Big Zip

Perhaps the word "apologist" is used when there is no possible excuse for the state the program is in. I would argue we've presented fact after fact as to what is wrong with the program and why we have little to no faith in Ianello yet we are told we are wrong. At some point you give up and apologist is the term used for those who refuse to acknowledge this is the worst football in Div. 1 and there is the possibility Ianello may be the worst coach we've ever seen in college football.I ask all of you on the other side of this coin one question....if we had told you this team was going to lose to a Div 1AA team and win 1 game in the first 15 of Ianello's career in the MAC would you have said...yeah he is our guy lets hire him? He knows how to put a program together. We're going to need to break some eggs to make some omlettes. If we added the team was going to look as bad as they have looked in two years in the 16th game of Ianellos tenure would you have been enthusiastic when we hired him? I'm guessing -- No. It has been said here time and time again...if you continue to be okay with this kind of football and this product on the field perhaps the Akron fans are as equal to blame as the coach. I'm sorry that I expect more from my alma mater with the facilities we have and the beautiful campus that has been built...football was better under coaches with far less and I'm disgusted by what I've seen.

@Doug that was the question posed and that was my answer -- so yes.

They lost last week to a 3-0 Richmond team and gave up 34 points. If we don't score 34 points and win by 15 (Richmond's margin) I will be disappointed. If they don't win by that much and score that much I would appreciate it if you guys would quit being apologists for this pathetic organization.

Was reminded last night I have a golf outing I'm playing in next Saturday. Have to say I was planning on going to the game, but after the debacle we've had with these guys I'm okay with playing in the golf outing. I'm going to try to give away my tickets, but can't imagine I'll be able to do it.

I think Ianello will keep Moore if only to see him play against lesser teams. If he stinks the joint up against VMI then I am sure he will put PN7 back in.

There has to be a buyout in his contract. These contracts can't be guaranteed.

So you missed his completion last week and his dropped pass?

Goldens resume was far and away more impressive...Ianello is nothing close to Golden. Look at his record as a Def Coord at Virginia then look at Ianellos job history.

I would argue that doesn't just go for athletes, but business people too. There are a lot of CEOs and other higher ups in Corporate America who graduated from Akron....there kids all end up somewhere else. It was good enough for them to get where they were, but not good enough for their kids. This at a time when the school is becoming more recognized for their academic endeavors too. On the flip side I think school choice is probably something the kid is going to ultimately make and given the choice to go somewhere else and have a Football team that is entertaining...goes to bowls etc. would certainly enhance the college experience over the $hit we get to watch week in and week out.

One thing to note about Paul was at least he coached the offense here. He was a top coordinator not a wide receiver coach. He also was quite successful when he was here. His offenses were awesome and we certainly didn't lose because of his offenses.

That is awesome!

Why not ask him if he is in over his head. Why is it so obvious to most people, but sports writers don't ever seem to see that at all? You could have phrased the question very respectively -- "Your team is 1-13 through your first 14 games as a head coach. Your team is last or near last in most every single category in your second year as a head coach. Another MAC team just took you apart while a MAC nearly beat the team that took you a part the week before. A MAC conference that is not very good mind you. Do you think you have what it takes to turn this ship around?" Then follow with: "The attendance for last week's game was the worst we've seen since Div. II days and the fans are getting restless if not giving up....what do you have to say to them?"

I shudder to think what the score would be if we played Boise State -- can you say 70+ to nothing? We would get beat like a drum.

By the way my post was about the line only....the ticket sales problem was ridiculuos.

I'm guessing the Athletic Administration had ticket takers based on the attendance expected. I won't blast the administration for this because I would chalk this up to my fault for waiting until the last minute to get in the game. If we would plan accordingly we would have all been in the game and not in line. You can't staff the ticket takers for a 10 minute rush prior to the game. By the way my wife walked around to the other side of the home stands and walked right in...beat me to the seats. I'm all for blasting the administration for their poor performance, but this is a non starter for me.

Being able to leave the stadium during the weather situation and return to the car for more beverages then come back into the game when it started back up was a definite positive.

I guess I'm happy that I still have a few friends that want to go to these games with me including my wife. The tailgating and getting out of the house to do something is the reason certainly not the team. I try to look at these Saturdays as time to spend time with friends, hang out, catch up and have a few beers. The football has become secondary for us. I'm happy my daughter (who will be six) still likes to go. She does check with me weekly to make sure we are still rooting for the Zips I think that is her way of telling me "are you freaking serious can't I root for the other team". Interestingly enough it is her first question whenever we watch sports "Who are we rooting for?"I do have a request that Tom Gaffney, Marla Ridenour, Jason Lloyd or someone from the ABJ get a sit down with AD Tom after this season and ask him the real tough questions about this football program. Do your research about what he said when he hired iCoach and make really try to get him to answer the tough questions. Ask him why we should still be Div. 1, ask him how much longer does he think the fans will take this level of terrible, ask him what is it going to take for iCoach to lose his job? Put the guy on the spot. Reporters never do this anymore so I know it won't happen, but I can still wish. On a side note my neighbor who has no affiliation with the University but enjoys going to games and sends both his boys to Akron stopped me before I left for church on Sunday -- he said "Don't worry this is iCoachs last year. OSU is going to fire Fickel and he and Vrabel are coming to coach here next year." That would be nice...I would support that too I told him, but I can't imagine the University is going to eat the buyout on iCoach's contract. On the other hand I'm not sure they can afford not to if this season plays out the way I believe it will.

