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Last year, 4-8 Bowden beat - Northwestern Morgan State (4-7 FCS) Kent State in OT (2-10) CMU (1-11) We lost 9-of-11 starters on defense, and that defense carried the 2018 team. Due to the timing of his hire he completely missed out on the initial signing day. We lost our best returning WR, Jonah Morris, before the season even started. Shocking that we're bad in 2019. Who knew? Arth is a good person, and a hard worker. He's legitimately focusing on NE Ohio recruits, which is something Akron fans have bemoaned for years. Everyone here should support the guy. Against a lot of odds, his staff and team are busting their ass to bring Akron a winner. If you repeatedly post on ZipsNation bitching about Arth, you're just trying to bring the program down. And bring the supporters down. And that is not why I pay the money, and spend the time, to run a nice site that represents UA well. People that repeatedly bitch make ZipNation toxic and drive good, interesting, fun fans away. That won't fly.

100% agree. After a 2 year hiatus we're back to watching the type of competitive basketball we'd come accustomed to watching during Dambrot's tenure. Is Ali a young "Deji"? Who's better, Kwan or X? Antino or LCJ? Cheese/Banks or Noah? Big Dog or Riak. Ok, maybe I went too far, but you get the idea. 😁 No doubt this team has the potential to reach the MAC finals. Hope they can stay healthy, out of trouble and continue to improve. Seems like this is the turning point where Zips fans do the 180 degree switch over from "Why in the world did we hire Groce?" to "How are we ever going to keep him?"

Merry Christmas Zips Nation! Years ago there were lots of Christmas greetings posted, but this year has been tough, especially with soccer and football being down. The greetings are few which reflects how beat up we have become. Yet take heart. We will get thru this and emerge the better for it. This is still one of the best college sports websites in the country and I enjoy the effort you make to keep us up to speed on all things Zip. I wish you and your families a blessed, safe, and joyful Christmas.

Driving up Friday night to see my kids/grandkids and going to this one Saturday after breakfast at The Bomber....son/daughter-in-law haven't been in their arena since their graduations in 2008, 2009. Asked for a sidebet, but they said "Dad, you raised us Zip fans..." awwww ain't it great when the listen 🤩

Let's not act like UA suddenly gave up on winning football or forgot how to field a successful DI program. From the record since 1987, it is clear they never learned. Since then, no Akron head coach has been successful. Faust had two winning seasons out of nine. Owens had three out of nine. Brookhart had two out of six. Ianello had none in two years. Knute Bowden only had two in seven years. I don't know what the answer is. I suspect it won't be settled on an internet forum. That type of historical record certainly suggests it's more than just one bad head coach or misguided AD.

Yep...still happy.

I count ten...TEN cupcakes to begin the season for the Dukes. Ah ah ahhhhhhhhh!

Dr. Z and I were able to take-in our first practice since the beginning of summer camp today. It was difficult to make any profound observations, as the day was split into roughly 80 % drills, and 20% scrimmage situations. Nate Stewart was the star of the day. One-handed catches, sideline catches while heavily covered, TD's...he did it all. Coach Arth singled him out after the practice as and example of a player who competed on every play with maximum effort. He stated "Nate hasn't taken off a play, he hasn't asked to get a breather, he hasn't done anything but work hard the entire camp." Look for a huge year from Nate in 2019. It is interesting to see six quarterbacks practicing. Kato is the obvious #1. Robbie Kelly looks to be the #2. But the kid getting the next highest amount of reps was true freshman Zach Gibson. He made some nice throws, and acquitted himself well today. Some bizarre jersey numbers today, as Zach Gibson wore #50, RB Michiah Burton wore #59, RB Peter Hayes-Patrick wore # 67 and QB Nick Demchuk work #55. On the injury front - Hayes Patrick looks to have hurt his finger shortly after making a nice, 15 yard scrimmage run. Maverick Wolfley's day was over after he hurt his elbow on a crossing route. Julian Hicks was on the sideline wearing a tank top, with an ice pack on his shoulder. Deltron Sands and Keyondre White wore red shirts, and were relegated to drills on the sidelines. One player who seemed to take advantage of Jonah Morris and Julian Hicks' absence was Dustin Burkhart. He pulled in a nice 40-yard TD catch from Kato while being covered fairly well. Has a TD in a short yardage slant over the middle, and made multiple other nice plays over the course of the day. The Zips will be anything but predictable when inside the opponent's 5 yard line this season. The offense showed multiple looks, with slants to both sides, QB keepers, flea-flickers...this ain't the old "hand it four times to Cody Grice up the middle" Zips. On a several occasions the InfoCision speakers would blare rock music to simulate crown noise. We saw Nick Johns split out as a WR a few times. Former OL's John Neeley and Eric Bentley round out what Coach Arth feels is a solid 9-man rotation on the defensive line. Much better than the 5 DL's we had in the spring. At the end of practice Arth stated the defense won yesterdays practice, and the offense won today. So tomorrow is the rubber match. Boogie, Dre and Alvin rotated returning kick-offs. Each one of those guys can take it the distance. Per Coach Arth, Dre Williams is rounding into form after missing the spring with an injury. Landon Forman was also singled out as someone who missed the spring with an injury, but who's having a solid summer. Lots of parents in the stands, as this is Parents Weekend. They had a seemingly well-attended tailgate prior to the practice in Lot 9. More to come later. I know Dr. Z got some nice photos. Arth spoke to us after the practice. I'll transcribe it tomorrow.

