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Coach Brookhart


zip81

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J.D. is getting beat up on some MAC football forums.They say he did nothing with a team that had a lot of talent.IMHO, the schedule sucked...Knute Rockne couldn't have come out of those first 7 games with a winning record. Excuse? Maybe.I still have confidence in Coach Brookhart (and Dambrot for that matter) and think he's going to be a good one.

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It seems to me that many people just looked at the fact that we were MAC champs, and were returning 16 starters, and just assumed that we ought to breeze through our schedule this year. I believe that we had quite a few breaks fall our way last year, and we really were not that good yet. People raised their expectations too high, and now the coach is taking the blame.

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I believe that we had quite a few breaks fall our way last year, and we really were not that good yet. People raised their expectations too high, and now the coach is taking the blame.
DITTO! I think it's gonna happen, but it's not gonna be overnight like a lot of folks (myself included :rolleyes: ) thought after last season. The future is bright, brighter than it's been in a very long time. Let's be happy, enjoy the last game of the year and basketball season...and then look forward to opening next year in C-Bus. GO ZIPS!!! :screwks::screwks:
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As the head coach, the buck ultimately stops with Brookhart, but lets not forget that he lost several assistants in the off-season which has a lot to do with comfort and continuity for the players. Brookhart has been very good for the program and is getting solid talent to come to a school that has had a lousy D-1 reputation. There's a lot of forward energy still emanating for this program that will be exponentially enhanced with a new stadium. If the Zips go backwards in the next year or two, then yeah, let's discuss the head coach's effectiveness, but any objective outsider would definitely look at U of A as a program that has gone from moribund to on the rise. Just ask Chuck Amato (oh wait, he'll just say that we're loaded with non-qualifiers.). Anyways to make a long story short, from the institution that fired John Heisman, a large degree of patience is warranted with this program.

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As the head coach, the buck ultimately stops with Brookhart, but lets not forget that he lost several assistants in the off-season which has a lot to do with comfort and continuity for the players.  Brookhart has been very good for the program and is getting solid talent to come to a school that has had a lousy D-1 reputation.  There's a lot of forward energy still emanating for this program that will be exponentially enhanced with a new stadium.  If the Zips go backwards in the next year or two, then yeah, let's discuss the head coach's effectiveness, but any objective outsider would definitely look at U of A as a program that has gone from moribund to on the rise.  Just ask Chuck Amato (oh wait, he'll just say that we're loaded with non-qualifiers.).  Anyways to make a long story short, from the institution that fired John Heisman, a large degree of patience is warranted with this program.
Agreed!by the way, can we also agree that :screwks: ?
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As the head coach, the buck ultimately stops with Brookhart, but lets not forget that he lost several assistants in the off-season which has a lot to do with comfort and continuity for the players.  Brookhart has been very good for the program and is getting solid talent to come to a school that has had a lousy D-1 reputation.  There's a lot of forward energy still emanating for this program that will be exponentially enhanced with a new stadium.  If the Zips go backwards in the next year or two, then yeah, let's discuss the head coach's effectiveness, but any objective outsider would definitely look at U of A as a program that has gone from moribund to on the rise.  Just ask Chuck Amato (oh wait, he'll just say that we're loaded with non-qualifiers.).  Anyways to make a long story short, from the institution that fired John Heisman, a large degree of patience is warranted with this program.
Agreed!by the way, can we also agree that :screwks: ?
Who on earth is arguing that ?
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Continuity is being established with this program. They have played inconsistent ball all year long but lets also be realistic and state that the conference has a lot of parity. This program is headed f in the right direction - and it has the right leader in JD. Akron is going to become a serious contender in the coming seasons i.e. Boise State. Get the stadium on campus with some dorms wrapped around it and the football program will take off people.

