UA1996MAENG

Another dip in enrollment is likely, unfortunately, and not just for UA. It's been said often: Ohio has a stagnant population and "too many" universities. I think we have another issue: there are fewer and fewer high school seniors who intend on entering universities who are actually prepared for college work. I'll use my son as an example. He got through his first year at UA in mechanical engineering, but he really struggled with math (C-) and statics (failed). Here was a kid who graduated with honors from our supposedly excellent local school district, and he admitted that he was just not ready for the "hard classes''. UA's secondary problem after declining freshmen enrollment is the retention of current students. My kid is going back to UA for year two, but so many will not. I think UA’s freshman retention rate is under 50%. That might be worse, all things considered, than a smaller fall 2024 freshman class.

I agree. We're not going to find out who the shooter was on the grassy knoll, so it's time to move on and support President Nemer.

1.8 is better than a kick in the balls but not by much.

Agreed. I don't know how UA and most G5 universities would fund athletics, specifically football, without these awful blood-money games, but I long ago refused to attend or watch them for the same reason I thought the Harlem Globetrotter games were obvious bullshit when I was 10. The outcome is predetermined and in some situations it’s potentially dangerous for teams that are simply out-matched physically across the board. What's the payout for this OSU game? I hope it's more than a million because the risk is simply too high in terms of negative exposure and the potential injury to athletes whom UA needs for there to be any hope of conference wins. Playing a team like Indiana, when possible, makes sense and clearly even a struggling UA can play with and perhaps beat the Hoosiers. What I find interesting is what happens over the next few years when it’s clear to everyone that the already huge disparity within the Big10 over the last 100 years will increase exponentially. The public is used to OSU 50 IU 17. How do the lesser teams in the Big10 come to grips with the future of “OSU 70 - IU 3”? At what point do these universities tire of the beat-downs? With that kind of media money, I guess never?

https://collegefootballnews.com/news/ncaa-academic-progress-rate-2024-apr-ranking-of-all-134-college-football-schools Is this APR dumb or do I not understand it after all these years? UA is last on the 2024 list. Ohio State is first. The standards for scoring up to 1000 points seems to be rather meaningless, much of it depending today on the "stability" of your roster in the context of the transfer portal - not so much the true academic performance of the individual student-athletes. When Number 1 scores 1000 and Number 134 scores 925, what does this really reveal? Maybe it's just that the scoring scale is senseless. Scale it 0-100 just to be closer to an academic score range. Did Akron score low because at the time of evaluation it simply had fewer athletes on the roster who could be categorized as 1. being enrolled on scholarship and 2 having completed courses at UA in good acadmeic standing? From the NCAA, the APR is calculated as follows ... - Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible. - A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate. - In addition to a team’s current-year APR, its rolling four-year APR is also used to determine accountability.

I'm not an expert on demography or higher education as a subject of national study and analysis, but university enrollment in the U.S. has naturally increased as the country's population increased. We witnessed declines after a peak around 2010-2011 and certainly in these post-COVID years, but the overall trend in the years that UA pursued expansion and the construction of new facilities (after decades of neglect) was not necessarily misguided in theory. What Proenza did in particular I am not able to evaluate. The projection for the future is increased enrollment nationally for both public and private colleges. Trying to remain positive, we can at least hope that when the wave comes back that UA will be ready with its long-term planning and current infrastructure. UA might never again reach the 24k level of enrollment, but returning to a consistent and predictable 18-20k is not impossible. I think, however, that any incremental increase in enrollment will have to be facilitated by an expansion in program offerings, an investment that I agree is a tough sell considering the current financial position of our university. I hope new UA President Nemer can make this transition. Considering his background, I think he will.

I grew up in Cincinnati with all those great Catholic programs like Moeller, St. X, Elder, etc. It seems like those are great TEAMS specifically - well coached, motivated, disciplined. However, it does not seem that these schools have as many legitimate D1 prospects as the "power" public schools. You'd think with all their post-season success that they'd send more kids to an Ohio State or Michigan, for exmaple, but I can't remember the last time I saw a GCL kid sign with the Buckeyes.

That type of hire is almost always a failure. I can't recall even one that worked unless we consider KSU’s hiring of Darrell Hazell from OSU as a position coach). The MAC in particular seems to sniff around large programs for anyone, absolutely anyone, from P5 programs to lead a program. I have an allergic reaction every time I hear something like "Notre Recruiting Coordinator" or "Ohio State assistant to the assistant WR coach..." Ionello is certainly the best worst example of name-brand candidates without any proven skill. It’s been a long time since he was fired, but it still seems like his two years at UA is part of the problem today.

G5 separation is coming in some form. No need to get naked yet. College football is a mess by virtue of the fact that it's not really college football anymore in the upper reaches of the Power conferences. What makes it so grotesque is that 100% professional teams (Ohio State, for example) will play essentially amateur and underfunded teams, including some members of its own conference. Anyone who thinks this is good for college football is the same type of idiot who thinks bullfighting, shooting fish in a barrel, and the Harlem Globetrotters is sport.

