Dave in Green

Do you really mean to imply that only the wealthy can qualify as true supporters of the university, and those who do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to give don't count?

Interesting comment, especially when considered along with the following comment from another thread: So the Zips lose fans if the opponent is either too weak or too strong? That certainly narrows down the scheduling opportunities.When I attended a small college many years ago in another state, my friends and I went to EVERY home game and many of the away games that were within reasonable driving distance. We loved to see our team destroy an inferior opponent, and we never doubted that we had a chance against the strongest opponents. Sometimes we were rewarded with a big win over a name opponent -- an upset of a good Auburn team comes to mind. But we always had fun, and we never complained about the facilities, some of which made the JAR look like the Q. We just loved our team and loved our basketball, and everything else was irrelevant.I have the same feeling for the Zips today that I had for my alma mater's team 40 years ago.

How many college soccer programs in the country are generating enough revenue from ticket sales to cover all of their team costs? Is there even one? I don't think it's necessary to turn a profit or even break even for a college soccer program to be considered economically successful at the present level of soccer interest in the U.S. Simply reducing the deficit takes at least some financial burden off of the sports programs such as football and basketball that do generate profit.So expanding the Zips soccer facility to allow for more paying customers could be a wise investment, as long as there is a longterm commitment to doing what's necessary to keep the UA soccer program successful enough to draw large numbers of paying spectators. Same with the basketball and football programs. Building new facilities is not such a wise investment if not enough spectators are willing to pay to see the team play.

I kept my eye on Steward whenever he was on the floor. His ball handling is excellent. He's quick, always on the move, and is really good at avoiding traps. He distributes the ball well, and once the ball is being passed quickly instead of someone holding onto it, there's usually an open man somewhere on the court. The whole team was better at moving the ball tonight, and everyone was unselfish. The McKnights both looked good, and Conyers continues to be consistent. Zeke appeared to be a little off tonight, but was better in the second half. Humpty appears to be better coming off the bench than starting. KD kept substituting in waves, and every time you blinked there was a different combination of players on the floor. UNCG was not the toughest of tests, but I do like the way the Zips are starting to come together as a team.EDIT: Oops, posted here before noticing the other thread.

Self-confidence is especially important for those in sales or who own their own business. Standing in front of a mirror, looking yourself in the eye and telling yourself you're the greatest is not a bad strategy for building one's self-esteem. Taking it public, on the other hand, can produce more mixed results. While a few may side with the reflection in the mirror, most will be either amused, bored or annoyed by the exaggerated posturing. But even if met with substantial public ridicule, disdain or indifference, one can always go back to the ever reliable mirror for a positive-reinforcement session.

Basketball is my favorite sport, and I really don't care that much about soccer. But soccer is the biggest sport internationally, and growing bigger in the U.S. every year. UA already has a national championship caliber coach and players, and is only lacking a first class facility. While I'd love to see the basketball team playing in a first class arena, the truth is that the soccer program has already earned one and deserves to be first in line. I hope the basketball program can continue to grow and become recognized as a perennial national power as well. But right now it is the soccer program that earns UA the most respect in sports.

So, you're saying the CF attitude is spouse-enhanced?

Obviously, the overall strength of the two teams and all the intangibles will have to be taken into account to make a fair performance evaluation of CF. If he performs about as expected for a 3rd string NFL QB in those conditions, he will have done nothing to hurt his future as a 3rd string NFL QB. If time, experience and maturity have given him the ability to perform a little better in game situations than he has in the past, he may have the opportunity to move up to a 2nd string QB. So there's more upside than downside.

Top college coaches in any sport are most often lured away by one of two things -- the promise of making more money and/or a better opportunity to win a national championship.Others may be able to offer more money than UA. But Coach Porter has already proved that he can come within a single kick of winning a national championship at UA, and doesn't need to relocate to have a better chance than he has right here in Akron, Ohio.Producing a soccer dynasty at UA would be a more impressive coaching achievement than doing so at one of the "big name" schools that are expected to produce sports dynasties.

Zeke has already been quoted about what attracted him to UA. He said he wasn't just interested in basketball, but also wanted to get a good education from a school with a nice campus. He said he liked that KD and the coaching staff didn't cuss all the time, and they were like family.

It's hard not to be cynical about the next great Zips savior. I've been burned many times in many different sports in many states across the country. But I have to say there is something about Ianello that makes me think he could be the real deal.

A very sloppy win. It's really hard to say much about this game, other than the crowd was a little larger than I expected for such a mismatch. The highlight for Malone had to have been blocking a Zeke shot under the basket. The remaining games on the schedule will become increasingly challenging and interesting. I'm going to start wearing short sleeve shirts as they apparently keep the temperature in the JAR cranked way up to sell more soft drinks.

