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I hope they have the guts to give it one year, give the team the chance to get out of OOC with 2 or even 3 wins and get a bowl game. Then see how that chargers the program. Here's hoping.

Emil is one of the 11 semi finalists for Hermann Trophy. Vote at the link below. https://machermanntrophy.com/2024-mens-fan-voting/?gf_protect_submission=1

I'm so glad that our elected legislators are focusing on the most important issues of the day.

Emil is extremely deserving of the Hermann trophy. Vote please.

I heard free tuition for his 24 year old girlfriend was part of the compensation package.

You can't cut Rifle team. Those people have guns.

They're under 500 in football since 2014, their glory days are over imo. It's an outlier geography wise for travel, and they suck at basketball. See ya

Offer to Amaury Wiggins of Arkansas. Played in 3 games at LG, C, and RG. He was a coveted JUCO before Arkansas.

Offer to JaQuan Adams of East Tennessee State. Started every game at LT this season and was an all-conference JUCO in 2023.

In regard to a NIL collective - yes! However, I'm sorry to flog a dead horse, but in the end what did the donation of the upgraded scoreboard do to improve or stabilize football in particular and UA athletics in general? Whoever donated it, thanks....but did it really do any good? Imagine what just that million+ dollars could have done in Zippy's NIL fund. If it meant 6+ wins I'd gladly sit on splintered wood seats with no scoreboard at all. I'd take randon beatings about the head between warm beers to see a winning team. If we are in this NIL era, which indeed is crap, then UA has to play it to survive.

We need a football Bud Wentz.

Recruiter to 17 year old prospect: "Young man, you're going to have a chance to play for Bill Belichick." Recruit: "Who?"

Offered DE Jacob Psyk of Harvard. 1st team all-conference.

Everything said about that Kent offense is accurate and on the money. Actually puzzling considering what some of those transfers averaged last season vs. now. But that defense is very, very good. Yes, Kent only scored 39 points vs. Cal-Irvine (Kenpom 56), but that was without their no. 2 scorer. Meanwhile, Irvine only scored 51 points against Kent. Auburn (Kenpom No. 1) averages 89 ppg, but only scored 79 against Kent. Kent is probably not a MAC championship team, or even MAC contender, with the offense they currently have. But, using last years MAC Tournament as an example, holding teams to 59, 60, 62 points, if that defense (no team shot better than 39% FG) can turn it up for three games in March, they will be a hand full.

Now if we could just start signing some players!

It’s time to cut some more sports then.

We've already seen it. Bowden had an 8-5 season and it didn't change anything. It would take prolonged success before Joe Akron's opinion of the program would ever change.

Yes, my comments just wasn't about the money. He jokingly said his full-time job is being the GM for the basketball program. He's very involved in the recruiting process and takes time to meet with the kids when they come to campus. I'm saying it's not feasible for 1 guy to be as involved in every facet when you're actively trying to bring in 5x the number of players compared to basketball in a given year. It would need to be a more divide and conquer approach.

I would be embarrassed if an Akron student wrote an article with so many statistical/factual errors.

Agreed, but Bud's NIL influence is far beyond throwing in money. He also has fashioned the formulas for determining the NIL values of potential recruits.

No offense taken. My point is that when you start offering solutions to a problem more solutions surface. No problem is ever solved by incessantly complaining about it. Let me give you an example. Dan Rice, the CEO of the Ohio and Erie Canalway Project, years ago wanted to improve the canal's towpath for greater public use. He had little money. He started selling a vision to many local groups showing how they could make a difference. He has raised over $31M to date in a city hit hard economically, searching for an identity and suffering from poor PR. Lock 3 park has been built downtown. Summit Lake Park is being built with shelter house, connecting towpath to downtown, boat livery, new bike paths, parking, landscaping and amenities. All because one man started selling an idea. Akron football doesn't have to be a dumpster fire. There are people who want it to be a success. Give them something to do about it.

In other news, the softest football program in the country resides 1.5 hours southwest of Akron.

hot take NIU leaving is a net plus for the conference

It's easier to grab a Big 10 or SEC welfare check to stay afloat than it is to put thought and work into new ideas and grow them. MUCH easier. It's also great to blame your facilities, which are too nice and shouldn't have been built if <insert UA official's name here> were in charge.

I think that's easier said than done. Basketball has 13 scholarship players per roster. In a year where you turn over half your roster you're recruiting 6-7 new guys. In football, where all schools are spending more money and resources to recruit, you have 85 scholarships. Between transfers and incoming freshman, you're recruiting ~30 players a year. Not to mention spending time to re-recruit the remaining ~55 guys to avoid them from entering the portal. You would probably need ~5 Bud Wentz for football to have a similar impact. Pretty much one required per position group.

Think I'm done caring about Zips football. I don't see the Zips crawling out of the hole they are currently in. I think at the time they beat Toledo they were about halfway out, but now they have slide back to the very bottom.

Joe is not responsible for putting together a collective for football. But why not former players? Can't they get in touch with Bud Wentz to understand the mechanics of putting it together? Once they set it up they could find events to fund it like: Toledo had pilates on the 50 lead by Candle's wife. It sold out. Repeat what basketball did with a night with the coaches. Bring back former coaches and players. Have an open Q & A with Joe on what he expects in the season, or maybe at mid-season. Sign gear and memorabilia by the players for a small fee, If legal. Basketball sold out at $100 per ticket. Host a golf tournament in the stadium like OSU does. All 9 iron shots from fun locations. afterwards is a buffet and cash bar. Offer guided tours of the facilities such as the Info, the field house and the JAR. Do a night with a coach once a month. Charge $50 to attend. Have Joe or the DC or STC take questions at a pub with a separate room. Seek donations from those who support NIL. Members of the collective could organize all these and the U would have little if no cost. If football needs a collective the alumni should be first to make it happen. Personally I don't believe in the NIL concept, but there are many who would support it. If they want to be part of a collective, like basketball has shown, give them a chance to help.

It is a money making scheme for OHSAA. Started with COVID and OHSAA is making so much money from it they won't go back to 8 teams per region. Some schools make the playoffs because there are 16 spots and only 17 teams in the region.

I've been away from Ohio for almost 20 years now. I didn't realize they moved to a "Participation Trophy" playoff system. Seven divisions? How many teams per region make it? I saw that some teams who make the playoffs only have a couple of wins? This is complete nonsense. If your team sucks to the point you can only get two wins, at the end of the year you should get a pat on the head and told to try harder the next season. These kids aren't going to be damaged for life because they didn't make the playoffs.

My fear is that our OOC schedule is going to get reworked over the summer for budgetary reasons.

448 teams make the playoffs across 7 divisions.