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I realize Bentley wasn't a huge contributor, but the reverse more often seems to occur, with a kid leaving his original school of choice to "go home" to a school near his place of origin. At the end of the day, I don't think it's a great talent loss but it's not a good look. As the preseason progresses I am becoming less and less enthusiastic about this squad. I need to figure out whether it it's my PTSD from the last two seasons or just the lack of anything positive news wise from the program. As I have said on here before, it is tough to get excited about the team when there's no indication of excitement from the team itself.

I don't think it's Embick's mess. It's the university's and the AD's. Embick is getting poor support for a program that considers itself in the top 5 in the country. He has had a volunteer coach taken away, a director of administration taken away. The university refused to honor scholarships this past season for seniors who were granted an extra year to play this spring. The soccer alumni funded those scholarships. Recruiting and travel budgets have been cut 20%. Jared is a better coach than this situation deserves. Yet he has hung in there. He is human and has made mistakes, but he is a fantastic asset for us and he will win if supported. Make no mistake, he wants to be at Akron. Just support him. That $100,000 spent by Miller to find the AD who reported to him at UWGB could have done wonders for our premier sport.

Our All-State QB PG is now stroking bombs 😂😂

Apparently the folks in the athletic department listened to my mom who frequently told me "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Marshall was clearly the better team and deserved to win. Kudos to them, and yay to another non-P5 winning a team National Championship. In the last five minutes of the second half last night, the commentator referenced Indiana, Akron, and Maryland as the "hallowed grounds" of college soccer. It's awesome to be recognized in this way, and it's certainly been true in the past 15 years; however, I think UNC, UVA, and Stanford could make as much or more of a claim to such a distinction than us. College soccer is arguably the 4th most recognized sport for winning a National Championship behind football, men's basketball, and women's basketball, so one has to wonder if other mid-major AD's are taking a look at Akron and Marshall and thinking it wise to compete in men's soccer. It only takes a top notch coaching hire to compete with the P5's and win a National Championship. For all Cincinnati's success in football and men's basketball, they've only ever won two team National Championships, and those were in the early 60's in back-to-back years, so essentially the same team won two titles before the modern era.

Bentley did next to nothing here. I don't read into it too much.

Not good when you lose hometown kids.

Maybe a 1, maybe not, but no real jeopardy. Embick has earned a whole lot of time to course correct. But the road ahead will not be an easy one, not in the slightest. More likely Embick looks for greener pastures before he ever is shown the door. Jared turning down Louisville to stay in Akron in early 2019 pretty much granted him lifetime immunity among Zips faithful. And who are we going to get that is better? I say it’s Embick’s mess; let him be the one to clean it up. Realistically, Akron is in no position to dismiss any HC of any sport - barring a Grand Jury Indictment!

We took 3-of-4 from the Kittens this weekend.