DannyHoke

So they produced a report in his first two years and made it public, but you are saying they produced an annual report for the last two years and did not make it public? Wonder what Larry is trying to hide? Not exactly good donor relations if you take people's money and do not show how dollars are being spent.

Here is Northern Illinois' Athletics 2018-19 Annual Report, still waiting to see if Larry Williams will put one out for 2018-19 after not doing one in 2017-18 https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/niuhuskies.com/documents/2019/10/1/2018_2019_Annual_Report_Final.pdf

Here is Northern Illinois' Athletics 2018-19 Annual Report, still waiting to see if Larry Williams will put one out for 2018-19 after not doing one in 2017-18 https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/niuhuskies.com/documents/2019/10/1/2018_2019_Annual_Report_Final.pdf

Getting excited about the leadership and rally in the loss to the next to worst team in college football is an incredible commitment to being an optimist. Bravo.

Bringing in two new sports with no scholarships and no revenue generation potential, only expenses, and failing to provide an outdoor track for the program that truly gives you International Exposure? Where is the logic in these decisions? We are adding sports when the ones that we do have are not achieving at a high level and when donor money is not positively comparable to the other MAC schools. But hey, we have women's hoops and swimming so things are all rosy.

It's about all sports, but Williams is supposedly a "Football" guy and he is destroying the football program. 0-12, also known as breaking new ground in underachievement, which is tough to do as a Zip post Ianello.

Sorry, but bringing back baseball and not supporting it with at least the very same level of scholarship support it had in 2015 is a slap in the face to every alum who played the sport. Zero logic in what is being done here. Weak leadership.

Tribble is Trouble. He's going to be special.

"We are excited to welcome Tom Arth to the University of Akron," Director of Athletics Larry Williams said. "Tom's experience in leading two programs and his ties to Northeast Ohio made him the exceptional candidate to elevate our program. Not only does Tom have a tremendous football IQ, but he cares deeply about the student-athletes and their future endeavors." He was a D3 head coach for 4 years and destroyed the UTC program in two years. The Chattanooga AD won the lottery in that Williams PAID HIM $370,000 to take away his losing head coach.

Lance Leipold was the Head Coach at Wisconsin–Whitewater Warhawks and won the NCAA Division III Football Championship in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 and were runners-up in 2008. Their opponent in each of those title games was Mount Union. Leipold reached 100 victories faster than any coach in National Collegiate Athletic Association history, doing so in his 106th game on October 18, 2014. Contrast this to Tom Arth, who went 40-8 as a D3 head coach, never made it to the NCAA Finals, and who took over a Chattanooga program that was a playoff team and went 9-13, 7-9 in conference play, and lost 5 of the last 7 games last year before Akron was the only school in America that felt like he should be a D1 FBS head coach.

So since the parents of bench players like the nice D3 coach we should be all giddy? D3 coaches are really nice people, they have to be, they don't give scholarships. The kids are all paying their own way to play so the coaches are nice to keep enrollment numbers up. Akron is a NCAA Division I FBS Program and we give 85 scholarships a year and pay coaches/football support staff more than 2.5 million dollars in salary and benefits. It's their job to win games, not be summer camp counselors. 0-12

Engaging Donors must not be going well if the Athletics Department cannot (a) raise big bucks or (b) sell season tickets The only significant fundraising over the past year is to reinstate a baseball program that has no scholarships and will be a BIG LOSER. Gee, great idea. One month the Interim President is saying we may need to cu the budget by millions of dollars and then in the next breath we are adding two sports that are not offering scholarships, but will play against scholarship teams? This is DUMB.

Which means NOTHING. 0-12... 1-11. it's all in the IANELLO ZONE, which obviously is good enough for you.

You are totally incorrect. The University of Akron is on the record as saying they have ONE total scholarship for baseball. "For comparison, when the team played in 2014-15, total expenses were $263,787, not including $284,933 in scholarships split between 28 players, according to reports made to the NCAA. The athletics department currently has one endowed scholarship available." https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/03/university-of-akron-baseball-returns-in-2020-aided-by-1-million-donation-how-much-will-it-cost.html And this from BASEBALL AMERICA: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/akron-announces-plan-to-restore-baseball-program/ As rare as the restoration of a baseball program is, Akron’s plan to do so is even more novel. The plan is so frugal that Wilson believes baseball, typically thought of as a non-revenue sport in the college landscape, can be revenue positive. Akron’s biggest cost savings will come in the area of scholarships. Any athletic scholarships for baseball or lacrosse players will be funded privately and not by the university. The program will operate on a frugal budget and take advantage of donations and other cost-saving opportunities. Under NCAA rules, a Division 1 baseball team's 11.7 scholarships can be divided between a maximum of 27 players on a 35-player roster, with all players on athletic scholarship having to receive a minimum of a 25 percent scholarship. https://www.ncsasports.org/baseball/scholarships

iCoach 2.0 = 0fer 12

I wish that Akron was in Conference USA.

