All things are not quiet within UMass athletics’ new conference home.

Reports surfaced last week that Ohio University was exploring options to leave the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and join the Sun Belt Conference, following Texas State’s move to the Pacific-12 Conference, beginning in 2026.

The Daily News-Record in Virginia reported the school had “preliminary discussions” with the Sun Belt, though Ohio University released a statement published by the Columbus Dispatch that called the Daily News-Record’s report about potential realignment discussions with the Sun Belt Conference “inaccurate.”

Rumors of Ohio gauging interest in other conferences is especially surprising given that the Bobcats are one of the five founding members of the MAC, dating all the way back to 1946.

The Sun Belt voted to add Louisiana Tech as a full-time member Monday afternoon, potentially quelling rumors of Ohio’s interest in departing the MAC. However, should the Bobcats join another conference, it wouldn’t be the first longtime MAC program to depart since UMass announced it was joining the MAC in February 2024.

Northern Illinois announced this past winter it will compete in the Mountain West Conference in football and the Horizon League for all other sports, starting in 2026, after nearly 30 years since its second stint within the MAC began in 1997.

Northern Illinois’ explanation for leaving the MAC was released in a statement on the Huskies’ athletics website this past February. It reads, in part:

“In order to remain relevant and competitive in the current environment, it became imperative to examine – and to determine how to maximize every revenue stream to ensure the sustainability – and the level of excellence - for all Huskie programs. Administrators were challenged to think outside the box and to identify ways in which NIU could ensure that its student-athletes continue to excel academically and athletically.

“During that process and once there was interest from the Mountain West in Huskie Football, the resources involved – along with other factors - prompted NIU to make the decision to accept the invitation in order to ensure a more sustainable future for all Huskie programs.”

The timing of these moves has coincided with UMass’ move to the MAC, which became official on July 1. UMass’ athletic programs are the newest full-time member of the MAC since Buffalo joined in 1998. Stepping into the MAC gives the Minutemen’s football team its first secure, conference landing spot following nine years as an independent.

“As we consider our future in a very challenging and choppy college athletics landscape, having conference peers with similar institutional profiles, aspirations and commitments toward athletics excellence will provide stability and strength,” UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford said in a release when UMass announced the move to the MAC in 2024.

At least that was the idea, anyway.

Given the upheaval within college athletics over the past few years, first with the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) legislation passed in 2021 and now with the recently approved The House v. NCAA settlement in which universities are allowed to directly compensate student-athletes through revenue sharing, athletics conferences have essentially played hot potato with each other’s member programs.

Most of the highest profile changes have come with football and basketball programs, most notably, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) loading up in football plus the near-dissolution of the Pac-12, forcing the rest of the mid-major conferences to adapt.

More moves within the MAC may be afoot as ESPN’s Pete Thamel indicated the conference was considering adding Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky in 2021 and those two schools “would again top any speculative lists.” However, with Northern Illinois set to depart in 2026, the MAC will have balance in that it’ll feature 12 full-time programs with UMass’ addition.

UMass will kick off its MAC era — literally — on Aug. 14, when the women’s soccer team hosts St. John’s at Rudd Field as the first game UMass’ 2025-26 athletic calendar. The first game against a MAC school will take place on Sept. 14 when the Ball State women’s soccer team comes to Amherst.