zippy-claws

So the verdict is in, and it is not good. I respect @Hilltopper greatly, and I hope he is right when he posted earlier that the T & F team is "rebuilding as we speak". It's going to be hard to get lower than they are right now. This past weekend we went over to BG for the Indoor MAC Championships, it was a disaster. The DEFENDING CHAMPION Akron women's team, which scored 117.5 points in 2022, finished 10th with 32.5, and only moved up from 11th because WMU dropped the baton the final event. Some positives. Amaya Clarke won the 60 dash and was 4th in the 200, but she was the only Zip in either event. 1 woman. We did have 4 entries in the 400, but only 1 qualified for the final, 2 entries in the 800 with 1 qualifier. We had zero women score in the mile and only 1 entry, who finished 20th out of 20. 1 entry in the 3,000 and she finished last. Zero entries in the 5,000. we had 1 hurdle entrant and she did not qualify for the finals. Distance Medley relay was 9th out of 11. Field events were worse. we didn't even enter a woman in the high jump. We had Cassidy Allen win a medal in pole vault, we had no women in the long jump. we had no women in the triple jump. Guess how many women we had in the shot put? NONE! But hey, we had 1 woman in the weight throw. And we did not enter a woman in the pentathlon. This is just so embarrassing from this storied program! So I really hope that @Hilltopperis correct. On the men's side we finished 3rd, out of 4 total teams. I wouldn't be surprised to see the MAC stop sponsoring men's track in the near future. We had 1 man in the 60 dash and he qualified for the finals. we had 2 men in the 200 and 1 qualified.. Jimmy Harkelroad and Sanders went 1-2 in the 400, Congrats to them! 1 qualified for the 800 out of 2 entries. we had 3 of the 10 mile entrants, and our best was 7th. If it wasn't for standout Brian Masai taking 2nd in the 3,000 and the 5,000 we probably would have been 4th in the team standings. WE DID NOT HAVE A MAN ENTERED IN THE 60 HURDLES! 3rd out of 4 for the 4 x 400. Noah Andu won the high jump, and Avalon Harper took 5th, good for them! We had 3 of the top 4 in men's pole vault, a bright spot, with Prieto winning. Haruki Saaki was 3rd in the long jump. Josiah Cox and Lane Graham went 2-3 in the shot, another bright spot, Milton Wilson and William Gross had strong performances in the weight throw. 1 Heptathlon athlete who finished last. Nowhere to go but up from here, and with us hosting he outdoor MACs we might just be embarrassed at home.

Corcoran would have helped a lot, had she stayed.

This was a very brave effort and the women seemed to have "rebounded" from last week's let-down. They played tough and didn't back down. I do have to say though that Camp hasn't had her head in the game for quite a while now.

Whenever we believe we are having problems, lows in our lives, these kind of things make us realize sometimes how lucky and blessed we truly are.

Exactly. Spot on.

As we've seen in other sports and at other programs, in the era of the Portal, it doesn't necessarily take 3 to 5 years to bring a program back, especially if the new coaching staff have some players who they coach or recruited that might want to make a move.

Thanks to @Basketballfan1 for giving us a run down on their take of what has occurred this past week. As stated above, finally some facts to discuss rather than innuendo. I too am a season ticket holder and go to the games when I'm back in Akron and watch the others thanks to ESPN+. The points all made above are valid, and as @clarkwgriswold said it's a civil discussion and appreciated. I was sky high on this team after the Non-conference schedule, although admitting it was against a lot of weaker teams. The Cleveland State game set off alarm bells in my head, but then we won the early "should win" games in the MAC and I got comfortable. The BG game collapse was the beginning of the end, and the complete blow-out vs. Ball State on the road made the deficiencies even more glaring. From there till today looked more like a team tanking as opposed to the admin tanking. Sometimes when a team learns their leadership is leaving, on its own or due to a firing/non-renewing, those teams respond with a "we'll show 'em" attitude, and go out and play hard and send the coach off with a positive note. This team started shutting down instead. Sadly. Not excusing the AD for his handling of the situation, just stating that the turn of events that got us here started way before last week in Kent.

@LoyalZIP is right. This post has bothered me for far longer than it should, because it makes no sense. How could the admin possibly benefit from this? I've been a critic of AD Guthrie, but he has publicly supported this team, at the games and engaging the athletes and fans. If Charles wants to not renew the staff, he doesn't need to manufacture a reason. And how does an AD or department "tank" the team anyway? What benefit to the school would this bring? If they fail to make the tourney, that's a black eye. These kind of losses hurts recruiting as does not making the tournament. This type of ending to the season almost ensures talent like Bass will enter the portal. Attendance already is abysmal, and this ensures zero interest in the last two home games. As LoyalZIP points out, admin has flaws but one of them is not being stupid. And as I said waaay earlier, if they wanted to "tank" then why did we win Wednesday night? Arrrrggghhhhh! It makes no sense.

