UMass to join the Mid-American Conference in 2025-26
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The Mid-American Conference board voted Monday to add UMass as a full member, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, according to multiple reports.
UMass has been competing primarily as a member of the Atlantic 10 since the conference was formed in 1976 (first as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League, then as the Eastern Athletic Association until 1982). Its hockey team is a member of Hockey East, while its football team is independent in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Football joined the MAC to play at the FBS level in 2012. In March 2014, the MAC and UMass announced an agreement for the Minutemen to leave the conference after the 2015 season, with the university declining to become a full member. From 2012-15, UMass went 8-40 in football in the MAC and 16-72 since as an independent.
The MAC does not offer ice hockey. UMass will likely remain in Hockey East.
UMass fields 19 varsity teams, including men’s baseball, basketball, cross-country, ice hockey, football, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, and indoor and outdoor track and field. On the women’s side, UMass competes in basketball, softball, cross-country, rowing, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, field hockey, indoor and outdoor track and field, and tennis.
The Minutemen have not won any A10 championships this academic year, but women’s basketball and lacrosse were the A10 regular-season champions for 2022-23.
Other MAC teams include: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, and Western Michigan.
Emma can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @_EmmaHealy_.