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I think Eric has P5 potential, I don't think his college resume is sufficient to get him any P5 offers. He'd benefit greatly from another year at UA, then we'd unfortunately need to kiss him goodbye. I just shake my head when I see what college basketball has become. The arena is the same. The uniforms are the same. The fight song is the same. But the players are professional mercenaries, not student athletes. That's sucked the romance out of it for me.

I'm honestly not surprised. Out of all our players with remaining eligibility he probably has the highest market value due to his size, athleticism, and well rounded game.

$12K plus being a human billboard to raise awareness for both the team and collective

In case you haven't noticed it is happening at Akron now. We have exceptional people in all positions and they will work things out. They are doing it now.

Mahaffey enters the portal, but does not rule out a return to Akron. https://x.com/i/status/2039777040358907924

Pretty crazy that all of the FTRC gear is as affordable if not more affordable than most Akron gear and is typically better quality. Plus, the Fear the Roo logo has always been a favorite of mine.

Bummed about that. He was a disaster for them.

Watching Freeman play on prime and he is really playing well. Last 4 games averaging over 20 points and already has 19 points tonight in 3rd quarter with double double.

A signature win?

Sigh. We just broke up and I saw her with her new boyfriend.

We now have our new head coach, a familiar face who has been with the Zips for 9 years. Dustin has been in charge of the defense and scheduling under Groce. He's certainly earned the chance. What do you expect from Ford's Zips squads?

This is a good reminder to reorder my soccer tickets

You heard the man.

💯

Roster construction is still important. UMass spent the most money in the MAC, but still finished 8th in the MAC. If you pay top dollar for a bunch of mid players that's not going to suddenly make them great. The issue is there is a lot more money out there than there are players worth spending it on. You're going to see more and more fringe P5 players, like Nate Johnson, command $1.5M+ plus. You have to spend a lot of money to contend, but just because you spend a lot of money doesn't mean you will contend. If that makes any sense.

As long as it's not Miami. Where his dad happened to play.

I think Eric goes back to cincy area. NKU maybe UC be closer to his parents. I don’t think he goes to CoC. To far for family to travel.

As we lose one of the Akron greats I see there are plenty chiming in re: the parallels to when we lost KD. Let’s also make sure we don’t have selective memory when it comes to the start of this unbelievable run in 2022. According to Groce himself, repeatedly, during the: Joe Gingo, Gary Miller, Chuck Guthrie, Groce run there was incredible alignment. Groce would use the same language he used in the CoC press conference in public and private on replay after the ‘22 championship and up to the unveiling of the Wentz practice facility. Remember there was so much alignment that they had ALL signed multi-year extensions approved by BOT under Adkins who followed Gingo as chair that would have had that group in place through 2027 (Miller) and beyond (Guthrie, Groce). The outlier was the provost Wiencek (along with the ‘brilliant’ Mr. Saxon - my eye is on the state of UA in 2031 after his 9 yr term ends I’ll then revisit the validity of this characterization) who after having a publicly documented (see Signal Akron expose) primary role in the upheaval of all that alignment was quickly shown the door by the person he had handpicked as his new boss. Funny enough he ‘stepped down’ in Jan 25 right after they donned the front cover of Walsh Jesuit’s alumni magazine Winter 25 issue together. Credible sources say Nemer doesn’t like to share the spotlight beyond a few exceptions e.g. photos with shirtless Ak rowdies so that magazine cover could have been the nail in the coffin for Wiencek who knows. I jest. https://issuu.com/drakem-walshjesuit/docs/warrior_paths_-_winter_2025 Whatever happened, happened, that full BOT to admin to head coach group is now completely gone with Groce’s departure - Nemer cleaned house and has his people in place. You mention current alignment, but what I hear is Nemer loves only those who do his bidding, and even uses the nickname puppet boldly in his cabinet meetings for some of his closest followers on campus. Bottom line, I’m just not sure unilateral say is the same as alignment? Regardless, appears Groce didn’t think or feel so. Thankfully, we have Ford in place and most importantly, keep Bud in a primary role, BUT those are some rose colored glasses you’re wearing @72Roo and/or you’re drinking the proverbial cool aid that Nemer loves to pour. You’ve been around a long time so I’m not totally discounting. I’ve consistently heard similar rumblings to what @Let'sGoZips94 mentioned from some of the coaches and coaches staffs non-basketball. Not all is what it seems, but at UA it never is so I just shrug, support our programs and hope we can keep the momentum. I’ve renewed my season tickets and will continue buying into whatevr Bud has to offer, literal and figurative. I just wonder what this could look like if it was Bud on the BOT someday.

