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University of Akron football coach Terry Bowden places emphasis on recruiting local talent


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University of Akron football coach Terry Bowden places emphasis on recruiting local talent


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Bowden and his crew are much more receptive, and they will listen to you,” said Tim Flossie, who starred as a player at Garfield and was a longtime coach with stints at Central-Hower, Buchtel, Barberton and Firestone. “They will take your word on a kid.

“I had to beg Ianello to take Cody Grice [in 2011]. I had to take all kinds of film down there and he finally took him, and he was a great player for Akron. I think Bowden and his guys want to look for kids in the area where before not so much. It helps with the facilities now. I know that every kid that I’ve had there [from Firestone] — Cody Grice, Tommy Brown, Jerome Lane, Brennan Williams and Kevin Gladney — they like it, and they like the coaches. I am happy those kids have been taken care of.”

 

 

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This is the exact article that UA football has needed for years. Connecting the Zips to the greater community can only help in every facet of the organization. Especially important is the quotes from the local coaches. Getting on a coaches good side tends to do wonders for recruiting.

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And not to continue to beat the IPH (TM Captain Kangaroo), but this line was pretty telling too - “I had to beg Ianello to take Cody Grice [in 2011]. I had to take all kinds of film down there and he finally took him, and he was a great player for Akron". I think Terry had said something the effect he needed to find out "how to win at Akron" when he first arrived. I think he may have found it. Man were we lucky he was available and interested.

 

"I remember when the search firm guy called," Bowden said. "He said, 'Would you be interested in Akron?' And I said, 'Yes. He said, 'Really?'

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Whatever you want to call it, "Built in Akron" or "The State of Akron," there is merit to building a winning culture around local talent. Look at what Lee Owens did in the late 90s (or Dennison before him, but that's before my time). Owens inherited a losing team that was still in its D1 infancy and was recruiting to the Rubber Bowl and built it into a program that in a seven-year period between 1999-2005 had five winning seasons and a MAC championship (Yes, I know Owens was canned in 03 after a 7-5 season, nonetheless, but the 04 and 05 Zips were majority his guys.)

 

I remember going to a couple of those team photo days 2002 (albeit not a good year) and 2003. At the end, the team would split up for photos. ... The Summit County guys would pose for one; the Stark County guys would pose for another; the Cuyahoga County guys for another. The team was built around NEO talent and they were winning at a pace that if the current bowl system was around, would've led to three more bowls for the program. Of course, Lee Owens was canned before he was able to recruit to the indoor facility that he pushed so hard for and J.D. Brookhart inherited his talent and went on to win a MAC title, but then floundered when his "great" recruiting classes came aboard ... Didn't he land back-to-back No. 1 classes in the MAC by the "experts" by going more regional/national?

 

Ianello was then 10 times worse, completely wiping out the program at the time it should've been taking the next step.

 

But Bowden gets it. Northeast Ohio has some of the best talent in the country in its backyard. Yeah, he isn't stealing the OSU/Michigan/ND kids, but even that second and even third tier of local recruits is better than a lot of states' tier 1. Then you mix in the Florida ties, along with the facilities, and you are seeing the transformation. 

 

Win again this year, and I believe this program will take another big jump forward. The local talent (Akron-Canton) is already starting to buy in. Another 8-plus win season could cement it ... why go to a middling B10/ACC program when we could play in front of family and friends, win more games, have just a good of a shot to be drafted and help build something special in our backyard?

 

Bowden has it right: NEO/Florida/transfers. You can win big with that combination.

 

How big can you win with just NEO as your top area?:

 

2006: Ohio State had 17 of their top 44 (roughly 40 percent) players from NEO, including both top RBs (Beanie Wells and Antonio Pittman, Akron guys) and the top 6 WRs (for the people who only think Ohio produces lumbering LBers and offensive linemen). That team nearly went wire-to-wire as No. 1 before being blasted by Florida in the national title game ... hmm, Florida, we are getting kids from there, too.

 

2014: Ohio State had 8 of its top 44 from NEO (roughly 20 percent) on a team that steamrolled its way to national championship. 

