mrelegazna

We know from earlier in the thread he has LCJ's endorsement. If he, a few years removed from the program, basically says "Hey Dustin Ford should get this job," that's pretty telling and a pretty meaningful endorsement. Clearly Ford had an impact on maybe a top 10 or 20 all-time Zip. The "career assistant coach" thing doesn't bother me. Everyone has to start off and put in years as an assistant coach, obviously. There's no reason to think "He's been an assistant coach for too long, therefore he can't be a good head coach."

I wish I could be this optimistic. The thing about "culture" as you describe it, is it not inherent. It takes work to not just build it, but maintain it. I am reminded of when I had a job as an opinion pollster for political candidates (Peter Hart Research, to be exact, who used to operate a phone bank in the Springfield/Lakemore area. I worked there). One question that we asked people a lot was this: Who does a better job of representing Hoosier values (if working on a statewide Indiana race in this example)? Candidate A or Candidate B? That question always rankled me. WTF are Hoosier values? It's a meaningless phrase, an unholy alliance of marketing and politicking. It's not a thing. You think humility, community, hard work, whatever the F, are unique to being Indianan? Almost everyone thinks of their state/community/tribe/however-you-want-to-demographic-it in this way! We have been very, VERY fortunate to have had as much success as we had under Dambrot and Groce. But there's nothing in the air that made those things happen. Akron is not special - no place is in and of itself, really, is my point. We have no inherent advantages. It worked because we had two damn good coaches. And if we don't hire a damn good coach to replace Groce, there's no parachute that prevents us from becoming a directional Michigan on the basketball court. I'm not all gloom and doom here. Obviously, if Ford becomes the new coach, that will help with stability, continuity, and make us less likely to crater. Even if we have a full on regime change, that doesn't mean it will fail. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking there's something in the water that makes "the culture around Akron basketball is a good one" and makes us immune from crashing out. Culture didn't build our success, people did.

Guys, I know this feels like big news, but can we please concentrate on what's really important? That NWAkron called this and was laughed at?

That's it? Gawd. I don't want to turn this thread into yet another intractable discussion about how to draw more fans, but after what we saw in Cleveland, there's got to be a way. I don't know what it is, but someone's got to be able to crack the code.

I mentioned before I'm not in NEO anymore. I once had an acquaintance pronounce it Ack-RON, which sounds like the name of a robot. I didn't think when I hit "play" on this video this newscaster would butcher it WORSE than that. I am impressed. P.S. This acquaintance was from Elkton, Maryland, so *all she had to do* was follow the same pronunciation style of her own city, but nope. LOL

To each his own, but I moved from Akron to Dallas (with a few stops in-between) and I would take Akron winters over Dallas summers any day of the week. Further, I *miss* "real" winter. The approximately 1 time a year snow accumulates here, I can't wait to get outside and hear my feet crunch in the snow and smell the cold air - all of the sensations I miss and feel "right" to me. Now, some people absolutely hate the kind of winters Akron has even if they grew up in it (sounds like maybe that number includes you?) But Groce, who by the looks of it has only spend four years of his life in a "nicer" climate than Akron, might not be one of them. I'd be really surprised if weather is anything but the most minor of factors in his decision.

I dunno man. This doesn't feel lateral to me, but a slight step down. The Coastal is just as much a one-bid league as the MAC is, and he'd be moving from an elite mid-major to a pretty good mid-major. Yes, it does seem like CofC can pay him more, but I dunno...is this really the first time in his tenure someone has offered him more money to go elsewhere? With Dambrot, it was "I want to coach in a league that can get more than one bid," but assuming a) Groce doesn't feel that way and b) he isn't a lot more bullish on the CAA than I am, I really don't understand why he would do this. I've always sort of thought that I'm not going to hold it against an Akron coach if he leaves for a high major, but for the second time in a row (if it happens), this is not that, and just like I rooted against Dambrot and Duquesne I'm gonna root against Groce and CofC if this comes to pass.

Maybe we can sort of consolidate this eternal debate. I'm quite curious where the majority stands.

Any of you guys use, or can recommend, a good Zips wallpaper for my laptop? Preferences: 1. Either football, basketball, or not sport-specific. 2. Not tied to a single year (so no schedule wallpapers or celebrating a specific championship season) 3. Is badass. Thanks in advance!

In my time in Akron Public Schools (1981-1994), they crowed about how Sojourner Truth's famous speech happened in Akron. #OGAkronite

This is CINEMA, man. I can't stop watching. Why I love sports boiled down 59 seconds. The agony of defeat here is beautiful in its own way ("Head up, head up! Head up.") We are fortunate to be on the other side of that.

THIS IS OUR TEAM! THIS IS OUR TEAM!

Did anyone catch the CBSSN announcer calling this "The Rubber City Rivalry?" I laughed out loud, and for posterity I want to register my agreement with the idea that the rivalry name refers to our city only.

