InTheZone

December 10th, 2009; a day that will go down in infamy. I wonder what ever happened to ITZ? InTheZone 75% OnTheMoney. Sometimes I say some things I don't mean in the midst of my fury at watching utter incompetence reign at this University. Of course I could never check out on my alma mater though. I'll be right here to suffer through it with the rest of you until maybe, one day, we finally get it right around here.

The JT talk may have some legs to it. You know he misses the sidelines and college game, and no big programs are going to touch him right now. He's an NEO guy and has been at Akron previously. He always showed an affection for the program while at OSU. JT could be immediately successful at Akron for a variety of reasons that many have already pointed out, not the least of which is the national attention he would bring to the program as well as his wide net of recruiting contacts at all the major programs throughout the region and in Florida. If there's interest there, pay the man what it takes to get him here. I'm all for Paul Winters but if JT wants the job it's gotta be his.

Hearing from multiple sources that RI has already been informed that he will be relieved of his duties after Friday and he has told his staff as well. To RI, I want to thank you for the hard work and countless hours you put into the program. Even though you were wildly unsuccessful, I know it wasn't for a lack of work, but rather the fact that you weren't even close to being ready to be a head coach and had no idea how to run a program. That's more the fault of the guy that hired you, not your own. I hope that you learned a lot of valuable lessons in your time here, not the least of which being that the way you treat the "little people" around you is a lot more important than you think. A coach who wins 2 games in his first 2 years can sometimes survive, but not when you've alienated 90% of the department you work in, not to mention all of the alumni and close supporters of the program. I can say with little doubt that there are very few people that you have come into contact with while running this program that will be sad to see you go on a personal level, including your players. My condolences on the passing of your mother, I know this will probably be the worst week of your life. Use the experience to reevaluate yourself personally and professionally and prepare yourself to learn from your mistakes and do a lot better job in your next opportunity. Now on to TW. If he is the one who made the decision to fire RI, then I've regained a little respect for him. Not much, as he's the one who got us into this mess in the first place by hiring a buddy who wasn't even CLOSE to being ready to run a program, but some. If he was forced to fire Rob by his higher ups, then he needs to get his ass out of town as well.

I can tell you from my own conversations with Football alumni, as well as the postings on the private Football Alum facebook group, Paul seems to be the near unanimous choice of those who played. I guess that could somewhat be expected given that Coach Winters is a football alum and he has strong connections to both players in the late 70's/early 80's who he played with, and players in the 90's/early 00's who he coached, but alumni support can go a long way at most schools (not so much at this one in the past, but maybe that will change).

It can get worse, and it can create a mess that even a great coach down the road wouldn't be able to come in here and clean up.

If you don't think it can get any worse, it can. You bring in 8 guys to start and piss the rest of the team off. 8 guys playing like all-conference performers coupled with 57 guys who hate their coach and feel betrayed will equal an even bigger disaster than we have now. Plus the lost scholarships in the next recruiting class will be very harmful down the road. The quarterback play has been awful, so by all means, if Cryst wants to come here, bring him. Maybe 1 or 2 other guys, ala Getsy/Alleman. A "mass transfer", however, would be disastrous.

Doug I'm going to say this as nicely as possible: You really have no clue about the dynamics of a locker room if you think bringing in that many guys from another program to play for one year won't completely destroy a team. That being said, this just sounds like a crazy rumor to me. Surely Ianello, despite all his shortcomings, isn't that hair-brained.

The NCAA changed the rules around 2005 to allow any student athlete who has graduated and not run out of eligibility to transfer and play immediately at any other NCAA institution, regardless of level. Think Russell Wilson at Wisconsin. So any ND player who has graduated in 4 years and still has a year of elibility left would be free to play immediately here. That being said, this is a HORRIBLE idea, and just confirms the utter stupidity and ineptitude at building a program of Ianello if true. Want to completely lose the locker room and any players you have left in your corner? Start bringing in 5th year seniors, "your guys", from your previous place of employment to take guys spots who have been here for the long haul. Great idea . If this is Ianello's idea to save his ass, fire him immediately.

I don't have to look it up skip, I started on that team, I know who we beat. My point is, we were competitive with every team we played and we played our asses off no matter what. We were not a joke of a team, we were a team who would go out and play with anyone. I look on the field now and I see a bunch of guys who just don't give a shit. It's heartbreaking and appalling to those of us who wore the uniform, and those also who have sat in the stands year after year supporting this team with everything they have. The lack of competitiveness and "don't give a damn" attitude falls squarely on the head coach. I'm not saying we should go out and rehire Owens. I'm just saying look at what we used to complain about compared to what we have now. My how the standards have fallen. In my years under Owens, we weren't all that talented, but Owens and Winters were both guys who inspired you to play your ass off. They were the kind of coaches that made you want to run through a wall for them. Was Owens a great coach on the field? No he wasn't. He made some questionable decisions that I feel like cost us some games throughout my career and especially in 2003, where I feel like we legitimately could've had a 10 win season. Owens had two big problems as a coach: He always gambled at the wrong time, and he did not distribute the talent he brought in properly between the offense and the defense. As an offensive coach, his first priority was always stacking the offense with talent. There were a lot of very talented guys that came into the program during my career that could've played either way. Those guys always went to the offense. I can remember during strength and speed testing during the spring, the discrepency between the offense and the defense was always astounding. Owens didn't place a high priority on defense, and as a result we had defenses who could stop no one. That led to never being able to get over the hump and become a dominant MAC team. To this day however, I believe that Paul Winters is an offensive genius. We had talent on offense, but he took that talent and brought excellence from it. In '03, Wisconsin's defense was bigger, faster, and stronger than us, but we hung 500 yards on them and were a blown call away from sticking it to them at their house. We need a coach here at Akron that: 1. Cares about the program beyond advancing his own career 2. Can squeeze the most out of the talent he's given to beat more talented teams 3. Inspires his players to play their ass off and want to win for him Paul Winters meets all 3 criteria. Rob Ianello meets none. Paul Winters gives us the best of the Lee Owens era in terms of unstoppable offenses and inspired play, and I believe would be a much better decision maker and steward of the talent brought in. The 2003 team would be a god-send right now, as was my original point, but Paul Winters could take us back there and beyond.

