Asked about any sort of contingency plans for UMass, McCutcheon said those questions would be better suited to the Atlantic 10 office.
University of Massachusetts Athletic Director John McCutcheon didn't want to speculate while speaking to the media Thursday afternoon.
AMHERST — If you’re looking for answers about where the future conference alignment of the University of Massachusetts lies if the Atlantic 10 is affected by the latest developments in the Big East, its Athletic Director John McCutcheon said Thursday that he doesn’t have them.
Seven Big East schools are poised to split from the remainder of the conference, and speculation has been rampant that the new league would look toward UMass’ current home, the Atlantic 10, to fill the rest of its ranks.
“I think those conversations are better directed to the conference office than myself. That’s where those answers should come from,” McCutcheon said. “We’re not actively out there pursuing any other type of alignment because we think we’re in pretty stable shape with where we are.”
With the rumors swirling, the Atlantic 10 office was quiet. As of 5 p.m., Commissioner Bernadette McGlade had not issued any sort of statement to the media.
McCutcheon, speaking to reporters in his office Thursday afternoon, elected not to speculate himself, either.
“It really doesn’t do any good for me to sit here and expound upon ‘I think this would happen if this happens, and yeah we’ve thought about this and we’re going to do this if that happens,’” he said. “It just isn’t productive.”
It is known yet when or how the seven Big East schools — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Villanova — will leave the league. They could leave as a group, or they also have the votes to dissolve the league.
An official announcement isn’t expected until those schools decide exactly how to proceed.
McCutcheon said he is aware of everything that’s happening, but didn’t want to elaborate.
“We’re not naïve. We know that things might happen out there, and we’ll deal with them as effectively as we can,” McCutcheon said. “Beyond those comments, I don’t know what else I can tell you guys.”
Part of the reason for that, he said, is the constant state of uncertainty surrounding the situation, referencing one of the Big East’s four leftover teams as an example.
“This thing has so many moving parts,” he said. “Just look at Temple’s situation. They joined a conference last year, they were happy as heck to get in, they spent $6 Million or more to leave two conferences they were in, and here they are a year later on the verge of not knowing what their future might hold.”
McCutcheon also refused to indulge any hypothetical scenarios.
“Speculating about what may or may not happen really isn’t in our best interest or the league’s best interest or the schools that you’re speculating about for that matter,” he said. “I understand the angst. We all have angst. You go to bed at night, you don’t know what sunup is going to look like, but you can’t control those things.”