Parity At The Top?

Coach Kellogg with a future recruit for the UMass women's team

UMass/Amherst has the distinction once again of having the highest paid employee in the entire education oriented state of Massachusetts, a man who coaches a team of college aged youth on how best to put a round ball through a slightly larger circle of metal with a net attached. 

With a 109-86 win/loss record at UMass, the state's flagship of higher education, there's no question Derek Kellogg is successful at it. And obviously his employers showed some price point sensitivity as they kept it under $1 million, but not by much.

Of course local newspapers are quick to point out that Kellogg's new $994,500 salary only places him at #38 in compensation for coaches in the 2014 NCAA tournament.

Fair enough, it's a high paying field for sure.

But still, how does UMass/Amherst justify paying the women's basketball coach one-third of the men's coach?  And since Mr. Kellogg's new raise now puts Sharon Dawley's salary at one-quarter of his, are they at least going to give her a piddly $100K raise so she stays at only one-third of his salary?

Apparently gender discrimination is par for the course in Massachusetts

You also have to wonder how the five labor unions on campus are going to take this?  They are being offered table scraps in their contracts yet the University sees fit to cook up a sumptuous raise for this one rather high profile position?

Maybe I'm just spoiled by the little host "college town" of Amherst where the highest paid person in public service is a woman, School Superintendent Maria Geryk. 

What Are They Afraid Of?

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in

   UMass Response: Open Meeting by Larry Kelley

Pretty quick response:

From: Manganaro, Kevin (AGO) (AGO) <kevin.manganaro@state.ma.us>
To: Larry Kelley <amherstac@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 9:52 am
Subject: RE: Open Meeting complaint Amherst and UMass (There they go again) 

Hello Mr. Kelley,
Thank you so much for your e-mail. If you wish to file a complaint, you may do so on the appropriate complaint form by following the procedure found here:
http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/government/oml/ago-open-meeting- law-complaint-form.pdf
The complaint must first be filed with the public body no later than 30 days after an alleged violation, or, if the violation could not reasonably have been known at the time it occurred, then within 30 days of the date when it could have reasonably been discovered. The public body then has 14 business days to respond.
Thank you, Kevin
Kevin W. Manganaro Assistant Attorney General

#####
From: Larry Kelley
To: kevin.manganaro
Sent: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 10:05 am
Subject: Re: Open Meeting complaint Amherst and UMass

Kevin,
Since the meetings have not yet occurred and there is an opportunity to avoid such a violation by having your office determine that they should be open meetings (I assume UMass personnel would abide by such a decision) how does one go about finding a form to fill out for that kind of a determination?
Larry

Click to enlarge/read

Opposes But With An Open Mind

Mainstream media this fine morning

Okay, which is it? Is UMass President Robert Caret going to keep an "open mind" even though he doesn't "like the feel" of the UMass Police Department informant program, or does he just flat out oppose the program as indicated by today's Gazette above-the-fold headline?

Of course keep in mind this is the same bureaucrat who just days after the Little Bighorn, err, Blarney Blowout, told the same media in regards to the response of overwhelmed police: "There looked to be some unprovoked overreaction." (emphasis mine)

Caret also went on to show how well he does his research (this from a higher-education leader) by questioning why town officials allowed bars to open early on the infamous day of the Blarney Blowout, which is just flat out not true.

UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy has named a "working group" of 11 -- as opposed to a "committee" which would be subject to Open Meeting Law -- to come back by the end of the semester with a recommendation concerning the use of informants by UMPD. 

Considering only one of the 11 is in law enforcement (and his paycheck is dependent on keeping President Caret happy), safe bet the program will be scuttled.

Public Relations taking priority over Public Safety.

In the particular case of Eric Sinacori the one question that really needs answering is did he go from an "informant", where his ID is protected, to a "witness", where his ID is not protected, and then go back to being an "informant".

Because under those conditions, even in the bucolic backwater of Amherst, his safety would have been compromised.

Yet Another Lost Weekend

 

AFD A5 on scene slummy Phillips Street for ETOH female with head injury 12:09 AM

Amherst Fire Department made twenty eight (28) Emergency Medical Services calls to UMass Amherst over the weekend, twenty five (25) of them for overly intoxicated "college aged youth," and quite frankly the other three traumas I have a strong suspicion alcohol was a contributing factor.

