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Once a kid mentally decides to enter the portal, whether that's actually in December/April or weeks or months before the window opens, there is nothing the program can do to control that kids actions anymore. If an education is not important to that player, they check out entirely, often not bothering to finish their courses. There is nothing the program can leverage against the kid to enforce his actions. Meanwhile, the kids who stay suffer collectively due to their actions. Once the portal changed, this education requirement should not be enforced. The programs who are still maintaining the requirements are rich enough to fake it. The problem isn't all on the kids currently in the program, it's the kids who check out mid semester because they know they are hitting the portal.

We can criticize the NCAA, question the formula that results in the classification, gripe about NIL and question the dedication of the modern athlete to academics, but one inescapable fact remains and that is that the University of Akron football program is the only program in this position. Every other school is operating under the same constraints and standards yet UA is the only program in this position and that's damn embarrassing.

You hit the nail on the head! If this situation was somehow the fault of the administration, we would be having the same type of problems in the other programs. Moorhead dropped the ball even though the administration was all over him about this problem. They even hired an outsider firm to help. They offered players the chance to come back and complete their degree for no charge! But the guys we were bringing in didn't care after they left via the portal or after they ran out of eligibility.

I've tried fighting the good fight of arguing to keep the program FBS. Each passing year as the cost of FBS escalates and the football program reaches new levels of ineptitude it's becoming harder and harder to defend. If this path continues one has to ask at what point should we explore the decision of joining Dayton in the non-scholaship Pioneer League? I'm not saying we're there yet, but that date might be approaching. I don't see the value in scholarship FCS as any cost savings there is more than offset by reduction in revenue.

Every scholarship athlete can earn 2 points per year. 1 for staying in school and another for keeping grades above a certain threshold. If you have 85 scholarship athletes that means a team can earn 170 points per year. If you have 80 then it would be 160 and so on. They take the points earned and divide it by the points possible. That score is then multiplied by 1000 to arrive at APR. For Akron to be at a 913 it would be the equivalent of us scoring a 155/170 (based on 85 scholarships) a year. You don't get penalized for players who transfer to another school. The penalty would be if they drop out of school entirely or enter the portal, but don't enroll anywhere (which would also be the equivalent of dropping out).

I've tried to read up on how the APR is caluculated in regard to the score for each year (not the averaging of three). In this environment, in which thousands of athletes transfer each year, and UA specifically turns over 30-40% of its roster each season, how the hell do they calulate any kind of graduation rate? Or is the score based more on the grades (GPAs) of athletes for that academic year?

Zips are still alive as one of the final four teams in the MAC tournament after beating NIU 6-4. It gets a lot tougher from here on out. Side note Alexis Campbell has had an excellent tournament but it's even more fun watching her get ready to bat. She talks to herself, makes faces and sings to her walk up music. It all seems to be working. 😁

Akron's football team scored an 885 during the 2021-22 school year, a 905 in 2022-23 and a 920 in 2023-24. So it has improved every year since JoeMo's first year? It's still not ideal, but at least JoeMo isn't fully complacent. I really hope part of the plan is to challenge the ruling by the NCAA. LSU and New Mexico State reportedly failed to meet the 930 score during the pandemic pause, but were not penalized. LOL. F the NCAA. They can eat a bag of Kent 💩. If the APR was just reinstated last year, how can there be a 4 year report to fail? That's such horse crap.

We are not relevant enough to be targeted as a hit job in the media. Ain't no journalist thinking about a 8-28 program in 4 years ten people come to watch at home. Only folks who care about us right now are Bookies and Gamblers.

Good to know this is simply all Joe's fault, because it means once he's gone, and we hire a decent replacement, poof! Problem solved! I love easy answers! Sarcasm aside, unfortunately like most problems this big they are also complex, with no easy answers (I watch a lot of docs and shows about plane crashes and other man-made disasters, and it is almost NEVER a single cause or issue, it's always a chain or series of them) or single scapegoats. Not just with respect to Joe, but Nemer - I don't think that just because he made a PR statement that contains PR instead of details and wonk means he doesn't care about the problem and/or is ill-equipped to fix (or is secretly fine with it because it will help him cut or drop down the program). Maybe time will tell that he IS incompetent and/or anti-football, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt until we have a lot better reason to feel otherwise. We're just gonna have to be patient, because this isn't getting fixed overnight nor does it seem Joe will be out the door before the season starts.

The threshold is 930. Year 1 we were in the 880s. The past 2 seasons we were around 920. All 3 years we have been below the 930 requirement.

We haven't won a Conference Championship since 2005 - our only one in the program's history and folks wanna come on here and blame NIL for our struggles that have existed long before NIL. NIL is not the reason we can't even compete in our own conference. NIL is not the reason why we got our ass kicked by Ohio Univ 30-10. We continue to hire overrated glorified assistant coaches expecting them to act as a Head Coach. FYI

So, to clarify, we won't notice a difference in the attendance.

Akron can't win the MAC this year because it is barred from the league championship game, a point overlooked by the esteemed ABJ writer covering this story. At least we have the, uh, "Action Plan." That makes it all better. Can't wait for them to come up with Action Plans for the several other issues ailing the university. Interesting that Nemer didn't identify a single element of the Plan. Could it all just be another PR move by the BOT? Likely.

