egregiousbob

Quaker was an investment without a plan. Complete waste of money. Example of the mania of Proenza's later years. Another was overspending on InfoCision. The Big 10 caliber tower could have been built for $20M less and still more than served its function.

Gary Trent was both FOTY and POTY. Has that been replicated? I'd guess so.

I live in Akron and want the university to survive and thrive. But I find it interesting that UA and Toledo are roughly equivalent in many key rankings...and both have experienced severe (40% +) enrollment declines over the past decade. They also show similar financial strength profiles, as seen in an interesting ABJ article today. I hope this doesn't happen, but if state university consolidation does occur in the next 10 years, both UT and Akron are in jeopardy. I suspect the state will revert to its original "4 in the corners, one in the middle" higher education structure, which would consolidate a bunch of schools in the NE, NW and SW quadrants.

That's such a simplistic argument. Compare test scores and GPA of incoming students. Compare rankings of national research universities. Hell, even compare rankings of engineering schools, where Ohio recently passed UA in overall program quality. Is Athens fun? Yes, but OU offers a very good education and a superior total student experience. The latter explains the higher engagement of Ohio students and alums with the school's athletic programs, which tends to pee off other MAC alumni. As to long-term enrollment trends, the university's post-Covid enrollment is 28k+ versus about 31k pre-pandemic, but trends are up given two consecutive record-setting freshman classes.

I wouldn't include Ohio, Miami or BG in your list of schools facing enrollment problems. BG is near an all-time high. Ohio has had record size freshman classes each of the past two years. Toledo and Wright State, like Akron, are struggling. All three are urban schools...gotta be something there. With regard to budget figures, schools are not consistent in how they account for athletic expenditures. Buffalo, for example, pays for facilities out of the general fund, unlike Ohio schools.

I guess our culture does not prioritize spelling/grammar?😇

Also mentioned is Toledo's Jason Candle.

Ohio's program is broken.

He's looking for NIL money.

Playing at the 'Shoe is a thrill for players. That's a positive.

Joe Dunn in a good dude and very professional. He just doesn't have much to work with in terms of on-field competence.

No Morehead press conference this week? No postgame comments either.

For me, Undercuffler will always be the guy caught yelling F-bombs at officials on live television. Wonder if his verbal skills are on par with last season.

Yeah, gotta hate those games with three TDs in the final 4 minutes. Boooorrring.

No doubt Joe Dunn will begin with a question like, 'Well, coach, for the eighth straight week you came into the first quarter with a chance to win the game but just couldn't quite close it out."

The predicted 43-yard FG is a bold, bold take.

You failed to mention one other fascinating and fun variable -- the BGSU wind tunnel.

I know you don't like Jim Grobe but he turned around a moribund Ohio program and had 11-, 9- and 8-win seasons at Wake. He had a lot of fire behind the scenes and held people accountable. Not sure I am seeing the same in Joe M. at this point.

Definitely marketing spin. Total enrollment up by a whopping 4 students over last year, but number of undergraduates down several hundred. More work to do to effectively communicate UA's value proposition to prospective students.