   AFD Fantazia Concert Runs

Let me repeat that:  At least 89.2% of all "emergency" runs to our flagship institute of higher education last weekend were for otherwise intelligent people who voluntarily drank themselves almost to the point of death.

AFD Engine 1 and Engine 3 on scene Theta Chi Frat 496 N. Pleasant Street 12:23 AM

And notice too just after midnight Saturday-into-Sunday morning in the midst of a flurry of ETOH runs two engines responded to an alarm at Theta Chi fraternity.  What if that had turned out to be a major structure fire?

With all our ambulances (and 80% of the on-duty crew) dealing with drunks, how effective a response could they have mustered?

What A Difference 1 Year Makes

AFD at Kennedy Dorm for ETOH female

The exciting thing about living in a "college town" is every year around this time we absorb a tidal wave of new exuberant youths making Amherst their home for 7.5 months out of the year over the next four years.

The not so exciting thing is the learning curve involved with them fitting in.

Last year (9/6/13) between 6 PM and 7 AM Friday-into-Saturday-morning Amherst Fire Department transported 7 "college aged youth" from UMass for "substance abuse".  This past Friday (9/5/14) into Saturday morning, one year later, AFD transported 13! 

And another 3 transports from just off-campus that in all likely hood were UMass students.


So why the dramatic difference? 

This year (9/5/14) the average temperature between the hours of 11 PM and 1:30 AM, when the majority of ETOH calls occurred, was 23 degrees higher than last year (75 vs 52 degrees).  Warmer weather brings out the herds to roam the streets in search of a party.

And beer does not help with hydration.

Even with four extra firefighters paid for by UMass to cover the peak weekend demand, we still had to rely on surrounding fire departments five times.

Like for instance the cyclist who crashed his bike on North Pleasant Street and sustained a serious head injury.  Northampton FD transported him to Baystate Critical Care unit in Springfield.

 Cyclist down North Pleasant Street (awaiting ambulance) 12:45 AM

How many more warm weekends can we look forward to before winter sets in?  How many more seriously injured citizens will have to wait for an out-of-town ambulance to arrive?

   AFD Weekend Run Summary 9/5/14

 Left column humidity, right column temperature

Hot Time @ UMass/Amherst

 Union activists marching around Whitemore Administration building

A couple hundred union employees took a loud march around the UMass campus today at noon starting from the usual rallying point, The Student Union, to the usual endpoint, Whitmore Administration Building, and then back to the Student Union.

 Protesters did not enter Whitmore Admin building (like in the good old days)

Apparently five campus unions are displeased over the summer-long negotiations with Amherst's #1 employer.

A Really BIG Clambake

 Hot time on the Haigis Mall

Thousands of students descended on the Haigis Mall late this afternoon, turning it into the area's largest food court.   For the 5th year in a row, UMass/Amherst has set a world record for food consumption.

Well, the world according to Guinness (no not the beer company).

This year it was an old fashioned New England Clambake: clams, steamers and lobster.  3,003 servings to be exact.  And it took less than two hours to serve them up under the watchful eye of a Guinness "adjudicator."

 UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy readies the starting horn

UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy stoked the hungry crowd with a spirited speech and of course even more uplifting, tunes from the UMass Marching Band.

 

Professor Amilcar Shabazz (center) SGA President Vinayak  Rao (right) SGA VP Jacob Schissel (left) doing their civic duty

Serving World's Largest New England Clambake, celebrating local food and UMass commitment to sustainability pic.twitter.com/ElxvxKtvpt
— Kumble R. Subbaswamy (@KSubbaswamy) September 1, 2014

A Dangerous Indulgence

AFD on scene UMass Southwest area 2:15 a.m.

The first call came in at 1:59 AM, a routine as rain "still alarm" in a UMass high rise dorm.  Two minutes later it changed from routine to a full blown scramble as reports from UMPD indicated smoke in the building and an "orange glow" on the 14th floor causing a second call to all units, the dreaded "box alarm."

Almost instantly four fire engines and all available ambulances (two out of five) are converging on the scene.

 14th floor room where alarm originated (circled in red).  Beyond reach of Ladder trucks

Meanwhile just down Commonwealth Avenue, a river of students is converging on Kennedy dorm and the rest of the Southwest towers from a concert called, appropriately enough, "Code Black" that just let out at the Mullins Center.

