean)
• NCAA-record 67 straight conference victories in women’s lacrosse
• NCAA Final Four appearance by field hockey (2024)
• First FBS Group of Five school to add cost of attendance stipends for all scholarship student-athletes (2015)
• Negotiated highly-touted national broadcast deals for football, hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, including regional distribution on New England Sports Network (NESN)
- Last updated: August 2025
