National Collegiate Athletic Association

Latest News

« back to 2011 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index

Massachusetts plans move to FBS

Massachusetts will move its football program from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision beginning with the 2012 football season. The Minutemen will become a football member of the Mid-American Conference.

Massachusetts will continue as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association in 2011, but the team will not be eligible for the postseason. In 2013, the team will be eligible for the MAC championship and bowl participation.

“We seek greatness in all we do at UMass,” said Chancellor Robert Holub. “We promise national excellence and prominence to the citizens of the Commonwealth, and we deliver on that promise. Moving to the FBS is consistent with our upward trajectory, as Minuteman football becomes part of our overall move toward national prominence.”

The school will maintain its current conference affiliations in all other sports. Massachusetts men’s and women’s basketball teams will play four nonconference games against MAC opponents.

The football team will play all of its 2012 and 2013 games at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., home of the NFL’s New England Patriots.