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The Beacon Journal is doing a nice job of promoting Zips mens soccer this week. Malone Pioneer posted an excellent article from the Beacon(about zips seeding and possible opponents) .....under the ratings and RPI topic. This morning, The Beacon did a very good article on Stefan Dobrijevic. (attached below) I greatly admire Stefan for his tremendous improvement as a soccer player over the past 4 years. After reading this article, I also greatly admire Stefan as he is true definition of a "Student-Athlete". Congratulations to Stefan on his success on the soccer field and also for his succcesses in the class room. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2025/11/19/stefan-dobrijevic-akron-zips-soccer-ncaa-tournament/87320211007/ Dobrijevic grew up in Akron as an Akron Public Schools student, attending Salem Elementary School, STEM Middle School and Firestone High School. His family moved to Uniontown when he was 16, but he remained at Firestone, where he took engineering, college level and advanced placement classes, recorded a 4.7 GPA and graduated in December 2021. Dobrijevic played club soccer with Internationals Academy, which is based in Medina, and started taking classes at UA in January 2022. He has a 3.8 GPA, earned a degree in business administration with a minor in marketing in December 2024 and is working toward an MBA.

All of these posts from national guys happening the day after the season ended and Franklin gets hired

Maybe the conversation could sound something like this. "Mr. Commissioner, you are killing us with the schedule. All we ask is to play our rival when the weather is nice on a Friday early in the season so we can have a decent crowd. You did it for the BG/Toledo rivalry and all they did was sell out a stadium and put on a very exciting game. We all know the only people dedicated to weeknight games are drunks and degenerate gamblers. Gamblers will bet on anything and drunks will drink to anything, so trading Kent for another MAC school on a Tuesday night won't matter. Would it be too much to ask for you to dislodged your head from your ass for a few minutes to schedule the Akron/Kent rivalry early in the season?" There you go. Problem solved.

I can't believe you didnt just say Tim Tyrell. 😉

We have posted before about Kam Warnke... Kam had 20 goals and 10 assists this year for the state runner up Auroroa Greenmen. Nice to see all of the Akron logos in the signing announcement

Horrible QB. Leads the MAC in TDs. Second in the MAC in total yardage. Scholar athlete of the week in the MAC this week. Joe found a guy like this with essentially no NIL money and convinced him to stay for 2 seasons. Good luck finding better in 2026. I like Broughton a lot. I hope Zips fans get to see him at Infocision one day.

For many years, I have thought about the same thing on billboards in and around Columbus trolling the brainwashed OSUcks zombies about our men's soccer program being the best in the state of Ohio.

Anybody surprised Arizona is ranked 4th in the nation? Not me.

Here is a great post from the game thread: This is awful. I was a huge critic of Saul so I feel I have to say it: Boals is done here. He has lived off of JP and BVP long enough. No player development in all of his years. He runs a black hole offense when the ball is lost. Letting Hadaway be a point forward shows Boals is inept. Not playing JJ Kelly 35 mins a game is malpractice. Starting Ajay is awful. Not running offense with Elliott...the list goes on. We need a clean break. How has Bethune Cookman outrecruited us? We have 2 guys who can create their own shots. Buh-bye Boals. Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat but you gots to go.

Toledo with a convincing 17-point win against YSU. Ohio with an embarrassing loss to Bethune Cookman

I’m not saying I wish he had a 6th season. I just think a Finley-like QB is what we’re going to need to get used to in the NIL era. In many seasons we’ll get worse. If he weren’t flawed, he wouldn’t be at Akron. The days of Charlie Frye’s, Luke Getsy’s and Mike Johnson Sr.’s quarterbacking the Zips are over unless UA’s priorities dramatically change. The Buffalo QB is very similar. Athletically gifted enough to be recruited to Penn State and Kansas State, but flawed enough to be a mediocre QB at Buffalo.

This is another reason I'm very hesitant to knock JoeMo. This year was Year 4 but... it was really more like Year 1 than Year 4. Next year will be Year 1 all over again. Every year is Year 1. I hate it.

