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Young is a much better player than Hardman. But in the past few seasons Coach has always started someone that made me scratch my head. Hunter and S. Wilson.

Some other data points on 2025 UA enrollment.

I don't remember UA enrollment ever being near 30k. Maybe it's my senior memory failure. This article says it was that high. Enrollment climbs for University of Akron, drops for Cleveland State this fall | Ideastream Public Media https://share.google/a1bYSHSAfoTCvNtUr

The lady zips draw on the road in Athens, Ohio.....is very impressive as the Bobcats were forecast to finish 3rd in the league.. 2025 MAC Women’s Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll First Place votes in ( ) | *Coaches could not vote for themselves 1. Western Michigan (8) – 135 points 2. Buffalo (4) – 128 points 3. Ohio – 123 points 4. UMass (1) – 114 points 5. Bowling Green – 93 points 6. Kent State – 89 points 7. Miami – 73 points 8. Northern Illinois – 60 points 9. Eastern Michigan – 55 points 10. Toledo – 54 points 11. Ball State – 50 points 12. Central Michigan – 28 points 13. Akron – 12 points

I would have to imagine that problem is only going to get worse with the declining enrollment. The vast majority of the houses north of Thornton slumlords were renting to college students since they could fetch higher rents. With fewer and fewer students living around campus more and more of those houses are going to get rented out to low income.

The difference between Akron and Toledo is the area around the respective universities. Toledo is in a pretty nice corner of the city. It isn't as easily accessible by car as Akron. It doesn't feel like an urban campus. Akron is surrounded by the slums. The off campus area is probably one of the few places low income people in/around Akron can afford to buy or rent a home. Low income neighborhoods have more crime. Not sure how to solve this problem. More police would be helpful. Ohio State is an urban campus. It is surrounded by some dangerous areas that are dressed up nicely. Short North is one of them. It's the biggest school in the country. The campus went from COVID-19 to the construction project on Exchange Street. I have to believe that two year eyesore didn't help with enrollment. It looked awful the couple of times I drove through.

This doesn't need to be made into a political conversation. I don't disagree that things get overaggerated. That said, as someone who personally got jumped my freshman year on campus and who had a group of friends get robbed at gunpoint in their south campus house, I can very much say the problems exist. Student enrollment at Ohio colleges/universities peaked in 2010 with a total enrollment of 772,393. This past year total enrollment was 618,225. That's a 154,168 or 20% student decline across the state. A lower percentage of people are attending colleges compared to 10 years. Add in the fact that we have an aging population and the problems will only compound due to having a decreasing college aged population. It's true schools like Toledo and Akron were hit disproportionately harder, but as total enrollment for the state continues to shrink this is going to be a much larger problem for all schools. The only ones safe are probably OSU and Cincy. This is a much larger problem than pretending that Akron's enrollment is declining solely because it's perceived as unsafe. Fewer people are attending college compared to before.

Thank you for making my case. BTW, my daughter is a UT grad and my son is a UA grad. Both experienced violent crime right next to their apartments while attending.

And that is terrible to hear about! I am very sorry for that family's loss. Crime is everywhere. Is it worse in urban areas? Sure, and that doesn't mean lawlessness and violence is accepted. However, I live in Baltimore City, which has far worse crime than Akron. If you were to believe what is on conservative media (Sinclair is HQ'd here, so it is even more exaggerated), you'd think tourists are being murdered daily in the safest area of cities. It's overblown. I've ridden my bike throughout various major cities for decades, affluent and socioeconomically depressed areas alike, and I haven't had a single aggressive encounter where I felt threatened. In fact, just the opposite. I've been around some outwardly sketchy individuals or small groups, and they were either indifferent to my presence or acknowledged it and were polite. The outsiders gripe about crime incessantly and use it as an excuse to either not visit or to trash the city on social media. Meanwhile, the people who actually live here (like me) know otherwise. Perceptions matter though, and I have no doubt that this is a major factor in limiting the enrollments of both UA and UT relative to their suburban and rural peers.

I just don't think there is a ton to take away from an FCS opponent. Just like there wouldn't be if we played a top 10 P4. We took care of business and did what we needed to do. Not sure there is much to discuss that hasn't already been stated.

The father of a former player was murdered in cold blood just blocks from the campus. Some segments of society seem to be willing to accept this violence as just a part of city living. It's more than just perception, it's a fact that the violence in urban areas is there.

