ZipsBBjunkie

FYI only, hopefully irrelevant

Since this weather is crap and in the spirit of my buddy GP1 I'm feeling extra snarky today, I thought I'd keep going on my horsey and share some thoughts on the current state of the Zips rivalry with Kent. I saw online its been more than 720 days since Kent beat Akron in football or men's basketball. The programs, for the moment, seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum with the Zips riding high, but oh how quickly that can change with something as 'basic' as a program's approach to scheduling. Scheduling, particularly in football and basketball, is a huge uphill battle for mid-major FBS and one-bid conference schools, ADs and head coaches. This is not some bullet point on an AD job description. It is a challenge to create reasonable schedules without major money games when school administration (boards, presidents, provosts and the like battling enrollment challenges and budget deficits who aren’t able to get creative outside of taking a quick payday for a football game) get used to the big fat paychecks coming in at the expense of coaches, players, and fans who care about winning. You need not look further than just down the road… The Chucklers who knock Guthrie on this forum, have been so busy scathing their own, that they seem to have completely ignored a Kent-specific jewel right in front of us. Sure, Kenny is gambling his life away. Pinky is dejected and the brightest shade of pink. Come on Zips Nation! Dig deeper! Step up your game! It’s disappointing how surface level you’ve become with your insults and quips. How easily you can dismiss that successful scheduling is critical to ongoing success and argue that it’s base level AD 101 – if that was true schedule drops wouldn’t pull in so much attention. All simply because you dislike a guy. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this group gush over the above ‘marketing’ of Kent's money grab, blood bath football schedule, and chide UA’s marketing for not doing better. Riddle me this timeline and the results - I remember having many emotions as a Zips fan in the spring of 2021 when Randel Richmond, Kent’s current AD was hired to replace long time Kent AD Joel Nielson. Richmond was hired just after Williams announced his departure from Akron. First and foremost for me, relief to see Larry go as my heart was broken numerous times throughout his tenure but also immediate fear that Kent would continue to trend upwards and we may never recover post-Williams, post-Covid. When Richmond was hired, Kent was on a roll with a Sean Lewis-led football team, we faced the sting of the 2017 heartbreaker in basketball, and I personally had deep wounds when it came to the different paths for Kent vs. Akron baseball. What would Miller do with his first and turns out only AD hire while at the helm at UA. When you consider it now, in hindsight, it was a real crossroads for the Zips and became a real turning point, particularly in the UA Kent rivalry as it stands today. Looking back at the dates, Guthrie was brought in just three months later than Richmond. Since those moves in 2021, other than the Kent NCAA tourney appearance in 23 when they had POY Sincere Carry, it's clear Akron has thrived, while Kent has struggled mightily under Richmond's leadership, coaching hires etc. Richmond and Kent’s totally inept, uninterested president, have been unable and/or unwilling to do what Miller and Guthrie were willing to do while at Akron, prioritize athletics. All these beat downs of Kent - all these wagon wheels the past two seasons across sports-was the outright vision of the guys or guy some of this board seem to loathe. Cornerstone in the strategy for Miller and Guthrie was dominating Kent. There’s quotes from them both over the tenure saying as much. Moorhead has followed suit in his own messaging and approach to the rivalry. Can the same be said for Kent’s president and AD? As we find ourselves in the position to joyously crap talk PCCC and hoist the Wagon Wheel high above our collective heads all year long, and as we assume the announcement of our next AD nears, I think back to where we were before Miller was named president, on the heels of Covid, and prior to Guthrie. I sure hope Nemer and the incoming AD keeps this momentum going because after writing this post and realizing how bad KENT SUCKS I'm feeling much better.

How the Kent faithful are feeling after the schedule drop

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!