kreed5120

I'm sure he's already received Akron's best and final offer and his agent has already received better offers. If anything I appreciate the transparency and not providing false hope. IMO I don't think it's a huge loss. Maybe a bit because he could be a locker room presence, but his only strength was his 3-pt shooting. He was a 1 dimensional scorer who didn't play great defense. I'd have him back, but it's not someone worth spending a significant amount of our NIL to keep. There will be plenty of 3-pt specialists who play spotty defense in the portal who we can likely sign cheaper. We might even have 1 on the roster already. Not sure about our redshirts or incoming freshman. Edit: I view Eric and Young more as the losses. I could have seen either of them make the jump to being All-MAC caliber next year.

I think there is a recruitment dead period until April 10th. I'm sure news will break about some players going some places before then, but I don't think anything official can happen until then anyway.

This is an excellent point. Outside of a few posters that attended practices and had in depth discussion with coaches nobody was really even talking about Eric at this time last year. Now some are trying to make it sound like his departure isn't something we can recover from. There are redshirts or incoming freshman who are on the roster now that will be contributors next season. Most of Akron's success has come from player development. We will likely need to go into the portal and find a few impact players, but it's not like we need to go out there and sign an entirely new 13 player roster. With a new coach that would have been likely.

Sure they would have most likely left. I like my job, but if someone offered to 2x-5x my salary I'd leave tomorrow, no two week notice. There is a reason Groce left for a program that has 3x the NIL of Akron despite on paper not looking like much of a promotion, money talks. Ford's hire wasn't just about player retention. It's about keeping the system that has worked going. Sure, Akron could have reached out and maybe got someone like Hurley, but then you'd have to put up with his antics, which could push people away from the program. I certainly know I would have cancelled my season tickets and quit my contributions to FTC if he was the choice. I'm a small fish though. It's possible someone with his personality pushes someone like Bud or one of the other big donors away and money like it or not drives the sport.

https://x.com/i/status/2041523870822191409

Likely a mutual decision. Wouldn't be surprised if he transfers down to D2 or something like that.

Expected that given the post his agent made ~2 weeks ago.

It won't happen, but I wish they would quit playing Final Four games in NFL stadiums.

Akron will, but I'm not so confident about the vast majority of the teams in the MAC. Time will tell.

Much of the MAC's strength and what made it historic this year were the teams at the top. Teams 3-13 were typical of most seasons. Many of which were built via the portal. I don't really expect much out of the 3 bottom feeders who have first year coaches. (I actually thought EMU wasn't all that terrible this year under Heath until they lost their starter to that gambling probe). None of them are going into great situations given the state of their roster and if you visit their boards you will see they don't have money to pay quality players. They will be searching bargain bin for players, which is unlikely to lead to better success. WMU in particular doesn't care about basketball. They have money that they could spend on the sport, but they allocate both the money and attention to hockey instead.

I agree, I don't hold a grudge or ill will towards him for not doing it. Just assumed it would be something he would do given the length of his tenure.

I just don't think the website is completely updated yet.

You say that like one of those players wasn't first team All-MAC and another wasn't 6th man of the year. I see a lot less talent returning to the MAC this coming year compared to this past season. I believe only 1 player that was 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team All-MAC is returning next season. Last year there was 2 players alone that were first time All-MAC who returned. The MAC will add players certainly. They added players last year. It's just much easier to build a strong conference when you're starting from a solid foundation. Last year had that foundation as Akron and Miami were projected to be 2 of the stronger mid-majors in the entire country before the year started given the talent they had returning. There are no teams that you can really point to right now and be like they're going to be great. It seems sensible to believe next year the MAC won't be as good as it was this year considering the MAC had a historic year. It seems some people just want to argue for the sake of arguing. Edit: As I said before we can revisit this in November/December once we see how the MAC does in OOC play.

Jahari Williamson in the portal. https://x.com/i/status/2041246826490180067

We can revisit this at seasons end, but I'd expect the MAC to finish something close to what the Horizon League was this year, which is worse than what the MAC was this past season.

The MAC is coming off its best season since pre-covid (looking at Kenpom) and that was with Akron and Miami returning a lot of talent. Also, with Kent returning Gillespie. The MAC also got its first at-large bid this century Do you honestly believe next year the MAC as a whole will be better?

It wasn't mentioned in my post I suppose, but Young and Eric leaving isn't good for the MAC either. I would prefer to win the MAC again next year because we got better, not because the entire conference regressed to level of a directional Michigan. Edit: Also, what's not mentioned is this is a contract year for the MAC TV deal. If basketball was actually good maybe we could squeeze a few more dollars out of ESPN or whoever bids.

Yep, people try to defend Akron's poor attendance saying nobody wants to see Akron beat a poor MAC team by 15+, but then cheer when other MAC teams lose all their talent. If you're a fan of the sport and want to watch quality basketball at the JAR all these portal entrants isn't a good thing. It's more just a race to the bottom.

Kent board is saying Sumlin has announced intent to return.

I feel this was known for a long time. Kent board seemed to know this was going to happen pretty much as soon as MACT ended.

Wyoming as a state has a population that is similar to Summit County. Even if someone like Goodyear steps in and gives Akron $500K-$1M, I'm expect programs like VCU, Saint Louis, and Loyola Chicago to get something closer to $1.5M+. Just widens the gap between the haves and have nots.

It seems like he comes from a Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana background. Perhaps that opens up some high school recruiting connections that we might not of had with the previous staff.

Kind of gets back to the point I've made before. Think about how much of a better place Miami basketball would be today if instead of building a ~$250 million arena they opted for a more modest $70M-$100M arena. They could have then fundraised that $100M (what AD claims they will get for arena) in donations to endow their ACE fund (or whatever they call it). Having an extra ~$5 million a year in perpetuity to pay players would go much further to guaranteeing success than trying to build a Big 12 caliber arena as a MAC school.

I never indicated they would be great or even good. Nor did I indicate they would be the favorite post portal. They are kind of the favorites as of right now because they're slightly less gutted than everyone else. The MAC as a whole will likely be down substantially from this season. I would be shocked if there is any MAC team as good next season as Akron or Miami were this one. Partly why both teams were so good is they had a lot of returning pieces, which allowed for good chemistry. No MAC team will have that next year. Edit: It should be noted they still have Ipsaro, who was probably their best player in OOC play. It's to be seen if he lost anything post injury.