@Hilltopper knows more of what goes on internally with lots of the programs, any thoughts on what GoZips10 is referring too?

Amen! I know it was a magical time, but it's over now.

I'm in the dark here (nothing new!). What does "The week these student athletes have had..." Reference? All I knew this week was a win over EMU. What else occurred? And how did the administration decide to tank? And why would they anyway? The same starters, no real changes that I'm aware of, anyone know? Today however was a disaster....

Molly has been a real leader the past 5-6 games. Dominique was "what the heck?" that last possession, thought we had given it away. But she seemed more into the assist game last night than scoring. Rachel is not only not scoring but seems invisible out there. And just about the time I'm asking why Alexis is on the floor she hits a couple big shots or gets a big steal, so kudos to her. But it was a needed win, that's for sure. The cheerleaders put on a HECK of a show with their Nationals performance last night though! Wow!

I'll revisit your statement next season. Re-loading with quantity isn't the same as with quality. Winning a MAC with only 5 teams in it on the men's side isn't the same as sending 14 athletes to the NCAA regionals, and the women won't finish above 5th place this season, IMHO. I hope you are right, but I have serious doubts when I see what left, and see where credible athletes are going and that's not Akron.

May want to hold back "excepting those like track and field/CC" from what I've witnessed so far this season. Some creative writing in GoZips.com makes it seem a lot better than it is. Especially on the women's side. We'll have to see how the staff can recruit, but with all the defections after Coach Mitchell left, I think this program is headed to be a Zombie program, one the University funds barely to keep their status numbers up for Title IX and that's it.

Everything from this sentence on by LoyalZip is a spot-on analysis of this season and team (didn't want to take up too much space in quoting him). Kudos LZ, succinct, well put, and I couldn't agree more. It's frustrating. But it's great you come out to the games and watch too. Lots of empty seats....not that that's a surprise for a women's sporting event.

Love the athletes, but so many basics seem to be missing now. Rebounds are made and the ball's brought down to be slapped or wrested out of the bounders hands. Passes telegraphed and easily picked off. Settling for three point shots right away without looking for an option. Shot clock management. But mostly strength. They are having balls taken from them with ease, where is the strength coach? But agree with above, they still keep hanging in there despite terrible numbers of turnovers. They had a chance anyway. Also, used to think Todd Starkey from KSU was the biggest crybaby coach in the MAC but Brady Sallee is far worse, and is very vulgar with his language as well...Hoping they get knocked out early in Cleveland.

Thanks Dr. z for all the work you do, and did to get things straightened out. You never get the credit you deserve....

I've got the same issue as Hilltopper, except I'm on a windows laptop. I can't advance past page 1 on any topic...

Nothing quite says "You're a valuable game to us here at ESPN" like having your play-by-play and analyst working from their bedroom offices instead of actually being at the game and experiencing things. How in the world could they comment in the student section, the atmosphere, or even some of the plays and calls by watching on a monitor, while the kiddies are playing romper room in the next room? What a joke. This is the second Zips game that had "remote" announcers. Give me Michael Reghi and Jeff Phelps back.....

If you drive out to Summit Mall or even up to Macedonia, the Rally Sports stores have a HUGE selection of new logoed clothing, and a lot of them are not Nike, and reasonably priced. Really!

This is so absolutely laughable!!! How embarrassing that this poor soul believes this crap. No mention of the innocent little incident by the Kent TEAM rushing our student section after the JAR gam last year, knocking over "seasoned" citizens sitting in the expensive seats? Yeah, I can see Dr. Miller or AD Guthrie grabbing the mic and talking to the fans....really!!?? What a complete absolute loser Mr. anti-zip is. And did anti-zip sit in the stands at last night's women's game and here the ugliness coming from their fans, almost all of which were adults, not students, by the way? Maybe Mr. anti-zip was one of them?

Keiser seems to be an almost exclusive foreign-born school, at least athletically. The last two years their swimming team came to Ocacek for the Zippy Invite, and they didn't have a name you could pronounce, so these soccer players will fit in nicely! 😆 Great bunch of kids that came up, but it's almost like they are foreign exchange program!

Totally Agree! We've got several GREAT shirts, sweatshirts and hats, from them, even a couple Christmas Ornaments! Great company with innovative ways to get around traditional branding.

One thing they REALLY need to do - or not do - tonight is miss lay-ups. Sooo many missed opportunites the last few games in the paint. RB seems to be forcing the shot, and over-shooting the rim, and the same goes for Layne. But Molly has been consistent down low, so just need the rest to make the bunnies.

Try sitting through one of our Swim/Dive meets!!!!!