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I probably post too much, but you guys (and gals) are stuck with me until I ever decide to move back into the athletic realm. I’ll just touch on the football program, which like @MangoZip mentioned is the key driver. I follow turnarounds closely and the successful ones all have the same qualities - culture, coaching, and recruiting. I’m not around the program, but it’s seems the culture is headed in the right direction. Coaching was top notch last year despite not having the overall talent level of some of our peers. (Granted there were some head scratching calls every now and then, but that goes for every staff and there really weren’t that many.) Recruiting has been ramped up in a major way. Really no comparison to the previous staff. In my opinion, high school/JUCO recruiting was top 3 in the MAC for the class of 2023 and the portal was best in the MAC by a long shot. Here are a few comparable situations, but keep in mind all of these programs had more talent on the roster in Year 0. P5: South Carolina - The Gamecocks won 2 games in 2020. Projected to be one of the worst teams in the SEC in 2021 when Shane Beamer was hired, they won 6 regular season games and their bowl to make 7 wins. Last year, they were predicted to win less than 6 games and again be one of the bottom dwellers in the East. Beamer brought in a talented transfer class and won 8 regular season games, just to lose to Notre Dame in the bowl with many players sitting out. Carolina beat out Georgia, Clemson, and a number of other schools head to head for a handful of prospects in the 2023 class, including 5 star Nyckolas Harbor. The 2024 class already has a number of recruits the Gamecocks have beat the elite P5s over and may also beat Ohio State for DE Dylan Stewart. Illinois - Similar to the Gamecocks, the Illini also won 2 games in 2020. They were projected to be one of the worst teams in the Big10 when Bielema took over. They went on to win 5 games and knock off Penn State that year. Illinois landed some key players out of the portal and found some hidden gems in the 2022 class, including (likely soon to be drafted) JUCOs Isaiah Adams and Zy Crisler. Illinois went on to win 8 games last year and did not lose a regular season game by more than 8 points, including a 2 point loss to Michigan. Bielema won some head to heads in recruiting with the 2023 class and has mostly built a border around the state for the 2024 class. G5: (These next ones are probably more relatable since they are on our timeline.) New Mexico State - Jerry Kill took over a program that won 2 games in 2021. He used the the portal and JUCO ranks to fill holes and add depth. It took the team 4-5 games to really find their footing (sound familiar?) and then managed to win 6 games, including blistering Liberty and beating Bowling Green in the bowl for a 7th win. UCONN - One of the worst programs in the past decade. Jim Mora brought in what I considered one of the best portal classes in G5. The Huskies had a difficult early schedule and hit their stride about 6 games into the season. They knocked off Boston College and also beat Liberty on their way to a bowl, which they lost to Marshall. I haven’t followed either NMSU or UCONN that closely this offseason, but know enough that they should be competitive again in 2023. Honestly, we should have beat CMU and Buffalo last year to have had 3 wins. The fact that this staff had the 2022 team within striking distance of every conference game (outside of Ohio) speaks volumes to the progress that was made. Moorhead walked into one of the worst rosters in the FBS (UMASS the other one.) With returners in place and the added JUCO and portal additions, there is no reason why the 2023 team will not achieve as much or more success as NMSU and UCONN in 2023. Just one guy’s opinion, so take it what it’s worth.

Looks like you got some good info!

