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It's a beautiful thing we all have different stories. Some fanbases all have one game, or worse none. Shows how spoiled we have been for great moments

Goodrich's positivity and vision are much welcomed. You can't do the improbable unless you can envision it and proclaim it can be done. When Andrew was at USF he tackled attendance at football games. No one believed he could make big improvements for the usual litany of excuses. He had near sellouts of three games when the local skeptics felt he couldn't do it for one. It's possible at UA. This team has potential and more talent than in the past. They can go 6-6. With W's over RMU, KSU, EMU, CMU and UMass all we have to do is take one from UNLV or OU. That is doable. I think there is reason to be excited about this season. I will do my best to help sellout homecoming. Why not? It's better than sitting around complaining.

I like his enthusiasm/optimism if nothing else.

Pads go on in one week. I can't wait. I plan on making the trip to Wake Forest and am very excited. I hope the QB pans out, watching the interview with Joe Moe he did bring up a good point when he said the QB has not played in a relevant game for like four years so there is going to be some rust to get off. He is obviously the key and it should be different knowing the team is his unlike the last two schools he was at. The position coaches are all great at making sure the players are ready to go and have been together for a long time with the exception of Mack at defensive line but they brought in some monsters so if the defensive line can get some pressure it could be an exciting team. I am really excited to see Aboor play and Williams (that man is huge at 6'6 340). Aboor was getting playing time as true freshman at Ohio State, he is older now and I'm sure he has physically developed if he is hungry, the pedigree is there he can possibly come in and dominate at that end position....

I believe Shammah is new as well. Imagine the conversations being had among everyone there. The new guys need to be sponges. Incredible opportunity for them to soak in all the Akron winning culture.

I see we have three more 2027 football recruits! Owen and Luke and Samuel McGrath an OL from Roseville, Michigan 6-6 290; Ronnie Taylor an athlete running back from Cleveland Villa Angela -St. Joseph 6-0 200; Jaleone Carney a DL from Louisville Trinity High School 6-2 285! All three look to have good size and should help down the road!

Another clip of Joe. Interesting when he discusses their plan for building the roster and replacing players lost in the portal

My kids play NBA 2k and tell me that Freeman is on the roster and they can use him as a player so it makes sense he would get a check.

I do not believe that anyone has posted about a Belgium defender that will join the Zips in Fall 2026. Sam Bunch, welcome to the zips. Look forward to watching you on the field....starting on August 20th. https://www.instagram.com/p/DYjh4mfgXpY/

I'd love for the JAR to look like it does in that AI generated graphic 😅

In Men's soccer, The coaches can only begin coaching 15 to 16 days before the start of regular season. I think that the actual first practice with Jared, Ger, Michael, et al.....will be around August 4 or August 5.

For those who may want to watch Remi Agunbiade, Jack Roman, and Matthew Paiva in the USL 2 playoffs at 7:30 pm tonight, I believe the following is free… https://sportsengineplay.com/USL/USL-League-Two-662798/2026-USL-League-Two-Playoffs/game/Flint-City-Bucks-vs-Peoria-City-Central-Conference-Final-2026-07-24?video_id=6a5e1aaeac813b6037971eed I downloaded the SportsEngine Play app on my Roku and was able to watch free last Sunday.

That's a step forward, beating out multiple other FBS schools for a recruit.

2009 - Without this one, do the others happen? (yes) got Keith his 1st (I hate Doug Penno and banked shots) 3rd straight MAC Championship game 5th seed (knocked out Miami for some redemption) beat Toledo in OT in the 1st round (freshman Humpty Hitchens forced OT with a 3) Nate Linhart, McKnight brothers, Steve McNees 4th straight 20-win season

