Dave in Green

CBS Sports credited Conyers with being "Player of the Game" for Akron. From the netcast I saw, he continues to show confidence.CBS Sports Link

About the only positive I saw is that the Zips outrebounded a Top 20 major. This is one area where they are clearly superior to last season. But lots of work remains on ball handling (turnovers) and defending without fouling.

I've been following equins' posts for quite awhile, and he seems to be a pretty straight shooter. It's always difficult for a fan of one school to post on a fan forum of another school as it's so easy to think they're only there to cause problems. But equins has contributed a lot to ZN, and does not fit the profile of a troublemaker.

That would be determined by win-loss record. While it's possible that KD could have a complete collapse and go from winning 20+ every year to a JD-type losing percentage, it's highly unlikely.

Bullseye.

I think this guy might have something to say about that.Jimbo FisherRight. So FSU passed on Terry Bowden when they likely could have had him lined up to replace his dad instead of Fisher. That 11-0 season at Auburn doesn't seem to carry much weight with any of the bigger football powers.Jimbo Fisher has been the head coach in waiting at FSU for a while. Terry Bowden has never had anything to do with FSU. Your point carries no weight. If UA could get Terry Bowden, it would be the biggest hire in school history. That's a big IF though, and it's not IF he'd be a good candidate to coach here, because he'd obviously be a great candidate, but it's IF we could get him to come here.The weight of my point is not dependent on whether or not someone elects to acknowledge it. Fisher has only been at FSU for 2 years, so as little as 2 years ago they could have opted to bring in Terry Bowden as head coach in waiting for Bobby Bowden to retire. FSU is one of a few schools near the top of the college football food chain. If they wanted Terry Bowden they could probably have had him. They, along with other schools near the top of the college football food chain, appear not to be chasing after Terry Bowden.I am not saying that Terry Bowden is the worst option in the world for UA. But there does appear to be a major disconnect between his coaching resume and his ability to land a job today at the level of school that would typically be looking for a coach with that type of resume. I see that as a big caution flag, and I hope UA does, too. If a careful study should prove that the risk is not as great as it seems, that would be great. But it's always smart to avoid speeding into a situation when the caution flag is out.

I think this guy might have something to say about that.Jimbo FisherRight. So FSU passed on Terry Bowden when they likely could have had him lined up to replace his dad instead of Fisher. That 11-0 season at Auburn doesn't seem to carry much weight with any of the bigger football powers.

More data on the increasing costs of getting top college football coaches to come to Ohio:Vindy.com Link

If the following is to be believed, either Mark Stoops is willing to take a big pay cut to be head coach at YSU, or YSU is stepping up big time on their head coach salary:ESPN Blog Link

With Bobby Bowden expected to announce his retirement today, you'd think Terry would be a leading candidate to follow his dad at FSU -- that is, if he's really as talented as advertised.

You apparently didn't learn much about internet forums. On internet forums, knowledge and experience do not directly equate to expertise. Substance sux. Style rulz.

Good story on Mark Stoops, and why he probably would not consider the YSU head coach gig (hint: $):Arizona Daily Star Link

It really would make a good statement if they have an "up" game against what may be the toughest major school they will face in the regular season. But I don't know that it's predictable how they will react to the challenge at this early stage of the season. I still think the Zips will be an up and down team for much of the season as they continue to gel as a cohesive team.

If it's true that KD told Humpty to run over to the UAPB bench to apologize immediately after that game ended, then we should all feel good that the intent was positive. But regardless of intent, I would still question the judgment of this action, as there is simply too much potential for misunderstanding at such a volatile and emotional moment.I vividly recall watching an NBA game on TV back in the '70s when Rudy Tomjanovich ran out on the court, not to fight, but to try to help break up a fight between other players. Kermit Washington turned around, saw Tomjanovich running toward him, thought he was being attacked and leveled him with the most devastating punch to the face you can possibly imagine. Tomjanovich lay still on the court in a pool of blood. The bone structure of his face had literally been separated from his skull, and he almost died on the court from blood and spinal fluid leaking into his skull capsule.There have been many similar incidents over the years of peacemakers running up to potentially explosive situations where their actions were misinterpreted and resulted in blows being thrown, though fortunately not with the catastrophic results of the Tomjanovich incident. If it's also true that Humpty did almost get into another little altercation with one of Niagra's players, that's more proof that it is not a good thing to run up to another team's bench in a volatile situation, no matter how innocent the intent.A better approach would have been for KD and Humpty to visit the UAPB locker room after everyone had a chance to settle down and there was less likelihood of misunderstanding. In any case, I hope that everyone learned a valuable lesson from this potentially explosive situation.The biggest positive from this whole incident is that Humpty channeled his emotions into playing basketball, calmly sinking two free throws and then stealing the inbounds pass to seal the UAPB game. Likewise, Cvetinovic has been much better this year at channeling his emotional energy into elevating his level of play, and Conyers also seems to be less affected by emotional swings. This kind of focus will go a long way toward making the Zips a consistently stronger team.

