Good morning!
It was inevitable that some day I’d meet UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford, and it happened last week outside the Mullins Center box office.

We shook hands and he asked me about my Florida Gators baseball hat — small talk until I asked why the football team stayed at the Springfield Sheraton on the eve of their game against Coastal Carolina. “That was a one shot deal,” said Bamford. “Usually we stay at the Hotel UMass but they were doing renovations.”

That’s a lot of money to put a team and staff 30 miles away from the stadium before a home game that they would lose 62-28. What good did it do? And how much did it cost taxpayers?

When I expressed doubt that UMass would ever succeed in crumbling 55-year-old McGuirk Alumni Stadium, Bamford changed the topic and said it was all about the culture. “Coach (Walt) Bell kicked six starters off last year’s team,” said Bamford. “He’s doing a hard reset.”

That implies that former coach Mark Whipple was a bad mentor, but Whipple won 10 games in three years. How many years will it take Bell?

“Why don’t you come to a practice?” added Bamford. “Why don’t you meet Coach Bell? Why don’t you do your homework?”

I’ve never learned a darn thing watching a team practice,  and Bell can talk all he wants but it won’t change his 1-6 record. “I don’t have to step into a time machine to know what happened at Gettysburg,” I yelled to Bamford, who was walking away as fast as he could without breaking into a run.

Bamford is in his fifth year as the UMass athletic director. He deserves credit for going outside the good ole boy network to hire hockey coach Greg Carvel, but he can’t hold onto that forever. The football program is 14-41 during his tenure, the men’s basketball team is 53-77 and the women’s hoops team is 51-71.

Apparently some hard resets work better than others.

SCOUTING UCONN: Despite being a 10-point favorite to beat UMass on Homecoming Day in Amherst, UConn’s got problems of its own. The Huskies are 1-6 and have been outscored by an average margin of 35-17. (The UMass average score is 50-21).

UConn’s only win was a three-point nail-biter against Wagner College, another 1-6 team albeit in the FCS. After today the Huskies play Navy, Cincinnati, East Carolina and Temple. Coach Randy Edsall knows this is his best chance to break their 22-game losing streak against FBS opponents.

A week ago, the New Haven Register published an op-ed piece titled ‘UConn football’s shame.’ It was written by Lincoln Millstein, a UConn alumnus and senior executive of the Hearst Corporation that owns the Register.

Noting the school’s passive, nothing’s-wrong-here posture, Millstein wrote: “The arrogance and public statements emanating from Storrs are bizarre and borderline vulgar.” (Sound familiar?) According to Millstein, UConn football costs state taxpayers $1 million a game. Edsall’s $5.5 million contract runs through 2021. Recently, a judge ruled that hiring his son Corey to be the tight ends coach for $95K a year wasn’t an ethics violation.

The game promises to be a real humdinger, a good day for schadenfreude, and to remember they’ll meet again next September.

Williams College publicist Dick Quinn has a knack for finding local angles. Recently, he emailed a message about Washington Nationals’ director of player development Mark Scialabba. Born and raised north of Glens Falls, Scialabba graduated from Williams in 2002. His senior year he wore No. 25, batted .437 and drove in 55 runs and was named NESCAC player of the year.

Last summer he told the Ephs’ alumni magazine: “I did an internship with Bear Stearns my junior year and realized that investment banking wasn’t really for me. I began to think about a career in sports.”

Scialabba got a job in the Deerfield Academy admissions office, coached the Big Green baseball team, and became friends with UMass professor Glenn Wong, who urged him to enroll in the school’s sport management program.

One thing led to another, and today Wong is at Arizona State where he has a 14-word job title, and Scialabba is in Washington where, heading into last night, he’s two wins away from his first World Series ring.

Aside to newbies fresh out of J school: it’s athletic director, not athletics director. It’s a can of worms; the aforementioned Mark Scialabba would be the director of players development, Amy Waryas would be the Red Sox vice-president of humans resources, and so on.

Media types also like to say “utilize” when “use” works just as well, but saying utilize makes them feel smart.

And that folks is today’s grammar lesson.

Boston College hits the reentry phase of its schedule today in the Palmetto State where the Eagles are a 34½ -point underdog against Clemson. The Eagles beat N.C. State last week to improve to 4-3 but would need a win against the No. 4 Tigers (7-0) to wash away the stain of their 48-24 home loss to Kansas on Sept. 13. The Jayhawks are 2-5 and winless since their romp at the Heights.  

BASEBALL NOTES: On May 23, the Washington Nationals were 12 games under .500 (19-31) and 10 games out of first place. They never did reach the catbird seat and finished tied with Cleveland for the seventh-best record in the majors, but they are on the precipice of making Washington a happy and united city for a change. … As for the Astros, well, baseball is a humbling game. Alex Bregman was 1-for-8 in Houston, Josh Reddick was 0-for-7, and Justin Verlander posted his fifth consecutive World Series loss in Wednesday’s 12-3 debacle at Minute Maid Park. … Sirius-XM’s Lance Meadow tried to make a big deal of Aroldis Chapman’s reaction to Jose Altuve’s series-clinching home run, but the Yankees’ closer was probably smiling because he’d just let Altuve beat him with a slider and not his best pitch the fastball. …. This World Series is a boon to Turners Falls native Fran Togneri, who lives in West Palm Beach with his wife Kerry. Both the Astros and Nationals train in WPB, and Togneri will be going straight from his job at the golf course to the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches next spring. … Baseball beat writer Joel Sherman advocated in Monday’s New York Post for the Yankees to go after Cleveland’s charismatic and talented shortstop Francisco Lindor. Sherman proposed giving the Tribe third baseman Miguel Andujar, 16-year-old phenom outfielder Jasson Dominguez (who signed for $5.1 million) and any of the “big righty arms in the Yankees’ system.” …. The Red Sox seem like 2020 also-rans already, rudderless without a GM and burdened by disinterested players looking to strike it rich in free agency.

SQUIBBERS: In 2008, former NBA ref Tim Donaghy was convicted of game fixing and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. Recently, he told SI that the next big scandal will be at the college level: “They’re going to tell some of these players, ‘You’re not going pro. We’ll put 25 grand in your pocket.’ That’s where it’ll come from.” …. CBS’s Adam Zucker teased his sidekick Rick Neuheisel for saying off-air that LSU quarterback Joe Burrow would be the next Tom Brady. “Not yet,” smiled Neuheisel, “but Burrow’s going to be magnificent at the next level.” … Former UMass wideout Tajae Sharpe caught seven passes for 101 yards for the Titans on Sunday, and Andy Isabella caught two passes for eight yards for the Cardinals against the Giants. … Minnesota Gophers place holder Casey O’Brien made his college debut during Saturday’s game against Rutgers. And why is that a big deal? Because O’Brien is a four-time cancer survivor. … If you see Wilbraham’s Brian O’Shea kicking around the Mullins Center anytime soon, tell him the Astros are the Yankees’ daddy.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley.