WMU - Saturday, Nov. 3rd

[TennZip]

no article in the Beacon sports pages this morning about Akron not being able to play a huge conference game

Larry Williams does need to write an explanatory statement to every season ticket holder.

A major athletic dept should also be able to staff a basketball game against Cedarville at 7 and also have staff available for  a tournament soccer game at 7

scheduling the soccer game at 4 is a disgrace to the working fans that support the soccer program

First Energy(Ohio Edison) also has major egg on their face

 

 

 

[Zip_ME87]

I hope Larry Williams or George Van Horne and the MAC Commissioner called WVU and BGSU and thanked them profusely for helping them out of what could have been a huge mess as far as seeding the MAC Men's Soccer Tournament. Thanks to WVU and BGSU winning, the only seeds that could have been affected involved Akron, BG, and WMU. Since WMU and BG tied when they played, I'm not sure who would have had the #2 seed if WMU would have won last night. Akron could get no better than the #3 seed once BG won.

 

 

[Zip_ME87]

As far as the game time at 4 pm on Tuesday, I agree with all who have stated how ridiculous that is. It is a MAC Tournament game. It is unfair to Men's Soccer players, coaches, staff, family, friends, and fans to start an important game so early on a work day. Our Athletic Department leaders do not deserve to be leading a D-I athletics program. They knew before the season started that playing a first round MAC Tournament game was a possibility. Not planning appropriately for that possibility is unacceptable.

 

Actually, considering last night's cluster, the game should probably have been scheduled for noon or 1 pm to accommodate the possibility of no power for lighting the field Tuesday evening.

 

 

[TennZip]

Whoever is in charge of Akron's Sports information department.....should also be on the hot seat.

season ticket holders were tweeting zipsmsoc begging for updates

Was the akron soccer SID at the JAR watching akron volleyball?

twitter is a great tool for providing updates every 5-10 minutes in unusual situations....

the sports information department was woeful last night

[ZipsVoice]

1 hour ago, TennZip said:

no article in the Beacon sports pages this morning about Akron not being able to play a huge conference game

 

Hahahahahahahahhaha....Oh, you weren't joking about this.....are you talking about the AKRON Beacon Journal?  I must have missed something the last 20 odd years.....

[fknbuflobo]

1 hour ago, Zip_ME87 said:

As far as the game time at 4 pm on Tuesday, I agree with all who have stated how ridiculous that is. It is a MAC Tournament game. It is unfair to Men's Soccer players, coaches, staff, family, friends, and fans to start an important game so early on a work day. Our Athletic Department leaders do not deserve to be leading a D-I athletics program. They knew before the season started that playing a first round MAC Tournament game was a possibility. Not planning appropriately for that possibility is unacceptable.

 

Actually, considering last night's cluster, the game should probably have been scheduled for noon or 1 pm to accommodate the possibility of no power for lighting the field Tuesday evening.

 

 

Combined with the Gridiron disaster in Nebraska, Larry Williams and company no longer deserve their positions of employment.  From an event planning perspective, the MAC Soccer playoff should already have been arranged,  just in case.  If hosting two athletic teams playing simultaneously is such a logistical problem (I challenge whether it actually is) then do not schedule the BB opener on a potential Soccer playoff date.  Or schedule Soccer playoff on Monday.   Do something else.  Figure out a way to avoid making your fanbase(s) suffer.  Instead, UA AD failed to learn from past heartburn, and repeated same mistake from years ago. 

 

My greater fear is that Larry Williams DID anticipate this scheduling conflict, and that this is his remedy.  He.  Just.  Does.  Not.  Care.    If that is the case, then I really do look forward to him moving on.   Now.  Tonight.  UA can do better.

[72 Roo]

3 hours ago, TennZip said:

Whoever is in charge of Akron's Sports information department.....should also be on the hot seat.

season ticket holders were tweeting zipsmsoc begging for updates

Was the akron soccer SID at the JAR watching akron volleyball?

twitter is a great tool for providing updates every 5-10 minutes in unusual situations....

the sports information department was woeful last night

Akron has not had a good SID since Ken McDonald left decades ago. Our current SID is horrible.

[72 Roo]

1 hour ago, fknbuflobo said:

Combined with the Gridiron disaster in Nebraska, Larry Williams and company no longer deserve their positions of employment.  From an event planning perspective, the MAC Soccer playoff should already have been arranged,  just in case.  If hosting two athletic teams playing simultaneously is such a logistical problem (I challenge whether it actually is) then do not schedule the BB opener on a potential Soccer playoff date.  Or schedule Soccer playoff on Monday.   Do something else.  Figure out a way to avoid making your fanbase(s) suffer.  Instead, UA AD failed to learn from past heartburn, and repeated same mistake from years ago. 

