AMHERST – UMass is moving its 21 sports from the Atlantic 10 to the Mid-American Conference, though the Minutemen don’t exactly have a home for every sport in their new conference.

Baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s indoor/outdoor track & field, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and women’s tennis will move from the Atlantic 10 to the MAC for the 2025-26 academic year.

Men’s ice hockey will remain in Hockey East.

The futures for men’s soccer, men’s lacrosse and women’s rowing are a bit murkier, because the MAC does not currently sponsor those sports. 

UMass athletics director Ryan Bamford filed separate applications to Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade to request affiliate membership in the Atlantic 10 for women’s rowing and men’s lacrosse once the school leaves for the MAC. Atlantic 10 athletic directors will vote on the applications in May and the presidents will vote in June.

“Ideally, those would be good opportunities for us,” Bamford said.

Bamford said there is “a good chance” men’s lacrosse stays in the Atlantic 10, which just began sponsoring the sport last year. Head coach Greg Canella is entering his 31st season at the helm of the Minutemen, who have reached nine NCAA Tournaments on his watch, most recently in 2018.

Richmond, St. Bonaventure and St. Joseph’s are the only schools in the Atlantic 10 that sponsor lacrosse, though High Point and Hobart participate as affiliate programs. If UMass were to leave the conference, it would drop the A-10 below the minimum of six teams needed to sponsor a sport.

Women’s lacrosse is a MAC sport, though the conference began sponsoring it just three years ago. Last year, the Minutewomen won the Atlantic 10 regular season title and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In terms of RPI, the MAC’s best women’s lacrosse program last year was Central Michigan, ranked 81st. The Atlantic 10 placed four schools in the top 54, with UMass ranked the highest at 19th.

Men’s soccer was sponsored by the MAC until last year, when the conference’s membership went below six schools because of member institutions dropping the sport. Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan moved their programs to the Missouri Valley and longtime power Akron moved theirs to the Big East.

When UMass joins the conference in 2025-26, Bamford expects the MAC to pick up an affiliate school to raise the conference membership to six, and then renew its sponsorship of the sport. Though it’ll be a drop from the A-10’s current membership of 14 men’s soccer schools, the MAC schools that still carry the sport are near, or above, UMass’ level.

Last year, UMass was ranked 103rd in RPI. Western Michigan was sixth, Akron was 45th, Northern Illinois was 92nd and Bowling Green was 118th.

If women’s rowing is not accepted into the A-10 as an affiliate, Bamford said the MAC is interested in sponsoring the sport. Eastern Michigan is the only MAC school that currently sponsors women’s rowing and it competes in the Coastal Athletic Conference. Nine Atlantic 10 schools sponsor women’s rowing, so unlike men’s lacrosse, the conference doesn’t risk falling under the minimum number of schools if they decline UMass’ affiliate application.