WVU released their non-conf schedule. Zips play at WVU on 11/8. WVU will play in Youngstown at the Covelli Center against the Penguins on 12/21. Mountaineers will be at the Fieldhouse in CLE on 12/29 to face the Buckeyes. https://bluegoldnews.com/west-virginia-mountaineers/wvu-announces-non-conference-mens-basketball-schedule/

I think there is some truth to that...but it isn't black and white. You don't win the MAC East title, and beat Northwestern, with 85 guys that are sloughing off. But you probably don't go from a 2.4 to a 2.9 overall team GPA in one semester without some players being held accountable for their classwork, who weren't in the past. I think all you need to know regarding the buy-in of the incumbent players to the new staff is seen in the lack of transfers.

I thought that this would interest and please long time zip soccer fans

Not sure that's a fair statement. The landscape of college basketball and recruiting is changing. Groce has been tasked with stopping the bleeding, and 4 year players don't exactly do that at this level, especially when some of your initial 4 year players aren't locker room fits. Get me a winning product. I don't care if that's 10 4 year players, 10 1 year players, 10 JUCOs, or a concoction of everything. Win.

Really looking forward to seeing Brian Trimble after hearing Groce's comments. Sounds like he's a next level shooter and should help replace some of the shooting they lose to graduation. Sounds like he can handle the ball too which brings some real value, like Tyler Cheese, when LCJ is off of the floor. He and Daily are going to give the Zips some dangerous wing players. I understood KD's approach in focusing on freshmen, but the infusion of transfers (e.g. X, Riak. LCJ) and JUCOs (Cheese, Banks, Reece) has added a lot of excitement to the program. Dailey, Trimble and Currie will be a huge infusion of talent.

In hindsight, the decision to cancel the tournament was the right decision and probably saved lives. I am healthy sitting at the computer and thankful for my health and the health of my family. I hope all Zip fans stay healthy to cheer for the Zips next year.

JoJo to the Browns

Just cancel it and give the bid to the regular season champ imo

Akron with one vote in this week's AP poll.

So, just to clarify the rules here, it's okay to predict future misery and gloom and doom for a program but not a game?

A few points: 1) KD was successful at US and...people b!+ched...offense is too predictable...they don't play enough zone...they can't stop dribble penetration...they have no out of bounds plays...there are players of questionable character on the team and kids getting into trouble...the OOC schedule is weak...they can't win the big game...he can't win in the tournament...yada...yada...yada... 2) Groce came into nothing, the team improved in year two and...people b!+ch...players are transferring...the big men are offensively challenged...their shooting is awful...there was a fight between players...the OOC schedule is weak...yada...yada...yada... 3) People will b!+ch no matter what. 4) Groce is going nowhere. Love him or hate him the University of Akron does not have the financial resources to dispatch him.