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Let's look at Brookhart's career here at Akron and compare him to his predecessor.Lee Owens:Has the worst facilities in the nation, no....not just 1-A, the NATION, and pulls three winning seasons in nine years, getting fired for a year in which he went 7-5 and 5-3 in the MAC one interception away from beating a top 25 team. I know there's some hatred for the guy on this forum but I think it's completely unwarranted. For the crap he was handed from the administration in terms of support and facilities I think he worked miracles.JD Brookhart:Steps right into the best on campus practice and training facilities in the MidWest and inherits a 7-5 team with one of the best 5th year senior QB's in the nation. Starts his career out 1-4 with a loss to a Sun Belt school, and three HUMILIATING blowouts, one to another MAC school. Gets on a hot streak against some weak competition in the middle of the schedule (Buffalo, UCF, Ohio, Can't, Ball St, and needed a Charlie Frye miracle to beat a bad Marshall team) and then closes out the year to lose to a down Miami team that was just good enough to win a bad MAC East that season. 6-5 with a team that I honestly believe would've won the East that year if Lee O/Paul Winters had stayed in charge and kept the momentum from '03. Has the so-called #1 recruiting class in the MAC heading into '05, which should be expected with the best facilities in the MAC, but in reality just signed a bunch of guys who would never get here anyways. Half that class is no longer with the team. Comes back in '05 and is proclaimed God of Akron after going 6-5, 5-3 in the MAC..... the same record Lee Owens was fired for. Is the beneficiery not of what his team did, but of what other team DIDN'T do, and backs into the MAC championship, and beats an NIU team on a last second prayer, an NIU team that didn't have it's starting quarterback. Loses the Bowl game to a mediocre Memphis team. Has a solid recruiting class, again, with what could be expected with the facilities and coming off a championship, but again, many don't qualify. Nevertheless, Akron enters 2006 as arguably the most talented team in the MAC, full of, not to keep stroking the guy's dick but, guys Lee Owens recruited with the most god-awful facilities and campus in college football. With that talented team, he drops an egg, and goes 5-7 in a DOWN year in the MAC.So you be the judge.....is JD Brookhart really that great of a coach, or just a guy who had limited success because he stepped into the right situation at the right time?? You be the judge. I'm not for firing the guy this year, but heads on his staff should roll, and I'm not as excited about that contract extension as some of you are.

