zipboy

Press release when they were hired 2 years ago said that JD was signed for 165K per season. He also got some some incentives for bowl appearances, MAC champs etc. This would put him in the top 4-5 of MAC football coaches league wide. Not sure about the library comment above, but I do remember the press release saying he was 165K and I remember Proenza's quote that we paid a little more than we expected to because JD was the right guy.Press release when KD was hired listed him at 110K per year. This is the bottom or near the bottom in the league. Average bball salary is around 140K per year. Muncie paper had an article on MAC coaching salaries after Buckley got fired. O'Shea was #1 around 200-225K. Chrisitan is now at 250. Most everyone else is in the 140-150 range with a few at the bottom.You move people to appropriate places given your constraints. That is how you treat people fairly. KD should move to the middle of the range. Chances are he loves Akron and will not leave. That doesn't mean you keep him at 110K for life. It also doesn't mean you pay him 500K a year and bankrupt your dept. JD should get a nice increase. It does nothing to keep him from bolting for double the salary if all he cares about is money. But it treats him right. We can afford to give each of them another 30-40K per season.The UA athletic budget was 14M last year. Giving each coach a 40K raise and then doubling that for benefits is 160K. 160K out of 14M is about 1.2% of the athletic budget. For a 60M stadium, it is 0.25%. Giving each of them this much can't make a difference on building a new stadium or not building a new stadium. And it sure should not cripple the athletic dept.We always hear how poor UA is. Mack Rhodes was seen as the guy to lead Akron sports to the next level. His salary in the paper was reported at $190K annually. In Mack's interviewing for jobs last year with Sunbelt teams, the reported offers were around 90K. If you a guy is the right one, find the money to get him. I am not picking on Mack in anyway. Contracts were already set when he got here. But I can gurantee 110K for a bball coach is probably at the low end in the country for any conference. To me it doesn't hurt us financially, and we are treating these guys the right way.

Russell should have the best chance at a national title. The only surprise for me was Beata not making it. Seems like after CC season, they decided not to run her too hard this spring.

This kid sat in front of me at the spring game. Strong looking kid. I like what he says about the UA program. One to keep an eye on.This is from jjhuddle.comSophomore Brandon Beachum of Youngstown Cardinal Mooney is quickly becoming one of the top prospects in the class of 2008. Beachum (6-1, 215 pounds), is a two-way player in high school, starring as a running back and a linebacker.Beachum attended a one day camp at Akron University on Sunday and tested extremely well for a sophomore. He ran a 4.62-forty, 4.4 pro shuttle and broad jumped 8' 8" - all remarkable numbers for a player his size. It's no wonder Beachum is drawing the attention of recruiters across the land. "I think I did okay," said Beachum modestly. "I was hoping to do a lot better and I think I can do better. I've gotten stronger and faster the past few months. I work out a lot and I'll continue to work to get better."Beachum spoke highly of the Akron coaches and their facilities. "The coaches were great," said Beachum. "It's easy to see why they're so successful. I love their facilities. The weight room and the indoor football field are great."Beachum, who carries a 3.3 grade point average, talked about playing football at the next level some day. "I'm going to play football in college some day," said Beachum. "Getting an education is very important to me and my family. I really have no favorite at this time but I like the schools close to home. I went to Ohio State for the Michigan State game and loved it. I met Jim Tressel before the game and got to be on the field with the players before the game. It was an awesome atmosphere." Beachum also discussed what position he sees himself playing in college. "I definitely see myself as a defensive player at the next level," said Beachum. "I'm a decent running back but defense is just a better fit for me in the future. I prefer to hit people. Even when I run the football I'm looking to run someone over rather than go around them. I believe I will be recruited as a linebacker and that's great with me."Beachum, who is listed as one of the top players in his class by Ohio High magazine, is a very mature person for a sophomore and figures to have a bright future on and off the football field. He is a player we will follow very closely to monitor his progress.

After the game 6 win over Washington, I saw Maverick Carter running into the locker room. Maverick has also been at a few Zips games. Hopefully he is turning into a big booster.

Next Board of Trustees meeting is June 21st.

I agree with Msopher. One, I love the MAC. But depending how the Big East shakes out, if 3 or 4 MAC teams leave, I won't love the MAC anymore. Rivalrywise, we are a perfect fit for the Big East. I disagree on not being a fit demographically. Looking at the football/basketball league, you have Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Rutgers, UConn, WVU, Cincy, and Louisville. If anything, Toledo, Buffalo, and Akron fit perfectly into that both in terms of city and university population.With respect to budget, you are right, we would need to basically double our budget from around 14M per year to almost 25M per year. So would any other MAC school.In regards to recruiting, I trust Dambrot and JD. JD is already beating the Big East for recruits. We have better football facilities than any Big East school today. The new stadium puts us right there. Recruiting should be easier in the Big East. It clearly makes us near the top in Ohio after osu. Do I see as as shoe in, no. Do I see Akron striving to keep getting better and putting them in a position to have this option in the future, yes. I don't get the we are just Akron talk either. We are in a major city with a phenomenal recruiting area and have people in place who know what they are doing. Talk about catching lightening in a bottle, it is all there for the taking.

Thanks much Captain! ITZ, to expand on your question, is Kiki ok to go for the fall?

2 nice pick ups for the Lady Zips. Sediah Erskine and Tenisha Taylor from Rhodes in Cleveland. Erskine was 2nd in the 3200M last spring at state. I saw her run once. I think she may become a star in cross country. Zips also have developed a strong reputation for developing good distance runners.

