All Activity

The Zips are hosting the Akron Men's Basketball Alumni Camp this Thursday, July 24th at the JAR. The schedule is: 4:30pm - Cocktail Hour with cash bar and light hors d'oeuvres. 5:00pm - Watch former Zips basketball student athletes take the floor at the JAR for the Alumni Game. Parking is available in the Lot 1 parking garage on the corner of Spicer and Carroll St. and must be paid for via the scannable signs in the lot.

For the 2nd straight game, there are 6 or 7 paragraphs written about the unselfishness and talent of Richie Laryea https://www.tfcrepublic.ca/july-20-toronto-fc-nashville-sc/ comments from their coach "I thought he was great. I thought he was very good. Again, Richie's understanding of what's dangerous, what's not, when to close, when to close hard, when to be patient, I think all of that [was good]. I knew Richie [when] he first came to TFC in 2019, and he was young and naïve then, and I feel like he's a completely different person now," Robin Fraser said. "He is a seasoned pro who we've obviously asked him to play in a number of different positions in the last couple of games, and he just does what's asked of him because it's what the team needs. So, I thought he put in a really incredible shift."

We beat Northwestern and NC State. No one gives a sht . Win more games

Looks like one game starting 3:30 or earlier on Saturday. Miami game start time not set but on a Saturday. Could the start times get any worse?

Bankruptcy is bad. Dissolution is worse. Anything further you would like to share?

Please give a full report! Hope they have a Q&A and some people ask some tough questions about the direction of the program

I wouldn't attend this if I still lived in Akron, but I think it's a good idea. Annually, they would have things like golf outings to bring people together. I didn't play in those either because I absolutely suck at golf to the point I'm made miserable playing, and I'm not blowing a round of golf level money to be made miserable. I prefer to throw money at the University from a distance. I'm so lazy about it I don't even write checks anymore. I let them automatically take money from my account every month. A small $20 event at a coffee shop is a good idea to bring some people in who don't want to spend golf level money but want to learn more about what's going on. It is also pretty low cost, which is important right now. I hope people attend.

Bump, since the event is this evening. I'll be there. Worth $20 to hear Joe, and see what the new AD is all about.

Every major decision of the board of trustees over the past 20-years has been a complete disaster. UA wouldn't be in the position of potential bankruptcy and dissolution if it weren't for the bungling monumentally weak decision making by the BOT. Have I met any of the Trustees? Yes, in the past. The current ones? No. Am I wrong that the BoT are political appointments in Ohio?

You have no clue what you are talking about. Have you ever even met any of the trustees? Your envy of anyone who is more accomplished than you clouds your judgement. Most of the trustees serve due to a sense of responsibility to their Alma Mater and community. The ones I know are way past needing a trustee position as some kind of stepping stone to some other position. They usually are well entrenched in the community through years of charitable and foundation work. The current trustees are in a difficult position trying to keep UA from bankruptcy and dissolution. It's a fine balancing act to try to keep all the shareholders(students, faculty, administrators and taxpayers) happy and still balance the budget.

I wouldn't buy season tickets because I wouldn't go to the weeknight games or any game that starts after 3:30. There is no reason for a family of four with the oldest child being 11 to go to a game starting later or on a weeknight, which isn't me, I'm just saying. By itself, Akron can't solve this problem. It's a problem throughout the G5 world. The causes are many. The solutions will be simple but hard to achieve because of the enemy within, athletic directors.