Hey Cap'n the wife was drinking Mich Ultra we can add that to the list too.

I think it will be 3 and I can't give you a good reason why other than life punishing by giving Wistricill a reason to keep iCoach around another year.

Lefthand Polestar Pilsner

@Doug Snyder I didn't say the win was against a Div. 1-AA school -- I said he didn't lose to a 1-AA school. The win was against BGSU.

I think the Temple comparisson is fair as far as the state of a program and the objective to turn it around.The comparisson of Al Golden to Rob Ianello not even close. If you read through Al Golden's bio the amount of success he realized in being an assistant and an actual Defensive Coordinator dwarfs that of Ianello. Golden's track record was quite impressive with better and better jobs where as Ianello was a wide receivers coach (interim head coach doesn't count because he didn't coach a game). With that in mind I'll be happy with five wins (one being over VMI). By the way look at Golden's record in the 1-11 season again -- there was no loss to a Div. 1-AA school like there was on Ianellos.

@Dave in Green as an adult who has spent the better part of his career in HR I can assure you hiring managers against the recommendation of their recruiter do hire their friends and to suggest this doesn't happen makes me question you. If we examine the facts of the situation there were some serious facts that made me question the decision then and now. When iCoach was hired his connections to the AD were highlighted. He came from a program that was poor and was coached by one of the biggest names at the time in football. ICoach has been a highly regarded recruiter for over 10 years, but that was recruiting for the likes of Arizona, Wisconsin and Notre Dame not a bottom feeder Mac school that has struggled since they arrived in Division 1. What could he know about recruiting at this level? ICoach always had a significant name behind him when he came knocking and I have to think that helped. In his first year coaching his blunders were numerous and you can find them on this site if you care to search. He also lost a Div 1-aa school a mediocre one at that - this is a feat even his two predecessors managed to avoid. I was in Columbus last week and saw an unimaginative coaching display and a listless team. I will be at the game this week and you can be sure if the Zips can't muster the 275 yards of offense or the 7 points Villanova did against Temple the "radical" young folks on this site won't be the only ones calling for his job. ICoach is compensated very well for what he is and extremely well for his performance and should be roundly criticizes for how his team has performed. Finally your points about Porter and Dambrodt are idiotic...even AD Tom isn't dumb enough to fire wining coaches to bring in his cronies. Hiring the baseball coach on the other hand could be a realization of his mistake with iCoach. Raising money for a National Champion and Runner-Up Div 1 program can't be difficult so let's not give him too much praise for that...acknowledge and recognize he did what we expected and move on.

Talked to a Hiram coach yesterday and the game is an exhibition for them so that is why it might nobe on their schedule. They are very small and going to struggle to guard our front line.

Buckzip if Akron had played and lost yesterday in the manner Utah State lost to the Auburn I think there would be opporunity to win recruits away from OSU. I'm not talking about the top recruits, but I am talking about the recruits filll out their recruiting class. I've said and still believe kids want to play. If you have a chance to play at OSU, but you could start for Akron (a good Akron team) you will consider Akron. The vanilla yesterday was really bad. I personally don't believe in the offense one bit and I'm not sure how anyone can after what we have seen in 13 games. I feel bad for Clayton Moore because I think if he was in the Can't offense that spreads things out and takes chances he would be a far more productive quarterback. We have had this discussion on here before and I think it is still valid...the offensive scheme needs to fit the players and ours simply doesn't. I watched the WMU and Michigan game yesterday too....WMU would clobber us. They look some much better than us it is silly. Finally, there were nine players suspended for the game yesterday and Coach Fickell probably only used a very small percentage of the playbook -- if you can't play OSU better with those odds than you are not going to be very good this year. Alabama beat Can't with far fewer set backs for Alabama and Can't actually scored (I don't care when they scored either). Can't will beat us again this year and it will probably be bad. I can't believe I'm typing this, but I would rather watch a Lee Owens coached team lose 63-60 than the terrible football we are being fed under Ianello. I can't imagine Wistricill is feeling very good about this choice and I'd love for Gaffney to get an interview with him to explore this hiring. After all if Fickell was interested in this job and we just watched him coach OSU (I know a more talented team) to a thrashing of Ianello without breaking a sweat on a day with 105 degree temps on the field....he has to know he made a mistake. I can only hope Ianello turns this around, but I don't have much if any faith.