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Groce's New Coaching Staff


Z.I.P.

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5 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

What pretty much cost Groce his job at Illinois was he had a bad habit of finishing 2nd place in recruiting battles. Hopefully he can close at Akron.

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Nothing against our players, but how many of them had 1 offer? If not 1, we were usually their best offer. KD did an incredible job at finding kids that would fit well into his system, however he rarely ventured out into many recruiting battles. I'm happy to see some new ambition in this area

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3 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Nothing against our players, but how many of them had 1 offer? If not 1, we were usually their best offer. KD did an incredible job at finding kids that would fit well into his system, however he rarely ventured out into many recruiting battles. I'm happy to see some new ambition in this area

 

I feel you were interpreting what I was saying incorrectly. I'm wanting us to target the best players we can get regardless of if they have 10 offers or 0 offers. I'm just reserving my excitement for when we actually get them to commit.

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4 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I feel you were interpreting what I was saying incorrectly. I'm wanting us to target the best players we can get regardless of if they have 10 offers or 0 offers. I'm just reserving my excitement for when we actually get them to commit.

Gotcha. To be fair though I think they had a top 15 class before he left and kids decommitted

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31 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

What pretty much cost Groce his job at Illinois was he had a bad habit of finishing 2nd place in recruiting battles. Hopefully he can close at Akron.

 

The other thing is he didn't win enough conference games. You can run the program as great as possible but you have to beat conference rivals to get the alumni/ boosters excited and behind you. Go back and look at what the AD said about Groce when he fired him. It was almost like he was introducing him instead of letting him go. Very positive about Groce. Just didn't win enough conference games in my opinion. 

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25 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Gotcha. To be fair though I think they had a top 15 class before he left and kids decommitted


I think Groce had the #1 recruiting class in the Big Ten for 2017, and top ten overall nationally?


 

 

10 minutes ago, Rwbb54 said:

 

The other thing is he didn't win enough conference games. You can run the program as great as possible but you have to beat conference rivals to get the alumni/ boosters excited and behind you. Go back and look at what the AD said about Groce when he fired him. It was almost like he was introducing him instead of letting him go. Very positive about Groce. Just didn't win enough conference games in my opinion. 


I think the Illinois A.D. was feeling pressure because how well Northwestern is doing under Collins, and didn't want to be second in that Chicago Big Ten market.

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32 minutes ago, Rwbb54 said:

 

The other thing is he didn't win enough conference games. You can run the program as great as possible but you have to beat conference rivals to get the alumni/ boosters excited and behind you. Go back and look at what the AD said about Groce when he fired him. It was almost like he was introducing him instead of letting him go. Very positive about Groce. Just didn't win enough conference games in my opinion. 

 

Better players in theory should lead to more wins. He finally was in position of landing that recruiting that narrowly eluded him years prior, but unfortunately for him it was 1-2 years too late. I've actually seen a number of Illinois fans wish they gave him 1 more year to see what he could have done with the players he had coming in.

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On 4/17/2017 at 11:10 AM, mes102 said:


I think Groce had the #1 recruiting class in the Big Ten for 2017, and top ten overall nationally?

 

i know this has come up before, and was commented on.  If it's true, then I'd say that they must have felt really, really negative about his ability to coach the team if they got rid of him in the middle of a golden situation like that.  

 

On 4/17/2017 at 11:10 AM, mes102 said:

I think the Illinois A.D. was feeling pressure because how well Northwestern is doing under Collins, and didn't want to be second in that Chicago Big Ten market.

 

Why would they care how he was doing compared to Northwestern in Chicago if he had a #10 or better national class?  

 

This all just doesn't add up for me.  

Edited by skip-zip
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13 minutes ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

Robby Pridgen played at St. V and was teammates with Maverick Carter. Here's the Lebron connection for those worried about that.

 

More info: http://rmucolonials.com/coaches.aspx?rc=707&path=mbball

 

Very, very interesting.  

 

I often wondered how much LeBron would care about the Zips after all of the guys he knew from Akron High School basketball were gone.  So, now I wonder even more now that Keith is gone.  If he has a relationship with Robby, I'd say it's possible that it could keep him connected to our program in some way.  I hope.  I guess it now looks like a really good move on our part to get him so involved in the Academic side of the U of A in a big way before Keith departed.  

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3 hours ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

Robby Pridgen played at St. V and was teammates with Maverick Carter. Here's the Lebron connection for those worried about that.

 

More info: http://rmucolonials.com/coaches.aspx?rc=707&path=mbball

Good stuff. Thanks. It is probably safe to assume that Pridgen is the reason the Williams brothers are at Robert Morris..

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37 minutes ago, LZIp said:

It is probably safe to assume that Pridgen is the reason the Williams brothers are at Robert Morris..

 

Very strange sometimes how this game works, isn't it?  Got one brother to commit, got the other to follow, and then he bolts for his own upgrade opportunity.  

 

This is why everyone in the coaching profession knows each other.  It's the same at the lower levels too.  

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16 hours ago, skip-zip said:

 

Very, very interesting.  

 

I often wondered how much LeBron would care about the Zips after all of the guys he knew from Akron High School basketball were gone.  So, now I wonder even more now that Keith is gone.  If he has a relationship with Robby, I'd say it's possible that it could keep him connected to our program in some way.  I hope.  I guess it now looks like a really good move on our part to get him so involved in the Academic side of the U of A in a big way before Keith departed.  

 

I think deep down LeBron would want anything 'Akron' to succeed. Not just UA, but the city in general. I would think most people would feel the same way about their hometown (well except for maybe our last head coach). He's always been supportive of Zips football and really has no ties there.

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That's what you get when you search Google Images "LeBron James Ohio State football".  That is a small portion of what you get.  Here is what you get when you search "LeBron James Akron Zips football".

lebron-james-akron-jersey.jpg?resize=750

This and a bunch more pictures of him at Ohio State games.  I just hope he will keep up his support for Akron Zips football since KD ain't around any more!

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I'm going to guess he will still be involved, but not as involved as before. Even with Dambrot being gone, he has connections with the university through his foundation. I foresee him still lobbying Nike to give Akron a favorable apparel deal and I still see him tweeting stuff out when Akron basketball does something newsworthy. Akron will also be able to use his likeness for jerseys and bobbleheads or whatever else.

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Cole Pittis was an assistant at Eastern Florida CC this past season -- which is where former Akron guard Niles Evans played.  Not sure if they have any more prospects that he and Groce may be interested in, but here is this year's roster if anyone has time to research.

 

http://efsctitans.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/roster 

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