Shhhh... Don't let facts get in the way of their misery. _______________________________________________________________ The Zips this past season were 8 deep. Even with the departures, I'm looking at a roster that's 9 deep and that doesn't include the incoming freshman or the 2 open spots. It's ridiculous to say there are only 2 DI players on the current roster, when the rag tag group of 8 were consistently competitive against teams like Clemson, Buffalo, and Nevada, and finished in the middle of the pack in the MAC, while blowing out the #2 team in the MAC (BUGS). Scoring is a fixable problem, and probably the best problem to have, especially for a rebuilding team. I'm going to keep pounding this point. We have the right system in place to be successful. We focus on the key fundamentals - defense, effort, rebounding, free throws - and have built that foundation. Dambrot's system was and still is entirely flawed. It ignores nearly every basic principal in the sport of basketball. This very board had people constantly talking about the lack of ball movement, defensive breakdowns, free throw shooting problems, etc. We eeked out a lot of close victories against sub-par MAC squads despite being more talented (usually). Those issues have carried over to Duquesne. Read their board; "will this team ever emphasize defense" and "free throws are an issue". I'd be curious to see the opinions of the Dambrot apologists when looking at the Duquesne roster. Is it full of so-called DI players? If so, what was the cause of the early 1st-round exit in the A10 tourney and not dominating/being more competitive in a weaker A10 Conference as a whole? In the first round game, they scored 86 points, shooting at a 47% clip. How can you lose a game when you make shots?! You don't play defense, give up 92(!) pts, and shoot 68% at the line. What's going to be easier to fix: having gym rats hit the gym and practice shooting (including free throws), or getting a team to buy into 40 minutes of tough-nosed, heady defense? My vote is the shooting, which again, gives me hope for this next season. Lastly, let's stop crucifying this team and Groce for a 40 pt. loss to Buffalo and 24 pt. loss to a motivated O-BooWho squad. Of the 16 losses we had, 11 were single-digit losses, and an additional 2 losses were closer than their final score (@ Buffalo and @ Toledo). That means there were 3 games we simply weren't competitive in. Heck of an accomplishment for a team with only 4 DI players at the time. I wonder if Arizona had the pitchforks out for Sean Miller for losing to Buffalo by 21 last year, or Boeheim for losing by 12 to Buffalo this year. Do BUGS and Miami want to fire their coaches for losing to a team with 4 DI players by 24 & 29 respectively? The Clown lost to a team with only 4 DI players by 19. We had 1 extreme off-night (O-BooWho) and one off-day that was aided by being inferior to one of the better teams in the entire country (Buffalo at The Q); clearly that's not the norm. So much good to focus on. The sky is not falling. In fact, I feel as if the ceiling is higher than ever before, considering our previous ceiling had a MAC Finals record similar to LeBron's Finals record (oh look, another similarity between Dambrot and LeBron, to add to the excuses and now neither of them making the postseason), and arguably 0 marquee wins (unless you include the few NIT wins against Houston, FSU, and Temple).

I'm optimistic that with a full year under their belts and another full off-season to improve their craft, our offensive base will be much more solid. Throughout the season we saw growth tremendous growth from numerous players - Riak & Cheese were the two most notable - and I trust the individuals on the team will put the work in to improve for the betterment of the team as a whole. It needs to be noted the system Groce has implemented on offense and defense. They are very fundamental. They require personnel that will dedicate themselves to the fundamentals, something AAU has largely killed off. We have lots of movement now when executed properly, and that goes for both sides of the ball. Two factors have led to the exodus - players not buying into the system, and players simply not fitting in. It happens, and it has been magnified by the state of the program when Groce took over. All season I had next year and the year after next circled because those are the seasons that start to feature the core of Groce Ball with the majority being his personnel. Whatever we accomplished these first two seasons would be whatever, and I was simply hoping to see the basics implemented. I've seen that and way, way more. With the departure of Utomi, it accelerates the roster turnover to becoming mostly Groce guys. As I mentioned, a lot of the fundamentals in basketball have been killed off by AAU ball. It was very encouraging to see so many guys this year buy into those fundamentals again, especially on defense. Seeing that gives me a lot of hope this off-season will yield big improvements all the way around. Also, are we forgetting the MAC is about to potentially enter the stage it was at when Dambrot took over? It depends on what Buffalo does; otherwise, it's completely up for grabs. Fret not. Go Zips!