Not a great start to the Ford era!

I would be surprised if Groce let Eric follow him. That wasn’t the way he used to roll, but I guess a coach is following him. Maybe things have changed in the Wild West.

I like that he left the door open to return to Akron. The system is broken with the Wild West, lawless Portal environment right now, but I don't fault the players for capitalizing on the $$$ out there right now. What Eric is doing is the prudent thing to do. Here's to hoping he decides Akron is his best option, although I would not be surprised if he follows Groce.

Not a bad bang for your buck imo

our embroidered hat cost is 17.70/ea - not sure what Bud is selling them for but there you go

I did not get an email, but my hat has arrived.

Don't fully disagree but Perry is very talented. Showed a lot of promise. I do wonder if he could be a target of ours. Same high school as Nate Johnson.

Wonder if this could be a Portal target. Played for Dustin's brother, looks like he plays defense AND can shoot.

We view Groce as an elite coach but power conferences do not. His tenure at Illinois was a disaster. It looks even worse seeing what Underwood did there after they fired Groce. He wasn't mentioned for any P5 job aside from Butler. I think another mid-major like Charleston with a larger NIL budget was the best job he could get. He's still in a one-bid league, though, so his seasons are still going to come down to the conference tournament in March.

I don't really know if that's true, but if I was an incoming freshman I certainly wouldn't stay committed to a team where I don't know the coaches. After all I doubt Groce was actively trying to recruit any of those players while at Illinois so he had no relationships with them. I would either follow that coach to the new school or go to one of the other schools that was originally trying to recruit me. I imagine you would to if you were in their shoes. That's why coaching changes void NLI. Big Dog and Cheatham were graduating. I believe it was widely known Noah planned to transfer even if Dambrot stayed. I believe the same was true for Josh wanting to play with his brother at Robert Morris. As you mention the portal isn't what it is now so Akron was always in for a rebuild year. May have even played a role in Dambrot deciding then was a better time than ever to make the move.

That would go against what some have said.

Jack Roman, Matt Dreas, and Matthew Paiva starting for Flint City v Detroit City FC tonight at 7:30 pm EDT in the US Open Cup.

He didn't take Ivey or Utomi either. Hughes only played in about half the games. Combined TDM and Hughes averaged 5.8/2/1.5. That would be like if Halligan and Oggy enter the portal this offseason and someone posts well damn there goes our entire team. Nobody here would treat those losses as something we couldn't recover from.

Heck of an endorsement from our 🐐

To add more context to the KD exit - Antino Jackson, Noah Robotham, Josh Williams, and Aaron Jackson were the best players with remaining eligibility. Groce had an opportunity to pitch to all 4, and all 4 transferred elsewhere (none to Duquesne). (That's not a knock on Groce, just the reality of the situation.) As @kreed5120 said, turnover is very common with a coaching change. It may not be that way with Ford because it's a unique situation where the players already know him well and vice-versa. We can only hope.

This makes sense. He played for Groce at OU.

Not gonna lie, those pictures make me sick

They won!!

Eric has entered the portal.

Posted in the portal tracker too, but Eric has entered. https://x.com/i/status/2039777040358907924