InTheZone

http://www.detnews.com/article/20111129/SP...--not-Akron-job Last Updated: November 29. 2011 1:00AM. Wayne State coach Paul Winters is focused on next game, not Akron job Detroit— Paul Winters was busy at work Monday, getting Wayne State prepared for its biggest game in school history. And, people are taking notice of Winters' work. His name was mentioned in the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the Akron head coaching job, which opened up after Rob Ianello was fired after a two-year run resulting in consecutive 1-11 records. Akron athletic director Tom Wistrcill was disgusted with Akron's performance Friday in a 68-19 loss to Western Michigan. The Zips were embarrassed by Can't State on their beautiful, new $61.6 million, 30,000-seat InfoCision Stadium earlier this month. Winters — in his eighth season at Wayne State — has turned the Warriors into a Division II national power. They are 33-13 the last four years. They set a school record with nine wins and were ranked No. 12 last season. They earned a D-II playoff spot for the first time in school history this season, and took advantage of the situation with wins at St. Cloud State and Nebraska-Kearney to improve to 10-3. Now, they will play in a national quarterfinal game Saturday at defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth. When asked if he had interest in the Akron job, Winters was quick to the point, saying: "The only interest I have is in winning the national championship. We're playing the defending national champions. I think for our young men, it's a great opportunity to go up against the very best and I know to a man they are looking forward to it." Winters' name has been thrown into the mix at Akron for good reason. After all, he was a standout running back for Akron in the late '70s, earning the school's Athlete of the Year award in 1980. After a stint at running backs coach at Wisconsin in the early '90s, he moved on to become offensive coordinator at Akron under Lee Owens (1994-2003) before his arrival in Detroit. In 2003, Winters helped Akron become the nation's 11th-best scoring offense (36.2) and No. 7 passing attack. Just two years after Owens' departure in 2003, J.D. Brookhart guided Akron to the MAC championship with a last-second touchdown pass for a 31-30 win over Northern Illinois in the 2005 MAC title game at Ford Field. Brookhart didn't come close to duplicating the championship season and was fired after the 2009 season. But, Winters is duplicating success over and over again at Wayne State. And, he's focused on nothing but Saturday's regional championship game for a spot in the Final Four. "We were ready to play and got some early turnovers," Winters said of Wayne State's 38-26 win over Nebraska-Kearney, where they jumped out to a 14-0 lead, including a 47-yard interception return by safety Jeremy Jones, one of his three picks on the day. "(Minnesota-Duluth) has quite a few seniors back from last year. They have a power-oriented offense. They like to run the ball." Yes, Winters has only one thing on his mind ... how to stop Duluth's running game. The Akron job is off the radar.

It's a crapshoot with assistants, but obviously all head coaches were assistants at some point. We're at a point in this program though where we can't afford to have a guy come in and learn on the job. We need a guy who knows how to take a terrible team and turn them into a powerhouse, a guy who's done that. In Paul Winters, we have that guy, and a guy who loves Akron football, loves this community, and would not use this school as a stepping stone. We also have a guy who has actually been here, knows how to recruit in the MAC, and has taken MAC athletes and turned them into one of the most dangerous offenses in the country. You find me somebody else like that. It should also be pointed out that coaches in the GLIAC recruit all the same guys that MAC schools are recruiting. They keep contact with the same guys through their junion and senior years, and then take the ones that don't get MAC offers (and some that do!) That being the case, Winters already has relationships with many of the kids that are being recruited in our conference and we will be competing for. That's a MAJOR plus given the short amount of time our new coach is going to have to put a class together.

Of course there should still be a process. But if it's an honest process, it'll lead to Paul Winters. He's everything we want and need in a head coach, we're just not going to do better in my opinion. My mind could be changed if I see the right candidate with the right qualifications. But if I see another another BCS assistant coach come out of this process I'm literally going to go insane.

Don't let this Indians06 guy get you riled. He's the type that knows nothing and just gets his jollies off acting like he does on an internet message board. What he says doesn't make this any more or less likely from happening, so the best thing you can do is not give him the attention he's craving. That'll be my last acknowledgement of him. This whole guessing game is fun, but futile. The Tressel thing could happen, or it could not happen. The more it is not acknowledged by either side, the more it makes me think that something is in the works. I know some people in the athletic department that have been there since I played, and they gave me the heads up last week that the Ianello firing was coming. I've asked them about the Tressel thing, and even they really don't know what's going on. If something's happening, it's being kept tight to the vest (pun intended), and the only point that we'll know for sure is if there's a flat out denial or he's hired. Until that time, keep having fun with it, but like I said earlier, it needs to be reeled in if TW knows it's not happening.

If you do a search on "tressel" you will find it. I'm not sure where it was headlined earlier in the day, but it was not removed from the site as of 15 minutes ago. Gotcha, I found it. A link that had been provided earlier was coming up blank. That being said, this was a blog, not an article put out officially by the Repository, and was written by some jerk-off nobody who I guarantee has no "inside source" close to Tressel. Just a guy giving his opinion, like everyone else. Wouldn't put much stock in it.

I think the more telling thing is the Repository TOOK THE ARTICLE DOWN. Why do media outlets take stories down? Because it came to their attention that something in the article wasn't accurate and they don't want egg on their face. The question becomes, what did they get wrong?

