[lilroodude]

The man has had offers, he turned them down.

I found some references to schools that turned him down, but not to schools that he turned down. Do you have any specifics on that?

In any case, if we are talking the amount of money it would take to get him to UA, that opens a whole new world of potential coaches who would consider UA for the big bucks. But why even consider a big bucks coach if UA doesn't have big bucks to offer?

Is this discussion realistic or pie in the sky?

That's the conundrum. Either you spend the big bucks and upgrade the candidate pool, or hope you find a diamond n the rough that doesn't mind being payed peanuts for a few years.

You want to tell the MAC that you're ready to leapfrog them permanently, you spend the money like Temple and Ohio are doing. You want to stay in the MAC and risk everything that the stadium is supposed to bring just to save a few bucks in the near term, then put away the wallets.

I'm all for upgrading our pool of candidates, but let's get this soccer team hooked up first. Spend what you can to get the best coach for that money, but get the soccer team and Porter a new stadium.
However, if you have enough money for both, then by all means use it. Let's just keep the soccer team happy while getting this football team back on track at a reasonable price.

[zip37]

Delete one hell no, to YES, I thought ITZ was fooling around and meant the old man! Afteer all he's from the Jimmy D tree.

[InTheZone]

The man has had offers, he turned them down.

I found some references to schools that turned him down, but not to schools that he turned down. Do you have any specifics on that?

In any case, if we are talking the amount of money it would take to get him to UA, that opens a whole new world of potential coaches who would consider UA for the big bucks. But why even consider a big bucks coach if UA doesn't have big bucks to offer?

Is this discussion realistic or pie in the sky?

That's the conundrum. Either you spend the big bucks and upgrade the candidate pool, or hope you find a diamond n the rough that doesn't mind being payed peanuts for a few years.

You want to tell the MAC that you're ready to leapfrog them permanently, you spend the money like Temple and Ohio are doing. You want to stay in the MAC and risk everything that the stadium is supposed to bring just to save a few bucks in the near term, then put away the wallets.

I'm all for upgrading our pool of candidates, but let's get this soccer team hooked up first. Spend what you can to get the best coach for that money, but get the soccer team and Porter a new stadium.
However, if you have enough money for both, then by all means use it. Let's just keep the soccer team happy while getting this football team back on track at a reasonable price.

Love the soccer team, but soccer is never going to put 30,000 butts in the seats and give this University national exposure... it's a secondary sport. We gain more national mentions winning the MAC and a secondary bowl game in football than a national championship in soccer, and it gets the community talking about the University a lot more. The athletic department has got to stay focused on football and basketball, and if it's a choice between bringing in a great football coach and paying him or building a soccer stadium we bring in the football coach.

[ZippyforPresiden...]

The man has had offers, he turned them down.

I found some references to schools that turned him down, but not to schools that he turned down. Do you have any specifics on that?

In any case, if we are talking the amount of money it would take to get him to UA, that opens a whole new world of potential coaches who would consider UA for the big bucks. But why even consider a big bucks coach if UA doesn't have big bucks to offer?

Is this discussion realistic or pie in the sky?

That's the conundrum. Either you spend the big bucks and upgrade the candidate pool, or hope you find a diamond n the rough that doesn't mind being payed peanuts for a few years.

You want to tell the MAC that you're ready to leapfrog them permanently, you spend the money like Temple and Ohio are doing. You want to stay in the MAC and risk everything that the stadium is supposed to bring just to save a few bucks in the near term, then put away the wallets.

I'm all for upgrading our pool of candidates, but let's get this soccer team hooked up first. Spend what you can to get the best coach for that money, but get the soccer team and Porter a new stadium.
However, if you have enough money for both, then by all means use it. Let's just keep the soccer team happy while getting this football team back on track at a reasonable price.

