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We have a regular customer at the card shop that's a big Akron fan. He brought his son in who is probably 8-10 years old. He asked me where he can get some 3Peat merch. Luckily, I was gifted an extra hat the other day and had it in my bag. Gave it to him and, man, you should've seen the smile on his face. He went to dinner and came back a couple hours later with the tags off. I asked if he will ever take the hat off and he said, "Nope," with a huge smile. Never be afraid to talk Zips with people. Never know who you'll leave an impression on and foster life-long fandom. Also, 3Peat merch is a huge hit. Props to Wentz and the FTRC crew on creating great merch.

God, this is pathetic! Who cares what Bowden is doing at this point!

"Voluntary" workouts started today.... I was told over half the team was there this morning which is very exciting to me, considering last year I was told were this week of "Voluntary" workouts they had something like 12 players there... Next Monday is the first day of mandatory conditioning for the returning and transfer players... I hope they build a lot of momentum. Right now the Zips are tied for first in the MAC so things are looking GREAT !!!!!!

As far as I'm aware Walsh Jesuit OL Owen Pelkowski is our first commit of '27 Owen also had offers from KSUcks, Miami(O), Illinois State, and Cornell

For those of you who are not native Spanish speakers. 😊 Forward Enrique Freeman will make his debut with the Puerto Rican national team this summer after confirming his participation, according to president Yum Ramos.

In the last 15 minutes of play, I heard the commentators say : Laryea has had a very good game. Richie Laryea has been outstanding. Richie Laryea has been fanstastic in this game. Not surprisingly, Richie was the highest rated Canadian player....by Sports Illustrated https://www.si.com/soccer/canada-player-ratings-vs-bosnia-herzegovina-canada-collects-first-ever-world-cup-point-6-12-26 LB: Richie Laryea—7.9: Ran a marathon down the left wing. Stout defensively and a valuable asset going forward. A strong showing should’ve been rewarded with a goal, but Kolašinac denied him with an incredible block near the goal-line.

Tibs loves that size linebacker.... Seems like if he could mold one thats what he would make

I assume his agent will shop his services around, especially if someone would be willing to give him a standard contract, but you're 100% correct in that this is good news that he at least has a spot.

Another very tough non conference road matchup Akron at West Virginia on Thursday night September 3rd https://wvusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule What we know so far.... August 20 Dayton August 28 Wake Forest September 3 at West Virginia September 12 at St. Louis September 18 Butler (BE) October 11 Creighton (BE) October 24 Xavier (BE) Coach Embick and Coach Nanchoff have let fans know that Georgetown will be the 4th Big East home game. Based on past schedules, the zips will play Big East road games at DePaul, Marquette, Providence and Villanova. Zips coaches have previously mentioned attractive home games against Army, Cornell, Syracuse and Robert Morris.

https://gozips.com/news/2026/6/10/eight-akron-football-players-named-to-2026-phil-steeles-preseason-all-mac-teams

I think Zips fans are going to love this LB in a few years. While he has good size, he may not be quite as athletic as some of the other linebackers we’ve recruited, but he’s incredibly physical and has a good nose for the ball. Reminds me of Bubba in that sense.

The Zips will open the season with 3 straight regular season home games Dayton on August 20 Army on August 24 Wake Forest on August 28 I will update the first post in this topic. https://goarmywestpoint.com/news/2026/6/24/mens-soccer-mens-soccer-announces-2026-schedule

Big East Matchup of the year!!! Georgetown at Akron Septmber 25 https://guhoyas.com/news/2026/6/23/mens-soccer-mens-soccer-announces-2026-schedule.aspx

Look, I think we can all agree that the biggest winner of the 29-point Game 4 comeback is the Game 1 Cavaliers fourth quarter performance.

He's gone, but these guys are here. Significantly bigger this year. Very much looking forward to seeing this squad in action, but I will gladly be patient so we don't rush back into the crappy weather seasons.

He also wasn't quick and wasn't a decent defender and that doesn't work in a Groce scheme.

