a-zip

Good for him!

THOSE WERE FUN TIMES!!!

They should have put Yedlin in MUCH SOONER!!!!!

USA vs Jamaica Yedlin vs Mattocks

Akron doesn't like the JAR, why would anyone expect a high profile team to want to come to the JAR.

BINGO. That is why I feel the initiatives SS has on the table are very smart. Specializing and the "Polytechnic" re-branding are consistent with what the state seems to want. I said it in a post a while ago - I am not surprised the other presidents were pissed at our announcement. I also think it was smart to try and keep this under wraps as long as possible (not be so transparent right now). We beat them to the punch!

Agreed. I though the points he brought up were accurate and real. Two things that stood out to me in particular; It does not make sense to move from Division 1 to Division 1AA. If you do anything, you move to division 3 if you want to save money. Hopefully this will HELP put this dumbass topic our faculty members brought up to bed (maybe those people should move to the top of the cut list ;-). 1AA is not an option. The big issue with attendance may be difficult to overcome. UA lives in the BIG shadow of the Browns and Ohio State. High school football is incredibly popular and well supported. Can't is down the road (not a big threat but they do take a little away from us).

CK - it's a great post but what do you expect SS or the AD to do? Get suckered in to a no-win media battle against against your own faculty? I hope they don't. The spade has been called a spade. We have beaten the iCoach holocaust into the ground. We get it. The answer and the solution is simple. The community needs to go to the games! Last year would have been great but it didn't happen, and we are a laughing stock. I guarantee if the community would have supported the team, we would have won 1-2 more home games and we might have signed a couple better recruits. The school has provided a first class venue, brought in one of the best coaches in the country. Show you care Akron. The team will be inspired and make you proud.

Pat is going to have a big year. MAC POY candidate. I have a sneaky suspicion J Ivey is going to to be unreal at some point.

would love to read it. hopefully someone has a subscription

And if you want to get picky (since you do). The thread "Eliminating the A-Roo" should be changed to "Moving to the Z". Just as TW said to you in his response ;-)

Whatever dude……I just threw it in as an afterthought..

YUP!! I am just pointing out that only about 251 people seem to care but people blame SS for it all.

Zips Baseball attendance - average 251 people per game. Is it a surprise baseball got cut? Lets not let the same thing happen to football!!! Vs YSU 150 Vs Toledo 158 Vs Toledo 227 Vs Toledo 227 Vs N Illinois 364 Vs N Illinois 290 Vs Miami 163 Vs Miami 511 Vs Miami 304 Vs Malone 210 Vs Buffalo 221 Vs Buffalo 253 Vs Buffalo 209 Vs Canisius 105 Vs Can't 311 Vs Can't 327

I realize these are dated but I haven't seen them; This is consistent is with the rebranding move. Hopefully puts us in good graces http://www.crainscleveland.com/print/article/20070507/SUB/70504024/fingerhut-wants-ohio-s-public-universities-to-collaborate Makes sense - "TEAM OHIO" is making more sense to me http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/11/05/Colleges-consider-consolidating-services.html BGSU's take http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32518 www.gozips.com has a new look Z http://gozips.com/landing/index

THAT'S WHAT WE NEED!!! AND about 15K more of ya!! Lee Adams

Everything should be on the table BUT it would be nice if "our faculty of researchers" actually did some research and provided some rationale for their opinion. As many have pointed out, moving down would not necessarily save anything of substance. IMHO - This article was disappointing, divisive, and unfortunately……predictable. Wow Balsy, you blast everything our president says or does but how dare we question the faculty. WOW!

Two quotes from the article I like…. SO GO TO THE GAMES AKRON!!!