The smoke , thankfully, turned out to be burnt popcorn.

 AFD packing up the hose

Even as all units were still making busy at the base of Kennedy tower two more calls came in for ETOH (intoxicated) students -- one at nearby John Quincy Adams tower and the other on the Amherst College campus.  

These, in addition to the half-dozen that had already occurred since midnight at the Mullins Center, all for intoxicated college aged youth.  Even though AFD Chief Tim Nelson had convinced facility management to have two ambulances (one from Easthampton and the other Belchertown) standing by as part of "Mullins Center Command" they were quickly overwhelmed by calls for service.

 AFD on scene Mullins Center 12:45 a.m.

At one point, around 12:45 a.m., two AFD ambulances were simultaneously tied up at the Mullins Center for intoxicated patrons.  In all the concert required 6 ambulance transports (one by Easthampton FD, 2 by Belchertown FD and 3 by AFD) as well as an additional 21 patients seen by paramedics on scene.

The alcohol induced drain on public safety also impacted police as both UMPD and APD assist AFD at the scene of all medical emergencies, even when it's simply substance abuse calls.

Oftentimes the calls to respond to an ETOH student included the addition information that the patient had fallen, resulting in a head laceration.

Eighteen months ago a young woman under the influence of alcohol fell while walking on Fearing Street, hitting her head on the unforgiving concrete curb, resulting in death. 

Last week my 12-year-old daughter fell from a horse resulting in a head and neck injury (which proved minor).  When my wife called 911, EMS was quick to arrive.  Late last night into early this morning, that vital lifesaving system was heavily taxed -- almost to the breaking point.

Mostly to preventable alcohol or drug related calls. 

   AFD Runs Mid-April 2014

Live Tweeting a disaster:

 

AFD E5 responding to UMPD headquarters for severely intoxicated male prisoner.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) April 13, 2014

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

BS Blarney Blowout 2014: Postmortem

Uprooted stop sign from town center now at DPW building

 Chancellor Subbaswamy speaks out loud and clear

The numbers really do tell the embarrassingly sad story of the Blarney Blowout 2014:  58 total arrests (55 APD, 3 UMPD) with another 24 summons issued for alcohol related incidents.

AFD transported between 18 and 20 overzealous Blarney participants to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital thus tying up a vital ambulance (one per person) for at least an hour per incident.

Four officers received minor injuries during the turbulence even though many of them were wearing riot gear.

But the real damage is just now picking up steam:  National news (including Time Magazine) blaring headlines that reflect ever so poorly on our little college town and the "flagship of higher education" in the entire state of Massachusetts, where education was pretty much founded.

Did the police overreact?  Hell no.  Obviously they were outnumbered 100 to 1, so when those kind of lopsided odds start to turn bad -- throwing bottles and cans, setting off fireworks, uprooting stop sign's and gravestone's etc -- there's really no choice but to step in.

 Chief Livingstone (white cap) on scene N. Pleasant/Fearing streets moments before use of OC pepper guns

I asked Chief Livingstone to respond to the concern APD "overreacted" with their use of OC pepper ball guns, and received this response:

"Like all our less than lethal force options, we have protocol and policy on how they are dispersed.   Yesterday's events, after numerous dispersal order were given at a number of locations, justified their use.  As you know I was on scene at Puffton, Townhouse and Fearing and North Pleasant Streets.  Officers acted accordingly and per policy."

North Pleasant Street had to be shut down for 15-20 minutes

So where do we go from here?

Last year, prior to the Blarney Blowout riot of 2013 (where only 6 were arrested), Amherst Attorney Peter Vickery sent a letter to the Amherst Select Board reminding them as the town's liquor commissioners they could, as an public safety measure, shut down all alcohol sales within town borders on the day of the Blarney Blowout.

They ignored him.

It's time to take that sobering suggestion seriously.  The Select Board should put the measure on their next meeting agenda, where they will no doubt be discussing the public safety disaster that unfolded in our little town yesterday.

Voting to suspend all alcohol sales in town for next year's Blarney Blowout at their next meeting, would be ironic justice ... since that meeting occurs on March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day.

In their own words:  Amherst police report 

Fight The Power

UMass is -- by far -- the town's largest employer

I received the following press release last night from UMass Grad Student Matthew Cunningham-Cook regarding the Only In Amherst minimum wage hike to $15/hour warrant article Town Meeting will vote on March 19 (if they get a quorum).

