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Clayton Murphy


ZippyRulz

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3 hours ago, TennZip said:

Akron is one of 3 schools analyzed in this article....

this supports Clayton Murphy's thought process

 

https://www.sportico.com/2020/leagues/college-sports/maybe-colleges-should-be-adding-sports-not-dropping-them-1234608297/

 

Thanks for the article, but I'd like to have some confidence in the financial analysis presented; not that I have any confidence in UA's either. One thing that stands out here under Akron and seems erroneous, unless I'm missing something, is "Student fees / support from university" $0. We know from UA's Athletics financial reporting that UA sports receive a significant amount of funding from this category. It seems to me that something is amiss here in this analysis; I, however, do not have a business or financial degree.

 

I still think it is very small-minded, actually moronic, of UA Leadership to not work with Clayton to look at the numbers and find a way to restore men's cross-country. The shortcomings of UA leaders seems limitless. Every time we get a new leader, I'm hopeful that he will recognize those who have put UA in this situation and replace them with more competent personnel who can actually figure out ways, that actually work, to grow revenue.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 10 months later...

Clark,  thanks for sharing. That was an incredible race not because the world record holder got beat, but for how they overlooked Clayton's unmatched kick coming down the last 100. He has always had that. The commentators showed they did not do their homework so they were surprised, but we, who were lucky enough to see him run on campus, were not. He's ready for gold!

 

I hope the new AD gets him back in the fold.

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Olympian Clayton Murphy Sets His Sights on Gold in Tokyo and Reuniting with Akron

 

...While Murphy says there's been no movement on restoring the relationship, Akron's new athletic director, Charles Guthrie, has reached out to Murphy's team and hopes to arrange a meeting either before or after the Tokyo games.

 

"I'm for sure willing to come back to the table and see what we can do about mending things with the university and make things right, because I think there's for sure an opportunity to continue to grow a program. It's hard to kind of deny that Akron isn't an elite program in the country and to continue to put limitations on it or take away support is just completely disappointing and shouldn't happen," Murphy said. ...

 

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34 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

Olympian Clayton Murphy Sets His Sights on Gold in Tokyo and Reuniting with Akron

 

...While Murphy says there's been no movement on restoring the relationship, Akron's new athletic director, Charles Guthrie, has reached out to Murphy's team and hopes to arrange a meeting either before or after the Tokyo games.

 

"I'm for sure willing to come back to the table and see what we can do about mending things with the university and make things right, because I think there's for sure an opportunity to continue to grow a program. It's hard to kind of deny that Akron isn't an elite program in the country and to continue to put limitations on it or take away support is just completely disappointing and shouldn't happen," Murphy said. ...

 

 

I was surprised that Clayton made a point to mention that Akron does not have an elite (I hope just cross country) program when he said, “It's hard to kind of deny that Akron isn't an elite program in the country and to continue to put limitations on it or take away support is just completely disappointing and shouldn't happen." He could have made his point without putting down the Akron program.

Maybe he didn’t mean to say what was quoted about the Akron program. I’m hopeful that is the case because I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean to say that everything about the Olympic trial race surprised him when he said, “So there wasn't anything that didn't catch me by surprise to be off the back the way I did and close the way I did."

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I took it differently, Zipmeister, as far as the elite program comment when I read it. Now that you point out how you read it, I'd say the words are confusing, and now I'm unsure what Clayton really meant to say. 

 

I'm happy the new AD reached out to him.

 

Edited by Zip_ME87
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1 hour ago, Zipmeister said:

 

I was surprised that Clayton made a point to mention that Akron does not have an elite (I hope just cross country) program when he said, “It's hard to kind of deny that Akron isn't an elite program in the country and to continue to put limitations on it or take away support is just completely disappointing and shouldn't happen." He could have made his point without putting down the Akron program.

Maybe he didn’t mean to say what was quoted about the Akron program. I’m hopeful that is the case because I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean to say that everything about the Olympic trial race surprised him when he said, “So there wasn't anything that didn't catch me by surprise to be off the back the way I did and close the way I did."

He wasn't no English major

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I think what Clayton was trying to say is you can't deny Akron is an elite program, maybe not.  I know the track program is not on par with the SEC elites, the West Coast elites, the other Power 5 elites, but they certainly have to be viewed as a mid-major elite program.  Or was until the budget crunch and pandemic hit.  Who knows where they stand today, after lots of bloodletting, and defections like Noah Williams and some others rumored to be entering the transfer portal.  But with athletes like Murphy, pole vaulters Shawn Barber (world champion), Matt Ludwig (NCAA champion), Anika Roloff (NCAA and German National Champion) as alums, as well as lots of former zips who routinely qualify for NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, it''s apparent they are a mid-major elite program, borderline major.  They don't have the depth of the big schools, usually only a handful of "elite" athletes, but I think the past 5 or 6 seasons they've been ranked in DI NCAA in the top 30 programs consistently, indoor and outdoor, and also I think in the dual meet rankings as well.

 

I too hope the new AD and admin can soothe the wounds with Clayton.  There needs to be some creative way to get some finances to bring the outdoor facility (non-existent?) up to spped with their indoor facility, or "elite" will not be a word used in the future.

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  • 4 weeks later...

From what I've discovered apparently the 800 meter finals goes around 8 a.m. EST on Wed.  But only broadcast live on Peacock.  NBC will replay sometime later, like primetime EST.  So, I don't need to stay up till 2 o'clock on the morning to see it...(Hawaiian time!)

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Of course we were all rooting for him. Not his best race obviously but he still has the bronze from 2016. So in the last seven years the Zips have had three athletes and one bronze in the Olympics, a significant player in the World Cup, an inductee into the pro football Hall of Fame and an Oscar winner. Not a bad haul :-) 

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On 8/7/2021 at 10:02 PM, ZippyRulz said:

I'm still puzzled by the slower times in the finals. C. knows how to maneuver in the last half lap, he just didn't seem to have the gas in the tank that night. I haven't seen any comments by him yet on the race specifically.

 

The pace of the race for the first half was so slow that all of the competitors had enough left in the tank to counter Murphy's late race kick.

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  • 1 year later...

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