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Looks like there's a new marketing director and a new title. https://gozips.com/staff-directory/ryan-koslen/709 There's also now an assistant marketing director. https://gozips.com/staff-directory/josh-smith/706

Too bad @Zipmeister is seemingly on an extended hiatus...this is his chance to force the Zips to throw to the TE on at least 3 successive plays.

I shared this earlier for our other commits so I figured I'd share Evan's as well. He's in the 64th percentile of wings in scoring efficiency, but is pretty elite at everything else, which seems to check out based off what we all saw last season.

Tomorrow is finally here. Meetings today; pads and camp tomorrow. Nothing negative, I know there have been a few minor injuries I just pray these young men have a healthy camp and can start the season pretty much injury free and let the chips fall where they may!!!! Good luck Zips...

Hoping we can use this thread throughout the season to list all of the polls and RPI updates. Zips at #12 in the United Soccer Coaches Pre-Season Poll. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

Feels really good to have some positive vibes around the program for once. Here’s to hoping we can keep the momentum going.

They need to pass out prop gameday headsets or something like the 1st 1,000 fans get an Akron OC Headset sponsored by Turtle Beach, Logitech... something like that.

Doing some napkin math. It was said that Akron sold out it's suites for the first time in program history. The stadium only has 16 suites available for public sale and one has to assume a number of those were already sold. Let's assume this promotion sold 4, which would be conservative. Let's also assume it sold 50 or so Club Seats. Very possible it could have been more as this promotion brought attention to the program. It's obvious the biggest jump is the GA tickets as people are treating this as a closed $75 lottery. I don't think it's unrealistic if 2,000 "entries" were sold. Suites 4 X $15,000 = $60,000 Club Seats 50 X $515 = $25,750 GA 2,000 X 75 = $150,000 All totaled that would be ~$236K in direct additional revenue. That's about half of the $500K the school said they wanted the athletic department to erase from the deficit. That's not even factoring in any increases in merchandise, sponsorships, or donations from alumni who now feel more positive about the school and/or program. Not to mention a chunk of those 2,000 are actually alumni or locals. Some amount of them could be persuaded to renew. Not to mention all the free advertising for the school at a time where seniors are deciding where to send their applications. Not saying anyone would pick Akron based off a promotion, but it might lead a few to give the Akron website a look whereas they didn't consider it before. Then a few of those stumble on a program or something they like.

#8 in Top Drawer Soccer - pre season poll https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men

So what if a Robert Morris fan drops $75 and wins and tries to sabotage the zips?! 😂

The comments replying to him seemed a lot more serious and less jokes about funny play calls. So many of the people were amazed by the $75 for a season ticket when it costs that just for 1 P5 ticket at many schools. A lot of them said if they lived nearby they would attend. Hopefully all this talk builds on itself and people become aware about how cheap tickets really are and the talk surrounding the program gets more students and fans to at least attend the home opening for nothing more than the spectacle. Then just a matter of building off that. A big hurdle for Akron football is just getting people to remember it even exists as it's overshadowed by so much else.

If they're smart, they're using some of the payout for a few season tickets.

It is currently listed under Headlines on ESPN's website.

I would become the most insufferable member on this board if I led an opening touchdown and then they proceeded to get shut out afterwards. The captain would have to hit me with a 30 day ban 😂

I saw several randoms that have no affiliation with the program post ticket receipts on X. I wouldn't be surprised if a few hundred season tickets got purchased between people wanting to share it on social media or in group chat with friends for the memes. The best part though is the free publicity. Edit: Maybe Akron's most successful promotion since the legendary Acme Zips games.

Imagine they actually don’t tell the winner until they are at the game to get people to actually show up. I think this is great and it will help the ticket sales team hit some big goals but I really hope we can get some people out to watch

The University of Akron's endowment has grown from $204.2 million in 2016 to $376.5 million in 2026 per the audited financials. That would indicate to me that they aren't depleting the principle on restricted endowments to cover operational costs. Personally, I feel it's a positive these small private schools are going out of business. There is clearly a student debt crisis ongoing and frankly a Notre Dame College wasn't worth the ~$50K tuition+room and board it was charging. Both Akron and Kent were ranked ahead of them academically in just about everything and you could attend either school for ~$20K less each year. If they were a Case Western caliber school academically this would be different, but they offered a lowered quality product at an inflated price. Schools like them going out of business should help strengthen the ones that remain.