When Ianello was given responsibility for football operations at Notre Dame after Weis was fired, he said the following:He stressed that Notre Dame is “about all the right things in college athletics, and that is why you should come to school here.”He talked about Weis meeting with two recruits after the home loss to UConn and how Weis stressed the same message to those recruits – that Notre Dame is a place you go to because of the school and what it stands for, not just the coaching staff.In talking about why recruits choose Notre Dame, Ianello said that recruits come to Notre Dame because: “You come to school here because everybody that comes here is going to get a degree. We graduate everyone that stays here."uhnd.com link

Bingo. Every coach has strengths and weaknesses. Pick your poison. Ianello is universally recognized as one of college football's best recruiters. That means his weaknesses are in other areas. Great head coaches such as Bear Bryant played to their strengths, recognized their weaknesses, and compensated by surrounding themselves with assistants whose strengths covered their weaknesses.If Ianello focuses on his strength of attracting the best recruits UA could realistically hope for, brings in a strong supporting cast of assistants, and makes all the right moves with those chess pieces, he will be a winner. The same formula would apply to any head coach that UA might have signed. There are no guarantees of who would be best at putting together all the pieces needed. But at least with Ianello UA is getting a coach with a long history of being at the top of his particular specialty -- recruiting. That's a great start.

Anyone who might be wondering what Ianello's fellow college football coaches think of him can find a strong hint in that link:Ianello was elected to the board of trustees of the American Football Coaches Association in January of '03 (the only assistant coach on the board). The board formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA. Ianello also chairs the AFCA's assistant coaches committee and is the general chairman of the AFCA's all-division assistant coaches committee.

Lots of wisdom from the moderators in this thread. The amount of whining and pouting coming out of ZN recently has been totally depressing. We all knew the football situation wasn't good. But some fans were so obsessed with making sure that everyone else knew how fed up they were that they appeared to be on non-stop tantrums. Visiting ZN was becoming more depressing than watching the games.I would typically be cautiously optimistic about a hire like this, and vote to wait and see. But I just voted good hire because all the good data I've seen tells me it is about the best hire UA could have realistically hoped for. That doesn't mean that someone with similar or even lesser experience and qualifications that UA might have selected won't end up as a better head coach at other schools over the long haul. It's always going to be a roll of the dice to pick the best available coach, especially when competing against so many schools with better reputations and bigger budgets. But I do believe that Ianello is a smart gamble for UA.It will be interesting to see how the national sports pundits rate this hire. I think it's going to be pretty unanimous that UA done waaaaaay better than some of its fans seem to think.

APSU just knocked off the Bobkitties, but only by 2 points (68-66), and Buffalo just beat Niagra (86-80).

So all great recruiters and real go-getters are losers?How bout we go for a crappy recruiter who sleeps until noon?

Best of luck to YSU on getting either of your two leading candidates.

UA could let Ianello go to San Jose State, see how he does as a head coach in a conference dominated by Boise State, and then try to get him if he's successful.Oops, if he's successful against Boise State, then the bigger schools would want him and UA would be out of the running.One chance to roll the dice on a reasonably young, up and coming assistant who has an outstanding record of recruiting and coaching offense and is well thought of by many in the business of college football coaching.There are no sure winners coming to UA. Anyone applying for the UA job will be a roll of the dice. They're all getting trashed by a bunch of fans on some sports forum somewhere.Decide quick or you lose this one as he will be in demand.

Restoration implies returning something to its original condition. Renovation is similar, but implies returning something to similar or perhaps slightly improved condition. I think we all agree that neither of those words fits what would be necessary to turn the Knight Center complex into a viable arena.It's true that the areas around the Knight Center that might serve as a site for a new arena are not significantly larger than the footprint of the JAR. But think in terms of the entire footprint of the JAR being used exclusively as an arena with no classrooms, etc. Imagine seating pulled in closer to the court but with steeper angles that would extend above the current JAR ceiling. You could fit a lot of people in an optimized structure with a footprint no bigger than the JAR, but perhaps a little taller. Some supporting services for the new arena could be accomodated in the Knight Center to which it would be attached. The new arena would function as a single unit along with the Knight Center.

Renovating implies restoring to an earlier condition, so that doesn't really fit here. Expanding the Knight Center to include a new arena is more likely. You can clearly see from the satellite view that there is a lot of land around the Knight Center currently used only for surface parking. As discussed in a previous thread, using some of this surface parking area to build a new arena that is tied into the Knight Center makes a lot of sense. They could share parking deck infrastructure, etc., and an attached arena would make the Knight Center a more attractive location for events that it can't currently handle due to size limitations. Done properly, this could be a win-win-win situation for UA, the City of Akron and Summit County.

Penquins are obviously smarter than fish when it comes to chasing after bait.

To foster a "take no prisoners" attitude in college football, it's only logical to turn to prisoners -- prison league football players. The best coach for recruiting the best players would obviously be a tough warden. A football coach's salary would represent a huge increase for a warden, so the first college to do this could have it's pick of the best. UA could be a leader in this area.A version of shock probation could be enacted whereby outstanding football-playing inmates would be released to become UA student athletes, with UA taking responsibility for their rehabilitation. These players wouldn't even need much game coaching. Have the former warden gather them together in a room before each game and tell them: Just do it ..... and don't get caught. They would instinctively know what to do to beat any team of college pansies senseless, and how to get away with it.A side benefit would be the mixing of prison and college cultures, which would help prepare innocent suburban nerds for the real dog-eat-dog world they're going to have to face when they graduate. This is an area where UA is currently sorely lacking.

One must be "ZN Approved" to troll here.