So what helps the MAC? Is it expansion a la Western Kentucky et al that many here support? A merger or association with Sun Belt or C-USA to expand the footprint to the point where a real boost in media revenue is a possibility? I worry about the MAC existentially because a few years from now the pay-day games with the Power conferences will become a rarity. UA, for example, will not be able to fund football without this revenue and then what? We go back again to cancelling baseball and cross country programs? Your the MAC commisioner for the day - what's your first move?

Size of the TV market matters. Massachussettes has 7 million+; Kentucky has 4.5 million. Ratings determine a lot, so the Boston and Massachussettes market is not bad addition. I'm just not sure why there is such negative about UMASS. Again, has any other univeristy petitioned to join recently that you'd prefer? The MAC is "worse" today becuase it has little or no national TV audience (it never had this). It's one of the last regional conferences, and that's what it will remain for better or worse.

Many people on this forum are luke warm to negative about UMASS joining the MAC, but I think it's a really good addition. It's a highly respected and nationallly ranked university, and it's within the orbit of the Boston TV market. I don't see any negatives in this move. Are there other universities that would be a good fit? Sure, but there has to be interest from those universities for it to become a reality. So far, I have not heard that WKU and others are calling the MAC to join.

The more I read about President Nemer the more I like the decision. I like that he's an Akron native and a two-time graduate of The University of Akron. It is true that it is often desirable in academia to seek candidates from outside of your institution - “new blood” (from graduate students to professors to presidents/chancellors), but UA needed a fast transition to its next leader in these difficult times. In this case, the best person for the job was one of our own. He can hit the ground running and continue President Miller's progress. Tough times are ahead for UA and many state universities, but I feel confident as a UA alumnus and father to a current UA student that this was a smart move on the part of the Board of Trustees, a governing body that has not always made particularly good decisions for UA.

Miller is 70, older than I thought. I'm not surprised to see him retire.

This system assumes that the Pac-"2" is somehow recreated? It would have to canabalize one of the P5 conferences to the tune of 8-10 teams. Mountain West-Pac-2 merger?

I assume when you mention "money over winning" that you're talking about the payday football games with the Power4? Outside of that revenue I'm not sure how the MAC makes any money at all. Isn't the MAC media payout to each university like 600K?

It's sad to say but if a university is not in the Power4, we're all desperate "losers" in tems of athletics. What C-USA has on the MAC is population. Too many MAC universities are in real trouble with a decline in enrollment. Similarily, remember back when we all used to laugh at the Sunbelt in the ealry 2000s? Seems like the Sunbelt has the advantage now, and part of that is a rich recruiting territory.

The MAC did just that with the addition of UMASS, but I'd say most people on this site were at a minumum underwhelmed by that move. If expansion is done to increase regional exposure and subsequently improve TV audience/ratings, I'm not sure how much a university like WKU adds.

Exactly. Power4 and G5 have to make an official division split. Matching up universities with enormous disparity in budgets and scholarships and NIL, etc. is grotesque. The disparity between the BIG10 and the MAC, for example, was always a grossly unfair fight. It’s far worse now. Even within the Power4 conferences, there will be huge differences in the level of teams and programs. Half of the Big10, though stronger by and large than most G5 teams, will never sniff a playoff berth.

General Booty? Is this guy like 40 by now?

My big fear not only for UA in particular but for the Group of 5 in general is that the Transfer Portal has made a difficult job even more difficult if not impossible. For many programs in G5, any level of team or individual success results in the gutting of the team just at the moment it's making progress. Hearing Saban basically admit to tampering with a Toledo player I think is indicative of what's going on now and this will only get worse. It seems that every G5 program has to rebuild each year as they do not have the NIL money to keep their best athletes. It's a shame. I'm old so it all seems very mercenary to me.

Thank you for this spring assesment. I'm hoping for the best as I don't think Moorhead survives another 2-10 year. Do you think this team can win 5-6 games? Is that enough to keep Moorhead?

After this 45 million dollar renovation, what will Polsky be used for? When I was on campus 93-96, I only had a vague notion of what was there. Personally, I only entered Polsky twice to meet with the international exchange program coordinator.

I agree that the Polsky building and Quaker Square should be sold. However, the problem with that type of sale is how difficult it is to unload a building or complex of that type in a small city. As my dad would have said, "Who the hell would want it? Imagine the heating bills!" I'm suprised that the Akron Public Schools could not utilize it for one of its high schools. However, APS is already looking to end its lease on the Central Hower HS building - yet another large propertyy that UA simply does not need.

My experience as a UA student was long ago and very good. My expereince as a parent of a current UA freshamn has been very postive. Everyone with whom I have had contact has been great (admissions, Office of Academic Retention Services, Williams Honors College, The College of Engineering, etc.), and my son is having a great expereince. So my current sense is that there are a lot of people on campus who care a lot about UA. I don't doubt there are problems, as there are on many campuses, but I feel like the current leadership is overall very good.