zipboy

For me personally this makes it a lot easier to travel to Mobile on Jan 7th vs a week before Christmas. Spending a weekend in the South after the holidays have died down would be quite enjoyable. How about from a practice perspective? Do we get an extra 2 weeks of practice with this game or are there only so many practices allowed regardless?

I could see that argument at columbus state. But Akron is not exactly making millions off the athletic program.

There was an article about him in the paper a few years ago. His son was a good bball player, started at Buchtel, the Dad got in a fight with the coach (Andre Sims Dad I think) and he transferred to Tallmadge. He wanted his son to play guard at Buchtel so that he could get looks for college. Given that he was the tallest guy on the team, they played him down low. Seemed that he was just angry at the world and was mad about the Coleman Crawford firing and no head coaches were black.

I agree with what you are saying to a point ZIP. Not the way to run a long term program. However, if we have limited resources, I would rather put all of those resources into the marquee programs. If it comes down to a few extra bucks for softball or football or bball I vote to put the money there.

Why not just wait ten minutes before a game, find a scalper who has poor inventory control with about 25 tickets in his hand, offer him $25 each for a ticket and buy one? If you are willing to sit in a piss poor seat, you can get into any OSU game or any other game for a cheap price.In lieu of an OSU game, why not just buy season tickets to Akron (or whatever MAC school you are from), sit on the 50 yard line near the field and enjoy a good football game? Which reminds me, season ticket notices came in the mail today. Buy early, buy often...... I second GP's sentiments. What he said.Free public service translation from my post above: "suckeye game" = (is the same as) "OSU game"Regarding tickets .. and yes, even Columbus St. tickets .. I've tried to get them, and always get them .. at my price .. for big games also. The hard part is NEVER getting in the building .. it's holding down my lunch and beverages as 100k sheep practice spelling the 4 letter state name. Almost as entertaining as the identity crisis cheers at Penn St. That's very interesting. I've never been to an Ohio State game, and never really wanted to go to one, so I don't have the first-hand experience. I just know OSU fans that have gone down to Columbus and tailgate, but never go to the games because the only tickets they could find were very high priced from scalpers.As for the season ticket thing, that is UT's hope that people buy season tickets to UT in order to be able to purchase tickets to the UT/OSU game at Cleveland. Tickets for that game won't be part of the regular season ticket package, but my point was that you would have to be a season ticket holder at UT in order to get tickets for the UT/OSU game in Cleveland if you don't want to pay a higher price through ebay or scalpers or something.Who knows, maybe your plan will work though. Thinking about the past, remember the year after the quitters when we got Purdue at the JAR? For pre sale tickets you had to buy a 4 or 6 game package in order to have the right to get tickets for this game. With about 2 weeks before the game, they removed that restriction. We got all of about 4K fans. And no freaking pep band, we had that old recording play the fight song. Give me Purdue this year at the JAR. We would light those guys up by 20.

I would rather get Indiana, Syracuse, and Kentucky in Akron rather than have a "home" game in Cleveland.

