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I just fired the coaching staff that won the MAC East in 2017. How are you going to make me look like I made the right decision?

When you win the pre-game coin toss, which of the following is an unacceptable answer? A) Receive B)Defer C) Kick

It's been a busy few days wrapping up the year in the office, and I haven't had a chance to share my thoughts until now. Several people from my office here in Maryland watched the game and gave us a lot of respect. That always feels good. As others have said, the game being on ESPNU was disgraceful, especially considering the programming alternatives on ESPN and ESPN2 at the time. What a disservice to the sport, the schools, and the NCAA. I have a fairly complete sports cable package and still had to go out to watch. As for the game, we started playing our style in the first ten minutes or so. However, I suspect Maryland then made a few changes and a commitment to not let us be comfortable on the ball. From there, we were under pressure, being fouled, or played physically all over the field. There were a small handful of very minor injuries by our players after contact was apparent, and I think it strongly influenced their confidence. Maryland's size, particularly across the back line, was problematic for us too. Egbo and Kahsay never got going. There weren't many chances for either team. Our best was in the first half coming in from the corner of the box on the left side. The shot was low and off the goalies' foot and then out of bounds just outside of the post. Had that been put high, it would have been in, and the rest of the game would have been different. It's amazing how soccer is so strongly determined by singular events. Against MSU, every one of those seemed to go our way. Not so against Maryland. Oh well. Both teams were fairly evenly matched, but Maryland likely deserved to win. However, they won for the wrong reason. As a former state licensed referee, I am qualified to say that the first PK was terrible, especially considering the context of a championship game. There appeared to be very little contact, and the Maryland player was clearly embellishing. An indirect free kick from the spot of the foul as a result of dangerous play for the high kick would have been appropriate. Unfortunately, this call determined the game and the strategy of both teams from there on. The second PK was also questionable...very little contact, if any, with the Maryland player going down easily. Lundt should have done better to lead with his hands for the ball rather than his legs; great save for him on the PK though. The red card was also garbage. The foul was not malicious and our player had not even been verbally warned for misconduct and the offensive player was headed more towards the corner than the goal. A yellow would have been fair. The timing of these events really prevented us from getting organized and making a strong push to attack. In spite of the perfect storm of poor officiating and Maryland's physicality disrupting our game, I was happy that we still played hard through it all. Going forward, Embick needs to figure out how to adjust when the other team decides to chop the game up by being excessively physical. Porter never quite figured this out either as evidence by the 0-0 loss against UVA in 2009. We may have won 3+ National Championships by now if it weren't for teams nearly or every bit as skilled as us playing defensive, physical, and direct soccer. It worked multiple times for Stanford and now for Maryland. While this strategy for other teams won't generally be effective in the MAC because the talent disparity is too great, it is becoming a consistent recipe for beating the Zips in the NCAAT. The future is bright, but figure this bugaboo out, and 2+ National Championships in the next five years is a real possibility. Kudos to the seniors for leading the turnaround. Surprising run to end a now great season. At the beginning of November, I was already looking towards next season. What a pleasant surprise! Embick has my full confidence. Go Zips!

Interesting what Paul Krebs discussed when he interviewed Urban Meyer for BGSU

I would like to fix that article headline to read "Akron basketball looking up for the immediate future long term."

I am NOT one of those people that gets offended.... but that's a terrible comment! No place for that.

@UAZipster0305 Very good recap. At first blush, I thought Biros kicked the Maryland player in the face. I agreed with the PK decision. Upon watching it a few times now, I am not so certain. That PK definitely altered the match. Yes. Zips must learn to deal with physical and/or direct styles. And they did that for most of the post season. Maryland was very well coached on beating the Zips. Yes. The future is bright as long as Embick is at the helm. He has proven himself. If the Zips keep all their underclassman, we are poised to win the championship in 2019.

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2018/12/akron-basketball-looking-up-for-the-immediate-future.html

I think accepting the CBI or CIT invitation depends on your team. I would loved to have seen the Dru/Rome 25-win team get any sort of post season chance to strut their stuff. I'm sure they would have too. But for other, disinterested Dambrot teams it was a complete waste of money.

I believe that we pay around $20-25k for the Coppin States of the world to come to the JAR.

I am down for them playing as many games as possible. I'm just not big on the finances of those types of tournaments where teams essentially buy home games, etc.

Give me your elevator speech for choosing Akron over Ohio State.

They should honestly just expand the NIT to 64 teams then get rid of both the CBI and CIT.

Ugh. Why did you have to go and ruin this rebuild for me? I was all excited and pumped, then you go and bring up the reality that we're at the CBI/CIT level again.

I see a (good) pattern emerging...

Really good article from SI.com on the challenges faced by head coaches moving up to the FBS from FCS, D2 and D3 schools- https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/12/12/chris-klieman-mike-houston-fcs-fbs-head-coaches

How are you in small group situations, like games at Infocision?

My hope and expectations are to be in the top third of the MAC this year and competing at the top next year.

Akron is still a young team who is still learning to develop team chemistry. Pretty much any combination of 5 players we put on the court never played together in an actual game before this season. I expect for us to continue improving as the season goes on. I'm excited for March basketball, which I can't say I was last year. Another thing is pretty much all the MAC teams have senior laden rosters. Akron may actually be the favorite to win the MAC next year while also be in contention for it this year.

Excellent words from Coach Embick