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Richie Laryea had major hamstring surgery in 2024. Richie rebounded in 2025 and had a fantastic year. Congratulations to Richie on being one of the 3 finalists for MLS comeback player of the year. https://www.torontofc.ca/news/richie-laryea-named-mls-comeback-player-of-the-year-finalist

Akron 31 Buffalo 24 I will go out on the mother of all limbs and predict the Zips go 3-1 to finish the season.

Spend money to make money. The Rubber Bowl was decrepit; the University was in a situation where they were going to spend money on a stadium regardless. Maybe the Info should've had a smaller, more affordable design, but it doesn't seem like the stadium was built for Akron to stay in the MAC. If it was built smaller, would it have been possible to go back and add seating given the area? I don't know. However, and I've stated this before, the moment a decision was made to bring the football stadium on campus, a subsequent plan should've been made to develop East Exchange and Spicer into a college tailgate hub that distances itself from the otherwise urban setting. Creating a fun atmosphere around the stadium would've been a nice safety net to ensure its worthwhile for fans to come to a game regardless of the result. City universities are struggling all over the US compared to their more rural counterparts and it's partly because of the environments around rural campuses. They're simply more inviting and more fun. Look at Kent. They've had a crappy football team for the majority of my lifetime, but their campus environment is 100x what Akron's is which is one of the biggest reasons why they have better enrollment. A fully renovated JAR would go a long way with the community. Akron has been one of the most successful mid majors for the better part of 2 decades, but the average attendance has gone down. The average fan sits in GA seating which includes nothing but uncomfortable, backless wooden bleachers. Not to mention if you sit high enough, the banners get in the way of the scoreboard. Want something from the concessions? You'll have to wait for a while pregame or during halftime, even in a half full arena. The JAR, when it's rocking, is one of the best mid major atmospheres in college basketball. Outside of that, it BLOWS. Step 1 is winning at the national level in March. Step 2 is renovating the JAR (or building a new arena entirely, although less feasible IMO). The jolt those two things would give the program could really propel the University as a whole to the next level.

InfoCision has never been the problem. The lack of a winning product, virtually zero student activity usage such as concerts or other events, and zero vision for developing the area around the Info have made the Info seem like a problem. While I agree NIL investment would go a long way, the JAR is a detractor from one of the most successful athletic programs at the university, and quite frankly our #1 $$$$ sport. Having an attractive 5k+ seat arena for basketball and other events would go a long way for optimism at Akron.

I've never sat courtside, but that's a pretty incredible deal. Especially once you consider those will likely be 2 of the better teams we will be facing at home this season.

Akron currently sits at #14 in the RPI, the highest RPI in the Big East. We're seemingly in no danger of missing out on an at-large bid if needed (unless we lose the last three matches 😬). However, it would be interesting to see how the committee would handle a team not making their conference tournament, as we're currently outside of the top 4 in the conference standings. Anyways, today's only game that would directly affect Akron's RPI is Ohio State (RPI #94) at Washington (RPI #25) at 10 pm EST.

Not a Zip in the pros, but related... John Hackworth, father of Zips Mens Soccer alum Morgan Hackworth, named MLS Next Pro Coach of the Year,

The problem is both Blossom and Tom Benson Stadium are vastly better outdoor venues for things like concerts and both are within ~15 minutes from the stadium. There is no demand for a 3rd outdoor venue. Especially one that wasn't configured to host those type of events. There are only a finite amount of dollars the University and boosters have to spend. It's not that I don't like the idea of a major overhaul or a new arena. It's that I feel there are more efficient ways of deploying our limited capital to have more on the court success. Edit: I forgot to address a missing point. Part of why the team has been bad is because Infocision has been a financial drain to the athletic department. @LZIp shared Akron's football operating budget. We were dead last in football spending. If I recall correctly we were spending $2-$3 million less than the top spending MAC teams. That doesn't include Infocision, which costs $4.5 million per year. If we didn't have to service the debt on Infocision we would have the money to be more competitive on assistant pay or afford a training table, etc. Over development under Proenza is what got us in this mess as a University financially. Your solution is we should have spent more on developing? Money doesn't grow on trees.

Yes, to warm the hearts of Zips fans, Ohio stunk up the joint against Wright State (at Dayton). Lots of new pieces for the Bobcats; not sure they fit together. Could be the end of the Boals era unless they make it to the MAC semis... BTW, if you've never seen a game at UD Arena, you really need to. The lower "bowl" of that arena would be perfect for Akron and would, in my opinion, be achievable through a $20-30MM investment in the JAR. Awesome sightlines from every angle.

Rule #1: Have a pulse Rule #2: Have the ability to make corrupt, greedy people in power a lot of money

And Bassitt has an excellent inning of relief in the 8th in game 7 of the ALCS.