 

My greater fear is that Larry Williams DID anticipate this scheduling conflict, and that this is his remedy.  He.  Just.  Does.  Not.  Care.    If that is the case, then I really do look forward to him moving on.   Now.  Tonight.  UA can do better.

I am not impressed with Williams, but feel I still need time to decide if he should go. I liked his hire of Groce, but contrast that with his hire of Jackson for WBB. I can't believe he didn't make a run at the Ashland WBB coach when Kest was tanking last season. His lack of publicly shaming Nebraska for not paying us is unbelievable. He should be fighting for us behind the scenes and also in the public. Play the David vs Goliath card because NU doesn't want to be seen on the national news as a cheap, abusive dept of athletics. Last night's issue with the lights and then Tuesday's lack of attention to our playoff bound MSoc is hard to fathom. A DII practice game (in essence) for MBB vs a step to a national championship for MSoc. How can you not focus on MSoc? I have my doubts too about George Van Horne and especially Anthony Henderson. He once tried to tell me Ianello was building a program recruits were flocking to. Go figure.

[Hilltopper]

25 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

 I have my doubts too about George Van Horne and especially Anthony Henderson. He once tried to tell me Ianello was building a program recruits were flocking to. Go figure.

Do you really think that they would tell you that any member of any coaching staff sucks and deserves to be fired?

[72 Roo]

1 hour ago, Hilltopper said:

Do you really think that they would tell you that any member of any coaching staff sucks and deserves to be fired?

You're damn right I do. When a coach goes 2-22 and you are sprouting that athletes are "flocking" to Akron I call bull---t. I can't respect anyone who can't admit the obvious, but turns around and asks alumni to give more and more money. Maybe athletes were "flocking" to Akron, and they were all bad athletes who no other DI program wanted. That is underlined by how bare TB found the cupboard.

[TennZip]

2 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

I am not impressed with Williams, but feel I still need time to decide if he should go. I liked his hire of Groce, but contrast that with his hire of Jackson for WBB. I can't believe he didn't make a run at the Ashland WBB coach when Kest was tanking last season. His lack of publicly shaming Nebraska for not paying us is unbelievable. He should be fighting for us behind the scenes and also in the public. Play the David vs Goliath card because NU doesn't want to be seen on the national news as a cheap, abusive dept of athletics. Last night's issue with the lights and then Tuesday's lack of attention to our playoff bound MSoc is hard to fathom. A DII practice game (in essence) for MBB vs a step to a national championship for MSoc. How can you not focus on MSoc? I have my doubts too about George Van Horne and especially Anthony Henderson. He once tried to tell me Ianello was building a program recruits were flocking to. Go figure.

The problems at Akron start at the top.   How much longer will there be an interim acting president?   There are so many financial problems at UA that Larry Williams is probably not very high up on the list of things that interim president John Green (and yes, I had to google his name) is concerned about.   I agree wholeheartedly that Williams's job should be in serious jeopardy.    He pulled this 4 pm crap starting time 2 years ago for an NCAA first round game.    Leaving $1 million on the table and bringing the team home from Nebraska is inexcusable.   

    Williams has spent a lot of his work career being a lawyer and working in licensing/marketing.    Anthony Henderson only has 8 years working in college athletics and his time before Akron was not at a major college.   George Van Horne bleeds blue and gold.   He is very passionate about Akron but he only knows the Akron way.   Raising money and working in licensing and marketing does not qualify you to run a big time athletic department.    Akron continues to make the same mistakes  time after time as the athletic department team only knows the Akron way.  This athletic department needs someone that has risen thru the ranks at least 2 power 5 conference schools.

   Larry goes to Henderson and George for advice and he always gets the "Akron way" solution.

     These elite soccer athletes and one of the best 5 college soccer head coaches deserve much better treatment from their university and its athletic department.   Morgan Hackworth has improved so much during his time at Akron.   Morgan and the other seniors deserved a chance to walk out on the field with their parents and loved ones last night.   The 6 young men will never have another Senior night.   

 

[TennZip]

4 hours ago, ZipsVoice said:

 

Hahahahahahahahhaha....Oh, you weren't joking about this.....are you talking about the AKRON Beacon Journal?  I must have missed something the last 20 odd years.....

To my knowledge, the Beacon had covered every other home game this year.  Admittedly, they used a stringer named Brad Bournival to cover the previous games.  Last night, they assigned Brad Bournival to cover the Medina-Stow high school soccer game.    Marla Ridenour did an outstanding job of covering the soccer zips when they went to the final four in 2015.   The beacon editors have now assigned her to different coverage.    Ms. Ridenour was always passionate about the soccer zips and her coverage is missed.    

   Malonepioneer suggested that everyone needs to write a complaint letter to the AD about the MAC tournament game starting during normal working hours.   That is good advice.  I have chosen to write to 3 beacon sports reporters letting them know that the cancelled game was a black eye to the elite sports program on campus and that explanations are needed from Larry Williams and also from Ohio Edison.   If it had been Infocision stadium, the power outage would have been fixed in less than 6 hours.

[malonepioneer12]

Thanks TennZip.  The more emails they get the better.  Mine is all ready sent to Mr. Williams.   

[ZipsVoice]

Okay...devil’s advocate here....and know I’m not happy about last night either, but...do we know for a FACT that the reason the Tuesday game is at 4 is because the AD or department chose that time, or does it have ANYTHING to do with the MAC, travel schedules, etc.?  Do we know for a FACT that the power outage was within the U’s ability or even jurisdiction to fix?  It had been out since noon-ish, so maybe Ohio Edison lines had something to do with it?  I don’t know, is anyone certain it was ineptness on the U?  Do we know for a FACT that the game was a no contest due to Akron, I mean I would assume WMU was spending the night in Akron, why not play Sunday morning in broad daylight.  Maybe WMU said no?  Why does anyone expect tweets to be sent out just to say “no news”, or does anyone believe, like some earlier posts, that this was a conspiracy to keep everyone uninformed?  Does anyone standing around at FES seeing the big generator and the lights rolled at that the U was trying to solve the issue?  Does anyone know for a FACT that Williams, VanHorn, or Henderson (who has nothing to do with anything but fundraising) failed to be involved in trying to get the match in, or to solve the issue?  Or does anyone not agree that if this team played up to their potential this season we wouldn’t even be having the conversation on Tuesday start times, but bitching that the Friday semi-final match was at 5:30 and some faand might not be able to be there?

[malonepioneer12]

Not saying I disagree with what you are saying but I completely disagree with what you are saying.  I think it is the appropriate thing to do to update fans regarding the delay.  I have a hour drive home and did not appreciate not knowing what is going on.  Not an update for 45 minutes....come on.   This is a big university - this isn’t Walsh or Malone.  Correct the season hasn’t gone as planned but this is the second time that scheduling has been a problem.  Does anyone remember a few years ago and the NCAA tourney game that was scheduled at 4 or something like that?   

[ZipsVoice]

4 minutes ago, malonepioneer12 said:

Not saying I disagree with what you are saying but I completely disagree with what you are saying.  I think it is the appropriate thing to do to update fans regarding the delay.  I have a hour drive home and did not appreciate not knowing what is going on.  Not an update for 45 minutes....come on.   This is a big university - this isn’t Walsh or Malone.  Correct the season hasn’t gone as planned but this is the second time that scheduling has been a problem.  Does anyone remember a few years ago and the NCAA tourney game that was scheduled at 4 or something like that?   

Malone, I know...but if there was no tweets wouldn't you assume there was nothing known?  I too had an hour drive back home, and I sure wish I had known something. And yep, the NCAA match at 4 happened, but once more, who made that decision?  U of A, NCAA, I don’t know....

[ZipsVoice]

And this goes back to what TennZip said earlier and hopefully Malone your e-mails May help.  Williams or the Department should make a statement as to what happened, what was done to try to fix it, why the game was cancelled and why the 4 pm start...clear it up from the top.

[malonepioneer12]

I still think it would be nice to hear what is going on.  We can agree to disagree.  The 4PM start for the NCAA tournament game was because of the b-ball game that night.  I know that for sure.  

[fknbuflobo]

1 hour ago, ZipsVoice said:

Okay...devil’s advocate here....and know I’m not happy about last night either, but...do we know for a FACT that the reason the Tuesday game is at 4 is because the AD or department chose that time, or does it have ANYTHING to do with the MAC, travel schedules, etc.?  Do we know for a FACT that the power outage was within the U’s ability or even jurisdiction to fix?  It had been out since noon-ish, so maybe Ohio Edison lines had something to do with it?  I don’t know, is anyone certain it was ineptness on the U?  Do we know for a FACT that the game was a no contest due to Akron, I mean I would assume WMU was spending the night in Akron, why not play Sunday morning in broad daylight.  Maybe WMU said no?  Why does anyone expect tweets to be sent out just to say “no news”, or does anyone believe, like some earlier posts, that this was a conspiracy to keep everyone uninformed?  Does anyone standing around at FES seeing the big generator and the lights rolled at that the U was trying to solve the issue?  Does anyone know for a FACT that Williams, VanHorn, or Henderson (who has nothing to do with anything but fundraising) failed to be involved in trying to get the match in, or to solve the issue?  Or does anyone not agree that if this team played up to their potential this season we wouldn’t even be having the conversation on Tuesday start times, but bitching that the Friday semi-final match was at 5:30 and some faand might not be able to be there?

24 hours is too late for the communication you are suggesting.  That message is not already here because it is never coming.  I reject your defenses of this shabby athletic department.  Our Soccer team is NOT because of them; it is IN SPITE of them. 

 

I will happily apologize when I am proven wrong.

 

Just to be clear:  Lack of lighting at First Energy Field is a colossal embarrassment. 

 

BUT setting the playoff match at 16:00 in deference to BB opener is far worse. 

 

Larry Williams!  Yeah. YOU.  If you do not care about your athletic programs, do not expect me to care about them.  So, don't ask me for money.  Next time I donate is once you are gone.

[Zip_ME87]

4 hours ago, ZipsVoice said:

Okay...devil’s advocate here....and know I’m not happy about last night either, but...do we know for a FACT that the reason the Tuesday game is at 4 is because the AD or department chose that time, or does it have ANYTHING to do with the MAC, travel schedules, etc.?

 

No. However, if it is due to MAC scheduling or travel schedules, that should be communicated in the press release on GoZips.com. Communications should not be as difficult as UA Athletics seems to make it.

 

 Do we know for a FACT that the power outage was within the U’s ability or even jurisdiction to fix?  It had been out since noon-ish, so maybe Ohio Edison lines had something to do with it?  I don’t know, is anyone certain it was ineptness on the U?

 

My issue is that if the power was out at noon, it should have been possible to light 4 light poles with generators as was attempted. Someone should know how much power each pole requires. You get generators that produce more power than that. Not rocket science. 

 

 Do we know for a FACT that the game was a no contest due to Akron, I mean I would assume WMU was spending the night in Akron, why not play Sunday morning in broad daylight.  Maybe WMU said no?

 

WMU was the party to say no to playing Sunday, I believe (but do not know with 100% certainty). However, my issue is that Larry Williams set precedent for others to balk at making last minute accommodations when he took our football team out of Nebraska rather than try to stay overnight. [Also, my understanding is that Nebraska has still not paid UA for that game...money UA cannot afford to lose. Very poor on his part to not understand potential consequences of such a decision.]

 

 Why does anyone expect tweets to be sent out just to say “no news”, or does anyone believe, like some earlier posts, that this was a conspiracy to keep everyone uninformed?  Does anyone standing around at FES seeing the big generator and the lights rolled at that the U was trying to solve the issue?  

 

Some updates would have been helpful.

 

Does anyone know for a FACT that Williams, VanHorn, or Henderson (who has nothing to do with anything but fundraising) failed to be involved in trying to get the match in, or to solve the issue? 

 

They may have been; however, none of them spoke to the crowd. They left it to the facility guy to tell the crowd that the game was cancelled. That is definite lack of leadership. 

 

Or does anyone not agree that if this team played up to their potential this season we wouldn’t even be having the conversation on Tuesday start times, but bitching that the Friday semi-final match was at 5:30 and some fans might not be able to be there?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Zip_ME87

[fknbuflobo]

3 hours ago, ZipsVoice said:

And this goes back to what TennZip said earlier and hopefully Malone your e-mails May help.  Williams or the Department should make a statement as to what happened, what was done to try to fix it, why the game was cancelled and why the 4 pm start...clear it up from the top.

Still waiting.

[Zip_ME87]

This power outage and UA’s inability to deal with it expediently seems to be another sign of the seriousness of UA’s financial problems. I won’t withhold donations to the team I love and my alma mater in general, but UA needs to get its act together. 

 

Also, I have no marketing background, but UA sure seems not to take advantage of the high profile their most successful team sport has generated. I guess if you don’t watch professional soccer and follow its media, you don’t see it. UA Athletics Leadership seems to be reactive rather than proactive. Soccer continues to gain popularity and a larger fanbase in the USA. If the Crew stays in Columbus, Ohio will have 2 MLS teams. It seems UA should somehow leverage that and its Men’s soccer success. 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Zip_ME87

[TennZip]

https://www.ohio.com/news/20181105/university-of-akron-buildings-still-without-power

[TennZip]

https://wmubroncos.com/news/2018/11/4/mens-soccer-to-host-mac-tournament-quarterfinal-versus-niu.aspx

 

I know that the 4 pm start time tomorrow is not popular.    Western Michigan is playing their tournament game at 2;30 tomorrow.

     Did the MAC conference set the starting time so that the players would have roughly 72 hours rest before the semis on Friday?   I do not know.  If the times were set by the MAC conference, the Akron athletic department needs to communicate that face to their fan base.

    I suspect that the 4 pm start is due to the div. 2 basketball game at 7 pm as the athletic director claims that they do not have enough staff to cover events at the same time.