The only one I could easily not choose is 2009 because it was very ho-hum. Double digit win vs. Buffalo (meh) and even though it was our first, there were no other storylines. 2011 was one of the greatest championship games in college basketball history IMO. Major rivalry, OT, 2 blocks to win it, fight at the end - it had everything. 2013 was an unexpected beatdown - given the Abreu situation - against a team that was in the Sweet Sixteen the year prior (albeit a different coach). Semi rivalry and a packed house in Cleveland with one of the best teams in Akron basketball history cutting down the nets. 2022 was awesome because of the Diss Track storylines. Major rivalry and an absolute butt whooping of PCCC. 2024 was hilarious given how it ended. Major rivalry, incredible finish, and the start of an on-going 3Peat. 2025 was simply an incredible comeback capped off by a fantastic finish. Semi-rivalry, big bro/little bro storylines, and the beginning of one of the most unlikeable teams in Miami OH. 2026 was 2025 but with an even better finish. Shammah's shot will go down as one of the greatest shots in Akron basketball history. The view I had straight on from behind Shammah made it even better, tracking the ball all the way just praying the distance was right because it could not have been better aligned. Not to mention prevented Toledo from ending their 46+ year drought. I voted 2025 simply because it was the first championship game my daughters were in attendance for and my wife was pregnant with my son so technically he was there, too. That being said, we've been very blessed over the last 20 years with incredible March basketball at Akron. Go Zips!

2024. I was at the game for 2024, 2025 and 2026, all epic, but the sheer improbability of this win against a hated rival in 2024 was my favorite. All three of those games had endings that unleashed absolute euphoria in the Zips section I was in.

I agree. If I remove my Zips colored sunglasses I just don't see him making the NBA at the wing position. Making the NBA is already challenging enough. Only 450 players in the world (which the NBA is a true global game) are on NBA rosters. Now taking away what he does best by moving him away from the basket just further reduces his chances.

Unfortunately, I see a 5-7 record again. I think the team may be better but the schedule is also more difficult. I see us beating RMU, EMU, Kent, UMASS, and Buffalo. With our track record against OU, I can't predict a win in that game although I understand the reasoning.

I know I am going to get bashed for this, but Joe Moe has said they have the lowest budget than any other team in country. Apparently it is close to two million dollars. I don't think that is a woe is me mentality it is a realistic mentality and pointing out that something has to change. The Big 12 signed a sponsorship with Monster Energy and every team in the Big 12 got 1 million dollars sounds great, Ohio State just signed a sponsorship with JP Morgan and Ohio State alone gets 17 million dollars because all of their sports teams are going to wear a patch on their uniforms... I'm not saying I want the jerseys to look like billboards but any type of sponsorship money would be nice. Players that have transferred from JUCO and FCS schools have said that they had more at their other schools. I agree the only reason players are coming to Akron is to get the chance to play so they can go somewhere else. The mere fact that Gant stayed is amazing I truly hope he has a great season and it pays off, I think Hull could have left as well and got paid.

Congratulations to Thomas O’Rourke on making the final U21 Dominican Republic roster… translation: These are the DOMINICANS who will represent us at the Central American and Caribbean Games 2026

A chance to see Zips MSOC’s Aiden Benitez who is on the El Salvador U20 MNT squad tomorrow night at 10 pm EDT on FS2.

The most painful loss IMO (if you want to call it that) was the cancelled tournament. That IMO was the best Zips team to not make the tournament. There were a few Zips teams better, but those teams had the opportunity to make noise. If we exclude that, I'd say Big Dog/Kwan senior year. That was the one year we had legitimate P5 size and couldn't be bullied down low. I actually feel Big Dog could have been a huge mismatch against the right opponent. That team just wasn't built to win 3 games in 3 days in Cleveland.

We deserve health insurance benefits as Zips fans.

On to the USL 2 Championship game on August 1st. Best wishes to Zips Men’s Soccer’s Jack Roman, Matthew Paiva, and Remi Agunbiade and the Flint City Bucks in their quest for the 🏆.

I didn't realize that was the pattern. I'll take it, a two possession game would be a relief 😆

Wow!!! 🤯 incredible goal from midfield for former Zip Marco Micaletto.

If it happens, it will be by four points. One point win in year 1, two point in year 2 and three point in year three. There's your guarantee. 😉

Zips are tied with Ball State, KSU and Ohio for the most titles in MAC history (BGSU and Toledo have a combined 1) but the Zips have 6 losses (KSU and Miami lead with 8), so I wondered what the most painful loss might have been. Didn't have to look. This one. ☝️

Yeah but he might be a serviceable backup big. 😉

I mean, the negativity and "woe is me" certainly is on brand.

Now let's start saying our prayers for good weather...and a decent showing against Wake.

Pre game tailgate announced for home opener!

In today's NIL world - and it seems they're trying to do this - Akron can't outbid anyone, yeah. We can't pay a whole lot even at the MAC level. That's fine. But, we can show guys how much money they're going to make once they have a good year or two here. It seems there might be a bit of that happening with guys coming to Akron. Feels like a way you can win a lot of games.