It was great to see the real Zips today. Every player made some contributions, though some weren't as obvious as others. For example, Chris McKnight appeared to have an off game. But he had three important steals, and was at his best in the closing minutes when you would expect a senior to step forward and help lead the team.But I think we may all have a tendency to pay too much attention to individual stats, plays that stick in our minds, etc., and not enough attention to total team play. I know I did that last year. What I'm looking for more this year is how the individuals play together as a team. This is really what wins games and championships, regardless of who may be on or off in a given game.I really liked the way the Zips played together today, not all of the time, but most of the time. They seemed to have a better idea of where their teammates were and how to get the ball to the open player. And I thought they did a better job of switching off and keeping players covered on defense. That's why I wasn't as worried as I might have been with the halftime score. In the first half, the Niagra players were making contested shots and the Zips were missing open shots. The key point was not whether the ball was falling or not, but the fact that the Zips were finding the open man. I figured that in the second half the odds would even out and the Zips would hit more and Niagra less, and that's the way it worked out.The Zips have to make major adjustments depending on whether or not Zeke is on the floor, and this is not as simple as just flipping a wall switch on or off. The game is totally different with Zeke in the middle, and you could see today that the rest of the team is still learning what works best when he's on the floor. Without Zeke, they're more like last year's team minus Nate Linhart but with everyone else having another year's worth of experience to draw upon.I think the chemistry of this team is going to grow by leaps and bounds as the veterans get even more seasoned, and as Zeke gets worked more into the flow of the game. I don't ever expect to see a game where mistakes aren't made. But I do expect fewer glaring errors and more coordinated teamwork as the season goes on. I don't think this Zips team has any glaring weaknesses that show up in every game. They can all be on and off, but I think they will learn as a team to cover each other's mistakes most of the time.Right now I'm a really happy season ticket holder.

I found some references to schools that turned him down, but not to schools that he turned down. Do you have any specifics on that?In any case, if we are talking the amount of money it would take to get him to UA, that opens a whole new world of potential coaches who would consider UA for the big bucks. But why even consider a big bucks coach if UA doesn't have big bucks to offer?Is this discussion realistic or pie in the sky?

A truly mixed career, and one that's not simple to analyze. On the plus side, he has big name recognition and some history with UA (under Faust). His best season was his first at Auburn in 1992, replacing coach Pat Dye and finishing 11-0 with players recruited by Dye.But he left Auburn mid-season four years later with a 1-5 record amidst "criticism for recruiting woes, off-the-field issues that resulted in player discipline, and in his relationships with Auburn supporters." ( Wikipedia link )Over the past 11 years, he's applied for several high-profile coaching positions but has been passed over, including for his West Virginia "dream job." In the meantime he has been a TV analyst, motivational speaker and small college coach.This could be a major roll of the dice -- one that no other D1 school has been willing to take for more than a decade.

UAPB coach George Ivory quote from Rasor's blog:“I don’t know if he [Hitchens] was coming to shake hands. I don’t think there was trying to be no fight. It wasn’t as bad as it looked. Both teams played hard. When it gets heated like that, it’s because of the competition. It was good competition. That’s all it was.”

I'm sure that each of us had a slightly different view from our various seat locations, and that none of us saw everything exactly the way it happened on the floor. None of us really knew what a brutal sucker punch Linhart took from Singletary last season until we studied the video frame by frame.Maybe Humpty had a good reason to be as angry as he was, and maybe he didn't. Maybe his reaction was over the top, and maybe other players would have reacted similarly under similar conditions. Unless proven otherwise, I'm going to give any Zips player with no prior history of similar reactions the benefit of the doubt that there was a serious provocation.This does not excuse Humpty for his response. Approaching the other bench in the heat of the moment could have gotten out of control and produced a really ugly incident. This cannot be condoned under any circumstance. Players must have enough discipline to avoid allowing even the worst provocation to escalate into something far worse.

Looks like a spelling error at Sporting News.Luke Fickell is linebacker coach and assistant defensive coordinator at Columbus State. There was an interesting PD story about him earlier this year.PD Link

Official announcement with quotes.gozips.com link

Expect Ohio State assistant Luck Fickell and Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst to be mentioned as potential replacements.Sporting News Link

Guess I overestimated the Owls and underestimated the Bobkitties, based on their respective performances against the Zips. So I'm making no more predictions on the MAC championship or who would best represent the conference in bowl games.

Press conference at noon today, with PD updates to come from EA.PD Link

Me too. It will be interesting to see how many of the assistants are invited to remain at UA under the new head coach now that JD's departure has been officially confirmed.