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.............................So you be the judge.....is JD Brookhart really that great of a coach, or just a guy who had limited success because he stepped into the right situation at the right time?? You be the judge. I'm not for firing the guy this year, but heads on his staff should roll, and I'm not as excited about that contract extension as some of you are.
I am inclined to agree somewhat with InTheZone. I don't really understand why everyone is infatuated with Brookhart but wants to spit on Owens. For me the jury is still out on Brookhart. I am not saying fire him, but I don't understand why he kept playing Getsy when he couldn't move the team. I don't understand why he kept Crouch and Donaldson in the game when they kept holding and jumping offside. I don't understand why the coaches couldn't seem to make changes during the game to get the offense moving. And I think that there is a distinct lack of disciplne on this team. I counted at least three times the officials could have called personal fouls against the Zips tonight against Western Michigan. The play was at least 40 yards away when a Zip player would take a "cheap shot", and all the ref did was talk to the guy. This game, for me, was almost as bad as last year when I sat in the pouring rain and wached Akron get embarrrassed by Army. :puke::cry::cry::puke:
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Let's look at Brookhart's career here at Akron and compare him to his predecessor.Lee Owens:Has the worst facilities in the nation, no....not just 1-A, the NATION, and pulls three winning seasons in nine years, getting fired for a year in which he went 7-5 and 5-3 in the MAC one interception away from beating a top 25 team. I know there's some hatred for the guy on this forum but I think it's completely unwarranted. For the crap he was handed from the administration in terms of support and facilities I think he worked miracles.JD Brookhart:Steps right into the best on campus practice and training facilities in the MidWest and inherits a 7-5 team with one of the best 5th year senior QB's in the nation. Starts his career out 1-4 with a loss to a Sun Belt school, and three HUMILIATING blowouts, one to another MAC school. Gets on a hot streak against some weak competition in the middle of the schedule (Buffalo, UCF, Ohio, Can't, Ball St, and needed a Charlie Frye miracle to beat a bad Marshall team) and then closes out the year to lose to a down Miami team that was just good enough to win a bad MAC East that season. 6-5 with a team that I honestly believe would've won the East that year if Lee O/Paul Winters had stayed in charge and kept the momentum from '03. Has the so-called #1 recruiting class in the MAC heading into '05, which should be expected with the best facilities in the MAC, but in reality just signed a bunch of guys who would never get here anyways. Half that class is no longer with the team. Comes back in '05 and is proclaimed God of Akron after going 6-5, 5-3 in the MAC..... the same record Lee Owens was fired for. Is the beneficiery not of what his team did, but of what other team DIDN'T do, and backs into the MAC championship, and beats an NIU team on a last second prayer, an NIU team that didn't have it's starting quarterback. Loses the Bowl game to a mediocre Memphis team. Has a solid recruiting class, again, with what could be expected with the facilities and coming off a championship, but again, many don't qualify. Nevertheless, Akron enters 2006 as arguably the most talented team in the MAC, full of, not to keep stroking the guy's dick but, guys Lee Owens recruited with the most god-awful facilities and campus in college football. With that talented team, he drops an egg, and goes 5-7 in a DOWN year in the MAC.So you be the judge.....is JD Brookhart really that great of a coach, or just a guy who had limited success because he stepped into the right situation at the right time?? You be the judge. I'm not for firing the guy this year, but heads on his staff should roll, and I'm not as excited about that contract extension as some of you are.
you make some very good points! Hmmm interesting you make some damn good points!!
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InTheZone (ITZ) should brace himself for emotive dominated reaction by the JD Brookhartphiles. These are predetermined folks who can brook (no pun intended) no critique of their "ordained one."I share ITZ's wait and see attitude. We both want JD to make it. Results over five years of coaching will tell the tale. If he is the "great" coach, the "fine" coach that his devotees say he is, it will be abundantly clear to us in 2007. By 2008 Akron will be the class of the MAC. Otherwise, JD Brookhart will probably be going back to "private enterprise" where he was an unqualified success.Far too many of the frequenters of this forum either lack the ability to read with understanding (that is, they don't have the minds for it) or obstinately (lacking the generosity of spirit and an open mind) refuse to read what is written. Their limitations, no matter what the cause, do not get in the way of their hubristically telling the writer that he has said what, in fact, he has not said. I was no Lee Owens fan but I did read what ITZ wrote and he makes good points. I think Owens had ample time to show what he could do and his ability was well short what was needed. But undoubtedly, as ITZ persuasively presents, he did not have the advantages JD Brookhart has.I applaud ITZ's moxie. If JD and Rhoades get the job done, it will be because they feel the heat of high expectations and embrace it. Successful coaches do not eschew pressure. They welcome it. They aspire to become leaders and they figure out in quick order what leadership entails.

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:wall: just got back from the Bowl...wondering why the great JD and his offense...ya HIS QB...wasted a fine effort by the D...no reason on this earth why Jackson should not have played tonight...JD did not do EVERYTHING in an effort to win the game on the offensive side... players will file that away...by the way.. i was sitting near a guy who claimed he heard Jackson wants to transfer...anybody got a line on that..if JD uses the excuse he was being 'loyal' to a sr. someone needs to tell him to stop complaing about he lack of butts in the seats...he had a chance to sell some tickets for next year in front of a decent crowd...for us... and blew itsomeone also needs to show him that 2 of his golden recruits..Harvey and Kennedy take too many plays off..other guys see that too..."great effort"(LOL) by Harvey on that ball in the 3rd qtr...and finally..folks need to look around the MAC and realize that other coaches including Cubit at wmu took over bad programs and have better records than JD...at best he is a VERY one dimensional head coach...got my tickets for the OSU game lined up..laterakronoldtimer
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I look at 2006 as JD's "free pass". I figure everyone deserves one of these. There is no question that things lined up perfectly for the Zips last year. If the timing of Omar Jacobs injury had been different, our discussions this year would be equally different. I just thought and hoped that the Zips, who took advantage of the opportunities presented last year very well, would carry some of this over into this season, but this never really took place. The apparently strong showings at PSU and NC State were ultimately shown to not be all that impressive as the season played out. The offensive line never really gave the offense any consistency and the defense was put in too many bad situations all year. Listening to JD on the 1350 post game show saying that some self evaluation, presumably on both the coaches and players part, is necessary made me feel as though he at least understands the problems. Whether he can effectively address these in the off season is the big question. I'm close by say :screwks: ing I wish the Zips had at least kept the game close. I was amazed at how long the crowd stuck around tonight and equally impressed that they never turned on the team (at least from my vantage point). Let's hope they don't have many reasons to next year.