There is a link on Van Delays site. USA today seemed very bullish about the Zips. AKRONGETTING INSIDEThe monkey's gone.Now, the next step.Akron made it to the postseason last season for the first time since Bob Huggins took the Zips to the NIT way back in 1989. The 2005-06 Zips went two games into the 2006 NIT, and there's every reason in the world to think there's more to come.Just look at what happened to Keith Dambrot's team last season.The Zips went 23-10, the most wins for Akron as a Division I program.The 80-73 overtime win over Temple in the NIT (ending the John Chaney era at the Philly school even though Chaney actually missed that game for family reasons) wad the first D-I postseason win for the Zips.Akron was 13-0 at home last season, running the Zips' home winning streak to 18 games, the third-longest such streak in the country.The season ended with a loss to Creighton, a well-rested team that was sitting around and waiting in Omaha for a team that had won in Philadelphia two nights earlier. Romeo Travis had 25 points in that game, and leads the Zips into the "06-'07 season.Now, the main cogs, led by Travis and Dru Joyce, are back, and the Zips should be, too.NOTES, QUOTESTHE GOOD NEWS: The core of a 23-win team is back, and Keith Dambrot pulled off a coup with the signing of Pennsylvania high school star Steve McNees, who had been released from a commitment at Duquesne.THE BAD NEWS: There really isn't any. The Zips built something strong last season and this should just be the next step.QUOTE TO NOTE: "We made great progress last season, but there are still a number of goals we want to achieve as a program. Earning a spot in the NIT last season and getting the program's first Division-I postseason victory was outstanding, but this year we want to get over the hump and will have our sights set on getting into the NCAA Tournament. We should have one of the deepest lineups in the MAC this season, but it is a fine line you have to walk to win in this league." — Coach Keith Dambrot looking ahead at next season.STRATEGY AND PERSONNELNBA BOUND: No one was taken in the draft.KEY RETURNEES: Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce come in as strong a 1-2 punch as you'll find anywhere in the league. Both used solid all-around games to lead the Zips to the program's first postseason visit since 1989, and they will lead the club again this time around.They won't be alone. Guard Nick Dials was second on the team in scoring last season (10.2 points per game), center Nate Linhart came on as his freshman year wound down, and Dambrot added key recruit Steve McNees.THE COACH: Keith Dambrot had to make one change on his coaching staff — Jeff Boals coming in to replace Shaka Smart, who took an assistant's job at Temple. But Dambrot has something going at Akron and this should be another strong season for the Zips.ROSTER REPORT: Forward Romeo Travis was named All-MAC, leading the team in scoring (13.8 points per game), rebounding (6.8) and field goal percentage (52 percent). He also had 34 steals and 30 blocked shots.Guard Dru Joyce made honorable mention All-MAC, finishing third on the Akron roster in scoring (10.0) while leading the team in assists (5.0 per). Joyce had 165 assists and 79 turnovers while recording 26 steals.Center Nate Linhart came on strong and earned a spot on the MAC's All-Freshman team. He finished at 5.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.The Zips pulled off a coup with the signing of Steve McNees to a national letter of intent. McNees averaged 28.4 points and 8.0 assists per game for Shenango (Pa.) High School and was named one of the top 10 players by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Another recruit, Darryl Roberts, didn't qualify academically and will not attend the school.

Lilcat any word on the new tennis coach?

I went to Akron during the Peggy Gordon Elliot era, the darkest days in Akron history. I know what presidents make is a lot, but given the impact Proenza has had on Akron, he has repaid us 10 fold. At times you wonder what the president does but Akron is night and day with Proenza in charge vs when Peggy was there.

Not a fan of the Big 10 or the teams in it. Looking at it from a MAC perspective, channel 19 and 43 showed all big 10 games from ESPN+ last year. Will the MAC be able to get some of that air time or will those channels just show a movie of the week? What about Sportime Ohio? Seems like they need to really get some programming to fill their dead time. How about a partnership with the MAC, get some regular Wed night bball games? Baseball should not intefere with basketball much at all.

I hope that we are playing it closer to the vest. I was a big fan of MT and UAM. My only criticism was letting something slip before it happened and then not having it happen. 2 case in points - MT saying UNC was coming to the JAR for basketball, we had a handshake agreement. Point 2 was UAM mentioning about a top 25 team coming to Akron this year (which turned out to be BC). A lot of stuff can fall through. My hope is that this is further along than what the article says but we are not anywhere near close to breaking ground this fall which is what I had expected a few months ago.And given that it must be taking our legal dept 6 months to review a standard contract, who knows when anything will get done around here.

This still confuses me. It is not like Proenza has no idea what is going on. What does legal actually do? Contract should be standard, it should not be up to them to approve budgets. How long was Tressel's doubling of salary held up in the osu legal dept?

Looks like the body type of a Joe Reitz type with 2 more inches. Between he and Bardo, we should finally have some size in the middle. Based off his website, he sounds like a smart kid.

Gives me more time to down some victory beers after the game. I like their 10 players on the all MAC team from Phil Steele. Eugene Jarvis, 4th team all MAC? Given that Can't averaged about 0.2 yards per carry last year, this guy is going to need about 500 carries in a game to rush for 100.How long before Roger Brown gets wind of this and lists it in his all knowing way?

What a shame for him.

I don't know, those kids above probably have a better defense than BG.

Our first Clev Hts recruit since Jimmy Gray

Thanks, good points. Getting the courts on campus will have to be a necessity. I think that will happen but probably more in the 4-5 year range rather than 1-2. Thanks for the insights and good luck with off season training.