Even before MACtion Akron football was an afterthought. It would be even worse today as live attendance at sporting events is down a crossed the board at all levels compared to the 80s or 90s. I can't speak for everyone, but my undergrad was during the Ianello years. Having a new stadium should have been an exciting time for the program. Instead it was a pathetic excuse for football. People can forgive you for losing by 3 touchdowns to a ranked P4 program. Consistently losing by 20, 30, 40 points to teams in your own conference week after week destroys fan enthusiasm. Often times the games were decided before half-time. More so than just losing, nobody wants to watch bad football. At least when the Browns lose it's often times still a game entering the 4th QTR. The same friends who I used to go to games with as an undergrad quit going and now even if I tried giving them free tickets, they'd rather just stay home and do yardwork or whatever else. The Northwestern win was the most excited I have been as a Zips football fan (wasn't a Zips fan until 2007). The issue is they failed to build off of it. I think they finished 4-8 that season. Followed by Arth's 3-24 tenure. Why would Joe Akron care if after a big win they just go back to being the same old Akron? The last game I went to was in 2016 when App State came to town. If you're wanting 15k-20k people at games I'm the low hanging fruit you should be looking to attract. I obviously have an interest in Akron sports since I post here and since that time I have even attended dozens of other Akron sporting events. Heck, I've even went to several alumni homecoming tailgates, but skipped the game. Deciding on either going to Eurogyro to hang out with friends or just going home instead. I'm telling you the reason I don't attend is because watching bad football, which Akron has played for the better part of the decades I've been a fan, isn't worth spending 4 hours of my Saturday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. You're a former football player if I recall correctly and it seems if you were local you would probably already have season tickets. You're not the Joe Akron that needs to be convinced to attend. Simply playing games on Saturdays isn't going to make 10k more fans show up in the frigid cold. Much more needs to be changed.

I feel like this has been discussed a trillion times before. Unlike OU, which is in the middle of nowhere. Unlike Cincinnati, which is a larger city with it's own relatively unique culture and a larger student-base, There's another D-1 college right down the road...not to mention OSU. Yeah people show up to The Akron Rubberducks because it's over the summer. The best student Turnout we had to games was in the RooWards days and when they were doing stuff like Blackout game and tuition giveaways. Guess what? Those people behind that weren't valued, and the University refused to pay them what they were worth, so they rightfully moved on to Bigger Universities who were willing to pay them more.

Because Akron is seen as a stepping stone, a resume builder, nothing more. And Board of Trustees spots aren't awarded to people who care about the University of Akron or community, they're political appointees in a state that constantly doubles down on not caring about education. Even people in this very forum, crap on professors and people who work at the University, who are the very people that ... if you pay them well and trust them to be experts in what they do, can help build that sense of community. But instead the state and political powers at be just see Akron as a glorified community college; so the community and students are going to treat it as such.

Well, if the G5 schools pulled their heads out of their backsides, they could structure their league in a way that finances were less of a burden. I don't think a high level P4 win does much for a G5 school long term. App State was already a good program. It won national championships the two years prior to beating Michigan and were a I-AA powerhouse for years prior. Win or lose against Michigan that day, App State would be good. I think that the incoming freshman class wasn't born when they beat Michigan. It's a strange historical fact for them in the same way that Akron beating OSU in the late 1800s is a strange historical fact now. Our problem is even when something good happens, it's never enough and an excuse for why we can't be any good. Wins against Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Northwestern (I think they played in the Big 10 championship this season)?..... That's not good enough, they didn't beat Michigan that one time so nobody cares. The reason nobody cares is because even if they were good, they play their games on days of the week and at times that make it almost impossible for people to either attend and/or care. They play their arch rival on weekday night games in front of a basically empty stadium. The money problem can be mitigated, but the stupidity can't.

I don't have hard numbers, but I would guess Akron is averaging around 8k-10k currently. An extra 5k-7k fans (to get us to 15k) per game isn't going to suddenly make Akron financially competitive at the G5 level. Especially when you consider the majority of those extra ticket sales would be GA, which last I look are about $15/ticket, or students who get free admission. Edit: That's not to say it wouldn't be great to have more fans at games. What would get people's interest is winning games that matter. Joe Akron isn't going to care about Akron trying to pad its win totals against cupcakes, like New Mexico State, just so that it can backdoor its way into a 6-6 record and irrelevant bowl game that only hard-core fans or degenerate gamblers care about. What could get their attention is beating UM in the Big House, which we nearly did. You only have those opportunities if you schedule those games. App State had a lot of success at the FCS level, but their win over Michigan is what everyone remembers them for.

I think the bigger issue is how the government visa restrictions will affect international recruiting. ADs' and coaches' hands are tied; that's what "we" voted for.