This is going to expose me as a filthy casual, but I see that the below scholarship players (according to the chart on the recruiting board) did not play tonight. Can someone tell me which of these guys are injured, redshirting this year, or DNP-CD? Zachary Halligan Cody Head Halil Barre Rich Brisco Eric Mahaffey Tai Perkins Josh Henderson

I just wanna say this: I think college football will be fine, and I don't think NIL is ruining college football; I actually think it's good. First and foremost to my "college football will be fine" claim is that I believe that kids want to play. That is to say, I think the number of kids who are happy to sit on the bench, get that sweet NIL $, and jeopardize their potential pro dreams is negligible. I also think schools willing to pay benchwarmers just to keep them away from other programs is also negligible. So while we hate that the big $ schools seize the best g5 and poor p5 players, the opposite also happens: players not getting a shot at Blueblood U are transferring to smaller programs because they want to play, first and foremost. So I think that the talent transfer works both ways in a way that basically makes it not very different than it was before NIL, or at least before the advent of the transfer portal. It might even create more parity, because making it harder to transfer, well, made fewer kids transfer! Kids that, hypothetically, might've busted out in a different/better situation. Finally, just on a philosophical level, I think players should be renumerated for being the core component of the multibillion dollar beast that is college football. These are young adults, but they are adults, and I don't hold them with cynicism ("these are just a bunch of spoiled, entitled punks!") or contempt. We wouldn't tell a programming whiz kid looking at options that he oughta be happy with a free education, or that his options for profiting off his talents should be limited until he is a bit older. That's because a lot of us inherently respect a college-age computer programmer more than a college football player, and therefore are more comfortable giving him options and more independence than a college football player. I don't think that's right, though.

You're right. And we finally have a tip time (7PM) and network (ESPN+).

Jay Norvell at Colorado State is another preposterous one. 6-1 in conference last year, best they've done in 22 years. 8 wins total, best in 10 years. Starts this year 2-5, 1-2 conference, gets fired. GMAFB.

Hello!

So Billy Napier was just fired after a WIN over Mississippi State, which considering I don't have any fandom or feelings for Florida (except slightly negative ones), has me pretty angry. First of all, while I'm sure UF fans and brass feel you need to blowout teams like Mississippi State, they are in fact pretty significantly improved, with a win over #24 Arizona State and taking #17 Tennessee to OT. Second of all, Florida's results, while disappointing, aren't DISASTROUS. Every team they lost to is in the top 20. They beat Texas worse than the consensus #1. Because no one can think for themselves, everyone is now following the lead of Penn State (and I mildly disagree with Franklin's firing too, but will absolutely concede their season had turned disastrous) and now there's been this whole slew of mid-season firings. Maybe they see what happened at UCLA (which is dumb; the plural of anecdote is not data) and think they too might be world-beaters after firing their coach mid-season. Mid-season firings IMO should be reserved for on-field disasters or off-field inexcusable stuff. I don't want to hear a single Florida mucky-muck complain about it being too easy for kids to transfer. The one bulwark you have against that is coaching stability. You CANNOT have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to firing coaches.

Maybe too much of one, considering what he's done in all other seasons post Kansas State? He did it as a #7 seed too, which on one hand, is more impressive than doing it with a #1 seed, but on the other hand, if you're saying it means he's an elite coach still, you're saying the four games he won in the 2017 speak more to how good of a coach he is than the the other 408 games he's coached since leaving KSU.

Well, my concern is for the availability of MAC games as a whole. All MAC homes games, except some against D2 or lower teams, have been on ESPN+ (or cable TV stations) on ESPN+ for a few years now. Most games in this MAC vs. SBC challenge do not feature top programs and as such, I would hope would already be on the ESPN+ "schedule," but they are not yet, which makes me nervous, like some contractual thing still has to be hammered out or resolved, and what if it doesn't? That's why I'm asking if anyone knows the length of the MAC agreement with ESPN. As far as this game specifically goes, I think you're overselling how much interest this is going to get from cable TV networks. If it's on ESPNU, it will have to work around Florida Atlantic at Boston College at 7 (already on the schedule), and if it's on CBSSN, it will have to work around Lehigh at Houston at 8 (ditto). I actually think ESPN and CBSSN both actually do a pretty good job of giving mid and low majors some love, but not really until conference play is underway and they have some idea who are the top dogs in each conference. Until then, they want games that involve at least one high major for the most part. I would be shocked if this game landed on ESPN2.

Speaking of which, it sure is making me nervous that we're in the eleventh hour here and MAC home games STILL aren't being listed on ESPN+ on sites that track that stuff, in contrast to similar and worse conferences. The MAC's deal with ESPN properties is still active, right? I sure would hate it if we couldn't find a streaming home, or worse, ended up on FloSports.

Not sure I agree with the bolded part. In ten years at South Carolina and three at UMass, he has zero NCAA tournament appearances outside the 2017 Final Four run, and he he's 26 games under .500 in league play in those 13 years. My feeling is, he gets more hype than others because he's a Bobby Knight-esque tough guy (minus serious transgressions like choking players). A lot of people love that type, a lot of people hate that type, and so the media is eager to cover him; he drives eyeballs.

Correction, and trivia: There's at least two other country outside of North American that do: The Philippines, and South Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-League_(basketball) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_basketball_in_the_Philippines

I was so confused by this post, and was going to ask for clarity on it, and then I got the joke just in time.