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1.) It allows us to stay in MAC and avoid the Horizon League. 2.) We will never have a tournament run. Those days are over. That's a big reason why Groce left. He'll have more money to retain players like Nate Johnson...money that Bud Wentz and his supporters could only dream of generating. Every upperclassman capable of leading the Zips to an NCAA tournament victory as a Junior or Senior will have left UA for greener pastures during their final 1 or 2 years of eligibility.

If even part of the reason is the football program is hampering the success of bb and the other successful sports programs I have to ask..what does fb do for UA as whole? Even if they managed to when the MAC and went on to win a potato, tangerine, or fruitcake bowl, who would really notice and how would that add to the prestige of UA? There is no amount of success they could have in fb that is remotely as beneficial as tournament run.

I imagine those aren't exactly cheap to host. Even though they were low majors we probably had to cover each teams cost and give them a little bit of money to make it worth their while. You're probably right about us exploring a less costly MTE. Maybe someplace like WV that Kent played in last year.

Do we know which coaches are following Groce and which are choosing to stay with Dustin?

Wouldn't mind that assuming the rest of the OOC schedule included some stiffer competition. The last ABC saw some very competitive basketball programs, I think all but 1 reaching their conference tournament final and a couple (including Akron) making the NCAAT. The University would need to get more creative with promoting it, though, and making it a better event overall.

Bingo. I think the key to the future of UA student fandom is to recruit a greater number of students from outside the NE Ohio region. Even the Columbus kids are more likely to go to games than the Stow kids. This would also help the academic program as we are facing a demographic cliff and could always use more students in general.

Would also imply that he plans to test the waters as the Instagram post read as an advertisement of his skillset.

We might be looking at another "Akron Basketball Classic" next year

Makes me really appreciate goodrich here. What he says here scares me though, thank God Embick just signed a contract extension. This also gives gensler some really nice job security

Surprised a bit about the travel budget just because most of the schools in the MAC are within bus range. One of the ones that wasn't is is leaving the conference so I suppose there is a reduction there. Maybe it more impacted the OOC travel.

Bowen's IG announced he signed with an agency for NIL representation. I would take this as he was awarded that additional year of eligibility.

I think a forum like this is great for brainstorming ideas, certainly for one's they might use. Having a smaller focus group is probably better for working out how best to implement them.

What I heard - budget was cut last year and was going to be again this year. Travel budget, in particular, was an issue to Groce.

Back when I was at UA they definitely were. I interviewed for a internship within the athletic department and they knew I was a poster here. I had a different account back then (Dambrot era) but they knew exactly who I was based on my posts. Nothing bad and I got the job. But they knew lol. From my experience everyone worked very hard and did what they could with the limited resources of a MAC school on a tight budget. They are young, come from big schools and know what they are doing. The problem is most don't see Akron as the final destination, but a career stepping stone. So there isn't much longevity and lots of turnover. My bosses all ended up in the Big Ten, Big 12 or SEC within 5 years of me working there. Personally working for the Zips would be my dream job. But I don't think many others see it that way.

I really doubt we can play that freeman style, we need an established and talented big to do that. Enrique was 1/1, We can't run the offense through a guy like Barre, Okonkwo, Aziz, even amani too

Well appears a hefty raise wasn’t the primary driver of the decision.

Charleston is an extremely trendy place. There are loads of people looking to impress and be impressed. I'd bet it is part of the driving force. Compound that with a great game day experience and there is the success.

They might, but for a University with budget constraints, seems odd to use financial resources on a formal process like this instead of joining the board, creating a section or a thread with questions, and starting there - for free.

What's to say they aren't here lurking already?

It actually didn't. Here's what I received... "Thank you for your support of the Zips and interest in joining the Zips Fan Council! While it’s been a hectic time of year with basketball season in full-swing, I wanted to send out a quick update regarding where our department is currently at with creating the Zips Fan Council. We had overwhelming interest in being a part of this council, with just under 100 applicants from across the state of Ohio and beyond. Our goal for this council is to build a group that spans across as many different demographics as possible, and as such we’ve selected limited numbers of individuals across a wide variety of graduation years and backgrounds to accomplish this goal. We are in the final stages of scheduling interviews with applicants and hope to have our council members finalized in the coming weeks, with our first meeting late in the spring. If you were not chosen to move forward in the process, please know that it was based on limited availability and Akron Athletics appreciates and values your support. As this will be a group that ebbs and flows based on availability, we would love to consider you for the group in the future even if you are not ultimately selected in this first iteration." The part I put in bold is what reads like a rejection. Regardless, I still don't understand why they aren't joining ZipsNation for feedback, suggestions, brainstorming, etc.

So it was a rejection letter.

Nope. Just an apology for not doing anything yet. It did say there would be no notice if you were not selected.

I guess he's not lucky 🤷

So it wasn't a rejection email we received? It read like a rejection email.