gmann, I ran out of "likes" but Here I go again Capt'n..... I personally like all the "ideas" I am hearing from Dr. SS. I also liked the ideas Dr. Proenza had. We needed a new stadium, building one on campus was awesome and to have one as nice as the Info was a bonus. I also liked the "idea" of renovating the campus and building new dorms. I like the "idea" of getting away from the commuter school stigma. All of that made sense to me BUT the plan for implementing, rolling out and marketing it all sucked!! "Build it and they will come" is not a strategy - it is more like a "hail mary" to me. Maybe there wasn't enough money left over to market all the new shiny changes or maybe it wasn't well thought out. Some of the ideas that have come on this board I like; More events at the Info and on campus. Get some concerts, festivals, and other events on campus. Look at what the Lebron James homecoming drew http://www.wkyc.com/picture-gallery/homepage/2014/08/08/photos--welcome-home-lebron-james-celebration/13807269/ Look at what the Browns "family day" drew http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/article-1/Browns-reach-capacity-for-2014-Family-Day-at-University-of-Akron%E2%80%99s-InfoCision-Stadium/31ede129-e0c8-407e-8170-0dae432c860a Why stop!!! Get people used to coming to the school, seeing how nice it is.....make it "the place to be". (Don't we make some money off of these???) Someone mentioned UA is difficult to deal with - if that is true.....it needs to be changed immediately. Sadly, these two events have outdrawn any Zip football game (except maybe the opener). Speaking of Lebron James....he is probably the most recognized athlete in the world. Not many cities can claim having someone like him. Why are we not using Lebron and Nike more? King James Arena, King James Court. That is one of the paths I would be heading down to get a new arena built. He/they have the money to do it! Building the Info and hiring iCoach was a mistake (as we all know). Maybe Dr. SS should have said "I would not have hired THAT coach" IF someone like Terry Bowden expressed an interest to come to UA to open the new stadium, that would have been a no-brainer. Personally, I liked JD Brookhart and he was doing fine. I realize this is all water under the bridge now but the only reason I bring this up is because WE DO HAVE Terry Bowden now and Chuck Amato. We are sooo lucky to have these guys and if they cannot turn this around, nobody can!! They need our support!! I don't care about the past losing records, weekday games, bad weather, etc. GET OUT TO THE GAMES!! I'm not asking for a sellout right away but 5400 people is a joke!! To me, it is all on the community. If the community does not come out, they don't deserve a team.....go pay a couple hundred to sit at the top of suckeye stadium. If more people come to the games - we will win more, we will get better recruits (which will help us win more), we will go to bowl games, we can attract better opponents to the Info and people will get more excited. If people sit around and bitch and moan, we will continue losing, we will get inferior recruits and we will get embarrassing articles written about us having the worst attendance in NCAA football. If TB cannot turn this around and he leaves.....say goodbye to D1 football at UA. I like "moving toward" the Z logo. I think the timing is good because I believe we are about to turn the corner in football. It feels fresh. This topic got more attention than it deserved and I doubt anyone will get turned away for coming to a game with A-Roo gear. I like the re-branding. People need to become more educated on Polytechnic and the school needs to help with that. At some point, the schools reputation will speak for itself. I would not discourage my son to go to business school at Virginia Tech because it is a "polytechnic school". It is a great school....period! If we ultimately morph into Ohio Tech.....I like it. It sounds bigger. I like the idea of blending MOOC http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no2/bruff_0613.htm The recent budget cuts?? I don't like them but they need to be done. We are not the only school out there to drop sports and if it frees up money for academics, I am all for it. I do believe transparency is good but most organizations do not want information, history, plans to fall in the hands of competitors. Transparency has its advantages — and challenges. Organizational transparency helps create trust among stakeholders, encourages more informed decision making, and supports greater participation. However, it does not guarantee that the right decisions will be made or that information will not be manipulated or misconstrued. I like this comment from a CEO; Lets face it, technology and social media have created plenty of transparency....like it or not. There is a lot going on. Dr. SS has a lot of tough decisions to make and I don't expect everyone to like them all. I like hearing the objections but I HATE bitching without presenting alternative solutions. I hope this administration is taking their time, considering all options and rolling things out in an orderly manner.

It is a forum for us to state our opinions (we all have em') We state opinions, the administration makes changes and you criticize. Conspiracy, mistrust, false statements. Do you think the status quo is acceptable? What are your solutions?

Balsy, I was just reading through some of your comments and positions on some of the more recent “hot” topics; · Corp of Cadets has huge bust potential · Don’t like the presidents house being remodeled · You are a protester on the rebranding · The whole rebranding idea is absolutely asinine · Don’t believe Dr. Scarborough has done any due diligence · Dr. Scarborough has shown disregard for the UA community · Dr. Scarborough has no fundraising ability · He has made zero effort to be engaged with students, faculty and staff · Don’t agree with the cutting of some of the 200 undergrad degrees · Education is not a business. It should not be a business. It should not operate as a business. It does not work on the same principal of a business. · Bill Gates and Mark Cuban know nothing about education · Don’t like MOOC courses · Complain that decisions are being made without research and then when you find out money was spent on research you complain · You complained there is no transparency with Dr. SS administration when feedback is that it is much better than the previous administration · Oh, and you started the A-Roo being eliminated thread when TW’s response to you clearly said we were simply moving to the Z, NOT eliminating the A-Roo. Someone said, “We need a critic as UA president”. Balsy, I think you should apply.

+1

Skip - it is 9.9 schollys for soccer

Shocking you disagree…..what took you so long. What I was referring to were the people that were making criticisms and judgements BEFORE any information came out. Now that information is starting to come out, feel free to complain until your heart's content………you are good at it

YUP!! So, the bottom line is that Dr. SS has to make some changes and some tough decisions (which he has been doing). I understand the emotional side of this for everyone but I don't think it is fair to judge someone and their decisions without knowing all the facts. The information that is starting to come out is the "shit sandwich" I was referring to. Hopefully people will start to be more patient and supportive now that information is coming out and the initial plans are being communicated in a more organized manner. Honestly, I think the letter SS sent out last week was still not what was desired but it had to be done to stop some of the bleeding.