The face of college sports will change forever with the conference realignment that will begin with the 2024-25 academic year. While schools have changed conferences in the past, alignment has generally been geographically based. That will no longer be the case.
On Tuesday’s Inside College Basketball, Gary Parrish of CBS Sports spoke out against the dramatic realignment.
Parrish was responding to the news that UMMass will be joining the MAC (Mid-American Conference) in the 2025-26 school year. While the Minutemen have moved around to several different conferences in football and are presently independent, UMass’ basketball program has been part of the Atlantic 10 since the conference was founded (as the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League) in 1976.
Parrish spoke about UMass’ tradition in basketball, calling it “a bit deflating” that the Minutemen will be leaving the Atlantic 10 for the MAC, which is ranked significantly lower as a basketball conference. He did understand it, though, noting football’s influence, saying “I do understand it and it’s because football runs everything these days.”
Parrish then shifted his commentary, advocating a similar idea to what then-UCLA head football coach Chip Kelly pitched in December — that football operates differently than the other sports.
“Everything is about football. I do think one day — and I don’t know whether it’s next year or 20 years from now — we’ll look back at all of this and wonder why didn’t we just separate football from everything else and not disrupt all the other sports that didn’t need to be disrupted in this way. We’re not doing this the right way. But every decision is motivated by football and/or money. So here we are again.”
"I do think one day…we'll look back at all of this and wonder why didn't we just separate football from everything else and not disrupt all the other sports."
Gary Parrish on UMass leaving the A-10 and conference realignment.pic.twitter.com/q3ohXVqRRX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 28, 2024
Parrish’s point on UMass leaving the Atlantic 10 may be a bit overdramatic. Other college basketball programs with even greater traditions than UMass have left their conferences in the past. Heck, we’ve even seen traditional football powerhouses leave the conferences they were once tied to. It’s unfortunate but it happens.
That said, his point on separating football from the rest of the sports is entirely logical. College football teams play once a week and nearly all of their games are on Saturdays. So, a program like USC having to make several trips a year to the Midwest is not much more than a minor inconvenience. Other sports, though, play multiple games a week and not just on weekends. The inconveniences that those programs face will be far more prevalent and significant.
Because of that, Parrish’s notion that we will look back on this and wonder why we didn’t do things different is probably rooted in reality.
[Photo Credit: CBS Sports/Inside College Basketball]
