End of an Era: Remembering UMass athletics' glory days in the Atlantic 10

University of Massachusetts star Marcus Camby raises his arms to the crowd in victory on March 16, 1996 at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, R.I., as UMass defeated Stanford University 79-74 in their second round game of the East Region 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. AP FILE
Published: 07-07-2025 4:00 PM |
The UMass athletic department has a new home.
July 1 marked the department’s first day in the Mid-American Conference after competing in the Atlantic 10 for nearly half a century. All sports except men’s hockey, men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer and men’s swimming and diving will now regularly square off with programs based in the Great Lakes region of the country.
The move should bring some stability to the Minutemen football team, in particular, after operating an independent since 2016. UMass previously starred in the MAC as a football-only member from 2012-15.
UMass was one of the eight founding members of the A-10 — originally it was called the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League — back in 1976 and the school enjoyed great success in athletics during the late-1990s, specifically.
With that in mind, here’s a look back at some of the peaks of several UMass athletics programs during its run in the A-10.
NOTE: This list will focus more on team success as opposed to individuals who shined on less successful squads.
The 1995-96 season was one to remember for multiple reasons. John Calipari’s group made it all the way to the NCAA Final Four after claiming A-10 regular season and postseason crowns. UMass also briefly secured the No. 1 spot in the national rankings after beating then-No. 1 Kentucky, by 10 points, on opening night on Nov. 28, 1995.
The Minutemen’s NCAA tournament record was later vacated after Marcus Camby — the National Player of the Year— was ruled to have accepted gifts from agents, reducing their final record from 35-2 to 31-1.
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UMass never won either A-10 title again. The Minutemen also qualified for the NCAA Tournament just three more instances after the 1995-96 campaign, with the 2013-14 team serving as the most recent team to punch its ticket, under head coach Derek Kellogg.
Noted program-architect Tory Verdi capped off the Minutewomen’s lengthy turnaround during the 2022-23 season as the team won its first and only A-10 tournament championship under his guideship. Verdi arrived in the fall of 2016 and managed to turn UMass from a perennial basement dweller into a NCAA tournament caliber squad with an appearance in 2015, plus the program’s first ever A-10 tournament banner.
Sam Breen snatched A-10 Player of the Year honors in 2022-23, after averaging 17.3 points per game as a graduate student and was the Minutewomen’s most important player down the stretch.
The Minutemen’s lone 40-win season came in the spring of 1996 in the early stages of head coach Mark Stone’s 29-year career behind the bench. UMass concluded at 40-13, grabbed an A-10 championship, then moved on to the NCAA tournament.
Nate Murphy put together a sparkling season for the Minutemen, compiling a .390 batting average with 10 home runs and 66 RBIs. Murphy was later drafted by the California Angels during the 16th round.
Right in the heart of the team’s run of dominance in the A-10, the program managed its best-ever season in 2002. The Minutewomen won 53 games, went undefeated in conference play (21-0) and earned their eighth-straight A-10 championship.
Head coach Elaine Sortino ate up a chunk of her 1,185 total wins during the 2002 season, which featured a 29-game win streak and a perfect 15-0 record at home. Jennifer Hadley and Kaila Holtz were UMass’ top two arms as the pitchers combined for 48 wins and both had ERAs below one.
Believe it or not, the A-10 sponsored football for about a decade and the UMass football team had its most successful season during the time. The 1998 team won the Division I-AA national championship by beating Georgia Southern, 55-43, during head coach Mark Whipple’s first stint in the Pioneer Valley.
The Minutemen trotted out three difference-makers on offense in quarterback Todd Bankhead, running back Marcel Shipp and wide receiver Jimmy Moore, while the defense was anchored by Kole Ayi and Khari Samuel.
UMass’ 12 victories was the second-most in program history, trailing only the 2006 team which won 13 games during Don Brown’s first go-around as head coach in Amherst.
The Minutemen have not won more than four games since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012.
The 2007 season saw the Minutemen go all the way to the NCAA College Cup after claiming their second A-10 tournament title. Head coach Sam Koch’s bunch went 17-8-1, with their last game coming in the national semifinals in a 1-0 loss to No. 5 Ohio State. UMass’ most memorable moment occurred when it stunned No. 1 Boston College, 2-1, in the regional round.
Bryan Hogan was UMass’ top point-getter with eight goals and 18 points that season.
The Minutewomen’s only appearance in the NCAA Final Four happened in 1993 off the backs of their first of four A-10 titles in five years. UMass put together a 17-3-3 record and beat New England rivals, Providence and UConn, during the NCAA tournament, before falling to the eventual national champions in North Carolina in the national semifinal, 4-1.
Future Olympian Brianna Scurry backstopped this Minutewomen team to glory, as the goalkeeper garnered a 0.48 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 23 games.
Longtime head coach Jim Rudy had a winning season in all but five of his 21 years at the helm of the women’s soccer program.
Remaining A-10 programs won’t be sad to see the Minutewomen depart for the MAC as they were consistently the team to beat. UMass won 28 A-10 regular season and tournament titles altogether in the 26 years it was within the conference. UMass’ 2016 team stands out among the rest as it was the only team to reach 20 wins during that span.
Head coach Angela McMahon’s team went 20-2, took its eighth consecutive regular season and A-10 tournament crown, then advanced to the NCAA tournament quarterfinal, which counted as its longest NCAA tournament run of the era.
Erika Eipp was one of many offensive catalysts the Minutewomen boasted as the Townsend native totaled 97 points in 22 games, on the way to a second straight A-10 Offensive Player of the Year award.
The Minutewomen have a rich tradition of success that dates back to 1981 when it reached the national championship game. Seven years later, the program joined the A-10 for field hockey and continued to stack up the wins as it registered 16 A-10 titles before it was all said and done.
UMass’ 1992 team that went 21-2 and made it to the NCAA Final Four deserves recognition. Head coach Pam Hixon’s penultimate season was paced by Ainslee Press, who led the Minutewomen in points with 53. Iowa knocked off UMass, 3-1, during the national semifinal.
This past season’s UMass group advanced to the Final Four for the first time since the 1992 squad did it.
The Minutewomen tennis team won the A-10 tournament in 2000-01 with a 20-8 record, then qualified for the NCAA tournament… Rebecca Donaghue’s first-place finish helped the UMass women’s cross country team take the A-10 title in 1997… The Minutemen swimming and diving team went 10-0 during the 1997-98 season and won the A-10… The UMass rowing team collected an A-10 title and a NCAA tournament appearance in 2017.