UMass will invest millions of dollars into its football program, including a three-phase overhaul of McGuirk Alumni Stadium that will cost $25 million or more.
The plan, announced Monday by athletic director Ryan Bamford, is overdue for the underperforming program, which has compiled a 28-133 record since joining FBS in 2012.
The investment — which also includes greater financial resources allotted to staffing, roster development, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) funding — comes on the heels of a $2-million locker room upgrade completed in August.
“We’re going to have to overinvest to win,” Bamford said at a press conference. “We’ve had deferred maintenance of this program for more than a decade, and that means that you have to invest more than maybe some others do to get out of it. The only way out is up.”
The stadium renovation will be completed in three phases, Bamford said, starting with upgrades to the fan experience before the 2026 season. The second and third phases will be structural and aesthetic upgrades, to be completed by 2028.
Bamford said the project will be funded through private investments and creative funding models via the university’s trustees. He said UMass does not plan to use general operating funds from the state, and the university will announce a full year-by-year improvement plan in December.
“We have to catch ourselves up, and we have to do it quickly,” he said.
Bamford attributed the “deferred maintenance” to the fact that UMass football competed as an independent from 2015 until the school joined the Mid-American Conference as a full member this summer. Without conference peers, Bamford’s team was in “no man’s land.”
“Now that we’ve got a home, now that we’ve got a vision for what we can do to go to bowls and ultimately to win championships and to grow this program, the conference is by far the greatest growth opportunity we’ve had,” Bamford said.
He said the program is “set up well” financially relative to other teams in the MAC, but noted that UMass needs to be “substantially beyond them” to dig itself out of the hole it has been in since joining FBS.
The Minutemen are 0-3 this season, with losses to Iowa, Temple, and FCS Bryant — the latter a 27-26 defeat on a last-second field goal and Bryant’s first win over an FBS team in program history.
“We have to pull this program out of losing, and it’s going to take a lot to do that, and we recognize that,” Bamford said. “It’s been 12-plus years of mediocrity to little success at times here … and we’re going to have to over subscribe and over invest to get ourselves out of it. We’re prepared to do that, and I’m going to work diligently to that end to make sure that it happens.”
Bamford’s hope is that an improved stadium and a financial investment into staffing will help recruit and maintain top players. Through three games, the team’s lack of depth has been on full display as injuries to the starters have plagued the Minutemen.
Since hiring coach Joe Harasymiak last summer, the Minutemen have been focused on bringing in players from the transfer portal with a “win now” mentality. The strategy hasn’t paid off, and Bamford noted a need to balance transfer players and retaining malleable talent.
“I let Joe manage the Xs and Os and what he’s doing right now for the next nine games,” Bamford said. “But my staff, we’re keenly focused on how do we put our arms around this program to give Joe and his staff everything they need to be successful?”
Emma Healy can be reached at [email protected] or on X @ByEmmaHealy.
