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My thought going into this was that a kid should be able to sign autographs or make an appearance at a car dealership for a little pocket money but this has evolved into full scale professional sports.

I like his brevity.

@Hilltopper would be a great name for someone from West Virginia. Coach Fulford is that you? Have you been lurking the whole time? Inquiring minds want to know.

He could have just said 'Portal.' It would have been understood.

do you respect his decision?

Blake seems like a good locker room presence. I know he was put in scholarship at one point, but no idea if that was just for one season or carried over. Neither him or Wasel appear to be big losses for this season, but I’m much more comfortable with Hester transferring considering he’s 3rd or 4th on the depth chart in his 4th or 5th year of college. Whereas Wasel is just going into his redshirt freshman season. Still had a lot of time to develop.

We hope Jackson Herbert can see significant playing time with ACFC.

Out of curiosity I went ahead and looked what the Euroleague is paying. Mirotic is making $5 million. Shane Larkin is making $4 million. After that the top players are making ~$2 million. It's not inconceivable that in 5, 10 years from now that the NCAA will be the best paying basketball league outside the NBA.

Stacked?

(facebook) The University of Akron's ChemE Jeopardy team clinched the top spot once again at the AIChE North Central Regional Conference. Competing against top universities, our team showed their skills and teamwork, clinching another impressive win. Next stop: National AIChE Conference in San Diego! Learn more: https://bit.ly/4bickUa

He was very popular in the locker room. Too bad.

UA's Department of Athletics had their Zippy Awards. Looks like a great way to celebrate these athletes that represent the University of Akron, the alumni and our community. Go Zips!

Best of luck to Rob if this is true.

Happy for Fulford. Full circle for him.

https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances Is $30-40k per year for education and room & board enough for athletes that generate tens of millions if not hundreds of millions in revenue for a school? If not, then the fundamental question becomes how is a player's financial compensation married with the end goal of higher education - the degree? The difference in schools - degree-wise - are largely indistinguishable for the majority of athletes as the different types of majors realistically available for student athletes is limited. That's why the NCAA is in this mess today. "Suits" in both Indianapolis and at the individual schools have reaped the financial benefits of the athletes without either 1) allowing the athletes to also reap the benefits via NIL or 2) being directly compensated fairly by the schools. Based on the revenue generation for football and basketball, the NCAA should be the 2nd highest paying basketball league in the world.

I do have some WVA roots, but my moniker harkens back to the days when Akronites reffered to UA as Hilltop High. After you graduated from highschool you went to 13th grade at Buchtel College on the hill.

He’s leaving a very stable, secure position. I hope the pay bump he’s sure to get is enough to make it worth it

After seeing Roggow outperform Wassel in the Spring game, I'm not that surprised. I had high hopes for him, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I would guess that Blake Hester was skipped over again and was not put on scholarship. Hate to see good people leave the program. Loved how he played so hard and with everything he had.

A little surprised as wassel was a JM recruit.

I don't have a problem with Wassel moving on. He gave us everything he had. I wish him well. He seemed to be a good team guy, but it wasn't going to work here. Hate to see Hester go as I loved his energy. Like Wassel he got stuck behind others who he would have a tough time beating out. Hope he does well wherever he goes if they are not playing UA.

Not shocked by Wasel given the reports at the Spring Game. Hester is a surprise. I'm ok with 3rd & 4th string guys hitting the portal. We need the scholarships to find win-now talent and depth.

Was really impressed by the whole scene today. Great weather, good crowd and some good football. Loved having the band there too, great atmosphere. Glad they had the pro shop and concessions open also. Football wasn’t perfect but really hard to tell where they are at this point.

I thought this was interesting

https://youtu.be/IUmnTfsY3hI?si=TLb7_uVVwUkJNpw-