According to Mr. Cunningham-Cook the bylaw, unlike most town ordinances, is a "home rule petition" that further requires State Legislature approval so it would then apply to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the #1 employer in town.

Mr Cunningham-Cook is a contestant for Town Meeting but since the local town election is a week after the Special Town Meeting, he will not be able to support it on the floor of Town Meeting. 

It will be interesting to see if he can find a single business owner in town who would agree that student workers with "more money in their pockets" would translate into more business.  As it would take a tremendous boost in business to offset the steep increase in overhead brought on by the new increase in the cost of labor.

For most small businesses, the #1 overhead cost is labor.

#####

AMHERST, MA-- The Student Labor Action Project at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst is launching a multifaceted campaign to end poverty through higher wages.

Amherst's poverty rate is 20.2%: overwhelmingly composed of students, as only 7.2% of families in Amherst are below the poverty line. At the same time, UMass is a huge employer, with nearly all of the university's 21,000 undergraduate students working on campus in one capacity or another.

Almost all work for less than $10/hour-- nowhere near enough to afford the cost of living in Amherst, where rents for a room frequently exceed $800/month.

Nationwide, fast food workers have gone on strike for a minimum wage of $15/hour. Sea-Tac, Washington just passed a ballot initiative mandating a minimum wage of $15/hour, and activists in Seattle are organizing to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot there as well.

SLAP is planning to replicate these successes here in Amherst, where the poverty rate has reached crisis levels, all while bloated administrative salaries extract funds out of the pockets of student workers and contribute significantly to the gentrification of the Pioneer Valley. (Men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg tops the list at $719,664. All told, 224 UMass employees make more than $200,000 per year.)

Our campaign has begun by collecting the requisite signatures to call a Special Town Meeting for a home rule petition to the legislature which would grant the Town of Amherst the power to implement a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

We are also launching an aggressive pressure campaign to make UMass may pay the $15 an hour minimum wage in the event that that the home rule petition fails to pass the legislature.

We are calling for inclusive language including the entire Town of Amherst because 1) small businesses in the Town will gain a massive source of new revenue were UMass' undergraduate student workers to have 50% more money in their pocket, and 2) we believe all employers should be held to the same standard of providing a living wage, which only $15/hour can achieve.

Given that UMass has 21,000 undergraduates with Amherst's population at 37,000, the overwhelming majority of low-wage employees are employed by UMass.

The Special Town Meeting has been called by the Select Board for March 19 at 7 PM for the Middle School Auditorium. We encourage all supporters to attend.

Amherst is a microcosm of the global trend of increasing wealth inequality, which the United Nations Development Program recently said "can undermine the very foundations of development and social and domestic peace."

UMass SLAP is a joint project of Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association. Most of us work low-wage jobs on the UMass campus. This campaign is also supported by the Amherst Area Workers Rights Committee.

We're Number 29!

Welcome to the former jungle

So it will be interesting to see how the UMass PR flacks handle this one.

On the one hand, you want to play down anything pertaining to the "Zoomass" image -- especially on a Friday. But on the other hand it could be worse -- far worse -- as in Umass could have made the (coveted by some, dreaded by others) Top Ten.

And a generation ago UMass would have topped that list.

Although the flaw in this survey is it only covers "on campus" incidents and in Amherst -- a unique "college town" -- the major problem is the off campus rowdyism fueled by alcohol.

But it is getting better.

Depends On How You Define "Busy"

 

Engine 1 Pomeroy Lane Cooperative

Although the Amherst Fire Department had to rely on "mutual aid" only once over the past weekend that doesn't mean they were not stretched dangerously thin. 

On Sunday night four calls came in close enough together to tie up the entire minimum staffing level of 8 on-duty professional fire fighters.

So when a trauma call came in at 10:35 PM for someone who had taken a fall, that person had to wait until a mutual aid ambulance arrived from another town.

But another incident, which is pretty much considered routine, occurred earlier Sunday afternoon when four calls occurred almost simultaneously -- one of them a fire alarm at The Arbors, a large capacity nursing home on University Drive.

Engine 3, with four Student Force responders handled that (potentially catastrophic) call, with one veteran full-time fire fighter in command.