This has gotten out of hand. If there's nothing going on with Tressel, TW needs to come out right now and nip it in the bud. I have had people who I know don't follow Akron football at all texting me about Tressel being our new coach. I'm reading all these Tweets from kids saying they're transferring to Akron if the news is true. I'm seeing facebook posts from known Suckeye bandwagoners who went to Akron getting excited about Akron football. Some of you may say this is great, we're getting a ton of attention. Maybe it is in the short term. But by allowing this to fester, you're creating a situation where anyone we hire except Tressel is going to be a massive disappointment and the new hire is going to generate ZERO intensity and support in the community. Managing expectations is an extremely important part of PR. If Tressel is in the mix, then sure, continue to keep it quiet and then come out with a huge announcement. If he's not, YOU HAVE TO KILL THIS THING NOW TOM.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-message-board/ Things you say on a message board can affect you in real life, the Internet is not as anonymous as it used to be.

Would it change some of your minds who are against Winters if he won the D2 national championship this year? For those of you ignorant of D2, that would mean what he has essentially accomplished at Wayne State was the D2 equivalent of taking over at Indiana and turning them into a Big 10 power and National Champion within 7 seasons. Wayne State was an absolute bottom feeder joke in a D2 power conference who had no history of winning whatsoever, and Winters now has them competing for the national championship. For those of you who are quick to dismess D2 football, yes some D2 football is way below any kind of FBS level. That is not the case in the GLIAC. As someone who played in the MAC and has been to a few Ashland and Wayne State games through the years, A great GLIAC team has essentially the same talent level as a mid to bad MAC team in their starting lineup. They don't have nearly the depth due to the scholarship restrictions (36), but the level of football with the starters on the field is very similar. Paul knows how to turn an absolutely destitute program into a winner, he's an alum who loves Akron, he's an offensive genius, and he's a coach players love to play for. He's not a guy who's going to come in here and thumb his nose at everyone the way Ianello did, he's a humble guy who will unite this community. What more do we want in a head coach? if it's not going to be a big name like Tressel, Leach, Bowden, etc, then Paul is the ONLY acceptable choice, and in the long run, probably a better choice than any of those guys anyways.

I think when they're referring to "info" maybe it's a reference to InfoCision Stadium. Where we go to watch our 1 win football teams, then they cross the street, buy some drugs from the crackheads that makes them believe that Tressel would ever come to Akron. So ya if that's the "info" you're referring to, it's caused about over a dozen pages of hallucination. Just getting you in quotes in case you have to eat those insults later.

There are people on this site with legit sources. I try not to post anything unless it's a source within the athletic department that would have knowledge of the situation. That's what I did with the word that Ianello was going to be fired. A lot of other people on the board had sources saying similar things. Usually, if trusted posters around here are posting something, it's legit. Personally, I have no knowledge of the Tressel situation, but I'm sure there are others around here that do.

In all the Head Coach hoopla, I think we're forgetting one thing: It really doesn't matter who's coaching our team if we don't get a real quarterback in here. The QB play for the Zips has been some of the most atrocious I've ever seen at the D1 level over the past two seasons (Most GLIAC teams actually have far better quarterbacks). Say whatever you want about the "system", but nobody should look that bad whether they're running the pro-style, spread, or freakin Wing-T. In order to give our new head coach a nice database, let's be on the look out on the net for stories about quality quarterbacks who have lost QB battles at bigger schools and who can take advantage of the NCAA's post-graduate rule allowing them to play immediately. Dayne Crist has been mentioned, and I'll also throw this guy's name in: Ryan Katz http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...m-oregon-state/ Of course, if we can land one of the "big name" coaches available out there, we'd be a lot more likely to land a big time transfer at the position or a top JUCO looking to play right away (and no, Clayton Moore was not a "top" JUCO... Cam Newton was a top JUCO).

Mike Leach He's still available, was wildly successful at a place where it's difficult to be successful due to bigger name programs within the state, was a great recruiter and developer of talent, and ran an offense that gets the most out of that talent and allows his teams to compete with more talented teams. Yes, he may not have a recruiting base in the Midwest, but he can fill his staff with assistants who do (assistants are more vital to recruiting than the head coach, contrary to popular belief). He's a big name who would be a big splash hire and get the ball rolling where it needs to go in terms of putting Akron football on the map. GO GET HIM. My other candidates, in no particular order..... Paul Winters, Jim Tressel, Terry Bowden, Turner Gill, Houston Nutt, Ron Zook HELL-NO Candidates: Luke Fickell, Chuck Martin, ANY ASSISTANT COACH WITH NO HEAD COACHING EXPERIENCE, ESPECIALLY FROM THE BIG 10

If he gets another job, which he will, we only pay the difference. He's not gonna sit on his ass for three years and collect a paycheck, otherwise he'll never get back in. We'll only end up eating a very small fraction of this contract.

You can get by hiring a coach coming off fresh NCAA violations. An AD? Not so much.

Clayton Moore maybe?

Would you like to go on record some more? Wow....you manned up and called him out after 2 years. Impressive. CK knows of one guy who will not post here anymore because of Skip Zip. I know 3 that won't post because of you. True story. Then you know three people who will be failures at life. Seriously, if you can't take a little heat on an internet message board, I would hate to see how you deal with problems in real life.

Would you like to go on record some more? :lol: Good stuff GP, I needed that one today.

With Owens, it was the night of. I'm not sure about JD. Regardless, this is happening.

I thought you said you were gone for the rest of the day! I turned the game off. I know what's going on without submitting myself to the torture of watching it.

I believe there was a thread on here at some point about which game was the lowest point in the history of Zips football. I believe we have a new champion.

Fear not loyal Zippers. Our despair will be replaced with jubilant celebration within hours.

I'm out. Can't take anymore of this. Hopefully we'll have the good news by the end of the day.

Did he get face-masked on that play?Alex Carder's not playing for WMU?I couldn't tell, my streaming video keeps breaking up.Typical end to WMU's first drive as well! I think that 27 point spread was a little slim, should've made some money today.

Typical end to the first drive.