Don Brown and UMass football are heading back to the conference they called home for a few seasons.
Once a Division I-AA (now FCS) power, UMass won the national title and set all kinds of records under Mark Whipple in his first season leading the Minutemen back in 1998.
In 2011, a few seasons following success during Don Brown's first stint as head coach, UMass made the jump to the FBS level as a member of the MAC for the 2012 season. By 2013 they played a full FBS and MAC schedule.
That was short lived, as in 2014 they announced plans to leave the league in 2015 after declining to become an all-sports member and they began play as an FBS independent, where they remained.
Now, according to multiple reports today, they're heading back to the MAC.
The Mid-American Conference board voted today to add UMass as a full member, starting with the 2025-26 school year.
As an independent since 2016, wins have become hard to come by for the program under numerous head coaches including Charlie Molnar, Walt Bell, and second stints by Whipple and Don Brown.
Brown engineered a few more wins in year two, going 1-11 and then 3-9 this past season, and a move to the MAC could help if he can continue to show marked improvement this season.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.