If your beloved wheelchair bound grandmother was trapped in a large structure fire, would you prefer a crew of fully trained professional fire fighters to arrive first on the scene or a crew of student volunteers?

Fire is a most formidable foe.  Sometimes, even the pros don't return home. 

Because of the recently ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement AFD will have a minimum staffing of 8 professional firefighters 24/7 from August 15 through May 31st (excluding academic Winter and Spring Break) up from a previous minimum staff level of 7.

So now four ambulances can be staffed simultaneously, up from three.  But that leaves Central Station abandoned.  With our institutes of higher education back in session, AFD is now staffing 9 on busy Friday and Saturday nights through Spring Break.

After Spring Break, when party season picks up steam, staffing will swell to 13 on Friday and Saturday nights, partially subsidized by UMass.  That extra $80,000 pays for 4 additional firefighters (thus two extra ambulances) during the beginning half of the fall semester and the second half of the spring semester.

Or what high-tech business service providers might refer to a "surge pricing."  

   AFD emergency runs late Jan

Calling All Consultants!

$60,000 town/gown consultant contract up for grabs

Hear ye, hear ye:  The joint UMass town of Amherst Request For Proposals, a consultant contract worth $60,000, has just hit the Internet.  

The large Town Gown Steering (super) Committee -- made up of heavy hitters from both UMass and the town, hashed out the legal contract over four meetings. 

The cost of the consultant is also shared 50/50 by the two superpowers, although the University handled all the final edits and legal issues that go along with issuing a 15 page public document.

The main focus for the consultant will be double edged problems, probably endemic to "college towns":  housing and economic development.

Two recent town sponsored housing studies have concluded the lack of student housing drives up prices making it difficult for middle income families -- and impossible for low income families -- to find shelter.  

Plus Amherst  has an overwhelmingly skewed tax base, as the housing market represents 90% of the total tax base and the commercial sector a pitiful 10%.  

With the recent loss of 204 affordable units at Rolling Green Apartment complex the town has now fallen below the magic 10% threshold for Subsidized Housing Inventory and could be (within the next year) subject to a Chapter 40B mega development.

Who Guards The Guardians?

Umass is looking for a "Director of Communications" to add to their luxurious stable of Public Relations folks, namely the Office of News & Media Relations (with a staff of 10). 

This gaggle of course does not include Nancy Buffone, Director of "University Relations," with a staff of three;  or John Kennedy, Vice Chancellor for University Relations.

UMass also has "Newswise" which seems to be just another name for News & Media Relations, although I notice former high-ranking editor at the (Springfield) Republican Larry Rivais now shows up as an "Associate News Editor" after retiring from the Republican on January 1st.

The retreat of journos into public relations jobs is certainly nothing new, but it has become worse over the past ten years or so with the decimation of traditional print media by that darn Internet.

In 1980 for instance Amherst hosted four weekly news publications, and now we're down to just one.  And that one -- The Amherst Bulletin -- had a full time staff of 13 stationed in Amherst back in 1980 (not to mention 15-20 part-timers), and now they are down to just two.

In 1980 the ratio of PR flacks to journalists was 1.2 to one, but by 2010 had climbed to an alarming 4 to one.   And they are better paid and better equipped than the beleaguered journos who try to cover their employer.

So who keeps a discerning eye and a flashlight on UMass, our flagship University and the town's #1 employer?  Hello?  Hello?  Is anyone out there?

UPDATE 5:00 PM

Nancy Buffone's response regarding the "Director of Communications" position. 

A Fair Share

UMass, Amherst & Hampshire Colleges account for 27% of all AFD calls

On Thursday all the head honchos -- Select Board, Finance Committee, Town Manager John Musante and Finance Director Sandy Pooler -- will meet in Town Hall for the unveiling of the Town Manager's Fiscal 2015 budget.

Don't expect any earth shattering changes.  Although maybe, finally, a much overdue increase in staffing for our beleaguered public safety departments.

One thing that should be discussed is reimbursement monies from our three institutes of higher education.  You know, the reason why Amherst is a "college town."

The main one of course is UMass.  The original 5-year "Strategic Agreement", which pays the town $350,000 in new monies annually, expired June 30, 2012 but was extended for a year.

