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Can’t believe he didn’t bring up Bivens.

In his defense, doesn’t everyone regress under the Guthrie regime? Lol

They certainly may. The key is going to be "is Poffenbarger a good MAC QB?" If he is, Akron can win the whole darn league. If he's not, Akron will win 3 or 4 games.

At least it gives more stakes to the regular season, I loved the 3 days of chaos but with a 22-game slate now it'll keep people focused if someone runs away with first again. If I was the athletic department, I'd want to keep the fans educated so they know what is at stake before each game.

😂😂😂❤️

4 games on Thursday big whoop. Probably 3k at the noon game and 4k by 230. Now all fans can attend all games after work. Hard to complain about this

1) It wasn't unanimous and even Tod K voted against it originally. 2) It only lasted 4 years, 2012-15, reverting back to the original format in 2016. The format had the shortest lifespan of the 3 formats and seemingly the only reasons it's back are because Miami OH got embarrassed in the first round last year and Toledo couldn't end their drought despite being a 1 seed for 4 of the 6 years. Yes, it's confirmed. Your latter format is what they're going with. How does this make it any more difficult for a 5-8 to win? They get to avoid the top 2 teams in the league until the semis on Friday and get 2 warm up games to adjust to Rocket Arena. The Sun Belt's gauntlet yielded a semifinals of 1v8 and 2v10, with 1v10 being the championship. The now-previous format featured a top 2 seed in the Finals all 6 years, and a top 2 seed won it all 4 out of the 6 years. Ohio - a 5 seed in 2021 - was one of the non-top-2-seed winners and went on to win a game in the NCAAs and Akron - a 4 seed in 2022 - nearly beat UCLA in the NCAAs. I bring that up to say those anomalies were arguably the better teams in the MAC that didn't have the best regular seasons, but rose to the top when it mattered. It wasn't broken. The suits need to quit trying to have their cake and eat it, too. If the goal is to have an advantageous format for the top 2 seeds, just put them into the Finals automatically. If the goal is to make more money, they should have left it how it was. Unless Kent/Akron/OU are playing on that Wednesday, those games will be far less attended than the all day marathon that was Thursdays.

Top 8 format is what I saw. Why does it need to be easy for a seed 5-8 to be champion? It should be a challenge for them if we want the regular season to have more meaning.

We have won the MAC title the last 3 years and have not gotten past the first round. Three games in three days to win the MAC is a grind. You then have the excitement of selection Sunday and then a travel day Tuesday. Maybe it will help in the NCAA tourney if it only takes 2 games to win the title.

We're 34-2 in our last two years in the MAC. This doesn't hurt us

It's soccer season already? World Cup really made the summer fly by. Akron faces Oakland Sunday to kick off the athletic year! Go Zips!

This article is dated August 3, 2026, but Zips social media just shared it and I saw no mention of it. Lots of good information. I would list some bullet points, but frankly there is a lot of things worth discussing. https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-recreation/ccl-akron-budgets-20260730/ It's behind a paywall, but if you go to Akron Zips facebook page and click the link I was able to view the article in its full length.

I just saw in an email from coach Nanchoff that after the current store closes on August 17th, a new store will open on August 19 and run through September 2. That new store will have gear featuring the A Star logo, he stated.

I'm on mobile so can't copy and paste it. I asked ChatGPT to summarize it for those of you who struggle to access. AKRON IS PRODUCING OUTSIZED RESULTS ON A TINY BUDGET • University of Akron spent $33.8M on athletics in 2025-26, the smallest budget in the MAC and second-lowest among public FBS schools. • Despite that, Akron had arguably its best athletic year ever: seven conference championships, men’s basketball went 29-6, won the MAC Tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament, and the department finished 104th nationally in the Learfield Directors’ Cup. • Huron ranked Akron No. 9 among public FBS schools for athletic value/efficiency. FINANCIAL CHALLENGE Akron faces about a $700K budget hit in 2026-27: $500K less in institutional support plus roughly $200K in employee-raise costs. University funding makes up nearly two-thirds of athletics revenue, making new revenue especially important. FUNDRAISING IS IMPROVING • Athletic cash contributions increased 109%, from $1.7M to $3.6M, just $129K short of Akron’s single-year record. • The ACE NIL Fund raised more than $664K in its first year. • Akron also balanced its budget. SPONSORSHIPS AND NAMING RIGHTS ARE A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY AD Andrew Goodrich is actively pursuing football jersey-patch sponsors, along with naming-rights deals for James A. Rhodes Arena and the soccer stadium. The InfoCision Stadium naming-rights agreement expires in 2028 and currently pays $500K annually. Goodrich wants to replace it with a deal worth roughly $1M per year. Akron is pitching potential sponsors on its reach, including 2.5M unique football viewers, 880K unique basketball viewers during March Madness, and its social-media audience. ATTENDANCE REMAINS THE WEAKNESS Football attendance averaged 7,729 per game, up 21%, but still last in the MAC and second-lowest in FBS. Goodrich wants to sell out at least one game, pointing out that more than 3M people live within 45 minutes of campus. GOODRICH’S VISION Hired in 2025, Goodrich wants Akron to become the “pound-for-pound best athletics department in America.” After just one year, Akron has already reached the top 10 nationally in athletic efficiency, giving him some evidence that the ambitious vision may be achievable.