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Let's look at Brookhart's career here at Akron and compare him to his predecessor.Lee Owens:Has the worst facilities in the nation, no....not just 1-A, the NATION, and pulls three winning seasons in nine years, getting fired for a year in which he went 7-5 and 5-3 in the MAC one interception away from beating a top 25 team. I know there's some hatred for the guy on this forum but I think it's completely unwarranted. For the crap he was handed from the administration in terms of support and facilities I think he worked miracles.JD Brookhart:Steps right into the best on campus practice and training facilities in the MidWest and inherits a 7-5 team with one of the best 5th year senior QB's in the nation. Starts his career out 1-4 with a loss to a Sun Belt school, and three HUMILIATING blowouts, one to another MAC school. Gets on a hot streak against some weak competition in the middle of the schedule (Buffalo, UCF, Ohio, Can't, Ball St, and needed a Charlie Frye miracle to beat a bad Marshall team) and then closes out the year to lose to a down Miami team that was just good enough to win a bad MAC East that season. 6-5 with a team that I honestly believe would've won the East that year if Lee O/Paul Winters had stayed in charge and kept the momentum from '03. Has the so-called #1 recruiting class in the MAC heading into '05, which should be expected with the best facilities in the MAC, but in reality just signed a bunch of guys who would never get here anyways. Half that class is no longer with the team. Comes back in '05 and is proclaimed God of Akron after going 6-5, 5-3 in the MAC..... the same record Lee Owens was fired for. Is the beneficiery not of what his team did, but of what other team DIDN'T do, and backs into the MAC championship, and beats an NIU team on a last second prayer, an NIU team that didn't have it's starting quarterback. Loses the Bowl game to a mediocre Memphis team. Has a solid recruiting class, again, with what could be expected with the facilities and coming off a championship, but again, many don't qualify. Nevertheless, Akron enters 2006 as arguably the most talented team in the MAC, full of, not to keep stroking the guy's dick but, guys Lee Owens recruited with the most god-awful facilities and campus in college football. With that talented team, he drops an egg, and goes 5-7 in a DOWN year in the MAC.So you be the judge.....is JD Brookhart really that great of a coach, or just a guy who had limited success because he stepped into the right situation at the right time?? You be the judge. I'm not for firing the guy this year, but heads on his staff should roll, and I'm not as excited about that contract extension as some of you are. [/COLOR]With that line of reasoning, it wouldn't matter if JD or a sack of potatoes coached the Zips last season. Almost as if the Zips were in some existential vortex where events randomly occured and the fruits of last season's moderate success were no more the result than pure whimsy. Lee Owens is certainly almost by all accounts, a good man and he certainly maximized the limited resources you noted. Brookhart shouldn't be dismissed as a carpetbagger or jackal simply because he was hired as Akron's coach at a propitious time regarding some facilities (the Rubber Bowl doesn't sway too many recruits I fear). He may not have even been interested in the position had the on-campus training facility not been around, we don't know for sure. The fact is that Akron did win the MAC title last year based on 12 games, 60 minutes a game, 60 seconds a minute. Is Jon Gruden's Super Bowl win with Tampa Bay really Tony Dungy's, absolutely not. I think the issue of the firing of Lee Owens and the hiring and coaching acumen of JD are separate issues. If over the next two years, the program is heading backward, then yeah we should revisit whether or not JD is the right fit.