NFD mutual aid ambulance, AFD Engine 3 Pierpont Dorm UMass for ETOH student 

In 2013 Amherst Fire Department responded to UMass 1,162 times with 843 of those (73%) responses for medical emergencies requiring an ambulance, with 219 of those (26%) for "substance abuse."  So that means the other 319 responses required a fire engine.  Ambulance runs generate insurance revenues, fire engine runs do not.

 AFD Engine 2 on scene Crossett Dorm Amherst College

In 2013 AFD responded to Amherst College 212 times with 152 of those (72%) responses for medical emergencies requiring an ambulance, with 39 of those (26%) for "substance abuse."  The other 60 responses required a fire engine (or two).  Last year Amherst College "donated" to the town $90,000 as payment towards those emergency services.

Although after the Crossett Christmas incident last month let's hope they go back to the $120,000 they gave us in 2007.

In 2013 AFD responded to Hampshire College 184 times with 71 of those responses (only 39%) for medical emergencies requiring an ambulance, with 17 of those (24%) for "substance abuse."  The other 113 of those responses required a fire engine.

AFD crew heading toward Hampshire Dining Commons for an  ETOH female 12:20 AM

So out of the three institutes of higher education AFD protects, Hampshire College has by far the higher percentage of responses requiring expensive equipment that does not generate insurance reimbursement.

Last year Hampshire College paid the town zero, zip, nada for emergency services received by the town.  And as a tax exempt educational institute they paid almost nothing in property taxes.  Yet they are one of the most expensive colleges in America at $57,130 per year.

And last year Hampshire announced it would offer an "undocumented student" $25,000 per year to cover those high tuition expenses.  At least that student will be well protected (at local taxpayer expense).

UMass Sober Shuttle Scuttled

 Sober Shuttle 1:15 AM Amherst Town Center

After less than a one-year trial run the much ballyhooed Sober Shuttle is no more.

The late night program used PVTA buses that ran after the bars closed in an effort to keep drunk drivers off the road and to cut down on waves of students walking through residential neighborhoods to get back to their beds in the dead of night.

But it seemed to duplicate already existing runs of the PVTA and never seemed to gain traction.  A uniformed UMass police officer assigned to every run could also have acted as a popularity deterrent.

The $50,000 program was a Student Government Association project paid for via student fees.

UMass administrators were not overly enthusiastic in promoting the endeavor because they did not wish to be seen condoning/enabling excessive alcohol consumption.

But at the same time they used it to demonstrate the University and students were doing something about rowdy behavior.

Fear not, however, the good intentioned safety program has been replaced with a more cost effective answer.  Yeah, there's an app for that: Sobrio. 

SGA President Zac Broughton reports

Higher Ed & Alcohol Info Graphic

 
AFD loading intoxicated student at the Umass Visitors Center early November

For my regular readers this is a kind of a "Well, duh" dog-bites-man story, but the charts graphically illustrate the sad, dangerous trend of alcohol abuse at our institutes of higher education -- the town's number one industry.

 Overall substance abuse calls:

Overall substance abuse calls make up 10% of AFD medical emergency responses

However, looking at the College and University of Massachusetts at Amherst our flagship of higher education and number one employer in town:

 Over one quarter of all emergency responses to UMass are for drugs/alcohol abuse

 

Amherst College kids are no better behaved when it comes to drugs/alcohol

Hampshire College comes in last for alcohol/drug abuse

Even worse, the numbers clearly indicate the problem is getting worse. 

Comparison of last two fall semesters (Tom Valle graph)

What say you UMass, Hampshire College and Amherst College?

And Another One Gone

 UMass Football coach  Charley Molnar heads to the unemployment line

In addition to the $6,312,074 UMass FBS gamble is projected to cost this Fiscal Year (on top of the $5,644,099 it cost/lost last year) you can now add another cool $1 million to buy out the remaining three years of coach Molnar's contract and a couple other coaches who were pushed into falling upon their swords.

And yes, remember it also cost a cool $1 million to buy out the previous coach Kevin Morris and staff, when UMass brought in Molnar to make the BIG jump to FBS.  A million here and a million there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

Maybe higher authorities in the food chain should start fearing the thud of an ax.

No coach, staff, or team worked harder to build a championship program than we did. Disappointed in the results but proud of the foundation!
— Charley Molnar (@CharleyMolnar) December 26, 2013

Twitter has the solution





As does Reddit