Don't throw your shoulder out patting yourself on the back there GP1. LOL.

I was making them years ago on this board. The person who posted it was making the opposite arguments years ago and has blood on his hands for the destruction of the league.

With both of our wins coming in 1929 and 1937. Of our 10 wins, we won the first 6 meetings starting in 1923. We have only won 4 to their 11 since 1987.

I've said it before, and I will say it again, I think Toledo and Akron suffer because they are urban universities and conservative media outlets are relentless in bashing urban areas, particularly on crime, and that perception influences the decision-making of many people trying to figure out the best options for their children's next career and life step. If I were to guess, most college applicants in Ohio are from rural or suburban areas, rather than urban, so the propaganda cannot be overcome through real-world experience. If UA and UT were smart, they'd be pitching the advantages of being in an urban environment such as the proximity to the hospitals, government agencies, major businesses, and arts and culture. How has Cleveland State been doing on enrollment? Similar to UA and UT?...it is a serious question. I do not know the answer but hope someone else does.

We go as Finley goes. His 9th year…or whatever it is…has been disappointing thus far. If the OL is passable, and he trusts them, I think we have a shot at the upset this week. Is he’s seeing ghosts and scrambling to his left for no apparent reason, we will likely lose by 32.

Yes good win last week, I guess... Now let's see what happens when we take on someone our own size.

Translation - b!+ch!ng is easier than analyzing.

Stankovic makes playing 5 out possible without losing too much size. I am hoping an even more improved Amani can also rotate out to the perimeter.

Everyone knows who wrote it. I wish he would have put it citations for all of my ideas I have been posting for years. I've been saying most of this for years.

I would probably imagine Cody would only play 5-10 minutes a night. Like Arkansas State last year this Akron team has a lot of guard depth. Akron on paper looks like an even deeper team than last year. I expect an even more uptempo offense to cater to our athleticism and to gas our opponents. For that reason I can't imagine Amani averaging much more than 25 minutes a night. We will probably need to get a combined 15 minutes a night out of Chabi and Brisco. I also wouldn't be surprised if in limited situations we even see someone like Evan play the 5 if Groce sees the ability to exploit an opposing flat footed, offensively challenged big many MAC teams often have.

I was a little surprised that NIL in the MAC averaged around $500K. I would have guessed programs like Toledo or OU would be spending in the neighborhood of $1 million for their rosters. Below is an article on how MTSU slashed $650K+ in expenses by eliminating alternate jerseys and helmets. They have instead directed that money to NIL. Identifying the waste and redirecting that money to NIL will be what we would need to do in order to be competitive. Like I said before, we need to find ways of making our dollars stretch further. https://frontofficesports.com/middle-tennessee-state-uniform-cuts-nil/

Nor has or does the NFL need the broadcasts. Their system finds the top players whether they are in Tuscaloosa or Hiram. There are many good points in that post.

Someone asked about Rotation here is my take. Obviously it will change throughout the season but with huge games early here is my 1st couple game predictions. we will Play a 3 guard line up with Tavari Johnson, Shammah Scott, and Bowen Hardman starting. Sharron Young and Cody Head will come off the bench at the guard. the 2 freshman guards might redshirt. At the 4 I think we will start the year with Evan Mahaffey with his brother backing him up but Ogen Stankovic will play more and more as the season goes on and might shift the Mahaffey brothers to the 3 (it is probably a given that we will play a 4 out offense so all these dudes will play on the perimeter) At the 5 Amani will start and play big minutes. with Chabi Barre and Rich Brisco coming in with foul trouble or to give Amani a break. Marvin will struggle to see the court unless injury. That gives us 11 total players playing regular minutes. I think we have the pieces to 3peat and my biggest mystery player is Cody Head, as I don't know how good he is, he could start over Bowen.

Last night I went to the VB match against Miami with a friend. We had a good time. The ladies have a team we can be proud of. Despite Miami being 10-1 we took it to them. Our only weakness was serving. We gave up too many points when hitting it into the net or hitting it too long. That was the difference in the game. Our ladies play with power and are athletic. They blocked or return some spikes by Miami that were incredible. The vibe on this team is contagious. It appears they love playing the game and each other. One thing that impressed me was that there were big team contingents from swimming & diving, baseball, track & field and lacrosse. Nice to see our programs supporting each other. If you are thinking of attending a VB match, do it. You won't be disappointed.