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I didn't at all mean with my post to say that we should've kept LO around, that wasn't the point at all. Personally, I would've given the guy another year after a 7-5, 5-3 season with a senior quarterback of Frye's caliber returning, but that's beside the point I was making. I was simply drawing attention to the fact that JD has been given a free pass by a lot around here for what amounts to doing no more than his predecessor with much greater resources at his disposal. Lee Owens didn't have a bright shiny campus and fieldhouse to whoo recruits with the way JD does. Much more should be expected out of JD because he has a lot more to work with, but so far he has done nothing outside of a 6-5, 5-3 season (like I said, the same type of season LO was fired for) to warrant any kind of optimism for his ability as the head football coach of the University of Akron Zips. This was a year when he had the tools at his disposal to dominate the MAC, and as we all know, he fell well short of that. Next year, with so many new starters, he can operate under the guise of a "rebuilding year". He didn't get the job done this year and he has done nothing since arriving here outside of inheriting a winning team with brand new facilities and doing nothing more with it than the last guy. I'll give him another year or two, but I think Mack Rhodes had a lapse in judgement by extending his contract five more years. That's a lot of years to pay off if we have two more 5-7 seasons, which, if you can go 5-7 with this team, imagine what you can do next year with a green team.

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Point taken ITZ, but in terms of whether Brookhart has accomplished more than Lee Owens or merely the same is open to healthy debate. Even though the Zips were 7-6 in 2005, they were 7-6 with a MAC title. Similarly the St Louis Cardinals were about 83-79 or so in the regular season this year, but came away with a world series title.I think Brookhart's approach to recruiting and coaching is most definitely complimented by the new on-campus facilities, but the facilities themselves are a means to an end. I would hope that recruits are choosing Akron not just because of the on-campus facility,but because they like and believe in the coaches and they just intangibly felt that U of A was the right place for them.

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Sure, JD has been placed on a pedestal too early in his career at Akron. But, I do take exception to the comment that Lee Owens doesn't deserve the criticism he gets. In the year Owens was fired (2003), he was 7-5. The 7 wins were against two 1-AA teams, and five 1-A teams with a combined record of 12-50.The other year in which he won 7 game (1999), the seven teams he defeated had a combined record of 18-60.And these were his two BEST YEARS!!!I think Lee Owens should have lost his job because of his overall record, which shows that he was 20+ games UNDER .500 over 9 years, and he never made any progress against the contending teams in the MAC during that time. Plus, he never even WENT to a MAC Championship game during that time, let alone win one. Gerry Faust gets alot of criticism too, but he had worse facilities than Owens had, and had to start the 1-A program from scratch, and still managed to be at the .500 mark going into his last season as coach.I'm just not buying into a theory that Lee Owens would have done better than Brookhart in the 2004 season. After 9 years, he could not get it done, so what makes anyone think that he could have done it with one more try?The bottom line is that you need to make progress towards championships. And with 9 years, and no progress, you have to make a change. And in Owens' case, I think that the change took about 5 years too long.

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InTheZone! Thank you! I have felt the same way since I first met the man 3 years ago! I had very high hopes, but I have not felt comfortable since. It seems like every big win can come back to a big play by one, maybe two players. I never saw a game where I felt tyhat the coaching sraff had the team well prepared. Point-against WMu, down by only 3 at half, the team came out so unmotivated that they gave up 2 TDs immediately, and you could tell the game was over. He blames the lack of leadership as a problem, but a coach needs to find those kids, then back them, even if they make mistakes.I really want to see this team do well, but I don;t think it will happen again. JD wins a title in his second year, it has to be with the previous coach's kids. By next year, he will have his kids playing, for the most part. That will yell a lot.I've said this before, I think he needs to build a staff of coaches he can trust, let them do their jobs. A head coach needs to be a manager. An effective manager delagates and lets subordinates do the work. How many times do you hear about successful head coaches that started as assistants under a big time head coach? Bo under Woody, etc. Heard of anyone from Akron being mentioned for any openings?

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