Coaching decisions at Akron and Ohio bode well for Mid-American Conference basketball

Terry Pluto talks about Dambrot staying at Akron, and Christian coming back to the MAC. He also talks with / about Senderhoff and Waters. It was a good read.

I found it interesting Christian and KD were talking during the Duquesne thing...



I couldn't agree more with this quote from KD.

Since we haven't won one in 9 seasons, I can't say anyone expects the Zips to win an NCAA tournament game once, let alone every year. But it would be nice. I guess I'll don my patented Zips Hair Shirt for wanting a tourney win. Selfish me.

BTW - I hear The Akron Hair Shirt is the runaway leader in the shirt competition being run at the Bookstore.

BTW2 - The Zips have not won a post season game in 4-seasons-and-counting. The previous 4-year seniors (Dials, Joyce, Middleton, Wood, Travis, etc.) had 2 NIT wins, and probably would have had 1 or 2 more had CM Newton not shafted us. While my expectations for winning an NCAA tourney game every season are infinitesimally low, I DO expect us to win at least an NIT game every couple seasons.

"My only concern is expectations [at Akron] have been raised so high," said Dambrot.


Spoken like a true "survivor".

That is one depressing quote for an Akron basketball fan. So KD wants me to lower my expectations?

Wonder if TP spun KD into that corner?

TP spoke at my church a few months ago. We were able to fill out question cards beforehand. I filled out 3 questions concerning Terry Bowden & Zips football. I saw how many question cards TP received - not too many.

He didn't answer a single question about the Zips. It was all Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Cavs. Screw you, Pluto.


I simply wonder this because it was KD himself who wanted us to "think bigger than the MAC."

No. I've seen that quote, in various forms, 1,000 times from KD. I recall last year KD was asked "Isn't it great to see a mid-major like Butler make the NCAA finals in back-to-back years? And see the success of teams like George Mason and VCU?"

KD replied - "Not really. I think it'll lead to unrealistic expectations for a lot of mid-major programs."

It was funny...Steve McNees was asked on the STO Coach's show about this season's Zips team, and he stated: "Anything less than a win or two in this year's NCAA tournament would be considered a disappointment for this Zips' squad."

Welcome to making the transition from being a player, to a fan, Steve.

And that just accounts for KDs tenure.

How about NEVER, if we count our entire D-1 history.

I'll count myself in the group of people who would love to just see us win ONE some day.

...and right up there with winning just ONE bowl game someday!

Or win more than 1 football game in a season.

I need a breather and think I'll head over to the Zips soccer/Caleb Porter threads. "This is Akron!"

Skip the "Olympics" threads.

I don't pay much attention to aw-shucks coach talk about fan expectations. What's important are the goals the coach and team set for themselves. Everyone here supported the goal of KD and the team to make it to the Sweet 16 this season, right?

Heck, KD has nowhere near the aw-shucksiness of Coach Bowden, who appeared to be doing a little fan expectation lowering today in Zanesville:

"Our goal this year is to win one more game than last year," Coach Bowden said.

Bowden excited about Zips' future

Well you are a statistics guy, Bowden sets a goal of 100% improvement.

Dambrot dismisses an expectation of roughly 4% improvement by fans.

Don't try to deflect the discussion as long as I'm posting on this board. My keyboard (years ago, I would have said pen) is too sharp for that.

Goals aren't as important as the execution of the actions one performs to reach the goals. Goals are talk. Execution is where the rubber meets the road. The basketball program talks a lot about becoming the Gonzaga of the East and a mid major giant, but there isn't much behind the talk. In fact, after 8+ years with the same coach, we are a long way away from being anything resembling the talk. We are still a really good MAC team though.

As far as TB's comments, my guess is he believes he can win more than one game next year. The truth is, he doesn't need to lower expectations too much because the expections are so low already. The football program is flat on its back...hardly the situation KD took over after he shoved Hip out the door. Let not anyone on this board kid themselves. The best coach at UofA is sitting in the football office.

Faust?

I thought the accepted name of the sport in the U.S.A. is "soccer".

At any rate, your intended opinion and mine differ, but I'm happy we have both. TB still needs to prove himself at UA, but I expect that he will.

@g-mann17, good one on the stats. But I don't think KD is dismissing fan expectations. I think he's just pointing out the reality that higher expectations are harder to live up to. If a reporter ever asked KD if he would prefer that Zips fans have higher or lower expectations for his teams, how do you think KD would respond?

@GP1, no deflection intended from me. I agree with you that "coach speak" and execution are two entirely different subjects. Sorry if my previous post wasn't clear on that. Coaches can be entertaining with their words. But fans ultimately want to see game results.

Thanks 88! I think the pressure on Akron coaches must get pretty strong when so many are looking forward to another banner on campus in '12.

You could easily make the argument that he is the best coach we've had in our D-1A history.

But in a few years, I sure hope I can say that Bowden has dethroned him.