Zip-Grad '13

Not sorry for stating the objectively obvious.

This team is getting me to buy back-into Zips basketball!!! That was fun game with Tulane! Phew, THANK GODDNESS BAKSETBALL SEASON IS HERE

Akron is the WORST team in FBS. I'm not holding my breath

Why should Bowden do that? Contracts are contracts. If you're UA you ride with Bowden until his contract is up like Kent did with their previous coach. It certainly doesn't help you to fire that guy and go to worse.

It was 5-years before OU started going to Bowl games-every year, and Uncle Solich took over a program that was hardly mediocre (putting Ohio in a completely different place than Akron). If anything people should point to Miami who seems to be getting to consistently winning season after 6-years under Chuck Martin...and not looking at being NIU and OUs. Miami was in a position similar to that of Akron.

NIU is clearly the exception to the rule, not the rule. Joe Novak built a very successful NIU program over 12-years. His first 3 seasons combined were under 6 wins. His first 6 seasons NIU never had more than 6-wins in a single season; first 4 under .500. It wasn't until his 7th season that they saw "real" success; going 8-4; and didn't get to a Bowl game until 2004 (season #9 for him). We can say that "times have changed"...which is fair...but if NIU had listened to the "don't tolerate failure" mentality, and firing people without understanding what it takes to build long-term success (stability) than NIU would not have become the long-term success it was. After 12-seasons; Jerry Kill (a coach with 14-years coaching experience, 7 at FCS with considerable success) took over the program the already well-established program. It wasn't like starting from scratch; and he had proven himself at every level he had been at. That trend continued for him. Dave Doeren (defensive coordinator for Wisconsin for three years...so coaching and recruiting experience in Division-1) took over an already well-established and successful program; and continued that success, and was hired by NC State. Rod Kerry was already a coach under Doeren, and OC; and took over the team for the next 7-years before being hired by Temple. NIU has been successful because it gave 12-years to ONE coach to build a damn program to a level of sustainability. Bowden was our opportunity to do that; it was working...and we jettisoned him too early IMHO. I know it's not what people want to hear, but it's a damn fact. Akron WILL NOT BE COMPETITIVE in the remote future; and will likely jettison Arth before he can build a sustainable program. If you want a consistent winner like NIU, OU, and WMU; you just lost your opportunity for that. NIU and OU the common denominator is longterm stability and dedication to building a stable program. When Akron fired Bowden; they've set themselves back AT LEAST 3-5 years before they have an attempt to have a stable program like NIU, OU; and I would honestly put it at a decade. 10-years before Akron has another chance of having a stable program. NIU and OU got to being in Bowl games every year because they built the program already. We were in the midst of doing that. OU and NIU were 4-5 years ahead of us in program stability and development. Period. It basically took NIU 9-seasons to start that consistently appearing in Bowl Games; Using NIU as the measuring stick; Bowden was AHEAD of where NIU was at in it's program's road to developmental success. Bowden had 2-Bowl games and a MAC-C appearance where NIU had neither at equal points in program development.

Just go look at the history of the MAC. Teams that do the best, the most; are the teams with the least amount of change. You'll have your Kents, or BGSUs that bust out a 2-3 year stretch of really, really awesome success...then those coaches move on and the programs are back to crap. What has Kent done since it was in The MAC-C 7 years ago? Oh...nothing. What has BGSU done since it was in the MAC-C 5-years ago? Oh...gone back to crap. What did Miami do for 9-years after it was last in the MAC-C? Oh...pretty much a bottom dweller until this year/sorta last year. And your math is wrong. Unless you're one of those teams that ALWAYS goes bowling (cough, Ohio...because you don't up and fire the coach like idiots chasing lottery tickets like Tom Arth...) you have more like a 4-10 (~40%) chance of going bowling. so it's not 4-5 bowls in 7 years (that's Ohio territory, who doesn't play the lottery and jettison coaches to hire Tom Arth's/Ianellos) It should be about 2.8; and I'll round up and put it at 3. I don't have the time to do it now; but I'd be willing to bet over a 7-year stretch the average MAC team goes 3-bowls every 7 years not 4-5. 4-5 over a 7 year span is the TOP, the cream-of-the-crop of the MAC. And if we excluded the "first-year" (because the coach gets a "bye" year right?) its 2.4 which rounds to 2. So Bowden preformed precisely where he should have on the "average" MAC team. Certainly not the "below average" crap you guys keep spouting.

I will apologize if I'm being too annoying on this point...I'm just so damn frustrated with Zips Football right now. Thank goodness it's Basketball season.

We were also picked to be middle-of-the-pack to bottom of the MAC when we won the MAC East. Pre-season polls mean nothing, let's be real here. Anyone watching CMU knew that there was potential to be better than what their record was. And this year they beat-up on bottom dwellers (which we did each the year we went to the MAC C). Like we'll use CMU as an example of going "worst-to-first" but discredit when Akron basically did the same thing. The Ultimate question is: Will CMU have success beyond this one-year or will they be one-and-done.

Amen to that.

No Bowden is not Solich. But he was a hell of a lot closer than any of the other losers we've had here, including Arth. You can't go from Worst to first if you're Akron. Especially after an 0-12 season. Especially after 2-22. I want whatever you guys are smoking.