Enrique finished Summer League in the top 40-50 (out of over 400 players) in PPG with 16.2, and just missed averaging a double double with 9.6 RPG (5th most in Summer League). Side note: Kent's Justyn Hamilton (1 GP, 6 PPG, 1 RPG) and Sincere Carry (2 GP, 1 PPG) also participated, and that's putting it nicely.

I'm sad to read that Josh no longer wanted to be part of our program. I've suspected since the Spring that he had made a decision to go elsewhere. I wish him the best but cannot say the same for his new collegiate team. Hopefully, our new AD finds a way to make needed improvements for our student-athletes, but as noted, the lure of bigger money elsewhere will likely continue to hamper our program. I haven't seen where Max Barboto will be this Fall. He is among the players in the voting for NPSL Golden Ball (most outstanding player in the NPSL season). He didn't play as many minutes for the Zips as I thought he would have, but is another player whom I looked forward to seeing potentially gain more minutes this year. Max has always been respectful, often initiating conversations with me. I wish Max well. Also, agreed that Simon Guardiero is talented, and I looked forward to his continued improvement and perhaps getting more minutes, maybe becoming a starter for the Zips this Fall. Talented player and gracious person. I reached out to him on IG to wish him well; he responded thanking me for my support and wishing me and the Zips the best.

Max Greenfield @GreenfieldMax18 JT Brubaker hadn't thrown in a game in 3 years and just threw 2 shutout innings to complete the win for the Yankees. No matter what happens, he can say he came back and threw on a major league mound. Really cool man. That's why baseball is the best.

Millions of people live in NE Ohio. Surely someone could figure out a way to get 15,000 of them to show up for a football game six times a year.

Its not just college sports. The MAC schools have to compete with pro and minor league sports as well. Using northeast Ohio as an example, we have the Browns, Guardians, and Cavs, multiple minor league baseball teams, the Lake Erie Monsters, and Cleveland Charge. Not to mention whatever other entertainment options. People only have so much available time and only so much disposable income. I believe Cleveland is the smallest metro to have 3 major pro sports teams. Many of the SunBelt schools are in the middle of nowhere. Those schools have less to compete with for live entertainment.

I had penciled Simon G. in as a starter for fall 2025. Beto and Jonas were a great center back combo last year. I hope that the incoming recruit announcement ...includes some center back. I wish Simon G. well at Nebraska-Omaha.

This pretty much hits the nail on the head. Akron needs to lean 100% into being a family-first and college-fun environment and atmosphere. The only way to solve Akron's problems is to plant seeds among each generation and hope they turn into a blossoming fan base. Akron is simply doing a poor job at planting those seeds. Akron, as a community, finds a way to support Cleveland's AA baseball team just fine. why? The Rubberducks find ways to connect with the community, especially the youth. It's going to be take a group of non-traditional higher education suits to get creative, swallow their pride, roll up their sleeves, and reach the next generation. Too many people who have been in charge at Akron have seemingly solely focused on donors. It has been such a shortsighted strategy to put all the eggs in the basket of people with aging money. Delaware, of all universities, is currently doing a NCAA Football 26 marketing campaign where people from around the country can submit a video or photo of them winning the National Championship with Delaware. I forget what the prize is, but they currently have applications from at least most continental US states, if not all 50 states by now. I don't even think they have any cool in-game features. Meanwhile, Akron has the turnover/touchdown tire, Zippy, and the Wagon Wheel in the game, yet nobody is using that to creatively promote the program/university. I won't stand for any G5 fan base building slander. It's a total fallacy. The Sun Belt has had football for ~25 years and they are leap frogging the MAC in attendance. Yes the MAC lives in the shadows of the Big Ten, but what would the Sun Belt excuse be? They are in the shadows of the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, AND SEC. Steinbrecher has done Akron no favors with how he has destroyed the MAC's reputation, but Akron is still capable of being creative and unique. If the conversation continues to strictly be "how can we cater to donors," Akron will continue to fall further and further behind. If the conversation shifts to, "How can we unequivocally reach the youth," we'll get somewhere.