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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.

@Captain Kangaroo This board is very well done & I agree with most of what your saying but Jonah wasn’t our best receiver & may not have even started. This defense is at such a disadvantage, you have Lako & Davis that are legit D1 guys, new d line that creates no pressure, new linebackers & a bunch of DB’s that never played a college football game a month ago. I expected so much more out of this offense but you can’t do much with little blocking. No run game, now Gibson made things better on pass game cause he knew how to move around in pocket & go through reads, something we haven’t seen but Burkhart is only real game changer we have in speed & athletic ability I hope things get better but unfortunately I think it may get worse before better but this isn’t Arth’s fault. Give him a chance, let him get a couple recruiting classes in & if you don’t see it we should all ask for a change I believe you never settle & always strive for greatness Go Zips ?

It sucked then too.

If it is indeed true that - "You improve through criticism. You do not improve from sunshine and rainbows and apathy" then I'll offer the following candid thoughts - You have 3,870 posts on ZipsNation. I am still waiting for the first good one. You started off strong in 2012 with your avatar, and everything since then has been a banal, verbose waste of space. You offer a stunning combination of ignorance and self-importance. #Facts. Tough Love.

I can't recall a lower time for any Zip sports enthusiast. This is not a rant or a fire any coach, AD or BOT member call to action. It is merely a statement that our athletics culture is depressed. Football is now the worst of the bottom 10. Arth may raise us to the top of the MAC. I hope he does, but we have a lot more pain ahead before that happens. I'll give him a chance. Soccer is experiencing an unprecedented winless streak. Jared will fix it, he's too good a coach and we are lucky to have him. Tennis loses a coach who raised the program to the top of the MAC and then resigns days before the first fall season match for personal reasons. What gives? I don't believe why he left. There's more than that at play here. Track and Field can't have a spring home meet because the track is unsafe. Is this any way to treat a program that has made it to a top 25 national ranking? I don't believe this dysfunction is the result of one man's leadership, but rather a deteriorating culture that tolerates excuses and does not think of the university as able to achieve a high level of MAC competition. It's not always about money and funding. For us it's about expecting to lose eventually. There is little evidence of commitment to excellence. I've seen more passion on ZNO than I have ever seen from athletic dept staff. Their response always seems to be "This is Akron, what do you expect?" Well screw that. I expect to win and you coach, athletic staff member or administrator are supposed to find a way to make that happen. Not an excuse as to why it can't. Please men's and women's BBall gives us something to be proud of.

I think I'd still give Ianello the nod, but Arth is making it more competitive week by week. We're right back to being the most embarrassing program in the country after a few years of competence with Bowden. Sad sad sad.

As to the criticism issue, constructive criticism can certainly lead to improvement. That being said, I'd temper my criticism to anyone in a period of transition, not throw out the same criticism without regard to the circumstances involved. I also think that those who harken for the olden days of "Knute" Bowden are either naive to other issues that came with him or unwilling to admit the issues. Certainly, none of us would wish this misery on our University. We all want a winner and that's why we're so passionate about it. However, this was a predictable situation, one that comes with every rebuild. If the misery is ongoing, Arth clearly wasn't the guy, but 32 days into the season is a little early for the "Chicken Little" reaction.

Sadly, I won't be in attendance - I'll have to watch on my screen. Hopefully this game brings new beginnings. They just need to eek out a win by any means necessary. I believe they can do it.

Arth never kicked off to start both halves of a game. But, come on, way too early for this.

Nice header off the corner kick! 1-0 Akron.

Keep up the good work.

Brute force and awkwardness! Whatever it takes!

I will be there as always, hoping and cheering for the new start to this season. I believe they will do it. I have never stopped believing in our team's abilities.

Quincy williams jr from Orrville is a kid that not only needs to be recruited by Akron U but would florish there he is 6'2.5 (still growing)Qb/FS/CB and plays WR he runs 10.9 100 meter and is an all out field flipper ..... he easily can throw the 60 yard passes with accuracy and make every throw needed also on defense he had 6 int's with 3 pick 6's he would have 9 interceptions with 1 pick 6 but penalties had them called back.

I personally think Tyler Cheese will have the biggest impact on the team this year.

There is no way to think this is OK. Five weeks in, worst team in D1. This is why they fired Bowden?

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.

And just in case they are monitoring this site and planning to take over the world I would like to state that I have always liked robots.

The pencil makes a showing in the video.

Turned the corner with the program!? Seriously? Seriously...he took a perennial 8+ win team, with 3-straight years in the FCS divisional playoffs; and made them a 3-win team. One more year of lackluster performance and he likely would have been gone. The excuse is always given that a coach is terrible in his first year because it's "still the other guy's players..." At Chattanooga the guys Arth inherited was a 9-4 team that lost in the divisional playoffs. He took that team and made them 3-8. Tom Arth was in no position, to be seen by ANYONE, as the person to "Elevate the Zips program to the next level". Us Arth critics are not "tough" we're simply spouting hard truths.

people like icoach don't come along all that often. When Arth starts stuffing a clipboard down his pants during the game a double kick-off can't be too far off.