I'm as much for the soccer team going all the way as anyone else, but when is the last time that a soccer team brought in a crowd of 30k+ (at an American college)? Football is the big ticket, at least in this country anyway. I hope soccer draws awesome crowds, but it's kind of like saying why doesn't the university invest a ton of money into a men's curling program. The money is in football first and men's basketball second. Get the draw for football and the subsequent fall sports like soccer will benefit from the money football brings in. Of course as far as my basketball obsessed brain is concerned, Zips basketball should be getting all the money all the time!

[TennesseeZippy]

Bowden's a no go in my opinion. A lot of rumors during the years about some shady recruiting while at Auburn. And, the sad thing was, he still couldn't recruit there.

[Zip_ME87]

I lived in Alabama when Terry Bowden was the HC at Auburn. He was horrible after his first year (with Pat Dye's recruits). Not only no, but HELL NO, in my opinion.

I also vote to flush Zips football altogether (new stadium be damned) if this hire is another one done at the expense of basketball (like the D-IA/Faust hire) and soccer. Sorry, but I'm for putting money into the areas where we are successful before we dump much more money down the football hole. I loved seeing Domenik Hixon's catch to win the MACC and going to the Motor City bowl. But, the trip to Portland last Spring and our current trek in the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament are just as important (if not moreso).

[RootforRoo44]

The man has had offers, he turned them down.

I found some references to schools that turned him down, but not to schools that he turned down. Do you have any specifics on that?

In any case, if we are talking the amount of money it would take to get him to UA, that opens a whole new world of potential coaches who would consider UA for the big bucks. But why even consider a big bucks coach if UA doesn't have big bucks to offer?

Is this discussion realistic or pie in the sky?

That's the conundrum. Either you spend the big bucks and upgrade the candidate pool, or hope you find a diamond n the rough that doesn't mind being payed peanuts for a few years.

You want to tell the MAC that you're ready to leapfrog them permanently, you spend the money like Temple and Ohio are doing. You want to stay in the MAC and risk everything that the stadium is supposed to bring just to save a few bucks in the near term, then put away the wallets.

I'm all for upgrading our pool of candidates, but let's get this soccer team hooked up first. Spend what you can to get the best coach for that money, but get the soccer team and Porter a new stadium.
However, if you have enough money for both, then by all means use it. Let's just keep the soccer team happy while getting this football team back on track at a reasonable price.

I'm sorry but i like soccer and all and i'm completely behind them but lets be real. I would trade a bowl game for a soccer national championship straight up. Football/Basketball are the sports that truly matter and lets keep focusing on them first. Soccer is getting it's new stadium and it will be fine, the money it costs to keep our soccer program at the top is peanuts.

[ZachTheZip]

Football is the biggest sport, like it or not. It is the only sport we have that can draw over 5,000 fans to an event, period. It is the engine that drives the athletic department. If this hire comes at a slight cost to other sports, it will have to happen. If football is successful it will more than pay back anything that might have been skimmed off the top of another sport's budget.

[Z.I.P.]

And if we want to get a coach who we need money to get, we have to get people with money involved. What Akronites do we know of that have money and have shown support for the Zips in the past? LBJ is the first name that comes to mind. Contact him and give him a seat at the table in this coaching search.

Second thread in a row for this comment: Yes, I CAN spell facetious. However, I'm afraid if LeBron gets involved we'll end up with Maverick Carter coaching the team.

[SeeTeeZip]

Regarding the making of programmatic choices, the university has already made the decision that it can walk and chew gum at the same time. The Info was built and needs rear ends in the seats. There has already been substantial discussion of a new UA/City of Akron stadium for the basketball team, has there not? Also, isn't a new soccer stadium already planned and budgeted for? The current step in the growth of the athletic department is the hiring of a new head football coach and I hope that UA plans to go the way of Temple and pays a coach and staff salaries that will lead to better times PLUS some stability. There is no reason that UA should spend so much on such a beautiful stadium and subject itself to the coaching carousel garbage that MAC teams deal with year in and year out. Pay a head coach at least 550-600K.