Top Drawer soccer did a preview on the regional that the zips are in. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=21&articleId=55371&articleTitle=mens-ncaa-tournament-region-3-preview 4. Akron(m) (11-4-3) - 1.56 goals per game (76th ranked), .667 goals allowed per game (12th ranked) Offensive Leader: Stefan Dobrijevic (8G, 10A) + Strong defense + Performed well against nationally ranked opposition - Offense can be inconsistent There is no doubt Akron has the defense for a playoff run; the question is if the offense can score enough in a region packed with high-powered attacks. Losing the Big East semifinal was not encouraging, but the team will be well-rested after receiving a first-round bye.

I know we’ve already got at least one thread going about the portal, but I’m going to try and streamline everything here. A few things I’m not completely sure about are which players are actually on scholarship, and which of the former JUCOs, redshirt seniors, or grad students still have any eligibility left. QB: Roggow (R. So.) Broughton (R. Fr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Finley M. Johnson RB: Curry (R. Sr.) Gant (R. Sr.) Gee (R. Jr.) Williams (R. Jr.) Patrick (R. So.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: WR: Davis (R. Jr.) Hills (R. Jr.) Louis (R. Jr.) Mason (R. So.) Monteiro (R. So.) Ma. Williams (R. So.) Witherspoon (R. So.) Sivon (R. Fr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Adams Grear Walker Polk (R. Jr.) - Portal TE: Newell (R. Sr.) Whisner (R. Sr.) Cravaack (R. Jr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: OL: K. Davis (R. Sr.) Fox (R. Sr.) A. Jones (R. Sr.) Shor (R. Sr.) Mann (R. Jr.) Morris (R. Jr.) McManus (So.) Gould (R. Fr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Archer George D. Johnson Lyons J. Moore Motley-Simmons King (R. Sr.) - Portal DL: Laventure (R. Sr.) Murphy (R. Sr.) Musika (Sr.) Cheatom (R. Jr.) Dall (R. Jr.) Durham (R. Jr.) Mixon (R. Jr.) Vega (R. Jr.) Hull (Jr.) E. Davis (R. So.) D. Frazier (R. So.) J. Frazier (R. So.) Brown-Demery (R. Fr.) Kavals (R. Fr.) Watkins (R. Fr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Madden LB: Spriggs (R. Jr.) Benenge (Jr.) Hocker (R. So.) Boswell (R. Fr.) James (R. Fr.) Reeves (R. Fr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Cooper Summers DB: Flowers (R. Sr.) Reed (R. Sr.) Kamara (R. Sr.) Thomas (R. Sr.) Somerville (R. Jr.) White (R. Jr.) AA. Branch (Jr.) Hunter (R. So.) K. Johnson (R. So.) T. Davis (R. Fr.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Anderson AL. Branch David DeWalt Jarmon D. Johnson Stepney ST: Miner (R. Sr.) Castle (Sr.) Samaha (R. Jr.) Wiley (R. Jr.) Schramm (R. So.) Portal / Out of Eligibility: Denis B. Johnson

We pick him off the scrap heap after Pitt ditched him and this is the thanks we get... If I want to say something nice about him - he played hard against BG. Guys like Mumpfield and Norton completely tanked their last games before hitting the portal.

This is why I drive in the slow lane 🤣

It's impossible to compare our football to our basketball program. Thanks largely to Bud we're the 2nd best funded MAC basketball program (only behind UMass). Akron football is the bottom of the MAC in funding. If we didn't have the money to retain Tavari, Lyles, Scott, Young, not to mention sign Evan, Akron basketball would also be struggling. Maybe not to the extreme football has, but we wouldn't have had the success we've experienced either. In basketball if you find a diamond in the rough or one just happens to show up unexpectedly at open tryouts (Freeman) that dramatically raises the ceiling of your program as you only need 2-3 players to carry a team. That doesn't work in football where you have 11 starters on offense and another 11 on defense. Not to mention a few specialists. Even if you found 1 absolute star at QB he wouldn't have the same impact that a Steph Curry had at Davidson.

First of all.... I think Tressel and the Bowdens are WAY more well known than Eddie George to today's student athletes (and parents) and WAY more credible as coaches. You can make your individual comparisons all you want. My point was we had THEM ALL here at one time and f'd it up. Collectively it is not even close.

I look forward to the day the number of people destitute from gambling addictions is so high the government forgives their debts and makes the responsible citizens pay for the bailout.

i'd like to see Goodrich look at someone local like Kehres or Tyrell. They are doing great things at Mt Union (Toledo) and Hoban. Right?

