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I honestly don't know. Maybe someone else can answer.

i did indeed, thanks. I will look forward to watching some of that if I can. I guess a little creativity was needed to get them in so quickly. So are they fully eligible starting this year?

I know Butler has had some success but are they truly a high major?

IMO making rivalry weekend the first Saturday in October is something the MAC should fight for with the next TV deal. If they make it a point of emphasis I can see it being something ESPN or whoever agrees to.

If it keeps Groce in Akron I won't fight the narrative.

Money does wonders!!!

Aug 29 @ Eastern Michigan Sep 26 vs UMass Oct 10 @ BGSU Oct 17 vs Ohio Oct 24 BALL-SAC GAME (if using European soccer scoreboard display methods) in Muncie Oct 30 vs Kent State Nov 4 vs Toledo Nov 11 @ Central Michigan

I agree, but I do think it is the perception in other fan bases outside of the MAC.

That last bit doesn't seem to do Groce justice IMO. Akron finished #54 in NET and currently sits at #69 in Kenpom. There are 85 schools in the P4 + Big East. I imagine it's fair to say all of them had more NIL than Akron. Probably 3x-10x as much. Add in many teams from the A10, MWC, MVC, AAC, WCC, and some one offs like High Point/Liberty that outspent Akron and Akron might have had ~130-150 highest payroll in college basketball. Fielding a top 75 team while spending around the median amount in college hoops is still excellent. Very few programs likely got a better bang for their buck.

Leiendecker was determined to hire someone he knew, someone from Butler. And he hired his former teammate. Look at the search. The other finalist was one of Matta's Butler assistants in 2001, John Groce, a mid-major coach with solid results and a large NIL fund, which means he’s competing with more resources than most of the MAC.

I wonder how Bud Wentz factors into all of this. From afar, it seems he and Groce have become very close over the years.

Depends on how much he wants to be a head coach. If Groce got a job with the right P4 program, Dustin would like make more there as head assistant.

I live in those areas and I travel to any zips game I can

I think you may have missed that they play EMU week 0.

Maybe he will find more consistent playing time and better production at a low major, like NIU.

Sac gets 7 MAC games instead of 8 and plays Hawaii for their last game.

Kent is taking a big hit to their team GPA.

Cat you think that is good, bad, or indifferent? I don't know what to make of the stats. I couldn't really find much on him. I saw that he was at three different schools each for a year school for a year year before that. Texas-Permian Basin: Played in six games in 2024, recording 11 tackles, a sack, and four tackles for loss. Dodge City (Kan.) CC: In 2023, earned All-KJCCC Second Team honors as a defensive lineman…Recorded 23 tackles with one sack and four tackles for loss. Independence (Kan.) CC: Spent one year with the Pirates. Size wise he is a large man.

https://x.com/i/status/2036797960311193772 Maybe backtracking...

It kind of shows how college athletics is shifting. NC State by a small margin has probably been the better program historically and plays what had been known as the basketball conference. 10 years ago you probably wouldn't expect an SEC school not named Kentucky to be able to poach NC State coach. The landscape has shifted.

I'd happily take him back. He's turned into a really good player IMO.

NC State is about to open up. Will Wade to LSU. Not an opening I expect to be a threat, but it does muddy the waters a bit.

It's pretty obvious that Zips basketball has a decent fanbase and they show up when it really counts. Which speaks more to the MAC and how spoiled we have been, than anything else really. We all know that the MAC Tournament and Kent games mean something. So people show up. Everything else? Not really. The Zips could have a cupcake OOC schedule like Miami, finish below .500 and still end up making the NCAA tournament if they win in Cleveland. I try to attend games when I'm in town, but I live 2 hours away and it's not feasible. Even tuning in to ESPN+ to watch is very sporadic because most of the time I'm not invested in the outcome. Fun to watch? Sure. But in the end beating a MAC school by 20+ doesn't do much in the grand scheme of things.

I agree, I'm not sure what more they could have realistically done. What's disappointing is we see terrific turnouts in Cleveland every year which makes me wonder where these fans have been all season. I get if they live in Westlake, Bay Village, or Parma it might be a bit of a drive for them to regularly attend games, but even if we could get them to go to 3-4 games a year it would help attendance numbers a lot.