The staff at TopDrawerSoccer decided to name our favorite Men’s College Soccer teams that we’ve covered - taking nothing more than enjoyment into account - below... Akron Zips (2010) - J.R. Eskilson ... It’s been a decade since this team graced the field, and you can still see that impact that the squad left on college soccer today - plus the handful of players still making their marks on the professional game around the world. The 2010 team was Caleb Porter’s fourth season in charge of the Zips program - it was the first time that the squad consisted of only players he had recruited to Akron. This team exemplified the famous moniker “Death by 1000 Passes”. Sure, the foundation for that identity was put in place years earlier, but the Zips became that mantra during the 2010 season while also crushing the competitive spirit of any team that got in their way. ...

If these writers wood just take a minute or too two have there stuff prufed buy Zipnation posters befour they publish it than there stuff would be less worser. eh.

Eh. Cupboard was left bare. We couldn’t just cancel the program for 2 years.

I actually enjoyed watching the game because the Zips played very smart and disciplined basketball attacking the zone. LCJ looked like a leader and made several nice floaters in the paint. The Zips only took one bad 3 point shot and that was by LCJ. Both Cheese and Williams were able to attack the zone when they got the ball at the elbow by the foul line. They both made some nice 12 foot jump shots or faked the jump shot and attacked the rim. The Zips only took 12 3 pointers and 2 came at the end of the game when they were running out the clock. Groce did a great job coaching our team on how to attack the zone. Williams finally had a good game shooting and went 6 of 12. He had 6 turnovers but many of the turnovers were passes that were miscommunications between him and another player. I have been down on William because of his poor shot selection but I heard him on the post game show and he is a very articulate guy and does play by play on e sports. During the interview he indicated that he watched the film and noticed that he has been taking to many difficult shots and he needed to take better shots. He indicated that he had been settling for easy shots. I only saw him take one poor shot tonight, a 3 pointer. I hope he watches the film tonight and realizes he has the talent to score 20 points a game without shoot 10 3 balls. He is a great foul shooter. Really impressed with Cheese and Banks. This team has some real talent and was fun to watch tonight.

Nice, a new topic to discuss. Fun

The 2019 recruiting class was so hard to follow and rightfully so. And this 2020 class does have one lingering wild card in Mikal Dawson. Let me just say, Deuce Deuce, if you're out there - bust your ass and qualify!! I am really bullish on this guy and want to see him play for the Zips. All we know is that he didn't qualify for this season. But at the same time he has welcomed new players to Akron on his twitter account and his twitter avatar still declares himself a proud Zip recruit. So I have to believe it's his scholarship to lose. https://twitter.com/_23Dawson?lang=e If Dawson qualifies, that would leave one scholarship left for the 2020 class since we just added point guard, Garvin Clarke. When you study Verbal Commits you will notice a concentration of offers at the Power Forward position. That would be nice. And as mentioned by Dirtyolcrowe, a blitz of offers has been unleashed over the last few days including a shooting guard, a few wings and our latest walk-on Forward, Enrique Freeman might be in the running for a scholarship according to VC. So maybe Dawson is not a lock? Or maybe at this point Groce will take the best player he can get regardless of position? Those of you who spend time around campus please report any recruit sightings. The early signing period is coming up (November 13 - 20). We should know more about this class soon enough. http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/akron

Bowden won some games, got us a bowl, got us into a MAC champ game. This guy has gotten us the WORST TEAM IN D1 Title on only 5 weeks. Sorry, this is a bad joke. The players are leaving because, lets face it, anyplace is better than this place. They should just fire him today and appoint an interim coach. Enough of this nonsense.