You know, I remember quite a few people who still post around here celebrating the dismissal of Lee Owens after my senior season over on the old angelfire board. That man was fired for a 7-5 season which included a top 10 offense and a near upset of a top Big 10 program. What would you all give for 7-5 now?

This surpises me. I got a PM from Doug a while back, but it was very respectful and well thought out. I had said something that he thought I shouldn't be saying and he let me know that. He was wrong about it, but he was still respectful. Maybe he had a bad day at the office or was drunk or something. I remember a time I came home from a game during the JD era completely blitzed and got on this board and started firing from the hip. It happens. Hopefully he'll be a man and either apologize if he's in the wrong, or double down and tell you he meant what he said and said what he meant ( which may be appropriate... I don't know the situation between you two).

If both Ashland and Wayne State win out, it looks likely that ole Lee O and Coach Winters will be seeing each other again come playoff time.

I would love to see Moore running a spread offense. Only one way to make that happen *cough cough*

I'm not making an outrageous statement. I have seen both Ashland and our Zips play live this year. I can say for a fact our pathetic offense would struggle to score on Ashland. While I have not seen Wayne play, Wayne State is a better team than Ashland, so I'd assume the Zips would struggle with them as well. Like jz84 said, you're kidding yourself if you think there's a big talent gap between the cellar of 1-A and the top of D2. We lost to GW last year, a cellar dweller in 1-AA who would struggle mightily in the GLIAC. The fact that Paul Winters has put together a better team at WSU, which used to be the joke of D2, than we have here at Akron with our plush new facilities speaks volumes to me both about him and the level of competence of those in charge around here.

After reading this thread, I'm beating my head against the wall too.....thinking about how we let two guys be at the forefront of our football program for several years who have done nothing more than coach at the D-II level ever since. That's all the affirmation I need. And their two D2 teams would probably beat the Zips this year. What does that affirm skip?

Why would we replace Clayton Moore?? He's one of the only players who looks like he gives two shits out there.

Well, if Hix is done, what a friggin catch to end a career on....

I have seen nothing from this team that shows me that they even care if they win. We couldn't compete in the OAC the way we've been playing. I'm seeing another loss, but I pray to God in heaven and all His angels that I'm wrong.

And our other options are.....???

Based on what I've seen, we will lose to VMI. At that point, a choice has to be made by the administration of this University. Either we say we just wasted 100 million dollars over the past decade upgrading our football facilities to some of the finest in the region, only to get one of the worst teams in the nation, and we're okay with that, or this level of incompetence is unacceptable in ANY department of the University and changes have to be made. I understand the cost arguments of buying out the contract, but the man is going to have to be fired at the end of this season anyways, so no money is going to be lost for this season by firing him and naming an interim head coach from the staff. It may not get better, but it can't get any worse, and it sets the right tone. TW should also be fired immediately and one of the associate AD's should be elevated in the interim. Mary Lu Gribschaw makes the most sense for that.

Here's what I see. Toledo does not have better athletes than we do. They are just as undersized, and just as slow in comparison to the "big boys". What they do however is they fly to the ball unlike any team I've seen in a while, and they play with swagger and a nasty ass attitude. That keeps them in games. Nobody likes to get hit in the mouth, and they have hit two much bigger and more athletic teams in the mouth the past two weeks. They play like they expect to win, and they play with anger. That comes straight from their leadership. Draw your own conclusions about ours.

Then can we count on any UberZips in the future?Well I don't think I created any UberZips in those pursuits, but i guess one never knows .But seriously, my wife was a college track runner at a smaller school. Hopefully our genes will combine to create some UberZips. And my kids will have no choice btw... if they are good athletes, they are going to be Zips.

I never once talked to a cheerleader when I was playing. I was much more interested in the female soccer players and vollyball players. Good breeding stock.

I told you guys last week that the Suckeyes are not an elite team this year. The fact that they beat us 42-0 should tell us a lot about exactly how far we've come since last year

I never felt unsafe. You're just as safe traveling as a team than any normal person who's traveling by bus or plane. Accidents are going to happen, but there's not much you can do about that.