Steve French and Oliver Slawson doing the radio broadcast ☺️ Steve French really does a good job on soccer coverage https://gozips.com/news/2019/10/1/mens-soccer-zips-open-october-mens-soccer-slate-hosting-vcu.aspx

20 wins isn't the bar it used to be. You can reasonably come out of the OOC schedule with 8 wins. You win most of your home games and split on the road in MAC play and you're around 20.

Wouldn't that be nice to have again......

Just ran into Jeremiah Wood at the gym. The dude is absolutely huge. Still looks strong as an ox but cut as hell. He's a legit 6-6, as I came up to about his armpit. Lol. Nice guy. We talked for about 2 minutes. (I could have visited for an hour but didn't want to interrupt his workout.) I told him that when he, Rome & Dru were on the team was my favorite era of Zips basketball. Without any prompting from me, he brought up the Doug Penno buzzer-beater & the slow-starting game clock. We commiserated. Lol. He's living in Ellet in the off-season and playing overseas. Go Zips!

What’s does this mean?

It's usually the week before up to a couple days before the first game.

None of these young men are rats. I think most are hungry to play and maybe they just don't fit into the system.Therefore, they enter the portal . If they stay and play sparingly then they may or may not have to sit next yr. If they leave now than they can use this as a RS yr or the yr they sit.I think this applies to a lot of RS Soph more than anything. Yes you will have FR & RS Fr as well.

You make some good points. And you have some good information. Perhaps the quality of player from ten years ago is no longer available; the landscape has changed. But the effort should still be there regardless of skill level. This team lacks conviction of purpose. How does a team regain this? That is the challenge for Embick and company.

Comparing the 2010 team to this team is like comparing apples to oranges. That team had six (maybe seven?) US national team recruits in its team. None of those level of players are playing college soccer now. Akron has starting recruiting some local high school players as well as regular non academy club players in recent years that I have coached against which I do not believe should be in contention to be a Zips soccer players. In 2009 & 2010, the recruiting classes were national team players left and right. This team only has Ritaccio with that on his resume. Comparing Henrique Cruz to Wil Trapp or Perry Kitchen is not realistic. Perry Kitchen is not attending college to play college soccer if he is in the 2020 recruiting class.

Getting excited about the leadership and rally in the loss to the next to worst team in college football is an incredible commitment to being an optimist. Bravo.

John, there are only a few stinkers here. Stay with us. Better days are ahead.

"We are excited to welcome Tom Arth to the University of Akron," Director of Athletics Larry Williams said. "Tom's experience in leading two programs and his ties to Northeast Ohio made him the exceptional candidate to elevate our program. Not only does Tom have a tremendous football IQ, but he cares deeply about the student-athletes and their future endeavors." He was a D3 head coach for 4 years and destroyed the UTC program in two years. The Chattanooga AD won the lottery in that Williams PAID HIM $370,000 to take away his losing head coach.

I've never inspired anyone or anything before (other than looks of disgust from girls in high school).

The small crowd in the stands belied the well attended parties in the stadium parking lots. There was no doubt Julian Hicks' foot was in-bounds for his first TD reception in a Zips uniform. The Zips celebrate after DeMarkus Glover snared his first career INT. ...and the Zips faithful got to break out The Takeaway Pencil! Boogie Knight nets 39 of his game high 100 yards receiving. Kato Nelson feels the force of the UMass pass rush. All day long it seemed like there were more UMass blockers than Zips defenders. Nate Stewart hauls in a 17 yard TD pass. Robbie Kelley had 8 pass attempts before giving way to Zach Gibson. An exuberant Zack Gibson bumps butts with Trevor Brown after leading the Zips to withing 8 points, late in the game. Gibson's strong play breathed life into a Zips team, and staff in desperate need of some positive vibes. 12-16 for 173 yards and a TD, Gibson did it all, even hauling in a 2-point conversion from WR/QB Nate Stewart. UMass QB Michael Curtis high steps it into the endzone untouched. The Zips' Zach Gibson does some high-stepping of his own. True Freshman KR/WR Michael Mathison continues to impress. Gibson gets a taste of what Kato Nelson has been feeling all season. Kato's status for the Kent game appears to be a game day decision...at best. In 1975 Time Magazine wrote "I've seen the future of rock and roll, and that future is Bruce Springsteen." For the Zips faithful that made the trip to Amherst, maybe...just maybe...in the abyss of what appears to be the mother of all rebuilding seasons...they saw the future of Akron football in true Freshman Zach Gibson. Time will tell.

He's way in over his head with D-1 football.