InTheZone

Record 5 seasons prior to JD- 28-31Record 5 seasons with JD- 27-32How can anyone argue this program is going in the right direction? We haven't gotten any better under JD, we've actually gotten WORSE!!!! And he's working with facilities and recruiting tools his predecessors could only dream about. We've had three straight pathetic seasons, and ended this year with the kind of collapse that signifies a complete lack of leadership and motivational ability from the top. Mack needs to look at the facts, quit wasting valuable time and money, as we head into a new era of Zips football at the Info, on a guy who has proven he doesn't have what it takes. Do what is necessary Mack, this isn't working.

In all likelihood, we can fire JD now and not end up paying off his contract. JD is not the kind of guy that's going to sit around for 2 years at home and collect on a contract. He'll get another job, and when he does, we're no longer liable to pay him the rest of his deal. I think the contract should be a non-issue. It's a show on both sides... the coach will jump out of the contract at the first hint of a new job, and the administration will terminate it when they want to move in another direction.

Hopefully Martin did save his job. That way, our new head coach won't have to contend against much coming from across town.

Pretty embarrassing way to go out

so was Ohio.and so was BG, so was Buffalo... so forth and so on...I definitely didn't say we would win, just that we should, which with this leadership probably guarantees another loss.

In my encounters with Coach Faust in person I've always found him to be a very genuine and likable guy, but I find it somewhat surprising that Zips fans who know their history don't hold more of a grudge against him for the absolute mess he left of the program after his tenure, which honestly we still haven't recovered from.

This is a game we should win, no if, ands, or buts about it.

Why in the world would we go ahead of them? Most of these bowl games are in the South, and Sun Belt teams would bring more fans. Plus, if you honestly think the name "Akron" carries more prestige on a national scale than "Louisiana-Monroe", you're kidding yourself.

Substitute "Akron" for "Ashland" and the story is just as believable. Sadly, there's a lot of D2 programs that garner as much or more interest from their alumni and community than most MAC programs.

I think its time Mack take a serious look at what else is out there.... JD will never take this program where we should go with the investment the University has made into it.

It's interesting that our resident JD apologist should bring up Lee Owens losing this past weekend. In case you didn't notice, that loss was in the second round of the D2 playoffs, making Ashland one of the top 16 D2 programs in the country out of over 200. When Lee Owens took over at Ashland, they were God-awful. What he's done there, transforming a cellar dwellar into a national power in 5 years, is actually pretty amazing. Contrast that with what JD has done in his tenure in terms of improving the program, and well, I guess you can see where I'm going with this...You taking a shot at Lee Owens for having a top 16 team while you defend a guy who can't beat a MAC cupcake is laughable.

Here's how I feel about this game, since my option wasn't in the poll...If we lose this game, I am cancelling my season ticket order for the Info unless JD is fired immediately following the game. I came back to Akron and dragged a few of my buddies along for the last homecoming in the stadium I played in for five of the best years of my life, and left feeling embarrassed.

Jac obviously put in a lot of cerebral work in the offseason. He's doing a much better job of going through his progression and delivering the ball with confidence. Kudos to him.

this board is also full of people who have so bought into the bs they've been fed the last 5 years that they're completely blind to reality. Luckily that disease is curable.... I was cured in about the middle of '07, hopefully some of you find the cure soon.

I'm hoping for 12-0, but I when I step back and look at everything I think we have slowly sunk back to being one of the worst teams in college football. Prove me wrong JD... right now, I'll say 3-9.

Honestly, I think the Zips could go 0-11 this year and some of you would still find a way to suck JD off. The state of Akron football right now is pathetic. JD has successfully transformed this program into the WORST team in the MAC EAST!!!! He's got all of his own recruits, those recruiting classes that so many on here were just raving about, and we are the worst team in one of the worst conferences in the country. In 2009 we will finally have complete 1st rate facilities, and we're going to need a new first rate head coach. And I don't want to hear this BS about JD having won a MAC title either. JD backed his way into a MAC championship in a crazy year in the MAC (with the same conference record his predecessor got fired for), won a MAC championship with 90% of his predecessor's guys in the starting lineup, and then proceeded to get beat by the 5th place CUSA team in a bowl game. I'm not saying Lee Owens was a great Division 1 coach, because he wasn't, but if any of you think JD has done anything better you're delusional. Now that the team is fully his, we are back in the same sad state we were at the end of the Faust era. Guys aren't even graduating, and we're losing scholarships because of it. JD's already pulling the injury card as to why his team isn't functioning, and the season hasn't even started. I have a bad feeling that the final year in the Rubber Bowl is going to be a long one sadly. The sooner it's over, and the sooner this program can move on from the train wreck this coaching staff has created the better from where I'm sitting. I will continue to support my alma mater and this team, but I have lost any faith I had left in this coaching staff.

