Good morning!
The Marty and Martha Maroons of the world would have you believe that the 9,493-seat William D. Mullins Center was built for men’s basketball. Understandable, considering John Calipari’s team was 24-7 and ranked No.14 by the AP the year the building opened its doors. 

Hockey was an afterthought and administrators treated it that way, but times have changed. UMass hoops played to a 29.7 percent capacity this year, averaging 2,824 fans in 16 games.

Maybe they should return to the 4,000-seat Curry Hicks Cage.

The third anniversary of coach Frank Martin’s introductory press conference was March 29, when King Francisco spoke of the “vibe and energy… toughness…culture… answering the bell… excelling academically…”

UMass hoops under Hollerin’ Frank has epitomized mediocrity: 12-20 this year and 47-47 overall including 24-30 in the A-10. Martin makes more money than a state cop on detail — over $1.8 million in 2024 — making him the highest paid state employee in the Commonwealth. 

“Nice that we are paying $1.8M to Frank for under 20 wins,” said a prominent basketball booster. “I really think he is a significant issue.”

Deposed football coach Don Brown — he of six wins in three years — was the fourth-highest paid state worker at $950,443, and athletic director Ryan Bamford was the seventh highest at $726,374.

Paging Mr. Musk and The Children of DOGE, please report to the athletics office for code maroon.

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Earlier this year Greg Carvel passed Don Cahoon on the all-time wins list. The kids on UMass radio can be excused for thinking Cahoon was a legend, he wasn’t. He had three winning seasons in 11 years and coached one team to the NCAA tourney.

Carvel needed fewer than nine seasons to reach and pass Cahoon. He’s been to six NCAA tournaments, coached 12 tournament games and won or was tied after 60 minutes in 10 of them. His total pay in 2024 was $624,002 and he deserves a raise.

The fact is UMass didn’t have a hockey program until Carvel arrived on campus. Joe Mallen was 77-144-18, John Micheletto was 39-88-13 and Cahoon was 166-229-42. 

Indeed, it’ll be a while for Carvel to break Cahoon’s all-time loss record.

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According to the College Hockey News, UMass hockey averaged 4,837 fans this season. Their three biggest draws were 8,412 for a 3-3 tie on Oct. 25 against UConn, 7,606 for a 4-1 loss on Feb. 15 versus B.C. and 6,022 for a 4-3 loss in the season opener against Sacred Heart. (UMass returned the favor by beating the Pioneers 6-1 the next night in Fairfield.)

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Kudos to coach Mike Leflar and his UMass women’s basketball team that was 17-15 and tied for fifth in the A-10 (11-7), won an NIT game and averaged over 1,000 fans at home for the third straight year.

Meanwhile former UMass women’s coach Tori Verdi is 21-43 in two seasons at Pitt. In January however, the Panthers outscored SMU 54-10 in the third and fourth quarters to come from 32 points down and win 72-59.

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MAC champion Akron (28-7) was the only team to qualify for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Zips were beaten in the opening round by Arizona, 93-65.

As for the women, MAC champ Ball State (27-8) was the only NCAA qualifier and lost to Ole Miss, 83-65.

VCU was the only A-10 men’s team and lost to BYU 80-71; Richmond reached the second round of the women’s tourney and George Mason was bounced in the first round.

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Last week’s schoolboy basketball item about Arms Academy’s Jim Alden prompted Muriel (Bolduc) Zraunig to write: “I was a year behind Jim and remember the night he hit 1,000 points. I believe it was December 1963 against Charlemont High School at Cowell Gym. At 5'10" tall and with no 3-pointers, he finished his career in 1964 with 1,442 points, including 593 his senior year. He was a graceful player with a beautiful soft shot and so fun to watch.”

Zraunig added that Alden attended Bates College, settled in Maine and taught school. “We had an Arms All-Class reunion in 2022 and I heard Jim was there but I didn’t see him or maybe just didn’t recognize him.”

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SQUIBBERS: The MLB Network’s Harold Baines and Dan Plesac interviewed Alex Bregnam on Wednesday and it was a total nothingburger. “So happy to be here,” said Bregman. “My teammates are great, I’ve admired Raffie from afar… blah blah blah.” … Former Red Sox catching prospect Kyle Teel is in a 2-for-36 (.055) slump for Chicago’s Triple-A team in Charlotte. … Yankees first baseman Cody Bellinger had to sit out Tuesday’s game in Detroit after he got food poisoning from his room service chicken wings. “I will not eat wings for five years," said Bellinger. “The thought of it right now makes me sick.” … UMass hockey fans have been informed they will pay for parking next season. Season ticket holders get a break if they pay $100 up front. … Coming off their worst season in franchise history (63-99), Angels players and coaches will be fined $500 for using their phones in the clubhouse.“It’s not punishment. I just want some focus,” manager Ron Washington told The Athletic. … Those were the quietest and least relevant 100 points of David Pastrnak’s career. … Apparently my email address at the bottom of this column has been sending messages into space. Try using chipjet715@gmail.com. … Sunday’s Paris Marathon is expected to break last year’s record of 54,175 runners. … Money can’t buy glove — Phil Mushnick on Juan Soto. … WEEI reports the cost of one soda, one water and two slices of pizza at Fenway Park is $45. … The baseballs they used at spring training games in Florida were hard as a rock, so yeah, they might be feeding hitters rabbit balls this season. … Raffy Devers shouldn’t feel badly about leading AL third baseman in errors for seven straight seasons; Alex Bregman already has three.  … John Tavares on his 16 goals since the Four Nations: “The joy and passion for the game only continues to grow.” … “If there’s a golf course in heaven I just hope it’s like Augusta, I just don’t want an early tee time,” said Gary Player, who turns 90 in November. … The UMass baseball team coughed up an 8-7 lead to Fairfield in the ninth inning Wednesday on a walk-walk-bunt single-wild pitch-sacrifice fly-safety squeeze-error-walk. As the Old Perfessor said, “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@gmail.com