We were! We were ONE year removed from a MAC-C game. Each season of the last 3-4 with Bowden, there was a serious chance for the Zips to be at the Top. Injuries and some damn bad luck was always a contributor as well. There are Ohio States and Michigans holding us back: Ohio's and Toledo's. We're already in the Shadow of Four Big-10 Teams; share the exact same footprint with the entire division we play in; and Ohio/Toledo both have consistent success over us; and have proven success. It's ludicrous to expect Akron to have above 500 every year or fire the coach mentality; because that mentality lands us with freaking 0-12. When Ohio has a down year or two they don't fire the coach. It's utter stupidity. He had two winning seasons, the 7-7 season was a winning season prior to the post-season. Pretending it's not a "winning season" because they lost the MACC and Bowl game...I'll take that every 2-3 years over 0-12 with no hope or light at the end of the tunnel EVERY SINGLE DAY. Ever other FBS team not in the MAC? Sure. Ohio wouldn't have. Frank Solich has had down years and they've kept trucking along with him. And how much succes have those other FBS schools had? Look at the freaking MAC, and every other conference where teams regularly change over coaches? Tennessee...Purdue...it's just utter stupidity! And we don't have 1/100th the name recognition they have! Delusional. Delusional. Delusional.

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculously fallacious thing to say. The MAC is not the BIG-10 where schools can afford to fire coaches year-in-year-out. The schools in the MAC DO NOT have the name draw an OSU/Purdue/Minnesota, has. By virtue of their name recognition alone they can draw in players. Akron cannot. If Akron had said 5-7 wasn't good enough and fired Bowden it wouldn't have had it's first 8-win season the following year. We both know it. Like seriously, what UNIVERSE are some of you Akron Zips fans living in!?

It'll take 0-36 and sitting alone holding hands in Infocision to realize it.

That's good to know! I never did get my season tickets though is probably part of the problem. There was apparently some sort of left-hand-not-talking-to-the-right-hand when I changed my address. Thanks!

Amen to everything you said in this post. Dumbest mistake was firing Bowden. This forum drove off most of the young people. @Balsy posted frequently and was driven off (banned) for posting anti-Arth stuff in the proper thread. Seems just about the vast majority of the Forum is on board now with what he had been saying. And that makes you a damn fool. 1) It starts with not firing a named legacy coach with 2-years left on his contract. 2) Can we also stop saying things like "it won't be settled on an internet forum"; because it's quite dismissive to the reason a forum exists in the first place. A "Forum" was a literal marketplace/public place in Roman cities that was generally a meeting place for open discussion. This particular "Forum" is dedicated to open discussion about the Zips. No one is by any means under any impression that some actual impact is going to be made on the Zips by what is said here...but a forum isn't supposed to enact direct change, just be a place to talk about things...and the things to talk about ARE NOT happy right now. 0-12 is worth of extensive dragging through the mud.

What about the Season ticket holders? Guess they don't get the dufflebag...?

Might as well get a penalty for the band playing. What other possible reason could you be at that game? Certainly not to watch the crap on the field.

New York Times story on taxation features Akron, Ohio.

Yeah...the Zips were infinitely more competitive and competent in Bowden's 1-11 season than in Arth's 0-12 season. The Zips were in shoot-outs against various teams that year that came down the wire; and the Zips were tied with a 3-1 SEC team at halftime. Arth's first year (about to be 0-12) is more comparable to Ianello's 1-11 season than Bowden's 1-11 season. That's an objective fact. No. Because when we have a thread created for it members get banned for posting about said topic in the appropriate thread. (Balsy comes to mind).

Terry Bowden > Tom Arth. That's for damn sure...

Soooooo true. Yeah...I really miss those days. One of the most fun games I've been at:

No-one is going to go to a weekday Akron Zips game. I have the Alumni season ticket plan, and it's not worth the gas I put into my car and the time I'd put into driving over to the stadium for this crap-show. They could give me a ticket for free and I'd still have zero incentive to go. We haven't had a running back since Jawon Chisholm and Conor Hundley. And even when Hundley was here we had to go to Cody Grice to pick up 3rd-and-1. The answer is no. Arth will be no different than Ianello. The U will find itself in the same situation in a years time, but there will not be another Terry Bowden in waiting to come save the Akron Zips football program.

Akron already had that reputation over the past 7-years. One of my most favorite games ever was in 2013, last game of the year on Thanksgiving weekend, it was a cold snowed out day with only the diehards in attendance and it also happened to be a couple weeks before I graduated : ) : Just rewatching this makes me sad about how Zips Football used to be somewhat (a little) hopeful and fun to watch sometimes. Kyle Pohl, Jawon Chisholm, Justin March, man some fun players to watch. Now it's just depressing to watch. Bowden definitely gave us some fun games and excitement, and I wish there wouldn't have been such pressure to get rid of him for Arth. There is absolutely nothing to get excited about.

Be careful with comments like that...you might get banned! And how exactly are these OL and DL transfers going to get to Akron? It's an 0-12 team, with a no-name head-coach...in the middle of Ohio.