Other than following the Zips, I've lost all interest in college football and basketball because of stuff like this. The extreme capitalization is ruinous to so many things. I'm just tired of it.

@kreed5120.Who cares what GP1 thinks. He is just a Negative Nanny. I'm a former Zip football player. This is really a no brainer. Players will always tell you that they are extra motivated when we play a P4. When the spotlight is on the game, players are motivated. How much excitement do you feel coming from the players when we play on a rainy Tuesday night in front of friends and family?

i personally am already excited about the season. I can't wait. I know we are not the only undefeated team in the MAC right now but i think we may catch some teams by surprise. I think this defensive line is going to be better than last year and I think they are really going to get pressure on the qbs. Tibs is a great coordinator and I think this publicity is only the beginning. ZIPS are going from bowl ban to bowl bound... stamp it !!!

Is it too late to let the winner "choose" a celeb helper? The right helper could really push this over the edge!

You have to wonder how Robert Morris is taking all this in. They have all kind of incentive to blow this up in our face. If I were Joe, I would challenge everyone(staff and players) to come up with the craziest play to start the drive. TD or flop, a crazy play would be on every show's highlight real. You just can't buy this kind of pub! Wake is probably wondering what kind of circus is coming to town for their opener. Could we really surprise them? Motivation is a funny thing. Can you imagine what this is doing to practice right now? When you have the football world looking at you positively, you will have a little extra "giddy up" in every drill, every play every day. In the season thread, I very optimistically predicted 7 wins for the season. This could make the whole season something special. GO ZIPS!!

Fox Sports 1's First Things First (arguably the best afternoon sports show) talked about this on air for five minutes of their two hour show. 14:25 into video until the end of video is the Akron part (was five minutes on air because they aired the Goodrich Promo on Akron Zips Youtube channel during that segment but cut it out afterwards when doing their own youtube video).

I hope the NCAA comes down on us. It will bring even more attention.

Good stuff, thanks for sharing. It's nice to see the premium tickets are moving as well and it's not just simply people buying 1 $75 lotto ticket. Those premium seats add up quickly financially and those are the people who will actually likely attend. Not to mention if you have money to buy a suite you're probably a business owner or someone high enough up in your company that you can have some influence to attract some sponsorships. Even if its just signage in the stadium.

One of the sources ChatGPT used for this was ZipsNation. No joke, serious.

It's refreshing to see some renewed energy back around UA football!! The guys are working hard and they certainly deserve it. Looking forward to my first trip to Winston-Salem on 8/3

This might not just be a 2-3 day viral thing. Someone at Barstool said Akron plans to hold a press conference to select the winner. Over the next few days would be the perfect time to line up a jersey sponsor that way we can point to all the notoriety we're receiving and allow their branding to be displayed. Having their logo in the back drop of a video that generates notoriety has to be worth something. Especially since Akron's marketing is capable of repeating it in the future.

it is being talked about everywhere. who knows what comes out of it but finally something good and creative is being talked for the Zips... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbqRu-DRiYD/?igsh=MW4yNG84ODh4b2hxcg==

Over 15M impressions on the post!!

Sounds like they are giving the unused tickets from the promotion away to people less fortunate per Liam Blutman on X.

You can see a picture of the new white kit in the 4th image of this post from Remi. https://www.instagram.com/p/DbmeCF1Dbze/?img_index=3&igsh=MWkxbnV5a2xjc3MzcQ==

I did the same thing for basketball, which is even more of a challenge to attend all the games given the volume of games. Instead of buying 2 season tickets (one for me and 1 for my fiancé), I swap them out 2 tickets to 7 games we can both attend. I think a single game ticket to the Kent game last season was around $25 as Akron charges a premium for it so getting 2 of those as part of my 7 games already reflects like half the cost of the entire package.