The only hype was because of the Euro mystique. No one would have cared about that dude if he was from alliance

I question any Zip fan who is skipping a key Zip event like a golf outing for a meager excuse like his wedding. It seems Kreed has had his head turned by a subversive KSU spy masquerading as a love interest. Be very careful my friend. We would hate to lose you to the dark side. May the Zippy be with you.

What we know so far....only games confirmed by other schools...are home games for the zips August 20 Dayton August 28 Wake Forest September 18 Butler (BE) October 11 Creighton (BE) October 24 Xavier (BE) Coach Embick and Coach Nanchoff have let fans know that Georgetown will be the 4th Big East home game. Based on past schedules, the zips will play Big East road games at DePaul, Marquette, Providence and Villanova. Zips coaches have previously mentioned attractive home games against Army, Cornell, Syracuse and Robert Morris. I am very excited about this year's team. Go, Zips !!!

MLS changed their roster rules a few years ago. A player can be drafted and return to college for 1 additional season. If the player were to remain in college for a 2nd season after being drafted, then the player would re-enter the draft is my understanding. Remi has the collegiate eligibility, but I don't expect he would return for a second season after being drafted by San Diego. As I recall, Dyson Clapier and Malik Henry returned for the Fall 2024 season after being drafted by Sporting KC and CF Montreal, respectively, in December 2023 (MLS 2024 Superdraft). Malik ended up at Toronto FC through a trade, not by re-entering the draft, https://en.cfmontreal.com/news/cf-montreal-acquires-up-to-75-000-in-general-allocation-money-and-third-round-pick-from-toronto-fc)

Agree. But once these coaches leave that's it. They are gone and are now stealing food off of Dustin's plate. Too much time spent on here obsessing over those who leave. Don't want to be like the bitter Kitten Attack who can't quit Groce or whoever.

Class of 2027 Verbal Commits Luke Fleischman, LB, 6-1, 215, St. Francis HS, Chaffee, NY Owen Pelkowski, OL, 6-5, 280, Walsh Jesuit HS, Cuyahoga Falls, OH Class Summary Total Commits: 2 Offense: 1 QB: 0 RB: 0 WR: 0 TE: 0 OL: 1 (Pelkowski) Defense: 1 DL: 0 LB: 1 (Fleischman) DB: 0

The wolves did trade away Naz Reid and Julius Randle which opens up a lot of room in the front court for Freeman to get minutes

As @TennZip predicted, the Villanova match is on October 31. https://villanova.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

Richie Laryea moves on to the round of 16.

I know some people want him to go somewhere other than Minnesota, and I understand the reasoning behind it. But who knows if he'd get a deal with another team. I'd rather see him in Minnesota than see his NBA career end ealier.

Whys it perplexing? Because a couple random Internet strangers said a couple anonymous coaches didn't like it?

I don't believe the soccer playing conferences would not support this. The coaches recommended overwhelming approval of the two season concept. According to Jared the conferences that cared about soccer (BE, ACC, Sunbelt) were the ones driving this proposal. It is a complete joke that the cabinet sent the proposal back to the oversight committee to investigate the affect it would have on academics. Anyone who knew what D1 soccer players go thru in a season that has up to 3 games in 5 or 6 days would know the split in seasons with one game a week is far better for the players and their academics. If they cared about the athletes they would rush to this concept. Injuries would also be significantly reduced with more time for rest and time for treatment. I hope this concept is adopted.

I promise the season ends before Akron goes 4-8 again.

Every year it is always going to be a new picture with different players. I already miss the bygone years when players entered as frosh and we observed players improve each year. And some players did not improve and transferred out. Players coming to Akron for one year was the exception and not the rule.

That is such a strange font initially I thought it was for the Greek National team. 🤣

Monroe will drop to 1-2 as Arkansas gets a 45-43 win on the road. So Bowden's first game win might have been because Iowa is awful (they lost 74-22 tonight). We'll see how the last five games go

I did my part! I got about 15 seasons in with them.

My first two thoughts when I look at that photo are - I hardly know most of these guys I’m happy to see Barre isn’t in a walking boot

I still think Stankovic can be a good player. Coming to the United States without a full summer of preparation had to be difficult. He absolutely showed flashes of talent at times, he just wasn't consistent or polished enough to be out there when it mattered.