I'd actually love to see the top three or four MAC teams (assuming Akron can ascend from the crapper and be one of those top teams) paying in the 700-900K range, which is where the bottom Big Ten programs and the MWC seem to be. You want quality football, and most importantly FANS who will pay to watch your product? You have to spend money to make money. Those top three MAC programs will then be positioning themselves for something better down the road, whether that be a shot at a better conference or just ongoing dominance of the MAC and meaningful rivalries amongst themselves. Locals have known for decades that Akron football was small time and moribund. Now is the time to change that by showing a commitment to the program, and in the real world commitment comes down to cold, hard cash.

[KentZip]

Regarding the making of programmatic choices, the university has already made the decision that it can walk and chew gum at the same time. The Info was built and needs rear ends in the seats. There has already been substantial discussion of a new UA/City of Akron stadium for the basketball team, has there not? Also, isn't a new soccer stadium already planned and budgeted for? The current step in the growth of the athletic department is the hiring of a new head football coach and I hope that UA plans to go the way of Temple and pays a coach and staff salaries that will lead to better times PLUS some stability. There is no reason that UA should spend so much on such a beautiful stadium and subject itself to the coaching carousel garbage that MAC teams deal with year in and year out. Pay a head coach at least 550-600K.

I'd actually love to see the top three or four MAC teams (assuming Akron can ascend from the crapper and be one of those top teams) paying in the 700-900K range, which is where the bottom Big Ten programs and the MWC seem to be. You want quality football, and most importantly FANS who will pay to watch your product? You have to spend money to make money. Those top three MAC programs will then be positioning themselves for something better down the road, whether that be a shot at a better conference so just ongoing dominance of the MAC and meaningful rivalries amongst themselves. Locals have known for decades that Akron football was small time and moribund. Now is the time to change that by showing a commitment to the program, and in the real world commitment comes down to cold, hard cash.

+1

[Zip_ME87]

Football is the biggest sport, like it or not. It is the only sport we have that can draw over 5,000 fans to an event, period. It is the engine that drives the athletic department. If this hire comes at a slight cost to other sports, it will have to happen. If football is successful it will more than pay back anything that might have been skimmed off the top of another sport's budget.

Been there, done that. It sucks and men's basketball sucked for 14 years all the while football did nothing. Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

Getting a good football HC, does not have to be done at the expense of basketball and soccer (meaning the football HC's salary cannot be double that, or more, of the basketball HC). You just don't treat the folks who are doing well for you that way.

[SeeTeeZip]

Football is the biggest sport, like it or not. It is the only sport we have that can draw over 5,000 fans to an event, period. It is the engine that drives the athletic department. If this hire comes at a slight cost to other sports, it will have to happen. If football is successful it will more than pay back anything that might have been skimmed off the top of another sport's budget.

Been there, done that. It sucks and men's basketball sucked for 14 years all the while football did nothing. Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

Getting a good football HC, does not have to be done at the expense of basketball and soccer (meaning the football HC's salary cannot be double that, or more, of the basketball HC). You just don't treat the folks who are doing well for you that way.

Sorry, but the math is simple. UA will need to pay a 550-800K head football coach salary, which will be commensurate with where the program needs to get, and if that is double what KD and/or Caleb earn, then so be it. Would you rather have blown the money already spent on new facilities for the football program? If KD continues to grow the BB program he will get his, in the form of a new stadium and higher salary. Caleb already has a commitment from UA for a new stadium, and I doubt that NCAA soccer coaches will ever make anywhere near as much as 'merican football coaches.

If I wanted to earn as much as an attorney, I would become an attorney.

[GP1]

I voted "maybe" and am leaning hard to hell yes. ITZ is right, quick turn around is the key. The guy took an Auburn team on probation and went undefeated with them.

I could care less of the guy was banging his administrative assistant.....I want a guy to win some games next year.

[Zipmeister]

I voted "maybe" and am leaning hard to hell yes. ITZ is right, quick turn around is the key. The guy took an Auburn team on probation and went undefeated with them.

I could care less of the guy was banging his administrative assistant.....I want a guy to win some games next year.

I don't think we could lure Frank Solich away from Ohio.