Leaderboard

It has to be the plural wives thing.

I never understood the appeal. The last thing that I'd need is multiple women nagging me to take out the trash. One is plenty.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/pro/2025/04/19/darlington-nagbe-columbus-crew-cleveland-mls-akron-zips/83128556007/ Nagbe said his time at Akron had a profound effect on him. "I think Akron turned me into the player I am today," he said. "It helped me grow as a person as well. I had some success there. It's great for me and [Crew goalie] Evan Bush to come back here and play together. I'll always love Akron."

https://www.news5cleveland.com/sports/local-sports/these-northeast-ohio-guys-are-ready-to-represent-home-during-crew-game-in-cleveland …Nagbe and Bush attended and played collegiate soccer at the University of Akron, and they both made names for themselves while there. "I owe a lot to Akron. I think just putting that program on the map, you know, national title... being top ranked every single year," Nagbe said. Nagbe was a member of the Zips 2010 team that won the program's first-ever national championship. When Bush attended, he was the Mid-American Conference (MAC) leader in wins and shutouts. "Being able to go to the University of Akron on a scholarship and play four years there... that was just a jumping off point," said Bush. "Rocket shipped to the top of the rankings— I think we were number one all year that year— that's when the talk about becoming a professional really started." …

I feel the criticism of players has been a far minority of the posts. I would think just about any one on this board would leave their current job if another offered to double or triple their salary. The majority of the complaints is about how the current system in broken. At least with pro sports, which is what D1 basketball has become, there are mechanisms in place to keep order (multi-year contracts, max deals, soft salary cap, no tampering with players on others rosters). College basketball is the wild west. It's just utter chaos.

The Mormon's are flush with cash.

Fills a big need. 6’ 5” is something we’ve been missing on the OL.

Good post. It got me thinking about college sports and how the fellowship and friendship developed between players is going to be lost in the NIL era. It's something awesome that is yet another thing destroyed by NIL. A lifelong friend of mine and former teammate in the football team introduced me to Mrs. GP1, the luckiest woman in the world.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/mls/2025/04/17/lionel-messi-game-cleveland-inter-miami-cf-vs-columbus-crew-darlington-nagbe-evan-bush-homecoming/82762394007/ Nagbe, 34, had a tremendous collegiate career with the Zips. As a freshman, he was named the Mid-American Conference Newcomer of the Year, and was a Soccer America first-team all-freshman honoree. He led the Zips to the NCAA tournament every season, and helped them win their first national title in 2010. "Akron was definitely life changing for me," he said. "I was able to be close to home, play for a great team and a great coach. Being able to represent Akron, it was a huge accomplishment. Being from Ohio and getting the chance to stay and be a part of a championship team and bring back the first national champion, it was definitely a special moment in my career. I owe so much to that school."

Basketball = Good Football = Bad

I don't think Evan has anything to do with what has happened. I think an earlier post eluded to what is probably the closest thing to the truth - teams are getting desperate to fill roster spots and All-Conference Teams are easy accolades to find and sell to your fan/donor base. James is a little bit different because his value comes from basic supply & demand economics for bigs. I truly believe we have a shot to really improve with these 3 open spots. Can't wait to see who we add.

Something tells me we're going to like this get.

If Tavari confirmed? I haven't seen it official.

Okay, assuming Tavari is gone. Young for Tavari, Eric Mahaffey for Nate. Such is our world. ...and, above it all- we still have the best head coach in the MAC.

I'm in the group that says let me see a confirmation that Tavari is in the portal. Then I'll spazz out.

Easter Weekend betrayal. They sold out Groce and the Zips for 30 pieces of silver.

I respect your user name leaving the door open to jump in the portal.

Welcome to ZNO, @Zipmasterflex. It's a tough but manageable schedule. You and I are on the same page, however I really want to see us win one more game than last season, so I'm optimistically going with 5 wins: Wyoming - W Duquesne - W CMU - W UMass - W KSUcks - W Add on your predicted W over Buffalo and we could be bowling. Go Zips!

There was a recent court ruling stating that two years of JUCU do not count against your four years. It raises what I think is an interesting question based upon college athletics now being minor league pro sports. At what point can a player no longer play in college? For example, a player goes to the NBA after two seasons at School x. The player bombs out after three years in the NBA or some other professional league different than college. Why can't the player go back to college, finish a a degree and get paid NIL money? I would imagine a man with three years of NBA or D League could name a pretty high price at a college. I hate to even bring this up because as disgusting as it sounds, the logic connects.

We've gone from thinking that kids deserved an opportunity to make some pocket money signing autographs at the local car dealer to backups making millions. It's ridiculous.

Very revealing article. I remember a news story on Nate Johnson, discussing when he came to UA and Groce wanted to redshirt him. His mom said "Does that mean he gets and extra free year of education?" Groce replied "Yes", and mom was excited to have him redshirt. Fast forward to today: "Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions." We live in The United States of America, and every citizen is free to make as much money as they'd like. That's what makes our country great, and I can't fault any kid for taking the cash being thrown at them today. But it has destroyed what made college basketball so cool. It's created a G-League disguised as college basketball, and that isn't nearly as cool. It's money-driven and corporate. It's eliminated the underdogs and Cinderella's and created a handful of Yankee's, Mets and Dodgers. And no, Rob Senderoff...the Zips ain't the Yankees.

That's a good fit for him. They have zero expectations athletically so when he gives up game winning floaters with the worst possible transition defense, they won't hate him.

WMU makes the National Championship - was up 2-0, and last year's National Champ, Denver tied it with two minutes to go in the third, WMU won it in 2OTs. Go Broncos!

3 minute video with Darlington and Evan Bush talking about playing in Cleveland https://www.beaconjournal.com/videos/sports/college/zips/2025/04/10/columbus-crew-video-inter-miami-mls-cleveland-akron-soccer-darlington-nagbe-evan-bush-sean-zawadzki/82970341007/

Western Michigan has a chance to capture another MAC team championship. They have reached the Frozen Four.

I've heard something related to a contract UA has with Barnes and Noble that limits what they can produce/sell, but I don't really understand it or know if there's a way to get out of it. I will say that, as a person with a closet full of Zips gear, I was jealous that the guy from Barstool that they sent a box of gear to got so many cool items after he hopped on the bandwagon for a week. 😂 Maybe now that Charles is gone, the surplus sale will come back!

This is brilliant. Our church does something like this for their missions goals, although not quite to this extent. It's a lot easier to spend money when you know what you're spending it on. I would also like to add that they desperately need to find some sort of clothing supplier that will provide much cheaper attire options without sacrificing too much aesthetically. @Zippy87 is right about the jerseys and vest. At that price point, they target a very niche group of supporters, and probably people that already give a lot to the university/program. They need to find a way to offer Joe Akron desirable attire/gear at an affordable price point.

That is information that is privileged due to the donors requesting anonymity. I will honor my commitment to the source and not go into specifics. Regardless, there is a concerted effort to do something, anything about the JAR.

I think it is a sad indicator of the apathy for Zips football.