UMass reportedly rejoining the MAC as a full member in 2025

BOSTON -- UMass is heading back to the MAC. The Mid-Atlantic Conference board voted Monday to add the University of Massachusetts as a full member and the school is expected to accept, according to multiple reports.

UMass, whose football program spent 2012-15 in the MAC after the school made the jump to the FBS level, will return to the conference to begin the 2025-26 school year.

The Minutemen football team went 8-40 over their four seasons in the MAC under Charlie Molnar and Mark Whipple, including just 7-25 in conference action. UMass announced plans to leave the MAC in 2015 after the school declined to become an all-sports member, and the football program began life as an FBS independent. 

This will mark a big move for the UMass basketball program, which has played in the A-10 since 1982. UMass was a founding member of the A-10, and the school was reluctant to leave the conference in 2015.

The UMass men's basketball team, which currently sits at 17-10 on the season and 8-7 in conference play, has made the NCAA Tournament just once since its trip to the Final Four in 1996.

The UMass men's hockey program, which won its first-ever NCAA hockey title in 2021, will remain in the Hockey East.