AMHERST — UMass men’s basketball head coach Frank Martin and Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford met with the news media for an end-of-season press conference in the Mullins Center on Monday afternoon.
The pair each gave opening statements, with Martin’s spanning over 18 minutes, talking about the past season before answering a combined seven questions from reporters.
During the hour-long presser, both men took accountability for the last two seasons not being up to par. They each expressed optimism about the future, looking to move forward.
Martin noted how difficult it was to change conferences during his first year coaching in the Mid-American Conference. Among other reasons, he claimed the biggest difference was how many players each team in the conference returns on a yearly basis.
Bamford highlighted the same fact, explaining that it was his goal to find similar success in player retention at UMass.
“The continuity of those programs at the top [of the MAC], those rosters aren’t changing a lot,” Bamford said. “That in this day and age is really rare, and we’ve got to figure out what that combination, that mechanism, is, to get that, because I think that will help us.”
After the 2024-2025 season’s 12-20 finish, Martin claimed that he contemplated quitting coaching, but re-found his spark for coaching with this year’s group.
Despite coming up short in their first season in the MAC, Martin and Bamford were both very optimistic about their partnership moving forward, noting how excited they were about the growth within the program over the past four years together.
“[I’m] trying to finish the job that I was asked to come do here, which is to provide the school a conference championship, to provide the school the opportunity to play the postseason basketball,” Martin said. “I get it; We’re not there yet, but I’m really excited about who we’ve got, who’s coming, the answers I get in recruiting.”
Asked about what went wrong this past season, Martin pointed toward the number of leads his team gave up, claiming his group was six possessions away from being a 23-win team.
He also touched on how MAC opponents play differently than he is used to, specifically giving his ball screen defense problems throughout their first three games of conference play.
Despite the struggles in the program’s first MAC season, Martin made sure to explain that Bamford is not the problem in his eyes.
“[Bamford] has given us everything we need to win at the University of Massachusetts,” Martin said. “… This is not a Ryan Bamford problem… I’ve [got to] do more.”
Speaking about the financial side of things, Bamford mentioned how his team’s travel schedule in the new conference is expensive, not allowing them to use those funds in other areas.
Martin also made it abundantly clear that he was apologetic about how he handled himself on the sideline this year, claiming that Bamford asked him to tone back his emotions during games.
“I apologize to anyone that I’ve offended because I dropped a certain word in the middle of the game,” Martin said. “… I don’t want people when [Bamford] knocks on their door and says, ‘We need more’ to say, ‘Well, [Martin’s] a you-know-what.’ I can’t do that to him. I gave him my word.”
Martin and Bamford have received their fair share of scrutiny, but at least for now, they’ll be looking forward to attempting to bounce back next year.
“[A MAC Championship is] what we’re trying to build towards, and we’re not going to stop until we [win],” Bamford said. “I have a tremendous amount of resolve that that’s going to be the outcome, and I look forward to continuing to invest in [Martin] and his program to meet those standards.”
Martin still has three seasons left on his current contract, which is set to expire following the 2028-29 season. Martin was given a two-year extension at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season when the Minutemen went 20-11 (11-7, A-10) by Bamford.
“You have to win, or you’re not going to stay at the school you’re at,” Martin said. “In men’s basketball, you don’t get to be .500 and keep your job, at any school.”
Martin’s career record at UMass is 64-63.