kreed5120

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.

Interesting to note, Campbell's head coach, who plays in the same conference as CoC, has stepped down to become an assistant coach at Louisville. He is very blunt in his letter saying he's leaving because the University isn't giving him the necessary resources to compete.

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.

I'm not as close to the program to know what differences Ford and Groce had philosophically so I can't speak to any schematic changes. I expect us to continue down the same path of targeting young players, developing them, and then using the portal to plug deficiencies. From much of what I've read online player development is what many have pointed out as one of Ford's strengths. We'll continue to rely on that and perhaps can even use it as a tool to recruit under the radar underclassmen who might still be a bit raw.

They were leaving anyway. Look at any coaching change and you see huge roster turnover. The exception is if you promote an assistant like we did with Ford. Even then it's no guarantee. Edit: Didn't he only take 2 if I remember right? Hughes and that undersized pg? Memory is fading at my old age. Edit 2: Tavian Dunn-Martin

I feel much of the hate Dambrot receives is misdirected. When he left there was a large contingent that appeared to be more Dambrot fans than Akron. Those people were very vocal and quit on the program. This time it feels different in that people are rallying behind Ford. Edit: People were also probably more overreacting because it was the first time in a don't know how long a ~decade long tenure coach with a lot of success left. People are more based this time because they've seen it happen before and are confident we can recover.

Coincidentally I just got an email a short bit ago saying it shipped.

How did you find out it was held up for postage? Curious if that's the same issue with my hat.

I definitely agree with you there.

Groce vest was kind of iconic because you don't see a lot of coaches wearing vests. I don't disagree with your post about Ford. I just don't know what they could sell that would be the equivalent.

They have a 39 game sellout streak and they allot 900 students per game. The arena was built in 2008 at a cost of $47 million. Inflation adjusted that would be $70 million. IMO if the JAR ever reaches a point of disrepair and we have to build something new, something like this should be the blueprint. Miami went way over the top with their $260 million arena. Edit: Akron, if I recall correctly, competed in the Charleston classic a few years back. Someone might be able to provide better details about it from attending in person.

Crazy how far the UB program has fallen. Under Oats they were prepared to spend big money. Now as soon as they show any sign of life they get gutted. I used to feel dislike towards them. Now I take pity on them.

The uncertainty is less than ideal. Likely an indication a few plan to test the waters. A bit surprised nobody has yet come out and announced it one way or the other.

It's not a sunk cost fallacy because I'm not saying we have to keep the sport because of the stadium. I'm pointing out eliminating the sport doesn't eliminate the annual expense for the stadium. All I'm asking for is an analysis that would detail the expenses saved from the elimination of the sport vs the revenue lost. That's called making an informed decision.

That's fine, I already previously stated I'm open to the idea. I would want a more informed opinion before feeling strongly one way or the other. It's more that if you want to present the numbers you should only factor in the expenses that would be saved by eliminating the sport. If an expense would still remain then it wouldn't be a savings. You would also need to factor in revenue lost and the delta of additional travel costs of moving all our sports to another conference.

To be fair Infocision is a sunk cost. Eliminating the sport doesn't make the debt financing for it go away. It's not like we could sell it to a third party to eliminate the financial burden. Edit: For me it's more the revenue share/NIL that has me discouraged about the football program. Forget competing against the P4. I'm not sure how we can compete financially against Miami (OH), Toledo, WMU, etc. They have a lot more money to throw at football compared to us.

Since he didn't mention anyone else by name I wonder if they rest are following Groce.

Water trying to find its level.

We brought baseball back, but axed cross country so that was a wash. Although baseball is one of the biggest money losers in D1 sports so that probably still wasn't a wise decision. Should have probably just left baseball dead. With women's lacrosse I think that would put us at 17. We might be able to eliminate 1 women's sport. Not sure which would generate the most savings.

What's the pathway to respectable? Miami (OH) will have a $6M-$8M roster at a time that we can't even afford a training table. Where are we going to come up with the money like that? Is Kaulig going to bankroll the roster? I don't think we can cut anymore sports. We shaved off all the sports we could during covid. FBS schools are required to support 16 sports. Non-FBS 14. I'm pretty sure we're at 16. Unless we added any since our last cuts. If so, I wouldn't be opposed to slashing to get back down to 16. Revenue share and NIL has widened the gap. The math has changed and the amount needed to compete, at least at a respectable level, has considerably increased. In fact, it's going to continue to increase as more and more schools are contributing to revenue share at levels Akron can't keep up with. If there was a good plan in place to make Akron football competitive and relevant I wouldn't have such a harsh look. I just don't see light at the end of the tunnel that leads me to believe we can consistently win 6+ games under the current circumstances.

I feel it's because of the whole positionless basketball movement. Teams want to be able to do switches defensively without getting mismatches. I would also prefer a dynamic guard, but the reality is there are a lot more ~6'1" guards available than 6'5"-6'8" guards/wings so that creates scarcity. Simple supply and demand.

Although not an official announcement, the verbiage signals to me that Bowen likely plans to test the portal.

That was one of the things that stuck out to me about Goodrich's interview. He pointed out Duke's basketball program needed football to remain in the ACC. That makes sense as at that level only the Big East could provide a comparable alternative if they scrapped football and even then that could be a step down. Akron will never get an AAC, let alone ACC invite so that makes it an invalid comparison. The A10 and MVC are non-FBS conferences in our own footprint that would be a step up in competition compared to the MAC for hoops. 10 years ago I wouldn't seriously considered canceling the FBS program, but with NIL and our well documented financial troubles I just don't see how we can keep up in both sports. It's reported the NIL spend in basketball is projected to be up 35% compared to last year. With that kind of growth it's just a matter of time before our basketball program decays over time. If we continue down this path I fear we will have 2 programs struggling. Maybe not now, but in 5-10 years out.

I imagine those aren't exactly cheap to host. Even though they were low majors we probably had to cover each teams cost and give them a little bit of money to make it worth their while. You're probably right about us exploring a less costly MTE. Maybe someplace like WV that Kent played in last year.