ZipForNow

I agree. I am on the academic side, but even there, when there is interest, you have to pursue the opportunity diligently, maybe even make some over-the-top demands, just to see what is even possible in other places. Then, even if you do not wish to take the job offer, you go back with the offer to your boss and use that to better your position at home. This is simply how it works, maybe in other walks of life as well (executive level in firms, headhunter-dominated fields). Hopefully, this is all that is currently going on. Wasn't there some wisecrack on X that implied "bald man got too greedy" or some similar sentiment? That could be what is going on. Obviously, I am speculating.

For most people, the Zips will always be their fourth favorite team: 1. Browns or Steelers 2. Buckeyes 3. HS Football team 4. Zips This was true even in the Bowden years. Exciting, bowl-winning team still did not draw fans. What is the solution? It will be interesting to see if Goodrich can crack this nut.

Absolutely. That’s what I am saying. The article points out how awful conference realignment has been.

Conference realignment was the eye-opener for me.

Thank you for posting the link. If you go to those projections, what you see is that Ohio has a high mortality rate (both relative to the past and to the national average) and a low birth rate. Surprisingly (to me), there has been a net influx of residents, people moving here, perhaps out of affordability? Still, it does not offset these natural drivers of population decline. This causes problems for UA because most of our students are local and the pool is shrinking. I think we need to start recruiting more students from out of state. These students would be more likely to attend sporting events than the current local student body, who tend to go home after class.

In this country, how to spend one’s own money has come to be seen as an inalienable right. I wonder how this would play out in court. It seems like a bad idea for coaches to be able to do this.

Don’t forget conference realignment. That contributes.

Article on Eric in ABJ: https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2026/03/21/eric-mahaffey-akron-zips-ncaa-tournament-march-madness-college-basketball-transfer-portal/89242985007/

Beyond the immediate money, there is the ecosystem: play professionally somewhere, Bud invests it, grow your nest egg, have a good life after your playing days. I wonder whether that is ever part of the deliberations.

I agree. He also got better at making back cuts when the opponent would try to deny him the ball on the perimeter.

High Point coach: "High Point and Miami (Ohio) are 2-1 in Quad 1 games. We couldn't get games. They couldn't get games," Clayman said. "Akron, UNC Wilmington, Belmont couldn't get games. We won 22 of our last 23 games and we didn't move up one spot in the metrics. Not one. We won 22 of our 23. We've won 25 games by double-digits.“

Bracket Busters is high on the Zips.

It's a really cool space. I have been there for some university functions, awards and such. I have no idea how they will set it up for the Watch Party, but I imagine they have thought this through.

To my eye, the current team does not stack up to the Castaneda/Freeman squads. I still love the current Zips. Just sayin’.

Further motivation in the tournament, as if any more were needed.

How deep-pocketed might Bud or the collective need to be to keep these two? Hopefully the culture alone can do it, but it is hard to pass up Nate-level money if that is what Eric will attract. With Sharron, I would expect him to return: it should be his team to run, no? I wonder also sometimes about the draw of WVU or Marshall. Wasn't he Mr. Basketball in WV? In this highly mobile NIL and TP era, we are lucky to have Groce, the maestro of culture and team-concept buy-in.

Anyone have a read on Briscoe? He was highly touted out of high school. He looked kind of slow in garbage time vs NIU.

NIU dressed nine players Friday. Almost looked like a scene from Hoosiers. What was up with that. A couple of the guards were actually good and played the passing lanes well, but the team did not look well-coached.

Is there a promo code to purchase tournament tickets on the gozips website?

Anyone tried the B.L.I.M.P. at Diamond Deli? My colleague invented it.

Is anyone up on how much Groce relies on analytics? Just curious as it is a huge strength in the College of Business.

I didn't lose any sleep over it, but as someone who works at UA, I share your preference. I also wonder how Chabi feels about it.

Acc to Dave Harris, he practiced his ass off.

Lunardi has us as a 12-seed: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2026-march-madness-men-field-predictions?appsrc=sc&RuleNumber=Not Applicable&consent_mode=ccpa

Are we at the point where it becomes fairly standard for (certain) players to declare for the draft with the option to return AND enter the portal with the option to return? That may be what is happening with Nate Johnson. It is a much more parallel situation now. If you saw the possibliity to make, say, 10 times the NIL money for 1 or 2 years, and just wish to see whether that is realistic, wouldn't you want to test the market? That said, I do think there is an important disanalogy with declaring for the draft. There you are talking about skills evaluation. Enrique came back after declaring and realized that he had to become more of a stretch 4 so he worked on his 3-point shooting in his final year at Akron. And it did pay off for him.