kreed5120

This is why I only support Akron basketball, albeit modestly. At least with basketball we're getting some return for what we're putting into the program. Makes me feel my dollars aren't just being burned.

I've stated this numerous times, it's not just about having the money but also knowing how to spend it effectively. Look at MAC basketball as the prime example. UMass has more money than Akron there as well, but Frank Martin mismanages how it gets spent. Meanwhile, Akron has reportedly the 2nd most NIL money, but Groce spends it wisely retaining players and identifying under the radar pieces that fit his style of play. Now if Groce had next to no NIL then we would be in a similar boat to our MAC peers and forced to turnover our roster every single year. Do you think we would be having the same level of success that we are currently under that scenario? If my earlier comments were construed that the only thing that matters is NIL then I must not have conveyed myself well enough. Both coaching and NIL are important in today's college landscape. A coach won't have sustained success without NIL. At the same time a program with lots of NIL, but a poor coach, will also struggle. Edit: If you have both a poor coach and no NIL then you end up like NIU basketball.

It was late enough in the game that just prior to this Joe felt the need to attempt an onside kick.

Are you really trying to argue settling for a field goal on 4th and goal from the 3 yard line when you're down 11 late in the 4th quarter? Even after kicking the field goal you're still down 8 so you would need to convert a 2-point conversion from the same distance that you settled for a field goal on. The difference is a touchdown gives you 6-8 points while a 2-point conversion only gives 2. It's logical to take the risk when the return is greater since no matter what you will have 1 play from the 3-yard line with the game on the line in both scenarios. That was the one particular call that I found egregious. I don't mind taking the field goals earlier in the game, but near the end of the game we absolutely should have went for it on 4th and goal.

It might still be a little too early to say definitively. They have a lot of new bodies this year. It will likely take them most of OOC to find themselves. I certainly know last year we struggled in OOC play for similar reasons.

I honestly feel many are in denial about the state of our program moving forward. As @LZIp shared we have the smallest football operating budget in the MAC and little to no NIL. Realistically no proven coach is going to want this job. Odds are much higher that we will end up with another Ianello or Arth. 5-7 wins are about all we can expect under our conditions. There needs to be real vision behind the program if we want a chance to succeed. Boosters either have to step up big time or Akron needs to play more P4 games and invest that money we receive from OSU, Purdue, Iowa, etc. back into the program. Probably need to do some combination of both. I'm not sold on Joe as our long-term solution because frankly I don't think he sells the program well to boosters or local businesses, which is what's needed in this new age of college athletics. IMO Joe should enter next season on the hot seat for 2 reasons. One is the school literally can't afford a $1 million buyout. This isn't pro sports. We don't have a billionaire owner. Two is we need to develop a long-term plan to how we're going to improve this otherwise it's just going to be groundhogs day. New coach, very much all the same problems.

Key to victory is just showing up lol

I thought coming into the season Kent would go 1-11. They still aren't good, but their new coach was put into a tough situation and overachieved. I already miss Kenny Burns.

I know we technically have 4 new starters, but we seemed to have returned a lot more minutes compared to most teams as we returned pretty much all our bench players and then elevated them to bigger roles. Of the new players added to this years rotation thus far Eric already had 1 year learning the system in practice and Evan was born to play this style of basketball. That leaves only Ognjen who admittedly seems to still be adapting. Meanwhile, other teams have 5, 6, 7 new players in their rotation. It gives us a huge advantage this early in the year.

I didn't like the call either, especially since it put us down 8. Meaning we would still have to convert a 2-point conversion from an equal distance to tie it up anyway.

I don't think they have much NIL, which is one of their problems. I think only Akron, Miami, UMass, and maybe OU have money. I feel all the other schools just spend on football.

If you exclude the non-D1 schools.

Hard to take college football attendance numbers seriously. I'm not sure if it's still a requirement, but it used to be every 2 or 3 years a school had to average 15k fans to remain FBS compliant. You would see schools, like Akron, buy 10s of thousands of tickets from their athletic department to remain compliant. That's why if you go back and look you will see Akron averaged 15k fans 1 year, but average 8k the next.

Kenpom this early in the year is mostly weighted by preseason expectations. As more games get played they fade the preseason expectations out. I'm not saying whether or not UNCW is good, but I wouldn't place too much stock in kenpom this early into the year. We should have a better picture by mid December.

It's up to Akron to produce the games. If it's not on ESPN+ then it would be because for whatever reason we didn't decide to produce it.