For what it's worth, I enjoy what you type. 😎

While I am certainly no GT, I'll do my best to pass along a few things gleaned from a Zips football event held last evening at Café Arnone in Fairlawn.😀 The event was for boosters-only, until the last minute when they opened it up to the public. So I just went on my own. I may have been the only person in attendance that wasn't a former player or administrator. The main purpose of the event was to kick off a booster group composed primarily of former Zips players. Most of the guys seemed to be from the Dennison era. A few from the Faust era. Buchtel coach and former Brookhart RB Bryan Williams was in attendance. There will be a big push to get former Zips back into the fold, supporting the program. They'll be arranging road trips, fund raising and a lot of other things. Joe probably spoke for an hour. The most important thing discussed his adamant statement that he was at Akron for the long haul, and 100% committed to turning the ship around. He mentioned the offers he's had both before and since coming to UA...paraphrasing - "I could be a Power 5 head coach right now...I could be a Power 5 coordinator right now...I could be in the NFL right now...with a lot more commas and zero's on my paycheck...but I'm at Akron because I chose to be here, and I WILL turn this thing around." It was a pretty powerful and honest statement. In no particular order, here are some tidbits (I'm going off memory here) - There are two 2023 scholarships left to give The Zips expect two more 2024 freshman commits by next week. I think one is an OL from Florida? Future recruiting classes will likely be 60-70% from the portal (it depends upon what talent is available in a given year). The rest will be freshman. The preference is the portal guys will be like Alex Adams, mature kids with 3-or-so years of eligibility remaining. From the tone of the QB discussions, DJ and Taj are the top 2. But Billy Fessler said "We've only seen Taj in shorts so far, so we'll see what happens in August." Joe mentioned it was nice to have a guy like Undercuffler in the mix, as "he won a game last year, and was a minute away from winning another." Joe addressed the two late-game fumbles from last year - "I think the guys looked up at the scoreboard and said "Holy crap...we can actually win!?" And then, we folded. He said "regardless of how much you simulate those late-game scenarios in practice, the game is just different." He doesn't feel those situations will be repeated in 2023. 😀 The kicker from Oregon State can consistently put a ball 6-7 yards deep in the endzone on kick offs. Joe thought last season may have been his best coaching job ever considering the program's talent level when it was handed to him. On 2022, he said the Zips were "1 deep" at most positions. Now they are 2-3 deep. That's going to create some great competition and raise the level of play appreciably. "We look like a Division 1 team this year...last year that wasn't the case." Coach Tibesar said he has no idea who's going to start on the defensive line, but he likes the numbers and talent they have on the roster. He said the linebackers look like D1 linebackers. Joe Dunn was at the event. He expects to return for another season of broadcasting. The boosters seem like a good group of people. Older, professional guys who seem more than capable and motivated to make the group effective and grow it. I think 16 people joined last night, at $100 each. Nice start! They're appreciative that Joe and the staff have reached out to them. If you're a former player and want to find out more, contact Reno Ferri or Tom Freeman. Joe said the difference between the Fordham team he inherited in "Year 1", and the Zips team he inherited in "Year 0" was buy-in. The Fordham team won the 1-score games the Zips lost because they universally bought in to what his staff was implementing. That universal buy-in wasn't there for the Zips last season. But it is now. He expects great things now that players know they are being held accountable, and so many returning players have a year of Joe's system under their belts. Overall, a very nice, small-venue event. Definitely worth $30 to hear Joe speak. I'll leave the rest to GT. 😀

I'll clarify a little with my interpretation of "long haul" - Joe's here to "fix" Akron football, and he won't leave until that is accomplished. He's not a 2-year mercenary looking to build a resume and immediately move on, or bide time while the smoke blows over from some scandal. He wants Zips football to be a stable, contending program well into the future. I don't know that he will be our "Solich". Maybe he will? I'd LOVE it. But when he ultimately leaves we'll be on stable ground as a program, with legitimate annual expectations of competing for championships for the first time since...maybe Dennison?

State of the athletics department from Guthrie. https://gozips.com/news/2023/7/25/general-message-and-update-from-ad-guthrie-summer-edition

Thank you, Captain! Akron football hasn't felt like Akron Football in a very long time. To me, Akron football has always been at its best and most fun to be close to when the alumni are bought in. Go back to gamedays at the later years at the Rubber Bowl. The team was just okay, but the gameday experience felt top notch because of how many people were there who cared so much. Joe is the perfect person for this job, it's still unbelievable that he's here and doing what he's doing. And to think, when the Akron job opened in November 2021, we saw dozens of reports on the Hoban head coach at first, and none on Moorhead until the season finally ended. This is gonna make a hell of a book someday!

I move to close this thread down until the season begins. Reason: Tired of getting heart attacks seeing this at the top of the page and thinking he's been injured or entered the portal.

Good call.

Thanks Captain. I am glad to hear some news from the coaching staff and their comments. This is a very good staff. I not only try my best to get to all the home games, I go on the road to at least one P5 game and sometimes one other. We hunger for a winning season and a championship. I just renewed my season tickets last week, kind of late as I can't get around like I used too and was not sure I could get someone to accompany me to each game. Still not absolute. A couple years ago, someone gave me a pass for lot 6 so i could get in and out well by myself. GO ZIPS

Thanks for all the great info! It’ll definitely be beneficial to have a kicker that can put the ball in the endzone. That’ll help tremendously with field position and I think we have a better selection of guys that can run and tackle this year. Thankful Tibesar is the DC. He’s another coach that could go elsewhere and get paid more. Bubba will be missed, but I’m excited about the athleticism and talent at LB. Glad to hear Joe Dunn will be back. He does a really nice job, especially with his weekly football segments. It’s almost not fair having the portal available to this staff. They have so many connections and do such a great job of evaluating talent, other MAC schools won’t be able to keep pace. Once this program turns the corner (which should be this year. We peeked around the corner last season) it’s going to be off to the races. A lot of exciting news. Coach Moorhead will have this program resembling a P5 in every facet soon.

Top Drawer Soccer says that the Zips have added a new recruit for 2024 https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/sima-recruiting-roundup:-july-24-30_aid52277 M Jack Roman (Cleveland Force FC) committed to Akron. On July 4, Top Drawer soccer included Jack Roman on their top 11 team from the ECNL playoffs M Jack Roman, Cleveland Force 06 – After Cleveland lost the group opener against MVLA, the team rallied with back-to-back wins to capture first place. Roman is a hard worker in the midfield, who connected play well. He added a goal-scoring punch from the midfield as well.

If Bullock pans out (3 years of eligability), we may see Wasel in the portal. I would hope that Morehead can find the oportunity to give Wasel some meaningful minutes without loosing his redshirt year. Keeping both engaged this year could lead to some great competition in '24.