Thanks to @Thomas Lower for finding these commits. Samuel McGrath is a 6-6, 290 OL for whom we beat out BUGS, Miami, Toledo, and UMass. Ronnie Taylor is a 6-0, 200 running back/DB/ATH for whom we beat out BUGS, Buffalo, James Madison, Kentucky, Marshall, Toledo, and UConn.

Last year the non-conference schedule was released on August 15th and the year before August 12th. It will be here before we know it. I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been more leaks on what games are on the schedule. I feel we knew a handful or so by this time last year, including what MTE we would be playing in.

Everything is impossible...until someone does it. No one has ever actually tried to fill a Zips football stadium since Mike Waddell back in the early 2000's. "Build it and they will come." It's that simple, huh? Who knew you'd actually need to exert an effort to bring people to Infocision in respectable, profit-bearing numbers? Guthrie prioritized his grammar school-level Graphic Designer skills over expending any effort to address it. Others were let off the hook the day Scarborough lazily claimed "I wouldn't have built that stadium" (so the empty seats aren't my fault). That's a really easy, one-size-fits-all excuse way to avoid tackling the issue. Valid for a lifetime. If Goodrich publicly states he's going to fill the stadium, that's infinitely better than anything I've seen in the past 2 decades. It takes guts...guts that the Rhodes, Helsel, Wistercill, Williams and Guthrie's never showed. I trust that he has a decent plan. If it doesn't sell out, the increased attendance over recent history will still be noteworthy.

...and then we can complain that we don't have enough small quick guards!

6’ 8” guard?

TBH in this hypothetical Amani would instantly fill our biggest question mark as we lack a 5 with his proven skill set. I do see potential in Buddy Hammer, but it's no guarantee if we can fully unlock it in 1 season. It might sound weird to hear this but IMO Tahj makes Tavari a bit redundant. We really couldn't play them together. Even though Tavari might be better, I don't think there will be a big drop-off in production between the two. In my honest opinion I would guess at this stage we probably couldn't afford either financially. One would think our cash was mostly spent this offseason and that was before Bud dug deeper into his pockets to bring back Evan. I would think Tavari would command $500K+ and I wouldn't be surprised if a desperate team that lost out on musical chairs for a quality big offered Lyles something in the neighborhood of $800K or more.

Here’s Joe:

if anyone is interested, the 2026 MAC Football Kickoff is live on ESPN right now (12:49 pm). They are doing the coach player interviews now and they have not done the Zips yet.

Last year Trevick averaged 18.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.1 steals, and 2.4 blocked shots

Hey now, even a poverty program like Toledo has some moments. You just need a 8mm film projector to see them.

Love it. Size, size, athleticism, size, and more athleticism.

Thanks to @Sergeant Zip for finding our first commit of 2027! This kid looks good! 6'8" & apparently often runs the point for his high school team Lima Shawnee. He had 39 points in his first 2 games of the season last year & had 27 vs. Lima Senior. He's a lefty who can hit the three. Welcome Trevick!

2024 felt like redemption to me. I was a freshman for the 21-22 season and got very down on the team cause of the mess with Trimble and losing to weak teams at the end of the regular season, so I worked during the MAC tournament final and regretted it for 2 years because I should've trusted the core more. I was fully locked in. Then we lost in 22-23 and just made me feel like I really missed out on something special. During the 23-24 season I watched all 35 games beginning to end and attended every home game and the MAC championship and the stress and highs and lows of that game were unmatched. I loved the 25 and 26 comebacks but those I felt like we were cold (while Miami was white hot) or underperforming (refusing to go into the paint against toledo) which cause more frustration than stress. 23-24 just felt like the perfect story, Ali coming back, Tribble with the free throws, and Freeman with the craziest rebound I've ever seen live to cap off the best season in modern Akron history. Plus, the Rollins foul and the best Kent meme ever with Sendy. I bawled my eyes out after that 23-24 title win because of how much that team meant to me especially after meeting them all. Idk if I'll ever be as connected with a team than I was with that core. Cinema

Great Poll!!! I am going with Shammah Scott for three because it was the most recent and symobolizes a player who just hit some great buzzer beaters the entire season. He had several amazing shots at the end of the half during the season and if I had to rank them for difficulty they would be a 10. Each year we ask outselves who should get the ball with the game on the line. Last year we had the answer, Shammah Scott.