ZipsBBjunkie

LZIp the '25 football schedule is the first that has Miller, Guthrie and Moorhead's fingerprints all over it. Hilltoppers got me on my horse as I sit cursing Punxsutawney Phil and taking my lunch. I was going to pipe in with the same sentiment as Hilltopper when the schedule came out but knew the reaction it would get and thought why bother. On second thought, why not. Like clockwork, whenever someone on this board simply attempts to give some credit where credit may actually be due, out come the ‘Chucklers.’ Soon good ‘Ol staples on this same ‘ol wagon will layer on I'm sure: good scheduling strategy doesn’t take away from his gross self-promotion and arrogance, he’s still a clown. Look how things are taking off now that he's gone! We really dodged a bullet! The Chucklers keep at it as though Chuckles stole their first-born child. Some may say, as GP1 has, scheduling is part of AD 101. Why give the guy any flowers when this is what every capable AD is expected to do. It’s just Hilltopper giving Guthrie a boost as usual. I disagree with you GP1 as informed as you may be – I wouldn’t call successful strategic scheduling meeting the minimum standard — I would call this exploiting a competitive advantage. I would call this passion for winning from an AD trying to help move the needle off the field where they can potentially make a difference. I would call this trying to move the boulder that is losing, pathetic Akron football uphill. I don't know, but it could be one big reason why Miller and Guthrie were shown the door and why it could be tough to keep a coach like Moorhead long term. New administration often means different vision on things like budget e.g. money games that are funding the program - unless the new administration cares enough about what it takes to win football games more than the bottom line like Miller did? We shall see. I’m holding out hope and giving Nemer the benefit of the doubt until we see otherwise. My inside reference is baseball as that’s where my occasional insights into the going ons of UA are sourced. What I get from that channel and staff is that scheduling IS an area Guthrie had a heavy hand in - working with coaches directly and helping strategically improve program schedules particularly non-conference to build momentum and wins going into MAC (or Big East) play. On this topic in particular, my opinions go beyond baseball into the longer history that is UA, the wellbeing of the program as a whole, and the struggles that lie everywhere in keeping a program afloat in this environment other than basketball where a culture of winning, coaching consistency, and a guy named Wentz have kept that ship steady. Strategic scheduling is not something all ADs bother themselves with or are willing to go to bat for when it can: hurt their own overall dept budget, upset those in charge and who they report to and who have come to rely on the big payday to get them off the hook from funding the program appropriately, or takes away time that could be spent say, self-promoting. I've been told by coaches including current bb staff at Akron that navigating scheduling nuances for the benefit of the team can be extremely time consuming. It may be one of the most unappreciated keys to winning for coaches and in some cases ADs. Many ADs leave it up to coaches and sports supervisors. Depending on how an AD runs the department, sports supervisors could be any slew of people in the department with no sense of how critically important scheduling can be. If allowed, sports supervisors often serve to take daily paperwork off the plate of the AD and are at the behest of the coach they actually supervise. Believe it or not, sports supervisors with less experience than even those on this board who clearly know the ins and out of AD 101, can heavily influence schedules if an AD is lazy or incompetent and lets them. Others may say-isn’t scheduling the coach’s job, the AD should stay out of it. For example, only an AD as arrogant as Guthrie would get involved in a coach's business likely come the jabs from Clark, Capt K, Zippy Claws and the like—-as we know, there must be reasons all the UA coaches hate Guthrie and not one would ever consider following him! Could it be his heavy handed, micro managing on scheduling perhaps? A quip, clown or chuckles reference sure as the setting sun. Cue my yawn. I digress, back to scheduling, why a competent AD stays involved in scheduling, because often it’s the coach’s ego ‘we can compete and show them we mean business right out of the gate’ that can get in the way of strong non-conference scheduling, or a fellow buddy in the coaching ranks they are doing a favor for by giving them a game or series for ‘old times sake’, or a game or series in a warm location they want to go during miserable Akron Dec, Jan and Feb…March, April. Scheduling can be a point of major contention for all programs, coaches and ADs. Good scheduling takes strong relationships between coaches and administration. You mention hoping all will be well now under Nemer. I join you in hoping and praying the schedule of football money games doesn’t return swiftly back to the norm under the new leadership. Unless Moorhead is done saving children from burning buses and was able to hold them off. Personally, I’m betting the demands have already begun to return for the payday model. In fact, interim AD Juravich said as much in his obviously self-promoting Crain’s article back in December. At least we know he navigated his snowy drive ok while navigating how to fund the program. Did we really need to know about his challenging driving conditions, how about we give him a nickname and call him Juravich the Joker, what an arrogant, self-promoting b*tard! To be clear, I’m taking a page out of GP1 book and feeling sarcastic today, but just in case you’re unsure, I’m being sarcastic! In all seriousness, I hope Moorhead has a strong enough voice to make it known that this strategic scheduling will pay off, is being celebrated by his program as well as by Zips fans and donors, and most importantly, is a contingency to him sticking around. Hopefully, those in charge care.

You’re right! I remembered this because of the pic of Palpatine more-so than the stat itself sorry!

I think I saw a stat that said out of 32 conference tournaments last season, only 19 teams that won the league also won the tournament.