There are essentially 6 tickets you get with your season ticket purchase. Assuming nothing has changed, you can call the ticket office to move tickets from other games to 1 or 2 games if that's all you can attend and/or would like to bring other people. I believe it works out to be cheaper than buying individual tickets for said game and has worked very well for my family in years past. Plus, you get the parking pass. For example, last year I took my kids to the Wyoming game, but a season ticket covered all the tickets we needed.

Hopefully Poffenbarger can block because we're giving the ball to Broughton on a Fake 23 Blast with a Backside George Reverse like his life depended on it.

This is arguably the #1 content creator for NCAA Football video games.

I'm calling a quick kick when I win this thing.

6.6 million views in 8 hours

Men's basketball and football have been posted to their respective social media pages.

Zips ranked #12 in the preseason poll.

First day of training is complete!

At the end of the season when it really counted he couldn't beat the scout. I wish him luck wherever he ends up.

Yesterday I was on campus and did my usual rounds. For what it's worth: The renovation of Buchtel Commons is beautiful. The landscaping and pathway create a welcoming space all along the way. The entrance and arch leading to Buchtel Hall are impressive. On the other side Coleman Commons is a sight to behold. With the fountains now working it makes for a scenic place to take a walk. Fall enrollment appears to be up at an impressive double digits. Grad students are flat, but freshmen and transfers are up. Nemer's plan to get all deans and dept heads out to the high schools with our message seem to be working. Last year the football team had 11 of their athletes make their summer strength & conditioning goals. This year 51 have met their goals. Football GPA is at 2.94, the highest it has been in recent times. Those attending the first meeting of the football team described Joe as being the most positive and motivated he has ever been. His enthusiasm was infectious for all in the room. Soccer is loaded. There has been a slight setback with an incoming GK getting injured and possibly losing a season. The defense got the outside backs they needed. Goodrich has gone to bat for the soccer program adding Attila as a full time coach with a focus on operations and Bill as a GM with a focus on development. Andrew has said the soccer program will be the pre-eminent program at UA and he will not let it slip. Goodrich is highly thought of by the faculty. His door is open and he is transparent in all he does. Administrators feel we will go bowling. W's come from RMU, EMU, CMU, KSU, Mass and UB with the possibility of stealing one from WMU or OU. Some coaches feel UNLV is the best OOC team we play. They feel we will not sneak up on Wake or Minn. Crain's Cleveland Business ran an article yesterday citing UA as one of the best schools in the country (9th) for sports' achievement versus dollars spent. Go Zips!

I imagine they use the term help very loosely. I imagine it would mostly be sitting in a room with a few coaches and listen while the discuss. Perhaps pick their brain for knowledge. I'm not as opposed to this as I probably would have been 5, 10 years ago. It's a unique experience and as someone who really isn't all that invested in Zips football I would attend something like this just for the experience on learning the finer details of the game. Anything we can do to engage fans is a positive.

Bad news...Venezuela U21 won 3-2 yesterday. So the Dominican Republic U21 did not advance to the semifinals. Great news...Thomas O'Rourke will be returning to Akron soon...hopefully in time to be available for the August 8th exhibition match. Go Zips!!!

Looks like the team will have new jerseys this season. Or at least new blue jerseys. https://www.instagram.com/p/DbllW6pFh7-/?img_index=10&igsh=bjQ1cG5vcjlsbDZ3

you can see all 3 goals in the 5 minute high light video go to about 40 seconds...to see first one go to about 1:40 to see 2nd one go to 4:15 or 4:20 to see 3rd one https://www.mlsnextpro.com/video/watch-he-s-back-jason-shokalook-bags-hat-trick-in-fire-ii-s-7-2-win-over-fcc-2#watch-he-s-back-jason-shokalook-bags-hat-trick-in-fire-ii-s-7-2-win-over-fcc-2

Jason Shokalook had a hat trick for Chicago Fire 2 today! He has 7 goals in 4 matches with the 2nd Team. He's also played 9 matches with the 1st Team with 1 assist. https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbjdo4gkYSR/?igsh=eXdpbjNjcWdmaWJ0