I saw this event shared yesterday. I'll unfortunately have to sit it out this year as I'm getting married on 9/19. I hope to participate in future years and am looking forward to hearing how it goes.

We had already heard the rumor of a match against Dayton to start the season but it's confirmed here by Dayton. August 20th at 7 pm. https://www.instagram.com/p/DZN1VTlGhpG/?igsh=MW9xaTltOG16ZWcyZA==

Incredible achievement in a time where distance running is rapidly improving this generation and into the next

Thank you. Am I understanding this correctly, that Akron isn't on the hook for any of Groce's bonuses from this past season? If that's the case, Akron essentially paid $500k for Groce last year after the buyout is taken out of the base salary. Wow. However, pertinent clauses in Groce's contract state the following: Payments of bonuses will be made in June, and if the coach were to terminate the contract (which Groce did a few months ago), the university's financial commitment to him would be limited to accrued but unpaid base salary and not include incentives. I like this. Not a very big bump, but it does place an emphasis on experience around Ford as he gets his feet wet as a HC. For three assistant coaches, Groce had a minimum base salary pool of $394,900. For three assistant coaches, Ford has a minimum base salary pool of $425,000 at his disposal.

I would say the one restricting item is it's in NCAAs basketball interest to keep March Madness in the calendar spot that it is currently. They fill a clear void in the sports calendar. Pushing it later would start making it interfere with other sports, like the Masters, start of MLB season, NHL/NBA playoffs. That would hurt ratings and diminish their cash cow. I do think there is room to add another 7-10 games though. Usually 1-2 times a year there are stretches where the Zips don't play for 7-10 days. They can also play in a 3rd game a few weeks.

How many games are played now vs 10 years ago? Since the players are professionals now, shouldn't we expect them to play many more games? Class AA baseball plays roughly 20% fewer games than MLB and many minor league baseball players at that level are the same age as CBB players. I don't think asking a low paid professional basketball player to play 50-55 games a year is out of the question. Start the season earlier and end it later. Want more money flowing into your program? Load up on big conference teams on the road. 10-15 games sounds about right. The MAC is a one bid league regardless of the regular season results. All the Zips need to do is win the Championship.

I just pop in here every few weeks in the offseason, and when I saw how big this thread is, I was like, "Wow! The schedule must be coming together early, and/or there are some really interesting opponents!" But no, just Tulane and Bucknell so far, the rest is people arguing whether we should schedule Cleveland State and Youngstown State or not. I personally don't really care, with a slight lean towards "yeah, let's do it" for the following reasons, particularly with respect to Cleveland State: 1) Easy road game, and if Cleveland State's fan support is as bad as it apparently is, we can perhaps outnumber them in their own home, which is always great. 1a) As little interest as a CSU/Akron game or series might engender right now, I guarantee we play 3-4 OOC games each year that is even less interesting to both markets. At least. 2) Things change. 10 or 20 years from now, we might suck and CSU might be great. Especially with the fluidity you see in mid-major conferences. If you're not nice to people on the way up, they won't be nice to you on the way down. 2a) Cleveland State of course made an elite 8 appearance in the 80s, and wasn't it around that time that games against them and Mouse McFadden were breaking JAR attendance records for Zips MBK that still stand? (Fact check me on that). Maybe we can build that magic again, and it'd be helpful to lay the foundation for it now. 3) Some of you seem to be saying we should tell high majors to go to hell, while also espousing us to behave like mini high majors with respect to other mid and low majors. 3) Observations like "We can't give that CSU a home-and-home because that'd legitimize them" is way overthinking it IMO. It's highly unlikely our fates are gonna hinge on whether we scheduled the 2nd- or 5th-best Horizon League to a home-and-home, and it ain't all up to us anyway; these would all need to be two-party agreements, to state the obvious.

I know a guy who had a completely unremarkable 7 year NFL career. His key to longevity was his professionalism. He showed up to work on time, kept his mouth shut and always did what he was asked to do. Enrique could be a guy like that. He's not the type of talent that's sets the NBA on fire, but not everyone needs to be a superstar either. Sometimes you just need some people to show up to work and do their job. I'm sure he'd be happy to play 7 NBA seasons playing only 2-3 minutes a night.