Agree. Particularly considering it’s considered a down year (more than the usual) for the MAC. Also if they secure a 13 seed this point becomes even stronger.

Are you being sarcastic? I was just curious.

Saw the football team brought out the Wagon Wheel at HT … was Moorhead there?

Haven’t heard from zippy-claws in a while …

If he gets it it's not necessarily Nemer pulling the trigger it's Saxon. He's been pushing him as the guy since Nemer came in.

My buddy said GVH has been quite active on Twitter as of late but haven’t had time to track the latest. I heard a while back he was the guy the trustees or at least Saxen wanted in there even before Guthrie departed. He was ranting about the odd decision making as usual by this university. You know Miller is out, you know you want Guthrie out, but you sign him to a 4 year extension - not one or two or just leave his current contract in place - after Miller was already chopped behind the scenes. Then you waste money on a fake search if in fact they go with Van Horn and the entire search was a front to Make it seem like it wasn’t all predetermined. Whatever sounds like business as usual. Hope Faulds sticks around and GVH helps elevate baseball again.

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

I’m surprised Red Panda from all accounts only charges $5K a performance. That is well within the $100K BW generously contributed to UA for BB marketing this season! https://www.startribune.com/halftime-performers-like-red-panda-the-amazing-sladek-and-christian-and-scooby-are-show-stoppers/600364279

This is for me the most disheartening outcome of the new era and where I find myself getting sentimental about the loss of the 'way it was' being a fan of a program and seeing the growth and maturity pay off with championships and the core/program stars basking in what those years of hard work delivered ... the Enrique experience for fb or bball is / will be few and far between. That's what many of us grew up appreciating and where the true fan experience came from, but alas...here we are. We root for a second year with Ben Finley. Go Zips!

(But that's water under the bridge...) Finally! No disrespect, but I appreciate your commentary on actual happenings with the sports programs much more valuable then your whining and nicknames for someone who's rubbed you the wrong way and moved on. Maybe it's just to get a chuckle (no pun intended) but no need to beat a dead horse. The cycle is what it is...Larry Williams similarly pushed out by the incoming, now former President and he's off working on getting USF to the dance. These guys move on when a new administration comes in...it's a common thread everywhere at every level. I think UA AD is lowest paid in the MAC so at least they pay less for our figurehead! As you say so eloquently 'hope springs eternal' couldn't agree more - what matters now is getting someone in here who won't just be another flash in the pan hired by Nemer and then moves on when Nemer is gone. That's why...and I think we disagree on this but that's what these forums are for...I wish they would seriously consider someone with local/UA ties like George Van Horn -- at least he'd be here for the long term and maybe they/he could put people around him who do things to help win operationally, hire the right coaches etc. and he could be the face of the program and raise dollars. I think what rings true with UA is that the BOT more so than the president is calling the shots and are around to actually execute a longer term vision. Also with the changing face of college athletics more of the strings will be pulled by guys like Bud Wentz. Giving upwards of $100K additional dollars towards marketing to MBB this season. You need someone who can bring in local guys like that who care enough to not only invest in NIL etc. but who are then also willing to put annual dollars toward things being cut like marketing because they enjoy having a seat at the table. GVH has all of those relationships. BTW did anyone see the news the provost 'stepped down' going back to faculty after a sabbatical (wink, wink)? It was buried news and somewhat of a surprise given he's the one who pushed to move Miller out and place Nemer quickly with no public search. I thought this was intentional so he'd have the president's ear on the upcoming faculty negotiations etc. Have to imagine this is excellent news for athletics... heard the provost was one of the biggest obstacles and despised the attention and money athletics receives. He was certainly always throwing shots in his budget reports at the board meetings if you tune into those things to get the state of UA affairs.

And money! (Re: Bud) Not only NIL but is putting money towards the marketing this season.

Spot on, and people are assuming Ryan Day would consider Joe Moorhead pick of the litter professionally and personally. I’m not sure that’s the case, that there is a strong relationship (or any relationship) there that translates into Day even reaching out or vice versa. Moorhead is respected - absolutely not questioning that - but that doesn’t automatically translate into winning - and let’s be clear l, he would have to compete with and win a job many others are also interested in - a heavily coveted OC position in the P4, this goes for any top P4 job, not only OSU. I’m not being negative here about Moorhead, he was a huge get for UA and the longer he stays likely the better it is for the rebuild of all rebuilds. I just believe whether he chooses to be here or doesn’t have any place more appealing than his current HC job to go to - he is here for at least one more season. I believe it is a combination of both, as many times these things are.

🥱 truly believe he’s got nowhere to go or he would have been gone already. He came here preaching about it being right for his family and at this point I think that holds true more than ever with his son entering senior year and his dad’s recent passing - even if it wasn’t always the most genuine sentiment. Not that Columbus is on another planet - he could certainly keep his home base here and hunker down in Columbus solo for 6 months but I don’t think there is any chance Ryan Day hires Joe Moorhead.

Lack of depth the main issue?

Specific to Groce and his tenure at UA. It helps when you have a coach who has experienced making a move to a P5/P4 and gets let go, understands the grass isn’t always greener - so is far more appreciative of what it means to be somewhere that is a good fit and isn’t looking to jump ship at the first ‘big’ opportunity to come calling. Buffalo has hired guys on their way up so the turnover is going to be greater.