kreed5120

The more talented you are the more people are willing to put up with. It's pretty much too across all levels of sports. If a player is All-MAC caliber a coach is going to give him a longer leash than if he's a second string depth piece.

Yes, I don't see why we would have to deal in absolutes. When a player leaves you can leave the door open for them to possibly return, but at the same time make sure they're aware there is no guarantee their roster spot would be available if they want to return. Coaches would still have to look to fill openings, but if player A decides to want to return and you still have both an open scholarship and a need at that position why wouldn't you take them?

If Akron can stumble to 5 wins that way it's good enough to take pressure off firing him, but not good enough to extend would likely be the best case scenario.

Couldn't that be said about athletics as a whole? They haven't even made it to the NCAA tournament for men's hoops since 1992.

That's good to hear. I would still be nervous entering the season with only 2 bigs if Barre misses significant time. Another injury or even foul trouble suddenly places you in a bind. Hopefully he can return to the court soon. Nice to hear Amani expanding his range. That would allow Groce more flexibility if he needs to adjust his lineups in certain situations.

And if your team wins you do both

For what it's worth I still have this team penciled in for about 4 wins, which is what I believe I had predicted at the start of the season.

The Mountain West also got raided. Nearly all their top teams are going to the PAC-12. It might still end up being better than the MAC, but I don't think it will be by a significant margin.

I would be stunned if Evan wasn't starting. If he was good enough to start 38 games in the Big 10, surely he is good enough to start in the MAC. IMO he will start at the 4. Stankovic was kind of a late add and probably needs more time to develop and learn Groce system. I wouldn't be surprised if both him and Evan start by the start of MAC play.

Excitement is building...

Private equity is looking to spend $2 billion to buy a 5% share of future Big 10 distributions. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/46452188/sources-big-ten-discussing-2-billion-private-capital-deal

I think the MAC payout is around $2 million per year and that includes the payout from the NCAA tournament credits. Financially this should work out for them finely.

The football program has been futile for the better part of two decades now. It was probably a matter of adapting to a positive mindset or moving on. The job really doesn't seem fit for someone who gets moody because their team didn't perform well.

I don't think anyone is advocating to leave the MAC, but stay FBS. Leaving the MAC only happens if Akron decides to drop down to FCS due to soaring costs of FBS making it no longer worth their while. Talking about joining another conference is more an argument against those who say we can't drop FBS because the MAC won't allow us to stay. Akron's non-football sports are much more appealing than NIU. If NIU could find a home for their sports then Akron won't have trouble doing the same.

They only play in 20% of the games though. If you look at the starting rotation collectively I would agree. It might not be a single position, but 1 player in basketball probably makes the biggest impact. A QB is much more dependent on his receivers catching their passes, his offensive line giving him enough time, and his defense actually playing defense. Guys like LeBron, Jordan, Kobe, who were elite both offensively and defensively, could put a team on their back. If you take LeBron off that 2007 Cavs team they probably only win 25 games.

Exactly, if the MAC demands FBS football, but we determine it's no longer economically viable why would we stay? Not to say that's presently the case, but that time might come. The MAC offers us nothing of value for basketball and doesn't even support soccer any longer. It would be more about finding a conference that more aligns with our strategic direction.

Why would it have to be a consistent multi-bid conference that Akron would have to go to? I would think everyone would agree that the MVC is better than the MAC for hoops. The MVC teams are typically seeded better in the tournament, win more games in the tournament, and on occasion get a 2nd bid. That would probably be more Akron's level for hoops. MAC hoops have drastically declined since covid and there are no signs of it improving anytime soon. The other schools are too busy checking the couch cushions searching for every last nickel and dime to throw at FBS football.

Seems like a smart decision as the University tries to right size its footprint.

That was always going to be the case. Even if the Zips won 6 or 7 games, like some of the blindly optimistic fans here predicted, we would still see an exodus of our best players. We can't financially compete in NIL against programs like Toledo or OU. Not to mention against the Mountain West, AAC, and the bulk of the other G5. Until that changes we will remain on the bottom of the food chain and be the punching bag for other middling programs.

Honestly any money we would save dropping to FCS is probably negated by lost revenue. Non-scholaship FCS or D2 would probably be where things would start making mathematical sense.

You have to realize Groce is going to want to stagger minutes. I would expect 2 of Young, Tavari, and Scott to be on the court 90% of the time. That way there is never a big drop off between the first team and 2nd team offense. That's really only achievable if someone assumes the Manu Ginoboli type role by playing big minutes off the bench.

Sure if you compare just this year to last, but if you zoom out and compare it to what it was 10-15 years ago it's nearly half. Also, if you look further ahead northeast Ohio's population is expected to decline roughly 15% in 2050 compared to what it was in 2020. That will likely lead to further declines 10-15 years from now.

I would have to imagine that problem is only going to get worse with the declining enrollment. The vast majority of the houses north of Thornton slumlords were renting to college students since they could fetch higher rents. With fewer and fewer students living around campus more and more of those houses are going to get rented out to low income.

This doesn't need to be made into a political conversation. I don't disagree that things get overaggerated. That said, as someone who personally got jumped my freshman year on campus and who had a group of friends get robbed at gunpoint in their south campus house, I can very much say the problems exist. Student enrollment at Ohio colleges/universities peaked in 2010 with a total enrollment of 772,393. This past year total enrollment was 618,225. That's a 154,168 or 20% student decline across the state. A lower percentage of people are attending colleges compared to 10 years. Add in the fact that we have an aging population and the problems will only compound due to having a decreasing college aged population. It's true schools like Toledo and Akron were hit disproportionately harder, but as total enrollment for the state continues to shrink this is going to be a much larger problem for all schools. The only ones safe are probably OSU and Cincy. This is a much larger problem than pretending that Akron's enrollment is declining solely because it's perceived as unsafe. Fewer people are attending college compared to before.

I just don't think there is a ton to take away from an FCS opponent. Just like there wouldn't be if we played a top 10 P4. We took care of business and did what we needed to do. Not sure there is much to discuss that hasn't already been stated.