You don't earn your 10% cut by sitting on your thumb. 😁

Joe's agent is hard at work it looks like

I mentioned this a while back, but Louisville contacted an Akron coach regarding a Zips WR that was in the portal last year. They were looking to build "the best scout team possible" and if the kid was deemed a decent MAC-level player they were going to offer him a little cash and a position on it. The Zips can't pay as much for a starting QB as Louisville...not Alabama, but Louisville... can pay for a scout team guy.

I'm stoked to see JoeMo's read-option finally run with a dual threat QB. That's kinda the whole point of the scheme. Finley wasn't keeping too many defenses off balance with his playmaking ability. 😂 But our Dual Threats are only going to be a redshirt freshman & a true freshman, so... yeah.

I completely forgot he went to my middle school. He was the class below me!

The only problem is that I believe the TV contract does dictate for some of the rivalry games to be played on the weeknight games. But yeah...let's open the schedule with Kent...I'm sure Miami/Ohio and Bowling Green/Toledo (that one sold out Doyt Perry this year) would also like to always keep those games on Saturdays.

And now Deion has set up the departure on his own terms for medical reasons before they totally fall off the cliff back to mediocrity or worse. AD is already out there so another reason he has leave on his own terms vs get fired. Deion came in and he and his sons cashed in from both the University and all the endorsements that went along with it. Brilliant.

Bobcat Attack is a fun read right now. They're done with Boals.

Well.. a win is a win. Before the season I said 4-4 in the MAC was minimum. They got that. But I also said major program changes were/are needed. Yep. The more I read posts here about the lack of support from Administration for for football the more obvious it is. If the Admin. refuses to support the program at a DI level then they have to get out of DI! The record spesks for itself. Changing coaches is like moving the bulbs on the Xmas tree. Same tree. Either put up for DI or drop to 1AA or DII where U can afford to compete every season. Not a big Moorehead fan anymore but the problems go far deeper.

Half the MAC has 2 more games left. He'll likely be middle of the road statistically and towards the bottom in eligible QBR in what is an atrocious year for MAC QBs. He put up 0 points vs. Wyoming, 0 pts vs. Nebraska, 3 vs. Toledo, and 7 vs. Miami OH. There is definitely better out there, and both Broughton and Beals might prove that next year if we get to see them. To @kreed5120's point, the OLine will need to be rebuilt most likely, which may hinder Zips fans from seeing better QB play.

The problem isn't that we're losing Finley next year. The issue is we'll likely have to replace our entire offensive line, which was probably the best its been in at least a decade. For that reason alone I would be shocked if the QB play improves next year compared to this one. After all, a QB is only as good as the players around him enable him to be.

finally something that Gp1 and I agree on ! I know the grass is not always greener on the other side but for one am ready to move on from the finley era. you could foresee every run/fumble him getting up acting like he had been hit harder than any player was ever hit in the game of football... I don't know if they will go with roggow, broughton, the new guy coming in or a transfer but i am ready to move on for sure...

OMG let's play a game how many wet dreams has GP1 had involving himself and eddie george? i'll start with at least 15 this football season... These players don't even know who eddie george is !!! The team went 1-6 in the conference and 3-8 overall. they had three players recently arrested and if you were at the game last night you would have seen them on more than one occasion acting like less than desirables. I'll stick with Joe Mo. thank you.

Correct, also pulling out 4%-5% per year allows the investment to grow so that it doesn't lose value to inflation. Endowments are more designed to preserve capital than to look for rapid growth. They will probably be 30-40% bonds and 60-70% equities. Similar to what's recommended to retirees.

Except we've had the same QB 2 years in a row, who is not very good, which is on Joe.

That's not how endowments typically are distributed. Usually 4-5% of the balance can be distributed annually

It's coming back to me why I am happy at the end of a Zips football season and sad at the end of a Zips basketball season.

And they presumably had the 38 staff personnel when they were going 1-23 correct? The only thing that changed was HC? DeShields isn't a really good QB. He has a 46.4 QBR this year (104th in the country). He has only had 3 200+ passing yard games this season, with Akron being his only 300+ passing yard game. Akron needs to get to Kent-level staffing, I agree. Them having a GM is interesting as well. However, the X's & O's, the motivation capabilities, and the execution on the field matter more than anything. That's my gripe with JoeMo.

