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I have heard from a reliable source - a future Akron Zip, Jared is set to stay. There was some Louisville talks at one point, but the only coach I've ever seen coach Akron looks to be staying. Great news!

Keith Dambrot was hired as the head basketball coach at Duquesne in MARCH OF 2017. He is now well into his second season there. I assume he is enjoying the greater opportunity to participate in the NCAA tourney in the A10. He was a hometown boy who did good things for UA and made us proud of our Zips, but he left us for what he perceived to be greener pastures. He had some negatives, but overall, the goods far outweighed the bads. I guess I'll be curious as to how he does, but no more so than I am curious in what PCCC, OSU or CSU does. Quite simply, he's moved on so so have I. Groce has been places, under similar circumstances, that KD has never been. Am I convinced that he's the end all be all, no, but it's still a work in progress and the program sure as hell could have done worse that a guy with his resume. In any event, he's the captain of the Zip ship> The KD ship passed long ago so it's way overdue for us all to just move on.

That $60 must have been really breaking the bank.

"First Meeting: Nevada 88, Akron 61 Feb. 17, 2006 ESPN Bracket Busters (Reno, Nev.)" 27-point drubbing last time we were in Reno. Felt at the time like it wasn't even that close. Experienced quite a few ass-kickings and disappointments against better programs during our 20-win season streak including significant games post-MAC in March.

I hope my friend Larry Caldwell won't mind my posting this, but when Scotty graduated, Larry told me that all of his kids played collegiate soccer; nowhere did they experience the sense of family like at Akron. Zips alumni and fans care so much about this program and each other...and I can attest that comes from the founder, Stu Parry, and has continued across the years from what I gathered at an alumni event that the University hosted in Santa Barbara. Jared, his staff, and our players continue that feeling of family. I see our current players connect so well with each other and their fans. They immediately connect with their predecessors as well. Steve Zakuani visited the team in Seattle to talk with them. Jake Fenlason and Matt Dagilis were in Santa Barbara sitting with our non gameday rostered players. Michael Nanchoff was at Wake Forest and traveled to Stanford as well as Santa Barbara. And, of course alumni from across the years were in Santa Barbara as well as other matches. During both games in Santa Barbara, DeAndre Yedlin's grandmother (DeA was raised by his grandmother and grandfather who paid for his development in both dollars and time) was texting me from Newcastle wanting updates on our games. Mind you that our Semi-final and final games took place between 1 am and 3 am in the UK. She was texting me throughout.

I purchased my first-ever soccer season ticket just yesterday

Tom Petty once sang "The waiting is the hardest part." Waiting is hard for us as fans. None of us can even fathom all of the decisions and factors that can go into job related decisions for a world class soccer coach. Jared Embick is greatly respected by his players and all of the folks in the athletic department for what he has done for 12 years for Akron soccer. As an Akron soccer fan, I obviously want Coach Embick to stay. None of us would want our own job choices and decisions played out in the media or via twitter. I wish the best for Coach Embick and his family ...and I want him to make the best decision for his situation. Good wishes and much respect for Coach Embick.

Last I checked, Duquesne is still offering season tickets. They also have a message board of their own. _____________________________________________________- Every single loss we have had this year is a win next year (although losing Ivey will hurt).

Nice effort by the Zips.

I agree with TennZip. The first year I got season tickets were the first year Caleb was gone and was unsure of Jared. In fact I was unsure of him for a few years and boy has he proved me wrong. He has been a blessing to our program. Please stay with us - Jared.

On Thursday December 20th, new Zips Head Football Coach Tom Arth was kind enough to allow me a 30 minute interview. While I would have loved to garnered details such as recruit names and a detailed list of staff candidates, unfortunately neither was possible. Trust me, I tried. Until things are official, and contracts are signed, we all simply need to put the puzzle pieces together ourselves from Twitter and other similar sources. That said, I though he provided some great insight into his personal life, his football mindset and the DNA that will make up Akron Zips Football in the Arth Era. I hope you enjoy it. Note to Dr. Z: Regarding photography at scrimmages - Coach Arth was quoted as saying “Still photography is great.” Unlike the Bowden scrimmages, where only the initial 15 minutes of warm ups were open to photography, you should now be able to take plenty of action shots. Hope Santa got you a sweet new sports lens for Christmas this year! Coach Arth Q & A

Little background on these guys while I'm anxiously awaiting the Browns game to start: Matt Feeney: Dublin, OH native. Very young...earned his bachelor's in 2014. Team captain at JCU then joined Arth's staff. Led UTC to the #1 ranked defense in the Southern Conference in 2018, his first year as DC, as the prior DC left to join Kent State... Oscar Rodriguez: Kansas native. A lot of JUCO and D3 experience. ESPN article featuring him and the experience of JUCO recruiting here. Davern Williams: Popular in my eyes from Netflix's popular CFB documentary, Last Chance U. From the south. Played DT a few years in the NFL. Seems to be a real good recruiter and a coach that can connect well with his unit. Scott Aligo: Linked with Arth back to JCU. Also has 6 years of player personnel experience in the NFL. Brian Cochran: Another JCU guy. Coached with Arth his first year at UT-C. Apparently left for a promotion to Kent St in 2018. As far as I can tell, he'd rather be at Akron than KSU (who can blame him). Chris Hurd: Texas native. Played defense in college. Has prior FBS experience. His bio on UT-C site definitely leans on the special teams side. Chris Cook: UTC alum. Had a TE named to the All So-Con team in 2017. Tom Zagorski: Arth's OC at JCU in 2014. Then left for a offensive quality control position at Tennessee. Took another job to EKU the year after as assistant head coach/TE coach. Served as OC the final 4 games of 2018 where he led them to a 4-0 record. Is from Cleveland and definitely has some connections. As 94zipgrad pointed out, there are still a few open positions. Hoping Mounds can still make the cut as there is a real lack of FL connections in this staff.

The Trolling Bookmark! Watch out Illini Zip...Dre can’t STAND to have his opinions questioned despite their obvious trolling qualities being exposed. You are now on the List! I honestly cannot understand any other reason he posts. He hates the city now, referencing how “ run down” and how “racist” it “always was”, of course all since he left. And I cannot honestly think of one post that has ever had a positive spin when it comes to the teams, the coaches (other than the ones he supposedly liked and “we” let them go), the AD, the Board, the Marketing Dept., the SIDS, the fans...so why post, except to troll? Glad you called him out, but WATCH OUT Now.

Um, its called realism?! When has Akron ever played a team with that talent that close?

Sorry, I can't let this stand. This is pure ignorance. You will not find the true story of Groce's tenure at Illinois in a stat book. I have already spelled out much of it on this forum. There is not a coach in Division 1 who would have survived what happen to him in terms of injuries, having recruits bought out from underneith him, losing home court advantage much of the time due to the arena going through a 3 stage/3 year remodel, etc. Why do you think I'm here? I want to see what I was robbed of come to fruition. On a related note: 3 of Groce's last recruits before he was let go now start for our inner-state rival, Missouri. Mizzou just blew us out tonight by 14 points in our annual rivalry game. Oh, what could have been.

Can we quit comparing Dambrot to Groce? We didn't fire Dambrot to bring in Groce. Dambrot decided on his own free will to leave. We brought in Groce to rebuild our gutted program. Personally, I like the progress he's made from year 1 to year 2. Others may disagree.

Smart coaching. Was using those timeouts to break momentum and keep them in it to the end. Go take your act on the road to Pittsburgh.

I think that Riak's injury really hurt this team. He seemed lost at times on the court and missed a few shots that he had no business missing. When he gets back into the flow, I believe our offense will improve tremendously. Sadly, none of the other big options have stepped up yet this season.

Good effort tonight. We need to finish at the rim a lot better.

Had the feel of a game in March. Year 2 folks. 5 losses, 2 to ranked opponents, by a total of 18 points, shooting like crap in many of those losses. Really appreciated the defensive effort tonight. Go Zips!

#330 pounds or phone?

This may be a good omen. I think the Zips no longer have the record for worst bowl loss.

Offense has turned into everybody watching Jackson dribble around at the top of the key during the last few possessions. Need to keep moving the ball

Zips came to play early tonight. Just need to focus on boxing out and this could be a game.

"Nothing is over until we decide it is." https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjN08mZ0bTfAhVJx1kKHd-UARkQ3ywwAHoECAQQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DV8lT1o0sDwI&usg=AOvVaw1-8oHuGka3XAoCx07l9Y23 Take heart Zips Nation! The time for torches and pitchforks has not yet come.

This thread just ruined my four-day weekend...

On BigSoccer yesterday, they reported that Coach Embick had turned down the job. obviously, I hope that today's news tweeted above is not true. Coach Embick is the only Akron soccer coach ever that has led his team to the College Cup 3 times. Coach Embick is a tireless recruiter and he works hard to help players improve. We have been very fortunate to have Coach Embick as the leader of the Akron soccer program for the past 6 years. He was the great recruiter during the Caleb Porter years. All of us worried when Caleb Porter left. Coach Embick's great soccer mind and his ability to get the best out of young men...has been the key factor in Akron being a great program for the past 12 years. The financial difficulties of the University of Akron and not having a permanent university president....might finally be hurting the soccer program. if this is the end of the great Embick era, I want to say thank you very much...and wish Coach Embick the best. Honorable, hard working man. Great coach.