I didn't include Doug and Brandon Williams because they were actually players JD inherited in his first spring from Lee Owens' recruiting list. I believe Owens' staff had already offered Doug, but you're right, they are both quality players and quality human beings. If JD's going to look in Florida, like I said, he must look much more closely at character and find guys like these.It's funny that since I presented the cold hard facts of what's become of our recent Florida recruits, a-zip and GP1 have been absent from this discussion. That's what happens when people who think with their emotions and shoot off at the mouth (or keyboard in this case) are confronted with reality. Cricket.... Cricket....

Yeah ok, Heil Hitler... because I look at facts and have some experience with this sort of thing and don't turn a blind eye to obvious problems in an attempt to be PC, I'm a racist. Let's look at some facts.JD's RECRUITS FROM FLORIDA-2005:Michael Alphonse- GONE, locker room problemRodney Etienne- GONE, locker room problemCarlton Jackson- GONE, HUGE locker room problemClarence McPherson- GONE, HUGE locker room problemhmmm... 0 for 5 in '05, not bad...2006:Mickey Baker- GONE, HUGE locker room problemWayne Cobham- Good kid, still hereDelvin Davis- GONE, HUGE locker room problemSheldon Dennis- Never got hereDJ Henderson- Never got hereTevlin Petit-Frer- GONE, legal troublesJerell Stoudamire- GONE, locker room problem, even though he was never "officially" on the teamJacquain Williams- Never got herehmmm.... 1 for 8 in '06, I guess it's an improvement2007: NONE, I thought JD learned his lessonSo out of all JD's Florida recruits, we're a grand 1 for 13... but yeah, when I say you have to look a lot more closely at character for Florida guys, I'm a racist...

What kind of comment is that? So outside of Florida you can put talent above character?No, you just have to look much more closely at character when it comes to a Florida kid, and if there are any red flags at all, you pass. It's just a different culture many of the kids from down there are raised in, and it often doesn't mesh well at all with Ohio and Pennsylvania kids. Anyone who has ever been involved with college football knows what I'm talking about.Seriously, that has to be one of the dumbest posts I have ever seen here. You've obviously never been on a college football team and know nothing about locker room chemistry and the problems that can occur when you throw kids from Florida, who for whatever reason nobody closer to home wanted, in with Midwestern kids. Almost every single kid JD has gone down to Florida to get has been a problem and most of them have quit, packed up their bags, and left.

I'm afraid they may be right. I'm not sure, with all the money that has been poured into this program and new facilities over the past few years, how we've become a cellar dweller in one of the worst conferences in the country, but that appears to be the reality. I don't think we finish last but I don't see the Zips being competitive until at least '09, maybe '10.

What kind of comment is that? So outside of Florida you can put talent above character?No, you just have to look much more closely at character when it comes to a Florida kid, and if there are any red flags at all, you pass. It's just a different culture many of the kids from down there are raised in, and it often doesn't mesh well at all with Ohio and Pennsylvania kids. Anyone who has ever been involved with college football knows what I'm talking about.

I hope JD has learned from his mistakes of the past down in the sunshine state and is not gonna go down there and get a bunch of hoodlums who will split his lockeroom. If you're going to recruit Florida, you've got to put character above talent, otherwise you're going to get stuck with the Carlton Jackons, Clarence McPhersons, and Mickey Bakers of the world. Bottom line to me is any player who has Division 1 talent in Florida but is having to come all the way to Akron, OH to play college football must have some character issues.

My prediction:5-7, 3 straight losing seasons coupled with our Academic woes, and Mack Rhoades cleans house before the first snow hits the ground of the Rubber City. I hope I'm wrong, but thats my realistic assessment. JD could've been a good coach here and he stepped into a great opportunity with the new facilities, but he really screwed himself by trying to take shortcuts to win in his first 2-3 years. He looks like he's learned his lesson now and is trying to do things right, but that's not going to show this year and Mack is going to have very little patience for a coach coming off 3 losing seasons and heading into a shiny new stadium where the community needs to be excited. The only way to get that excitement will be to bring in a new coach, and since Mack isn't the AD who hired JD he probably wants his own guy anyways. I know there's a lot of JD fans on this board, and I was one initially when he was winning with Lee O's recruits, but his horrible mismanagement of the future of the program during those years, which we're seeing the effects of now, turned me into a hardcore doubter. Hopefully he can regain my support with a surprising season this year and save his job.

Does anyone know how transfers factor into this equation? We've had a lot of kids leave the program in recent years and transfer to other schools, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are academic casulties who won't graduate. Also, how do walk-ons play into this? Does the NCAA only look at the retention rate of players on scholarship, or are we penalized if walk-ons allowed into the program aren't retained as well??

:blink: