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Not sure if this has been posted anywhere, but Jeff Goodman just tweeted Akron is scheduled to be in the Gulf Coast Showcase next season.

Football attendance article. I'd think Ohio State could still find a way to pay the Zips $1.3 million despite selling 101k tickets instead of 102k.

I believe Akron has Groce under contract for $650k for each of the next 4 seasons. His contract is I believe fully guaranteed so they can't cut him to bring in someone cheaper. The only threat is if he does well enough to attract bigger offers. His salary makes him I believe the highest paid coach in the MAC. I'd think it would be tough for many A10 programs to come in and offer him a $900k+ salary given the current climate, especially if it meant paying their current coach a buyout. If Groce does well enough that a B1G or SEC comes along then there really isn't anything we can do. On the plus side that also probably likes means somewhere along the way Akron picked up their first tournament win.

People are acting as though this pandemic is going to last indefinitely. We already have 2 buy games scheduled between the years 2021-2023 and 1 scheduled in 2024 and 2025. Our 2024 and 2025 schedules still has room for more games. 4-5 years from now this coronavirus thing is going to be a distant memory. Schools like OSU will be having 100k people packing their stadiums and the SEC & B1G will be looking for filler content for their networks. The reason programs like Clemson, OSU, Alabama, etc. pay $1.3 million is because between ticket sales, concessions, parking, tv rights, etc. they're making several times that amount for each home game. They could instead agree to a home and home with another P5 school, but then they'd have to split the revenue ~50/50 instead of keeping the vast majority of it for themselves. The general admission price for an OSU - Akron game is the same as an OSU - Missouri game. It's the scalpers who profit on the secondary market for those higher profile games, not the schools. 2021 at Auburn at Ohio State 2022 at Michigan State at Liberty 2023 at Temple at Indiana 2024 at South Carolina 2025 at Nebraska

Thanks for sharing. If that gets played, it should be a pretty good tournament. Akron, Vermont, Indiana State, and Middle Tenn are all pretty solid mid-majors. Although Mid Tenn has struggled the last year or 2. Omaha and Fordham are the cupcakes, but they're still good enough to beat any of the other teams on a good night. I wouldn't be surprised to see 2-3 of these 8 teams win either their regular season or conference tournament.

That's not how the math works. Men's T&F is allowed 12.6 scholarships. Women's T&F is allowed 18. Everyone else is paying their way. That means nearly 200 of them are paying their way and the vast majority of them probably wouldn't have picked Akron if we didn't have the program. I really don't know the numbers, but giving away 30.6 scholarships to boost enrollment 226 may make keeping T&F worth it. Then again that may run up quite the bill busing them around the country. Someone who is better in the know can run the numbers. I just didn't want bad information spreading.

I've seen nearly every assistant coach post a recruiting graphic on twitter today. The optimist in me makes me think we might be 'okay' on the football side. The timing of these posts seems too coincidental.

Who would want a decaying, depreciating, unmarketable white elephant? If I live in Akron there's no way in hell I'd ever support the city or school district taking that on.

Some thoughts from above.... The goal every year should be to win the MAC... Ya think? Do you feel this is not the goal now. Gimme a break. Just playing a few buy games every year is not going to solve this riddle sportsfans. Akron is cutting 20% of the athletics budget on top of an earlier announced cut, which may or may not be, wholly or in part of this 20%. Even then, Akron is in for change. This is not solely based on COVID 19... It's the fact that Akron Athletics is irrelevant to the current students, and the alumni do not support the athletics program through attendance or donations at a level commensurate with the current spending. Akron wants to be D1, and if you think that being able to play a buy game and get destroyed by Clemson this fall is going to help increase the value of our Akron diploma, you are high. Getting beat by 50+ points makes you a joke. Clemson is paying you to come get beat. It's called a GUARANTEE GAME because 99% of the time these are WINS. Smart people do not base their business plans on the hope of the 1% occurrence. Ohio has too many schools in the higher ed system and would be best served by unloading 1/2 of the schools into the private sector. Akron, Kent, Cleveland State and Youngstown State, all in one geographical quadrant of NE OHIO is overkill. Fewer people are going to 4-year colleges and Cuyahoga Community College is $70 per credit hour and has as good, if not better job placement than Akron. That's a fact. Akron's campus has exploded with a lot of unneeded stuff that jacks costs up and thus the enrollment is down. Non athletes are not coming to Akron because of some pole vaulter on the track team was in the olympics or because a decade ago we won a NCAA title in men's soccer. The only people that care about Zips athletics are those of us who played, and even then, along with the die hard fans, there are not 2,000 season ticket holders for football and we do not average more than 3,000 fans per game for men's basketball. (2703 announced). Akron would be best served by selling/trading off Infocision Stadium to the City of Akron, allowing that venue to be operated by the City, and getting the debt off the books. Pay rent to play football games in the stadium and be done with the overhead. Move to D2 and call it a day. No way that this program is worth what is put into it and taking away from the educational mission of the institution.

Akron has not had a football season for two years regardless. The losing streak lives on... #Arthed

My pillow guy - knowingly did not remit sales tax collected from customers and setttled out of court for knowingly making false claims on late night TV about the benefits of the My Pillow products (cures multiple sclerocis, sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, and insomnia - source 'Consumer Reports'). Not the kind of person we need leading anything.

Serious but not serious. Break off from the NCAA with them and call ourselves the D2 of the new league below the P5 and have promotion/relegation. Not that they'd go for it. But hey

If the P5 schools dump the NCAA, which they should and the idea is being openly discussed in the mainstream sports media, it won't matter if there are 600 divisions. There will no longer be an NCAA. The NCAA is almost entirely funded by March Madness and when that dries up, so will the NCAA. What if the P5 conferences start their own league/conference/division, whatever you want to call it? I think it would be nice to have a separate league with the other G5 conferences that could enter into various contractual agreement with these schools to compete against one another on terms that are best for G5 schools. I know this is hard for people to believe, but years ago colleges played each other in sports and there was no NCAA. Additionally, it wasn't until 1973 that the NCAA started divisions. That's in my lifetime. The NCAA was founded in 1906. There were more years of no divisions than with divisions. The point is, without the NCAA and their divisions, schools will find a way to contract games against one another and college football can thrive in that environment. That is just a fact. College football was waaaay more popular than the NFL until the mid 50s before divisions. Wouldn't it be nice if we could find a smart way to align ourselves with a group of like in kind schools and maximize our potential in this environment?

...and going 0-12 and seeing cold rainy games in front of a couple dozen fans is sooooo much better. NOT

Really looking forward to seeing Brian Trimble after hearing Groce's comments. Sounds like he's a next level shooter and should help replace some of the shooting they lose to graduation. Sounds like he can handle the ball too which brings some real value, like Tyler Cheese, when LCJ is off of the floor. He and Daily are going to give the Zips some dangerous wing players. I understood KD's approach in focusing on freshmen, but the infusion of transfers (e.g. X, Riak. LCJ) and JUCOs (Cheese, Banks, Reece) has added a lot of excitement to the program. Dailey, Trimble and Currie will be a huge infusion of talent.