I agree that I don't see Crouch at the next level, but he will get invited to some camp and make it through a few cuts. Alleman has the potential to be an everyday guy.

I agree, CUSA holds no appeal at that point. They are a 1 bid league in bball and with Memphis gone have nothing left. They are fragmented geographically and have little regional rivalries.

My reaction to this is1. It is Julie Wrights' career, if she thinks she made a good move, then good for her. I never wish any one ill will.2. I scratch my head at this. I can never remember a MAC head coach in good standing leaving for an assistant Div 1 job in any sport at least over the last 10 years. I understand the Big Ten is a better league than ours. I understand when assistants leave to be assistants and when our head coaches leave to be head coaches. or when they leave to be assistants in the pros. I understand that coaches don't love Akron like I do and will move on at some point. But this one I don't get. She was the top assistant at Kansas before coming here. I don't consider Wisconsin anymore of a softball power than Kansas.3. No acknowledgement on Gozips.com. I take that the administration is pissed too and took it as a slap in the face. And I am happy they feel that way. Contrast that with Pry who was here the same amount of time and had a nice article about him the day he left.4. My personal opinion but after 2 years to abandon ship for an assitant coaches job unless it was due to family if I was an AD, I would never hire someone like that. 5. Lilcat not sure how comfortable you are discussing this, so please feel free not to comment. Obviously in looking at Akron sports, women's tennis has had the least done for them and clearly have it tougher than many other schools. Given that, is the team excited about a change coming? Given the current resources, the job will be tough for anyone. But I hope that somone coming in can only help improve the situation.

Everyone did about as expected. I had hoped that John may have gotten a top 3 finish. Hard to tell what the weather was like, but an 18 foot jump would have been nice. Never the less, an outstanding year for Akron track.

You would think that more local coverage would only help their subsription rate. I doubt many people would sit there and say wow another article about Akron Zips athletics, I am going to cancel my subscription. They have a unique opportunity right now. With new ownership coming in if changes are made, they will be noticed and appreciated. Even if the Beacon turned into covering the Zips everyday, the perception would still have been that they are the same old paper. Their shoddy coverage has gone on for so long that it would take a lot to change that perception. They now get the opportunity. Thankfully I have this site, gozips.com, and Rasor's blog. That is all that I need. I hope the coverage improves more the fringe fan than for me.

From jjhuddle.com. Wonder if we beat PSU, he might change his mind!Massillon's Andrew Dailey continues to put together an impressive scholarship offer list.Dailey, who helped lead the Tigers to the state title game in 2005, has offers from Akron, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Pitt, Nebraska and Penn State. Dailey has competed at the Nike camp at Ohio State as well as the Scout.com combine at Louisville and recorded a 4.7-forty electronically timed and ran a pro shuttle in 4.12. Dailey, who stands in at 6-2, 215 pounds, plays both sides of the ball for Massillon but will be a defensive player in college. "Most schools are recruiting me as a linebacker," said Dailey. "I know at Penn State they use a rover back as a combination linebacker-strong safety. I think I would do best in a 3-4 scheme as an outside backer." Dailey, who is academically qualified, is also hearing from many other top programs and plans to camp at four schools in particular this summer."I'll be going to Notre Dame on June 3rd," said Dailey. "I've talked with coach Ianello and they said they want to see me in person. They told me they would make a decision and let me know by the end of June."I'll be going to Florida for three days in June," Dailey added. "I've talked to coach Greg Madison and received e-mail from Urban Meyer. They saw my film and said they liked what they saw."I'm also planning to attend camp for one day at both Ohio State and Michigan. I talked with Jim Bollman, of Ohio State, in early May and I went to Columbus in the spring for a day. Michigan has said they're going to offer me when I attend their camp. I've talked with Lloyd Carr and he wants me to meet their new linebacker coach." When asked if he had a favorite among the schools that have already offered, Dailey was quick to mention one school in particular."Penn State would be at the top of my list right now of the schools that have offered," said Dailey. "Their tradition is awesome and it's a great program. They might still be my favorite even if the other schools would offer me." Andrew Dailey should have a great senior season at Massillon. As one of the top players in Ohio, he is a player we will track very closely in 2006.

Good article, thanks