 

2015: As been pointed out, 8 of Akron's 22 starters (not two-deep) went 8-5 and beat a western team, out west, who a month or so earlier embarrassed Boise State. Final was 52-26, but Utah State was winning that game 45-10 at halftime. OK, maybe that was a down Boise State team, but Boise did go on to beat Northern Illinois 55-7 in a bowl game. ... Not trying to do transitive property, just saying.

 

 

 

 

Edited by wadszip
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13 minutes ago, wadszip said:

Whatever you want to call it, "Built in Akron" or "The State of Akron," there is merit to building a winning culture around local talent. Look at what Lee Owens did in the late 90s (or Dennison before him, but that's before my time). Owens inherited a losing team that was still in its D1 infancy and was recruiting to the Rubber Bowl and built it into a program that in a seven-year period between 1999-2005 had five winning seasons and a MAC championship (Yes, I know Owens was canned in 03 after a 7-5 season, nonetheless, but the 04 and 05 Zips were majority his guys.)

 

I remember going to a couple of those team photo days 2002 (albeit not a good year) and 2003. At the end, the team would split up for photos. ... The Summit County guys would pose for one; the Stark County guys would pose for another; the Cuyahoga County guys for another. The team was built around NEO talent and they were winning at a pace that if the current bowl system was around, would've led to three more bowls for the program. Of course, Lee Owens was canned before he was able to recruit to the indoor facility that he pushed so hard for and J.D. Brookhart inherited his talent and went on to win a MAC title, but then floundered when his "great" recruiting classes came aboard ... Didn't he land back-to-back No. 1 classes in the MAC by the "experts" by going more regional/national?

 

Ianello was then 10 times worse, completely wiping out the program at the time it should've been taking the next step.

 

But Bowden gets it. Northeast Ohio has some of the best talent in the country in its backyard. Yeah, he isn't stealing the OSU/Michigan/ND kids, but even that second and even third tier of local recruits is better than a lot of states' tier 1. Then you mix in the Florida ties, along with the facilities, and you are seeing the transformation. 

 

Win again this year, and I believe this program will take another big jump forward. The local talent (Akron-Canton) is already starting to buy in. Another 8-plus win season could cement it ... why go to a middling B10/ACC program when we could play in front of family and friends, win more games, have just a good of a shot to be drafted and help build something special in our backyard?

 

Bowden has it right: NEO/Florida/transfers. You can win big with that combination.

 

How big can you win with just NEO as your top area?:

 

2006: Ohio State had 17 of their top 44 (roughly 40 percent) players from NEO, including both top RBs (Beanie Wells and Antonio Pittman, Akron guys), both QBs and the top 6 WRs (for the people who only think Ohio produces lumbering LBers and offensive linemen). That team nearly went wire-to-wire as No. 1 before being blasted by Florida in the national title game ... hmm, Florida, we are getting kids from there, too.

 

2014: Ohio State had 8 of its top 44 from NEO (roughly 20 percent) on a team that steamrolled its way to national championship. 

 

2015: As been pointed out, 8 of Akron's 22 starters (not two-deep) went 8-5 and beat a western team, out west, who a month or so earlier embarrassed Boise State. Final was 52-26, but Utah State was winning that game 45-10 at halftime. OK, maybe that was a down Boise State team, but Boise did go on to beat Northern Illinois 55-7 in a bowl game. ... Not trying to do transitive property, just saying.

 

EDIT: My bad, wanted to add that both OSU's top QBs from the 2006 team (Troy Smith and Justin Zwick) were also NEO guys from the previous post, but hit the wrong button.

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, roopride said:

BB is 60 and married a local gal. I hope he sees tnis thru.

 

You and me both. And for legacy reasons, Terry Bowden will likely never do here what Bobby Bowden did at Florida State, but he could have a similar type of impact.

 

Remember, when Bobby Bowden took over at FSU, it was essentially what Akron is now. Bobby just happened to be 30-40 years younger when he took over that program. That's actually why, not that the Bowden name needs another chalk mark on its college football legacy, Terry could be even more inclined to win faster. If he can somehow put Akron at the "big boy table," it probably would be even more remarkable than what Bobby did at FSU, as crazy as it sounds.

 

And it would easily cement "Bowden" as the greatest last name in college football history.

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