Good morning!

Speculation has begun that Don Brown will be relieved of his coaching duties in two weeks. By then UMass will have lost its final three games — to Liberty, Georgia and UConn — and Brown will have won six games in three seasons. It stands to reason he’s a goner, but will it be justified?

During his first stint in the aughts, the Minutemen competed on a level playing field and Brown’s record was 43-19 with two trips to the NCAA playoffs, including the I-AA championship game in 2006 when they lost to App State, 28-17.

UMass re-joins the MAC next season and AD Ryan Bamford might want to make a splash, but he should consider what happened after AD John McCutcheon fired Kevin Morris in 2011. Morris was 16-17 in three seasons, not bad, not great, but the program was leaving I-AA and McCutcheon said, “We need to be building momentum.”

Three weeks later at Gillette Stadium, he introduced the new coach, Charley Molnar.

Charley Who? asked Minutemen Nation.

Molnar, who was the offensive coordinator under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, said he’d had his eye on the UMass job as soon as he heard it was joining the MAC. His goal, he said, was to make UMass the best college gridiron team in New England.

Two years later UMass was 2-22 in the FBS and Molnar was out the door. “There was a sense we weren’t where we needed to be,” McCutcheon understated. Molnar took his $836,000 severance package and today is the quarterbacks coach for the Carroll College Fighting Saints of Helena, Montana.

Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

Flipart

Typeshift

SpellTower

Really Bad Chess

Brown deserves to stay for the final two years of his contract, and Bamford can use the money he’s saving to replace the dusty, crumbling asphalt tarmac around the stadium, replace the splintered bleachers with real seats, and install a sound system that doesn’t play hip hop music.

****

Amherst College has its own gridiron problems. On Saturday the Mammoths lost to archrival Williams, 21-0, before 2,421 fans at Farley-Lamb Field in Williamstown. It was the 138th meeting between the two schools, and Williams leads the series, 76-57-5.

Some blame the lingering impact of former president Biddy Martin’s woke policies. Martin’s lasting legacy will be her mishandling of a dorm room dustup between lacrosse players after the team was trounced by Tufts in the 2020 season finale.

Faithful alumni are sticking by longtime gridiron coach E.J. Mills whose teams were 70-12 from 2009-2018 but have fallen to 17-28 the last five seasons.

“The team used to get to designate six guys a year for special admission consideration,” writes a disgruntled alum. “Now they get two.”

Another alumnus writes: “EJ has one of the highest winning percentages in [conference] history and hasn’t forgotten how to recruit or coach. They will do something about it. Amherst football doesn’t lose for long before something changes.”

Athletic director Don Faulstick did not reply to an email requesting comment.

​​​​​​****

Congrats to both the UMass men’s and women’s soccer teams. The men played Saint Louis to a 0-0 draw in the A-10 quarterfinals on Saturday but lost on penalty kicks in front of 928 fans at Rudd Field. Coach Fran O’Leary’s team finished 10-3-5.

Kudos also to the Minutewomen who lost the A-10 title match to perennial champion Saint Louis, 3-1. Senior defender Juliana Ryan and senior midfielders Emma Pedolzky and Bella Recinos were named to the All-Tournament team. Coach Jason Dowiak’s booters belted out a 13-5-3 season.

Next season the women will play in the MAC where Western Michigan advanced to the NCAA tourney by beating Buffalo, 5-0. The Broncos will play Michigan State on Saturday at noon. The only New England teams to qualify were UConn, Maine and BU.

The MAC dropped men’s soccer last year, and on Thursday the Mass. Daily Collegian reported “the Minutemen are not yet assigned to a conference for the upcoming season.”

​​​​​​****

SQUIBBERS: ESPN’s MNF commentator Troy Aikman recently praised Liam Coen for keeping Tampa Bay’s offense functioning despite injuries to their top three receivers. Coen, who was a four-year starter for Don Brown at UMass, was named the Bucs offensive coordinator this season. … A couple of fans with Peaky Blinders hats taunted Penn State coach James Franklin after the Nittany Lions lost to Ohio State. Franklin yelled up to them “If you’re going to be man enough to talk, what’s your name?” These Peaky Blinders weren’t the fighting sort. They turned and walked away. … Bobby Allison, who died this week at age 86 won his first race at Oxford Speedway in central Maine. … Tom Brady’s once and former successor Mac Jones had a 38.6 passer rating, was sacked three times, threw two picks, and ran for the team’s only touchdown in the Jags’ 12-7 loss to the Vikings on Sunday. … Hot Stove Fever Grips Hub: The Bastards of Boston Baseball were talking up Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Teoscar Hernandez and Willy Adames on their latest podcast. … Orioles fans tore up their tickets after Ironman Cal finished second in the B.C. Turf at Del Mar two weeks ago. … Steve Garvey was no match against Adam Schiff in the race for California senate. “Good ballplayer, bad politician,” said Donald Trump. Not the charismatic type, the former Dodger signed a birthday card to his daughter Love, Steve Garvey. … Stay away from the $35 prime rib at the 99 unless you’re strengthening your jaw muscles. … UMass visits Athens for another name-your-score game against Georgia next week. The last time these two teams play was 2018 and the Bulldogs won, 66-27. Look on the good side, the school gets $1.9 million to be humiliated. … Bet you didn’t know Maura Healey co-captained the Harvard women’s basketball team. … BSJ’s Greg Bedard on Drake Maye’s performance against the Bears: “He graded out poorly for me. He put way too much pressure on himself, leaving the pocket early, not hanging with plays, not going down when he could…” … Williams publicist Dick Quinn unearthed this nugget: “Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman is the son of former Eph shortstop John Edman. Hal Steinbrenner and his dad both ran track at Williams. Small School, Large Footprint.” …. WFAN’s Richard Neer asked Phil Mushnick if he’s a Giant fan. “No,” the New York Post’s acerbic columnist replied. “I’m an air conditioner.”