Leaderboard

Involvement with Athletics: Initially supported football by sponsoring coaches' shows and gradually became involved with basketball and other sports. Built strong relationships with coaches and administrators to enhance facilities and support athletes. Basketball Player Development Center: Opened after years of planning, with construction delayed by COVID-19. Features state-of-the-art facilities such as a full court, shot tracking systems, film review rooms, and advanced coaching tools. Designed to help attract and develop elite athletes while freeing up space for other sports. Philanthropic Efforts: Wentz's family foundation supports various causes, including children's hospitals and local schools. Partnered with the NFL to build sports facilities in local schools. Perspectives on NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness): Advocates NIL as a tool for retaining and recruiting top talent, helping Akron Athletics compete on a national level. Believes NIL offers significant potential for community involvement in college sports but acknowledges it needs more regulation. Basketball Aspirations: Aims to take Akron basketball to new heights, such as achieving a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Tournament, which could benefit university enrollment and visibility. Personal Insights: Shared memorable moments as a basketball fan, including his passion for supporting Akron sports. Discussed his Mount Rushmore of Akron basketball players, highlighting legends like Xavier Castaneda, LCJ, Big Dawg, and Enrique Freeman.

For more positive news should Notre Dame win the National Championship our claim to the mythical National Championship is remarkably short. Akron > Toledo > Northern Illinois > Notre Dame. If Texas wins we just have to add in Georgia and Texas. 😊

Started off with the Taco Bell runs for us.

He’s been the biggest disappointment of all the transfers.

I turned it on at 17-4 and now tied at 25. I'm taking credit. 😂

What has Seth Wilson done to be playing minutes so early?

Time to start the season for real, let’s go zips!

New interview with Bud Wentz talking about the new basketball training facility. This episode talks mostly about basketball. He does say the in the collective they have sub accounts for soccer and football along with basketball. Joe has been saying they have not had any NIL money and I wonder if there has been a delay…

From the sounds of former interviews he already is spending the bulk of his time being the volunteer GM for the basketball program. Personally, I think his time and effort is better spent on his passion project over running an entire D1 athletic program, which he has little to no experience doing.

Visiting his new team before the Hermann dinner this evening… 😀

I suspect Bud would have to take a significant pay cut from his “day job” to be our AD.

I bet redshirt freshmen Roosevelt Mitchell will be in the mix at guard next year. He’s a big boy who I believe got in on special teams some. I think Morris will slide over to center as he’s played there in spots in place of Williams if I recall. @catdaddyp is Alex Fox another guy we should be on the lookout for in the interior? Think he was injured most or all of last year.

That is true, I think he’s probably close to being talented enough yo be on the field. How do you see the o line as it stands now? Maybe a grad transfer center and tackle?

For those of you that aren't able to get around to listen, I'll list a few takeaways. - Bud says Akron is still looking to add 1, maybe 2 players. - Akron is taking a moneyball approach relying on algorithms to determine players value and who to target. - They are working on developing a system for one-time, quarterly, and monthly donations reoccurring donations. There will be different tiers where you can get t-shirts, hats, courtside seats, attend a practice, etc based off donation size. - Football collective was just recently started with a large donation. I'm sure there are other things that I might have missed.