Ohio will host UMass on Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Peden Stadium. The Minutemen have never beaten the Bobcats on the football field.
But UMass has more than just a football team, so here are five fun facts about UMass:
1. One of five
UMass is actually five different campuses that make up one collective body. Of course, its flagship campus is in Amherst. The other campuses are all in Massachusetts, located at Lowell, Boston, Dartmouth and Worcester (medical school).
2. That's a lot of books
W. E. B. Du Bois Library, which is located on the campus of UMass Amherst, is the tallest academic research library in the world, and it’s the second tallest library of any kind in the world. It’s not the biggest, just the tallest. The building checks in at a monstrous 28 (!!!) stories. It’s 286 feet tall.
3. Land-Grant school
UMass was founded in 1863 as part of the Federal Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. With that, it was originally named the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and it was commonly called “Mass Aggie.” But it hadn’t built any buildings or admitted any students four years later. Finally, in 1867, UMass admitted its first students.
4. No affiliation
UMass is a Football Bowl Subdivision independent university, which means it’s not in a conference. Most of its other sports are played in the Atlantic 10. The Minutemen used to be in the Mid-American Conference for football only, but the stint was short lived; they only were in the MAC from 2012 to 2015.
5. Dr. J., the headliner
Julius “Dr. J” Erving attended UMass. Erving went on to win an NBA Championship and is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He made the NBA All-Time 50th Anniversary Team.
National championship winning head coach Rick Pitino, singer Natalie Cole, NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman and former women’s tennis star Billie Jean King (honorary) are alumni.