As always, taking photos and subsequently posting and commentating the day after a disappointing loss is a losing proposition. But I took the trip up to Amherst and thought I'd post what I thought might be interesting to Zips fans who'd never been to Amherst, and who may not have been able to watch the game. My wife and I arrived in Amherst Thursday night. It is roughly a 2-hour drive from Logan Airport to the UMass campus. Too bad we drove it in the dark, and in a rainstorm, because everyone who drove in during the day told me it was a scenic drive. Amherst is tucked away in the woods of western Massachusetts. The last 30 or so miles it took to get there reminded me of a trip to OU, winding through several rural small towns. We stayed at a bed and breakfast about 0.5 miles from the downtown restaurant and bar district, and a little over 1 mile to the UMass campus. We explored the campus during the day, and felt really old at night as we hit the bars where many of the kids were approaching 1/3 our age! But it was a great time. UMass has a small lake in the center of campus. If you take the library elevator to the 23rd floor you can see the entire campus, with the hillside in the background. It was surprising that we wore Akron gear the entire day, but not one person mentioned the game or seemed to notice. The game was promoted on campus. The stadium was open during the day, so we were able to get in and take some pictures. There was a great pizza joint on campus. Antonio's. Giant New York slices. We got some tortellini slices to end our Friday night. I wish there was a place like this in the Akron area! We set up shop in Lot 22, only 2 blocks from the stadium. It was a vibrant tailgate scene. Lots of cars, tents and music. Travelling by plane, it was tough to "seriously" tailgate, but we did the best we could. UMass fan Steve 1981 visited ZipsNation and invited us to his tailgate, so we stopped over and said hello. Super-nice guy, with a great wife and group of friends. I can't tell you how many great people I've met via ZipsNation.org, both in the Akron area, and across the country. We tailgated with new friends 3rd&twenty and his wife, and met up with Akronites Dave and Geno inside the stadium. UMass had a large, gated-off section where the students tailgated before the game. It was an absolute mob scene. Kids piled in from the dorms by the hundreds. It was like an army of ants! Unfortunately, the bulk of the students head back to the dorms after the block party. Very few made it in to the stadium. Game result aside, it was a great trip. If you've never traveled to a Zips away game, you should. I've seen some great wins @ Northwestern, Army, NC State and Navy over the years. Some close shaves at Wisconsin and Virginia. And some clunkers like yesterday. But it's always a great time travelling and supporting the Zips. See you @ Auburn next year!

It is doubtful that either Ali or Edwards will be redshirts. Both have enough talent to see the floor during games. Remember that Edwards was originally a Buffalo commit. He is a prototypical Buffalo recruit, 6'6", long arms, fast and super athletic. After seeing Ali this week I was impressed with his size, athleticism and ability to handle the ball. You don't get quality players if you tell them you are going to redshirt them.

I cannot figure out the personnel decisions this staff makes. Arth seems to be going with "his guys" and it doesn't seem to be paying off. Players like Sampson, Brimage, and Lloyd were all regular contributors in prior years but hardly get on the field on D, if at all. DBs - How don't we know who our starting DBs are yet? Tried multiple guys at FS the first few games and ultimately settled on Davis. Oddly enough, Zaire Jacobs, who we all would have thought would have been the natural replacement with Davis at CB, never seemed to get a real look and now he's gone. We've also seemingly had endless combinations of whose at corner. True fresh Cochran seems to be settled in on one side, but Riley or Hooks...who is better...please make a decision, and are neither of them really better than a true freshman? Linebackers - Started the season with Watts at ILB, then moved to Bubba, now Glover. Scott and Richardson seem to both take extended turns at OLB opposite of Ward. Running backs - How does Floyd not get on the field at all? The player the staff seems the highest on (Lee) is the least effective to me. Too many negative plays for the usage he gets. Why bench your starting RB for the game after a fumble? Burton might be the highest I'm on of RBs that actually get on the field, but he's a 3rd string walk on oddly enough. QBs - It worked out I guess, but pulling Kelley as quick as they did for a true freshman seemed like and odd choice to me...but if the true freshman is better, why the heck wasn't he the back up to begin with? Oline - we sure like to experiment at every other position group, but not here for whatever reason and here is where we should be experimenting the most. I get there aren't much options, but at least try something. Recruits - all of these true freshman are getting playing time, except our two highest rated recruits in Thomas and Hayes-Patrick.What? We just seem all over the place in who we are playing and I can't follow the logic. We need to play the best players and only put in subs when they need breaks. Screw this platooning bull crap. Has our staff really been that bad at evaluating performance over camp and practice that all this crap changes on a week to week basis? Are they making a conscious decision to sacrifice winning now to get young players more time in hopes that its pays off down the road? If so, proceed with caution. I sat through 1-15 and 0-16 Browns seasons and nobody came out of that with their jobs. Playing your best players and coming up short is one thing. I can understand that, but from what I can see, we either don't know who our best players are or aren't trying to win at all costs this season and even fans as tolerant and optimistic as myself have to take issue with that.