A college football team is built on who the HC allows. The HC builds the roster. The collegiate players are the HC's responsibility. On his watch. No one else to blame but Morehead. Who hires his staff? = Morehead This is his mess. it don't mean crap what happened before him. That homer knew what he was getting into when he accepted the job. Morehead inherited this program and for $600k a year he was brought here to clean it up. Accountability Matters

78% of NFL players are estimated to experience financial difficulties or go bankrupt within two years of retiring. So spare us from that BS reference. NIL has nothing to do with APR. Out of 134 schools we are at the bottom and folks have the nerve to blame NIL. Stop it

article has a photo of a very happy and excited Beto Ydrach....and a very happy Riverhounds mascot https://www.riverhounds.com/news/2025/05/07/ydrach-header-open-cup-nycfc/

Game being played at the same field at Northwestern that the Zips soccer team got jobbed and had to play there when they had a scheduled home game in the NCAA tournament. Only good thing is their logo is worse than Akron's and it looks like a Z from the side.

My brother is a college head coach. College coaches are hired to Lead, guide, empower, educate, unify, build, and WIN. Akron is not a Power 5 School. 1st thing that comes to mind when Ohio State is mentioned is Football. 1st thing that comes to mind when Akron is mentioned is = EDUCATION and as a Akron Alum I am proud of that. I be damn if folks on here throw my Alma Mater under the bus in defense of a negligent coach allowing his players to not give a damn about academics. There is no excuse for that. Power 5 Schools can afford to pay coaches millions to leave on the strength of them not winning. As a mid major our goal is not to compete for National Championships. Our goal is to bring in a HC who can build a consistent winning program on the field and in the classroom. A winning program that unifies the city of Akron, Students, and Alums. With all the $$$ that has been dumped on this program we should be on a consistent level with Buffalo, Miami (OH), and Ohio Univ.

Per the NCAA website, teams must earn a four-year average APR of 930 to compete in championships. "For football, falling below the threshold bars a program from conference championship games and bowl games. The minimum threshold of 930 equates to a 50 percent graduation rate.

100% These players are essentially fluent throughout all schools that have a sports program. If a kid plays for 6 years at 4 different schools and tanks the last semester he is at each school, is the NCAA saying that school is responsible?!?! That is absurd!! Did we take kids from the portal that just tanked their last semester at their previous school and we inherited that GPA? If so, that is foolish. While I do think the NCAA is a hypocritical bunch, I still put this squarely on UA's administration. They had warnings and didn't address them. They should have spent less time (and $$) designing the 5th new A logo.

I don't disagree that the athletes we are targeting play a big part in this mess. The problem is this isn't a Miami (FL) issue where we're bringing in questionable characters, but still winning. Joe is bringing these players in and we're still going 8-38. Akron football is an embarrassment both on and off the field. We should probably revisit our recruiting strategies.

If that's the case Id expect under 1k fans to attend any games.

That was my thought as well. Why wasn't an action plan put in place after that disastrous 885 score year? This is already looking like a 2 year minimum ban. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more realistically 3 years. The University being reactive instead of proactive is a big reason why we find ourselves in messes so often.

This rule seems like it would hit Akron pretty hard. Being a lower tier D1 (and MAC) school it seems like several players in the last couple years have hit the portal and/or flunked out and never reappeared on another roster. I’d guess that this is fairly typical when dealing with so many Juco kids. They overestimated their value and ended up working at Wal Mart - and bringing down Akron’s APR in the process.

A former Akron football player spending 3 pages arguing how a public University should be able to use tax dollars to subsidize a football team made up of non-student players tells me all I need to know about the culture surrounding the football program. As others stated 'they aren't here to play school.' This isn't the first time Akron football has faced sanctions for poor grades. In the early to mid 2000s on two or three occasions we got hit with scholarship reductions. One was a 4 scholarship reduction another was 5. Bad APR performance has plagued this program for a while. We normally just managed to do well enough to stay above water. With Moorhead now we've yet to even see a season over the 930 so we've just gone from bad to worse.

Attending class and maintaining eligibility is literally in the job description. If it's something they don't want to comply with, they shouldn't apply. They won't be able to transfer "to another job" if they don't maintain grades. Look at all the players over the years that have been forced to do a year of JUCO because they failed to meet academic standards. Erick Howard committing to Akron, but not being able to attend because of grades is one that comes to mind. If you can't meet grades, you will quit getting paid.

What if your boss had an expectation you didn't want to comply with and you could string them along until just before they fired you, you went to work somewhere else? That's what's going on in college athletics.

Nemer says plan is in place to handle the situation- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2025/05/08/akron-zips-president-rj-nemer-football-academic-scores-apr-ineligible-for-bowl-game-2025/83517983007/

Very young, very sheltered spoiled adults who have had smoke blown up their asses since they played pee-wee football.

Ok, why do they need a college degree to become a professional in something else? Why aren't we all professionals at whatever job we do. I expect the manager at an Arby's to be a professional even though that person may not have a college degree.

How much money do you honestly think they're making on Akron's roster? Do you think it's enough for them to live off of for the next 40, 50, 60+ years? Odds are if they aren't disciplined to attend class, they're also not disciplined enough to save for retirement. They will be working 9-5 jobs like the rest of us.

People keep banging on Joe… wasn’t there just a post that it has improved every year he’s been here? And been above the threshold the last two years? &nbsp How is that him not “leading young men”?