Interesting tidbits in this article from Crain's Cleveland. https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-recreation/ccl-akron-budgets-20260730/?utm_id=gfta-ur-260804&share-code=JLNNNSYNZNEDHABW5EKNKF23N4&user_id=3852360&customer_secondary_source=ccl_articleGifting

The second year of the Goodrich era begins Sunday 8/16 with the Womens soccer team playing Oakland. I'm very excited for some Akron sports action. So, I started a thread to say which teams are you excited to see this year?? Can football capitalize on the momentum it's built with the season ticket campaign? Can MBB 4peat the MAC? Can MSOC win the Big East and make it back to the College Cup? Can WSOC improve in year 2 with its new coach? Can Volleyball build upon the success they had last season? Can WBB finally make a jump and make it Cleveland? Can baseball stay healthy and look like the team some rumor mills have hyped up? Can softball repeat the success they had last year? Can lacrosse get revenge on UMass and take back control of the MAC? Can our Olympic (XC/TF/Swimming) teams continue to dominate? Very excited for this year. Already got my Football/Soccer/Basketball season tickets and my ESPN+ ready to go!

I want to change my answer now.🥲

My thoughts on your questions. Can football capitalize on the momentum it's built with the season ticket campaign? Yes, they are doing it now. Can MBB 4peat the MAC? Yes. The talent is still there. Can MSOC win the Big East and make it back to the College Cup? Yes, we are loaded and may announce more acquisitions. Can WSOC improve in year 2 with its new coach? Yes, she has four new freshmen that may start. The team needed talent. She got some so expect improvement, not a conference deep run. Can Volleyball build upon the success they had last season? Yes, but slowly. VB is the second most popular sport in the NCAA and recruiting talent to a losing program is hard. Can WBB finally make a jump and make it Cleveland? Hell no. Can baseball stay healthy and look like the team some rumor mills have hyped up? Yes, their pitching has healed up. Can softball repeat the success they had last year? Yes, this coach is the real deal and he will take a good team and make them better. Can lacrosse get revenge on UMass and take back control of the MAC? No way. We give out four schollies. UMass gives out 13-15. Can our Olympic (XC/TF/Swimming) teams continue to dominate? Swimming for sure. Not sold on the XC/TF leadership. Mitchell is a hard act to follow especially outside the MAC at national meets. Poaching our better performers with NIL money will continue.

All kidding aside...I do wonder if Moorhead would rather the winner know nothing about football coaching...or be someone who HAS coached at some level before.

Snapback Sports has announced that they signed a jersey patch sponsorship with an FBS school and they will announce who on Monday. Possibility it's Akron. https://x.com/i/status/2087953525330325861

Mid American Conference coaches poll https://getsomemaction.com/news/2026/8/10/womens-soccer-western-michigan-selected-as-favorite-in-mac-preseason-coaches-poll.aspx

Looks like Freeman enjoyed Paris

Probably the best selling point. As a fan it doesn't feel like much of a prize to have an 11 AM tip-off on a work day where many can't attend in person nor watch on TV.

You're skipping the detail that one of those previous formats was this exact one and people hated it.

Ugh. Have to agree with LGZ here. This blows. Not that anyone would ask me, but this would make somewhat more sense if all 12 teams participated. Frankly, that may benefit those top 2 teams even more.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And now we've lost what was a phenomenal tradition of 4 games on a March Thursday in Cleveland with no guaranteed benefit.

Love to see it. The regular season - especially now with 22 games - should hold a lot of weight. Reward the teams that do the best over the course of the grind. Not a huge sample size, but this format previously resulted in the top regular season teams playing for the championship more often than not.

I don't see that illusive 6th win on the schedule. They may even struggle to get to 5 wins.

I got a notice today about the Wake Forest, Zips tailgate. I have to tip my hat, the location is pretty good. It's close to the stadium, in a paved lot, there are usually bands playing around there before games and if the ACC Network is there, it will be close to their set up. Be prepared. It's going to be hotter than most Ohioans are used to.

Man, I miss Charles Guthrie. Goodrich is just riding his predecessors marketing wave.🙄