Our old friend Kreed is right on point. The polling showed the citizens of Summit County didn't want to pay for a new arena and the issue died. I was really looking forward to the Ice Capades, Harlem Globetrotters, a circus that exploited animals, and monster trucks. The JAR is a dump but it's our dump. Sure I'd love another arena and wish some of the money put into the nearly always empty and decaying football behemoth had gone towards an arena or reworking the JAR, but those are worthless wishes. I think the JAR could be revamped into a more workable arena that would promote a better fan experience but that also requires money the university doesn't have.

Must we go through this evverrrrrrry time with a new coach? Anyone who thought this was going to be a smooth transition was wildly overly optimistic. I do agree that the discipline related errors are concerning but it's way too early to assess the staff. Rome wasn't built in a day. Hell, I was there last week and they're still not done.

If Groce had not insisted on moving screens, he might not have fouled out.

He took over a program with 3 D1-A wins the previous season, and who lost 9 of its 11 defensive starters. He began recruiting at a point in time when most programs had their full class committed. How many games should he have won? 1...2...? I hope he can turn it around. Like any HC, he gets 4 years to show what he can do.

There's really no reason at all why we shouldn't be competitive in the MAC.

Arth and Groce are Akron's 2 highest paid employees. Just because the student body doesn't care about athletics doesn't mean the administration feels the same way. In fact, Akron has tried bribing students with things like free tuition just to get them to games. Nothing has seemed to work. What I really think we're seeing is people losing their pride in their local community. ESPN has preached for decades the if you're not first, you're last mentality. Their viewers have bought in. Cable tv has made it easy for Akron alum and area residents to sit at home on a Saturday and watch what they believe to be a superior product instead of going out and supporting the local team. People have proposed dropping down divisions in hopes that being more competitive at a 3rd rate division would make people care. Mount Union has been the Bama of D3 for decades. Below are their attendance figures from last season. I'm seeing home attendance as low as 1840 and as high as 4631 for their home games. I've lived within 20 minutes from their stadium for virtually my entire life and I've never attended a game, nor do I have any desire to attend. Not a single one of my friends who attended Mount have been to a game neither. I know I certainly would never attend a game of watching Akron playing Otterbein, Capital, or Heidelberg. Granted I haven't attended a football game in 2-3 years, but I would attend if they were ever to consistently become competitive in the MAC.

If the MAC decides to play the tournament without fans, that would be a huge advantage to NIU if we face them. Their players are use to playing in empty arenas 🤣

I was wrong about this team I did not project watching a 20+ winning team this season. I tip my hat off to Groce, the staff and the Zips They look great. I will be in the building for Rival March 6th

Made me smile. I haven't rooted a bit for Shaka since the NCAA tourney game in Detroit.

Trojans, not Cocks 😆

He's been a little in his cups, me thinks?????

I liked the Bowden hire and how he coached, but I think we all have to admit he lost the team last year.

The Zips head off to Louisville this Sunday to face the #2 Cardinals. Louisville has recovered from Rick Pitino carousing with floozies on restaurant tables and assistants providing strippers for recruits. The Cardinals are projected to finish third in the ACC, behind Duke and North Carolina, and were ranked 5th in the AP preseason poll. Junior forward Jordan Nwora was the 2019 ACC Most Improved Player and was named ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Louisville returns six of their seven leading scorers from last year. Interestingly, they have had 3 common opponents with the Zips in the young season, beating YSU 78-55, NCC 87-58 and SCU 76-50.

My goodness...this thread hasn't aged well!

· You missed one Welcome to the squad, @JimondIvey0 #GLeagueDraft Memphis Hustle is a zip in the pros

Yet they're a winning program, which was my point. I was challenging the contention that success is measured by another program wanting to swipe the person or not. I don't think that's a good measure of success; but that's just me.

You could drop to whatever level you want. If the same dumbasses keep making dumbass decisions...it doesn’t matter. In fact, dropping to a lower level would be a dumbass decision.