I do go to these games and I have yet to see Larry Williams engaging regular fans. Maybe he is hanging with the big donors. There are not many of us regular fans at the games so it's not too tough. As for Van Horne he is not interested in regular fans. I tried to chat him up at the MAC Tournament a few year ago and he could not make eye contact and was constantly looking around for other people. Do not trust him. Track and Field and Swimming. Big revenue drivers are they? Yeah, thanks for that. Yeah, I talked to Keith. In other words, it's BS numbers. Thanks. No, I probably would not have paid another $80K to a soccer coach that was not going to get the job at Louisville in as much as Ken Lolla endorsed John Michael Hayden, a Louisville native who was Lolla's top assistant coach with the Cardinals for four seasons before getting the job last year. Just because Jared interviewed at Louisville did not mean he was going to get an offer, which he was not. Williams got played for an $80K raise. And, more importantly, the Athletics Department is drowning in red ink, and now not only are we paying off a former football staff, paying the new one more to be o-fer the season, and now the soccer coach is making $300K a year with a needless raise. Again, thanks for playing. International Media Coverage? Please. Akron Track and Field gets more international media coverage for the pole vaulters. Fact. I'll cut back on the coffee when you cutback on the Kool Aid.

Akron Athletics is facing major budget cuts but Larry Williams keeps spending $$$ Another $80,000 for Jared Embrick of Zips men's soccer. Total Salary of $300,000 a year for the men's soccer coach? https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2019/02/06/akron-soccer-coach-got-big-raise-off-louisville-interest/2790313002/ We would all agree that Men's Soccer is Akron's Premier Sport, but at what point, given the fiscal issues facing Zips Athletics, do you simply not pay more to a coach to keep them from leaving? Akron is a MID MAJOR, not a POWER 5 school. Akron is a POOR Mid Major that gets $24,289,339, or 70.2% of it's $34,873,226 annual budget from STUDENT FEES. https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/

https://www.crainscleveland.com/kevin-kleps-blog/hiring-new-football-coach-tom-arth-costly-short-term-akron-banking-future-gains UA Interim president Dr. John Green has outlined a three-year action plan for the university that has been endorsed by Akron's board of trustees. The plan calls for the Zips' athletics department to reduce costs by $3 million over the next three years and generate an additional $5 million in revenues. As you might expect, a significant part of that responsibility will fall on football, which is easily the Zips' most expensive sport — and the one that brings in the most revenue. Priority No. 2 for the athletic department, after maximizing its philanthropic impact, is to "profoundly increase" ticket sales. The plan calls for the football program to produce a net gain of almost $2 million in fiscal years 2020, '21 and '22. The plan says football-related advertising will increase by a respective $200,000, $225,000 and $250,000 in those three years. >>> MONEY GOING OUT The goal is for ticket sales to go up $500,000, $750,000 and $1 million, respectively. <<< IS MONEY COMING IN? The university is also hoping that football-related sponsorships will increase by a combined $150,000 in the three years ... and revenue from concessions will go up $210,000 in 2020, '21 and '22. No Annual Report outlining Larry Williams vision for accomplishing these tasks No Communications from Larry Williams, the $285,000 a year leader of Zips Athletics

"Dr. Green said that Arth was worth jumping through these financial hoops to make it work because they think the St. Ignatius-John Carroll-Cleveland royal family football coach is worth it. We'll see. But at least as opposed to running up more deficits, it does sound like they figured their way out of this mess." https://radio.wosu.org/post/view-pluto-how-akron-plans-pay-1m-cost-changing-football-coaches#stream/0

This came out in June... Where has Larry Williams been in communicating a "Vision" to Zips Fans about Zips Athletics? https://www.ohio.com/news/20190607/ua-sports-teams-could-face-cuts-over-next-3-years Athletic Director Larry Williams, reached by phone after the meeting, called the tightening of his department’s budget a “daunting objective,” but a process that improves greatly if revenues from ticket sales increase. “If we reach the targets, great, our future is easier,” Williams said. “If we have a shortfall, our future is going to be even more daunting, so that’s the way we’re approaching it.” University of Akron Athletic Director Larry Williams received a five-year contract when he was hired in August of 2015 worth $285,000 annually.

