kreed5120

Excitement is building...

Private equity is looking to spend $2 billion to buy a 5% share of future Big 10 distributions. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/46452188/sources-big-ten-discussing-2-billion-private-capital-deal

I think the MAC payout is around $2 million per year and that includes the payout from the NCAA tournament credits. Financially this should work out for them finely.

The football program has been futile for the better part of two decades now. It was probably a matter of adapting to a positive mindset or moving on. The job really doesn't seem fit for someone who gets moody because their team didn't perform well.

I don't think anyone is advocating to leave the MAC, but stay FBS. Leaving the MAC only happens if Akron decides to drop down to FCS due to soaring costs of FBS making it no longer worth their while. Talking about joining another conference is more an argument against those who say we can't drop FBS because the MAC won't allow us to stay. Akron's non-football sports are much more appealing than NIU. If NIU could find a home for their sports then Akron won't have trouble doing the same.

They only play in 20% of the games though. If you look at the starting rotation collectively I would agree. It might not be a single position, but 1 player in basketball probably makes the biggest impact. A QB is much more dependent on his receivers catching their passes, his offensive line giving him enough time, and his defense actually playing defense. Guys like LeBron, Jordan, Kobe, who were elite both offensively and defensively, could put a team on their back. If you take LeBron off that 2007 Cavs team they probably only win 25 games.

Exactly, if the MAC demands FBS football, but we determine it's no longer economically viable why would we stay? Not to say that's presently the case, but that time might come. The MAC offers us nothing of value for basketball and doesn't even support soccer any longer. It would be more about finding a conference that more aligns with our strategic direction.

Why would it have to be a consistent multi-bid conference that Akron would have to go to? I would think everyone would agree that the MVC is better than the MAC for hoops. The MVC teams are typically seeded better in the tournament, win more games in the tournament, and on occasion get a 2nd bid. That would probably be more Akron's level for hoops. MAC hoops have drastically declined since covid and there are no signs of it improving anytime soon. The other schools are too busy checking the couch cushions searching for every last nickel and dime to throw at FBS football.

Seems like a smart decision as the University tries to right size its footprint.

That was always going to be the case. Even if the Zips won 6 or 7 games, like some of the blindly optimistic fans here predicted, we would still see an exodus of our best players. We can't financially compete in NIL against programs like Toledo or OU. Not to mention against the Mountain West, AAC, and the bulk of the other G5. Until that changes we will remain on the bottom of the food chain and be the punching bag for other middling programs.

Honestly any money we would save dropping to FCS is probably negated by lost revenue. Non-scholaship FCS or D2 would probably be where things would start making mathematical sense.

You have to realize Groce is going to want to stagger minutes. I would expect 2 of Young, Tavari, and Scott to be on the court 90% of the time. That way there is never a big drop off between the first team and 2nd team offense. That's really only achievable if someone assumes the Manu Ginoboli type role by playing big minutes off the bench.

Sure if you compare just this year to last, but if you zoom out and compare it to what it was 10-15 years ago it's nearly half. Also, if you look further ahead northeast Ohio's population is expected to decline roughly 15% in 2050 compared to what it was in 2020. That will likely lead to further declines 10-15 years from now.

I would have to imagine that problem is only going to get worse with the declining enrollment. The vast majority of the houses north of Thornton slumlords were renting to college students since they could fetch higher rents. With fewer and fewer students living around campus more and more of those houses are going to get rented out to low income.

This doesn't need to be made into a political conversation. I don't disagree that things get overaggerated. That said, as someone who personally got jumped my freshman year on campus and who had a group of friends get robbed at gunpoint in their south campus house, I can very much say the problems exist. Student enrollment at Ohio colleges/universities peaked in 2010 with a total enrollment of 772,393. This past year total enrollment was 618,225. That's a 154,168 or 20% student decline across the state. A lower percentage of people are attending colleges compared to 10 years. Add in the fact that we have an aging population and the problems will only compound due to having a decreasing college aged population. It's true schools like Toledo and Akron were hit disproportionately harder, but as total enrollment for the state continues to shrink this is going to be a much larger problem for all schools. The only ones safe are probably OSU and Cincy. This is a much larger problem than pretending that Akron's enrollment is declining solely because it's perceived as unsafe. Fewer people are attending college compared to before.

I just don't think there is a ton to take away from an FCS opponent. Just like there wouldn't be if we played a top 10 P4. We took care of business and did what we needed to do. Not sure there is much to discuss that hasn't already been stated.

I would probably imagine Cody would only play 5-10 minutes a night. Like Arkansas State last year this Akron team has a lot of guard depth. Akron on paper looks like an even deeper team than last year. I expect an even more uptempo offense to cater to our athleticism and to gas our opponents. For that reason I can't imagine Amani averaging much more than 25 minutes a night. We will probably need to get a combined 15 minutes a night out of Chabi and Brisco. I also wouldn't be surprised if in limited situations we even see someone like Evan play the 5 if Groce sees the ability to exploit an opposing flat footed, offensively challenged big many MAC teams often have.

I was a little surprised that NIL in the MAC averaged around $500K. I would have guessed programs like Toledo or OU would be spending in the neighborhood of $1 million for their rosters. Below is an article on how MTSU slashed $650K+ in expenses by eliminating alternate jerseys and helmets. They have instead directed that money to NIL. Identifying the waste and redirecting that money to NIL will be what we would need to do in order to be competitive. Like I said before, we need to find ways of making our dollars stretch further. https://frontofficesports.com/middle-tennessee-state-uniform-cuts-nil/

With Toledo coming off a loss and Akron beating them last year, I think there is little chance Toledo comes into this game sleeping. Whether or not Toledo wins by 20+ I'm uncertain, but I have little faith of the Zips pulling off an upset.

Bold of you to assume he'll remain a Zip long enough for that to he the case.

This is probably about the score I'm expecting.

Thank you!

I am looking at tickets for this season. I was thinking of buying 1 season ticket and splitting it so that I'd have tickets 2 to half the games as me and the soon to be Mrs. will only be able to attend select games. I've heard some on here say that option exists, but I don't see it advertised anywhere. How does it work and are there any restrictions? Like will I be able to get extra ticket(s) for the Kent game or is that game restricted?

They can always put their name in and then withdraw it. We saw that with Tavari this past spring. I wouldn't be surprised if we see at least 1 player from a P4 playoff team do that each year. Treating the portal more as hold out in order to secure himself a bag by keeping the team hostage since they no longer have the option of doing it in the spring.

Akron is only 6.5 point favorites at home. When you factor in Vegas gives home teams a 2.5 point advantage, Vegas only views Akron as 4 points better on a neutral field. I've said before this is an FCS caliber roster. We should win, but if we take them lightly this will just be a repeat of us losing to Gardner-Webb.