Not sure if part of your post was referrig to the pressure of Semeka Randall. But my rant for the day is whenever some high up coach recommends and pushes hard for someone. Like listening to Bobby Knight pull for Dan Hipsher or Jim Tressel push MT to hire his assistant who is now at Marshall (thank goodness we got JD!) or Pat Summit pushing Semeka Randall makes a lot of sense. Pat Summit gives a rat's ass about Akron. And I doubt that Bobby Knight or Jim Tressel care about Akron athletics. I don't know if Kest will be good or not, but I also am happy that Mack picked who he thought the right person was.

No updates on the MAC website. It did say take total # of points (not sure how they award) and divide by # of sports. You can't count indoor and outdoor track, just one of them. For the women, 2 champs in track and cross country, mediocre softball (6th), near the bottom in swimming, below average in volleyball and soccer, last in bball and tennis, and below avg in volleyball. The 2 champs cancel out bball and tennis, we should be 9th or 10th.In mens, :macc: in football and soccer, 3rd in bball, last in baseball, 3rd in track, mediocre in cc, we should finish in the top 4-5. As for the conference stuff, say NO to CUSA. A lateral move at best that is not good for Akron. Big East has many regional rivalries. I would only make the move if they came calling.

If they make t shirts of that, I want one.

After football and basketball, my next personal favorite Zip sport to follow. Dominating performance today. Way to go! :macc:

Nice of Jay to resign after recruiting season is over. CMU got screwed.

Lee Owens: "Butchie, I want you to run the draw play."Butchie: "But Coach, its 3rd and 7"Lee Owens: "I KNOW! That's the point! They'll never expect it!"Butchie: "But Coach, no one had covered Lavel Bailey all game. I can hit him for a first down no sweat."Lee Owens: "Butchie, never underestimate the element of surprise!"Butchie: But Coach...we run that Goddamn 3rd and 7 draw play every MF-ing game. Everyone knows it's comin'. Hell...those drunk Mf-ers in the endzone are screaming 'DON"T RUN THE DRAW PLAY' at the top of their lungs! Just let me throw it to Lavel!!"Lee Owens: "Draw play to Chris Rooney. Run it or I'll put in Gromek."Announcer: "...and a loss of 2 yards for the Zips brings up a 4th and 9." Guess the one freaking time Butchie did not listen was at Penn State. Now I know why he was pulled for Gromek in that game.

I remember this came up on the old blue board several years ago and I mentioned that after seeing the spring game, Marcus Sanders was a legitimate prospect. One of the most assinine comments that I have ever made. What I learned from that is make sure the guy actually played a down in real game before commenting and stick my thought to seniors. Alleman is the best pro prospect that we have. If he stays healthy and has a year that he is capable of having, he should be a first day guy. Crouch will be in someones camp. Kiki should also get a look.I agree if I broke my comment above and went to juniors, Jabari has all the tools and can really shine this year.

Wonder how many numerous times he saw the Zips play. Glad to see he thinks WMU has blown forever. Wonder why he did not mention Can't as a bottom feeder. I think that we actually found someone dumber than Roger Brown.

Nice write up. I am interested to see Ray's book come out. One comment that I don't agree with - I can't see Bubba giving OU what Mychal Green did. Green brought more to the table than just shooting.

Same undergraduate school as UAM I think?

Saw an article in USA Today where something like 74 out of 119 Div 1A teams filled their 12th game with a 1AA team. Glad to see the Zips are with the other 45 teams.

Isn't that half their staff?

I will probably be the minority here but I liked Dunn better on the broadcasts than when Taylor filled in. I did not hear the insight that we get from Stamms.

If you are interested, these numbers are on www.ope.edu.gov/athletics. I have tracked these for the last couple of years. We are right in the top half for football vs other MAC schools, a little low for basketball but still comparable. A couple of thoughts in looking at the numbers . . . they don't take into account current facilities. We have the best facilities in the league which obviously helps. And you could spend money like Temple does for football or CMU does for bball and get nothing in return. Spend wisely and you reap the returns. Also, our overall budget is now 13.1 M. NIU was lowest in the league at 12.7. Miami was the highest at 18.1. Hard to compare total budgets due to the different number of sports. But with respect to Akron, an extra $50K per year for JD and KD and doubling that for benefits and healtcare is roughly 200K more per year. That is less than 2% of our current budget. Not that big of an impact to the budget. Here you go Football budgets for the 2004-2005 year1. NIU 4.7M2. Miami 4.5 M3. Toledo 4.2M4. Ball 3.9 M5. Akron 3.7M Ohio 3.7M BG 3.7M8. CMU 3.6M EMU 3.6M WMU 3.6M11. Buffalo 3.5M Can't 3.5M Some of our main competitors for recruitingCincy 7.1MPitt 12.1 MTemple 7.6M Too lazy to do another post, here is mens bball. Everyone is pretty close1. CMU 1.3M2. WMU 1.2M Can't 1.2M4. Miami 1.1M Toledo 1.1M NIU 1.1M7. Ohio 1.0M EMU 1.0 M Ball 1.0M10. BG 957K11. Akron 939K Buffalo 0.9K Some others of interst - Temple 2.8M, Pitt 3.2M, Dayton 2.7M, Xavier 3.0M, Nevada 1.7M, George Mason 1.0M, Cincy 3.7M

I was able to stop down and watch some of the track meet yesterday. Another outstanding performance by the Zips. Physically Akron just looked dominant vs the other schools. Kudos to Dennis Mitchell for quietly building a national power.

Is Can't going to defer him for a year? Didn't they run out of scholarships due to 5 flunky transfers?

It would be more than the Beacon gives their beat writers for a Zips away game.