UMass Will Join Mid-American Conference in 2025-2026 Academic Year

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

The University of Massachusetts will join the Mid-American Conference beginning with the 2025-2026 academic year, The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach is reporting. UMass, which sponsors men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams, is the 13th full-member of the conference.

UMass has been a member of the Atlantic 10 since 1976; along with George Washington University, they are one of only two schools that have been continuous members of the conference for its entire history. Duquesne was also an original member, but left to join the Horizon League for one season from 1992-1993 before rejoining.

This move shifts UMass’ sphere dramatically midwestern. The Atlantic 10 is a wide-reaching conference centered mostly on the East coast, with schools in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Washington DC, and Rhode Island. There are a few midwestern schools currently in that league, though, including St. Louis University and Loyola University Chicago.

While UMass has not yet made a statement on the move, the shift shows a clear decision to move from the basketball-focused A-10 to the football-focused MAC.

The Atlantic-10 does not currently sponsor football, while the Mid-American Conference is a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision. The move will give them a much better chance at a spot in the new expanded College Football Playoff, and the money that goes with it. That system will expand to 12 teams next season, with discussions that it could expand further into the future, and the landscape is becoming increasingly-difficult for independents not named Notre Dame.

UMass already has deep football ties with the MAC. Their 2024 schedule (the year before they join the conference) includes MAC members Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Buffalo, and Toledo.

UMass football finished 3-9 last season.

Both the MAC and the Atlantic 10 sponsor men’s and women’s swimming & diving championships. Last week, the UMass women finished 7th out of 11 teams, though they were 10 points shy of being 5th. The UMass men finished in 2nd out of 8 teams, about 400 points behind the dominant George Washington University.

The MAC, meanwhile, has 7 men’s teams and 8 women’s swimming teams, though 5 of those men’s teams (Evansville, Missouri State, UIC, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso) are affiliate members in men’s swimming.

UMass’ men are led by a strong diving squad, which includes Andrew Bell, who won the A-10 title on 3-meter last week, and senior Sam Haddad, who finished 3rd in the 400 IM (3:49.90) and 4th in the 200 breast (1:58.50) at last week’s conference championship meet. On the women’s side, top performances include Megan Mitchell, who was 3rd in the 200 back (1:55.83) at A-10s, and Maggie Desmond, who was the 3rd-fastest 50 freestyler in prelims (22.84) before slipping to 7th in finals. They’re both seniors as well.

In a world of constant change and evolution of conferences, the MAC has been one of the most-stable of the mid-major conferences. Every current full member has been a member of the conference since at least 1998 (Buffalo was the most recent to join).

UMass’ basketball team, meanwhile, adds some history and credibility to the MAC. They are 5th in the Atlantic 10 with a 17-10 record (8-7 in conference). The Atlantic 10 is the 8th-rated conference by RPI in men’s basketball, while the MAC is 22nd out of 33 conferences. In women’s basketball, the Atlantic 10 is ranked 10th and the MAC is 19th.

UMass’ men’s basketball team was one of the best mid-major programs of the 1990s, when famed coach John Calipari led the program. That included making the Final Four in 1996, though that run was eventually vacated when it was found that Marcus Camby took money and gifts from an agent during the season.

SwimSwam: UMass Will Join Mid-American Conference in 2025-2026 Academic Year