UNI is not Division I football and has no money to fund such a move, so this is moot thought. https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/college/2015/07/17/uni-iowa-isu-regents-funding-subsidies/30301673/

Great pics. Unfortunately the lack of crowd that I saw with my eyes and that are in the background of many of these shots tells a sad story about the support for the football program.

No one here can make an impact with what is going on between the lines, that's purely up to the coaches and players. While that is obviously a work in progress I am truly concerned about the off the field presence of the program. You'd think with the AD being a "football guy" that he would have some sort of presence, yet you would be hard pressed to find him engaging fans or anywhere out and about on game days. Larry Williams is not on social media at all. He's invisible. https://gozips.com/sports/2017/6/28/social-media.aspx In 4 years on the job, what has Larry Williams done to make Akron Athletics better? Check out this Plain Dealer article where Williams says football attendance is the #1 issue facing the department https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2015/08/akron_ad_larry_williams_says_g.html 2013: 17,850 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2013Release.pdf 2014: 9,170 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2014.pdf 2015: 18,098 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2015.pdf LW Year #1 > 2016: 10,337 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2016.pdf LW Year #2 > 2017: 19,569 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf Kent State game highlights - look at this empty stadium LW Year #3 > 2018: 18,515 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2018.pdf 2018 AKRON FOOTBALL ATTENDANCE BREAKOUT Sat., Sept. 8 MORGAN STATE - 18,413 Sat., Oct. 6 *MIAMI (Ohio) - 22,437 Sat., Oct. 27 *CENTRAL MICHIGAN - 17,582 Thurs., Nov. 1 *NORTHERN ILLINOIS - 16,401 Sat., Nov. 17 *BOWLING GREEN - 17,742 I would love to see the real numbers of tickets sold, and a real count of actual people in the stadium as none of these crowds are reality. The University of Akron is a public institution yet no where can you find an Annual Report from the Athletics Director for the last two years (2017-18 or 2018-19) that outlines performance. Actual ticket sales numbers, audited, and corresponding dollars per sport. Lots of schools do it, such as Kent State https://kentstatesports.com/documents/2018/10/31/Annual_Report_Final_w__Sig_2017_18.pdf The last Zips Annual Report came out August 21, 2017... https://www.google.com/search?q=akron+athletics+annual+report&oq=akron+athletics+annual+report&aqs=chrome..69i57.5013j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Since this came out Larry Williams has not been sharing much about how he has been operating, including the real numbers behind that big football attendance jump from 2017 to 2018. What is Larry Williams' hiding by not putting out the information. What does it say about an Athletics Department that cannot even produce an annual report card on how they spend their money that donors are giving them? LW Year #4 > 2019: 18,972 vs UAB With all due respect, there were not 16,954 people in Infocision Stadium on Saturday. What a total lie. Look at the numbers above and tell me that there Check out this ABJ article from 2015 where Williams lays out his priorities for Akron Athletics: https://www.ohio.com/article/20150825/NEWS/308258977 “My No. 1 challenge will be to find means by which we can connect with people who are waiting for something special to happen,” he said. • How has Akron Athletics connected more with the Fans in Williams' 4 years on the job? “We’re going to speak to them in their language with their tools. I don’t think there’s an apathy. I think everyone wants to be proud of where they are and where they’re going to school and where they’re spending their money and their time.” • How has Akron Athletics spoken to the fans in "their language"? Football takes precedence in that regard as debt payments on InfoCision Stadium represent a significant portion of UA’s financial woes. “I think it’s the first and absolute key,” Williams said of improving the team’s attendance. “It would go a long way and I want to make sure however we do it, we make it affordable and accessible for anyone who comes here.” • How has Akron Athletics made going to football games more attractive to students? alumni? fans? Williams, who comes to UA from Equity Management, where he led the country’s largest corporate licensing program, said something Zips athletics supporters shouldn’t count on is the baseball team’s return. He supports the elimination given the financial considerations. “That is the toughest thing to do, to tell a young man or young woman that you can’t support that program anymore,” he said. “Those are hard decisions.” • Yet while the University of Akron is bleeding financially, Larry Williams adds two sports: Baseball and Women's Lacrosse, which are non-scholarship yet competing against scholarship teams. This makes sense how? 4 years, and Williams has run off the basketball coach who was an Alum and had us winning conference championships and he ran off Bowden who took us to bowl games in 2 of the last 4 years. Again, it's a simple question... What has Larry Williams done to make Akron Athletics better?

0-12 is coming.