Can UMass football show improvement in Walt Bell’s third season?

Operating as an FBS independent can be a difficult thing to do. Ever since returning to independent status in 2016, UMass football has struggled to put a competitive team on the field and it has had some questioning if they even belong at the division one level.

The Minutemen have become a punchline across college football and the program does not really have anything to point to as a future sign of any success. Head coach Walt Bell was an uninspiring hire and is now facing a pivotal third season at the helm.

This really should be considered Bell’s second season in all fairness, with UMass putting together a last-minute schedule of four games against four pretty tough opponents.

UMass is a program that is struggling to find its footing ever since moving back up to the Division 1 level in 2012.

Charley Molnar was a pretty bad head coach for the team before they hired Mark Whipple as the head coach and while the latter had some exciting offenses and produced future NFL receiver Andy Isabella, he could never find success and that led to the program hiring former Florida State offensive coordinator Walt Bell as the head coach.

During Bell’s two seasons, the Minutemen have one won game against a lowly Akron team and gotten blown out in every other game. This has led to some wondering whether or not it is viable for the program to remain at the highest level of competition and if UMass can ever reasonably compete at this level.

That’s why this is a pivotal year for Bell and the program to show that they can compete and I think that there are some winnable games for them on the schedule and they need to take advantage.