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Yes- both the softball and lacrosse teams lost today but they both made their conference tournaments and represented the University well. They both showed they belong and that the future is bright. Given our disappointment this week re the football situation, these achievements are yet that much more enjoyable for Zip fans. Go Zips and damn the friends who took me to task in the bar Thursday night over the football thing. Forever a Zip- may these young women make us proud again next year.

You're over thinking this. There is no conspiracy. The information is out there for anybody to see.

Double elimination time within about 10 minutes of each other. Lacrosse eliminated by Michigan 18-6 about 10 minutes after softball went down 5-4 to Ball State in the MAC tournament. Excellent seasons for both.

Josiah to Cleveland State

The same way the other 120+ schools figured out how to do it

You have to admit, it is nice to know Akron can do the impossible. In the NIL era, the NCAA wants academics to take, not just a back seat, but a seat in the U-Haul trailer being towed behind the bus. Somebody at the NCAA once though about how they could make the metrics so easy to achieve, it would be impossible for anyone to fall below the lowest standard. Akron said, "Hold my beer".

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.

Craig is an interesting guy. He is from Canada and was a hockey player. He is a lot of fun and the players really like him.

It seems to me that meeting the NCAA standard shouldn't be very difficult. So, how could the stats be manipulated. First, I don't believe it requires 85 players for a good college football team. If NFL teams can get by with 48 dressed for a game, so should everyone else. In reality, 65 players is enough yet we are allowed 85. Second, we are only a few students away from getting over this extremely low bar. It's only a matter of numerical manipulation. Akron should save 5-10 scholarships for what we could call "ringers". The ringers could have full football scholarships and be on the team. These ringers would also be very smart students well on their way to graduation. These ringers would all unfortunately have season ending injuries on the first day of training camp every year. It would be as if they never came to camp at all. Get well soon guys. See you next fall. The ringers could also help their teammates who are in need of some academic support. Give them all varsity jackets. Heck, if they kept the program out of probation, it would be a well earned varsity jacket. The athletic department could pick up what is covered through scholarships. They could use whatever academic scholarships they probably have for general living expenses, fun or whatever. This really isn't very difficult.

I like what I think you are thinking. If it's just about reaching a data point, then manipulate the data that creates the point. How would a school go about doing that?

Brian Walsh https://www.nbc4i.com/sports/buckeyes/brian-walsh-joins-ohio-state-mens-basketball-as-assistant-coach/amp/

Kreed, thanks for doing the leg work. If I had a boss use this type of formula to evaluate my performance, I would look for another job. I couldn't work for someone that stupid! I was thinking about the injured player that was not interested in playing school. What about the many players that enter the portal and don't land anywhere?

Just found the database; did not realize that existed. The way it was being spread on X, there were comments it was leaked. Are the scores for the individual years public? Or just the multi year?

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.

That Pioneer Conference (or additional non-scholarship conferences of that type) might be the future for many G5 programs. There seems to be at least a few G5 teams in each conference that "chose the wrong time" to be terrible, to the point where NIL and the Portal make a recovery extremely difficult if not impossible: Kent, most of Conference USA, half of the Sunbelt, etc.

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.

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).

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.

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/

Bowden had a great resume. Arth had a decent resume. Moorhead had a great resume. Yet, we're still here. At some point you have to wonder if the problem isn't the guys UA is hiring.

https://pittsburghsoccernow.com/2025/05/07/post-match-reaction-riverhounds-pull-off-cupset-with-dramatic-stoppage-time-goal-to-eliminate-new-york-city-fc/ For Ydrach, it was a dream come true… “I’ve been thinking about doing that since I was 3-years-old when I first started playing soccer.” “We all work really hard for moments like that and, to be able to do something like that in your career is something special.” …and an important result for the club “I think we needed a result like this. It was gritty until the last minute, but we dug it out, and hopefully we can take that into league play and get a result on the road this weekend too in Louisville.”

Beto with the 96’ minute game winner in the US Open Cup against NYCFC. Go Zips!

The hits just keep on coming and coming! The program looks bad. Joe looks bad. The NCAA looks bad and like clowns. But most of all the university, that has excellent students pursuing excellent degree programs, looks bad. Despite all this I believe building a quality, winning football program is achievable. I'm tired of feeling bad every time football is mentioned. I'm hoping Nemer and Goodrich are the people we need. The right people can do amazing things.

Steve and his dad are incredible people. This is awesome news for Steve.

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."