No other MAC school has a $5 million note payment every year for a facilitie that sits empty for 90% of the year. Multiple administration's have tried everything you could think of to create interest. A nice 15,000 seat stadium would have been perfect. Mack Rhoades and others were sure if we built it, they would come. They didn't come. JoMo knew what he was getting into when he agreed to be the man. There is plenty of blame to go around. Hopefully Goodrich can find a different type of unicorn. A rich donor who is willing to give millions to support football. Odds are that guy is going to want some input on who is running the program. People with that type of money expect a return on their investment.

Cool promotion they have started doing every year.

The University has never once publicly mentioned any of the crippling limits placed on the football program in the name of budget cuts. They’ve hung Joe out to dry with a historic lack of support, whistling through the graveyard, and by their silence painting Zips football as having the same resources as every other MAC program. It isn’t fair to Joe, and I expect that grates on him. And it should. Bobby Knight once famously said - "If you're getting raped, you might as well lay back and enjoy it." Joe has bit his tongue 95% of the time, but who can blame him if, when pressed, he vents on his lack of recruiting budget, training tables, staff, and on and on? UA isn’t holding any pressers stating “You gotta understand the situation we’ve placed Joe Moorhead in. I can’t believe the guy won 3 games, let alone 5.” It's Zips Football against the world. Maybe the same geniuses at UA who’ve blundered every football-related decision since Jim Dennison’s firing will identify a "unicorn" coach that only wants a $300,000/year salary, that flits about Summit and Stark counties with a wicker basket collecting NIL money from scores of donors happily willing to fill it up, while also coaching Akron to MAC Championships and bowl victories. Wish in one wicker basket and poop in the other...see which fills up first. I have no clue what Goodrich will do regarding football. Maybe he spends a year crafting a new logo, quits his job and moves on to the next rung on his AD ladder? Maybe he’s empowered, independent of thought, and implements a plan to elevate Zips football to respectability? That would be awesome. Historically new AD’s "check their box" and hire “their guy” to run either the football or basketball program. On paper, Joe is on the hot seat. It it were me, I would fix the budget BS, show Joe a little love, and see what transpires in 2026. Joe took over a 1-11 Fordham team and went 38-13 during his tenure, winning 11 and 12 games in successive seasons. The guy can win big at the FCS/G5 level. It’s proven. But not when he’s hamstrung and unsupported. No one can.

Here is the dilemma, neither party is happy. JoMo doesn't want to be here and powers that be don't want him to stay. If the optics weren't so bad, UA would just pay him off and send him on his way. JoMo holds all the cards. Hopefully he can find a job somewhere else and everyone will get what they want. I would rather take my chances on an up and coming guy who doesn't act like he is entitled to someone else doing all the heavy lifting required to engage the fans and community. That is the only way out of our football pit of Hell. JoMo will never be that guy.

Iona beats Princeton by 20 at home. They are now 4-0 and a KenPom of 160. Game on!

I so badly want a marketing campaign to troll the big conferences. Something like… “Akron Basketball, good enough to play in the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and the Big East.”* * Based on Kenpom rankings on 11/18/2025. If they don’t like it they are welcome to send Rutgers, South Carolina, Utah, Boston College or DePaul amongst others to Akron to prove us wrong. Go Zips!!

The ceiling is very high for the 2025-26 Zips...if they quit biting on every pump fake and fouling 3-point shooters.

They a surrounded by schools within their conference who they will never be able spend as much. There are lots of schools like them. I just named a few. I could have included VA Tech, Florida State and many others. The college football playoffs will become much like Major League Baseball. We all know who is most likely to win and a few underdogs sneak by into the post season periodically, but they lose in the end. Like MLB, the drivers will never agree to a salary cap of any sort.

Ban them both. It’ll end up boosting the conference NET😂

Scholarship limits and roster limits are 2 different things. Limiting scholarships would have no bearing on the P4.

This is a good step. Next step should be reducing scholarships to 65. College football is now a professional minor league. If 53 players per roster is good enough for the NFL, college can do the same thing. It will make coaches really think about who and who does not get a scholarship. One half of all kids in the TP never play football again. It will also accelerate them out of the sport and move them to things they can do on life where they can be more successful.

Texas State to the PAC12. The MAC/Sun Belt Challenge needs to become simply a new conference.