a-zip

So what is your point Lzip? You are saying we are stupid for trying to change and adapt? Are you saying the educational system is fine the way it is and if schools continue to operate stats quo - they will be fine and prosper? You don't think schools will start to go belly up? Have you read any reports? What can you offer to show that being the University of Akron in Akron Ohio and being another school in Ohio is going to help us survive and prosper in the future. Let me ask a question - if you were from Ohio or from outside the state, why would you choose UA over Toledo, Can't State, Bowling Green, Ohio U?

Thanks Dave. I just read the same broken record on here….people can't seem to look towards the future and positive things. I don't want to hear bitching about the past and iCoach, TW, the JAR, Lebron is a traitor. I want to see us move forward!! We have really good, smart people making some great decisions, we have unbelievable coaches….embrace it people!! I am not from Ohio but and a proud student/athlete of UA….damn, things are pretty good. Hell, Lebron may bring Cleveland its first championship in forever!!! I have not heard anybody praising him…..I sure heard a lot of bitching when he left…. In my opinion, THE University of Akron - Ohio's Polytechnic University, is making some smart moves.

Thanks Dave. Nobody commented on my post (which is fine and why I don't bother posting on here anymore). BUT what Dr. Scarborough said is exactly what I and Mark Cuban said. YOU NEED TO SPECIALIZE, CHANGE, THINK DIFFERENTLY or you face not existing. If you are especially GREAT at something……FLAUNT IT!! If you are just going to chug along as the University of BLAH BLAH BLAH……good luck with that. If we become Ohio Tech vs. U of Akron, it has the perception of being a BIGGER school and a school that is GREAT at something vs a commuter college to a city. Seriously, what is the University of Akron's identity outside of the city of Akron? As someone who grew up in the mid-atlantic and went to UoA, I can tell you most people ask me……why did you go to school in Akron, Ohio? I know many people from Ga Tech, Va Tech that have nursing degrees, business degrees, etc……they are incredibly successful people and proud of their alma mater…..nobody really asks "why did you go there?" Things are changing,….. Dr. S is doing the right thing!!! You folks need to get with the times, educate yourself on the landscape before you start posting your emotional "I don't like this" "this is stupid" "its embarrassing" Go to this website and check out the Highest Net Cost……you will see several of Ohio's universities listed on there. Do you all really think people are not going to figure this out some day????? http://collegecost.ed.gov/catc/Default.aspx# When people figure out the net cost of an education at Can't State, Ohio U, Cincy is among the highest in the country….don't you think at some point people are going to say "what am I getting for this?" Miami O at least has some prestige to it but not that much.

Interesting conversation and debate. I know many people don't like Mark Cuban (personally I think he is a genius) but he has had some interesting warnings on where colleges are heading. I will include a few links below….. He talks about parents and students being more informed about selecting a school vs arbitrarily choosing the "most popular" school. As many have posted on here, most of us did not know what we wanted to do when we were coming out of high school. He talks about the schools themselves needing to cut costs and investing in more specialized programs. He talks about how the money should be invested back in academics vs new weight rooms and arenas. Things are changing folks. More universities will shut down. New thinking has to happen. I view this rebranding as a step towards becoming more specialized - some programs may get cut and quite frankly maybe they need to in order to survive. Very few schools will be able to provide everything to everyone. Personally, if you get a nursing degree from a "Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech" I don't think your degree is diminished at all. I think too many people put too much in to the name on the piece of paper (diploma)…..it is what you do after you graduate that is important. Regarding the investment in athletics, I think it was a good idea for UA to try step up to the national stage but the reality is nobody is supporting the teams. The fact is if you are running a business and a department does not generate $$$, it has got to go and dropping 40-60 million chunks into it when there is no demand is not going to fix the problem. This is why I have been so upset by the lack of attendance and support for our teams. If it does not make a profit, break even or increase awareness of the school - cut it lose. That IS already happening at many schools……...I learned these things in UA business school, it's called ECONOMICS ;-) Last thought - if we did not take the Ohio Tech name, one of the other schools in Ohio would have. I also think if we ultimately become Ohio Tech, it has more of a national appeal to it which I believe is a good idea. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2012/05/16/mark-cuban-college-is-a-business-decision http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/12/28/billionaire-mark-cuban-warns-massive-crash-will-wipe-americas-colleges-youre-going-see-repeat-saw-housing-market/ http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/13/mark-cuban-forgiving-student-loan-debt-would-bail-out-the-universities/ http://blogmaverick.com/2013/01/26/will-your-college-go-out-of-business-before-you-graduate/

This is what cities that care do. Does Joe Akron? http://www.csnwashington.com/ncaa/richmond-strip-clubs-offer-enticements-shaka-smart-stay-vcu

It's time for me to say ba-bye to ZN.o (which I am sure will make many of you happy) I will continue to root and support my alma mater but I cannot engage in this any longer. GO ZIPS!! Good Luck all!!

I did not say there were restraints put on him. I am saying that his (UAs) budget is dwarfed by many big schools.

I would have to think being fiscally responsible would have to be one if the top metrics an AD is judged on. UoA does not have an unlimited budget - in fact it is dwarfed by the budgets of the power conferences. It is dwarfed by Cinci, and many 2nd tier athletic programs. My point is this. It is nice to want EVERYTHING - arenas, stadiums, training facilities, cool uniforms, the best coaches, awesome marketing, websites, entertaining halftimes, etc......in order to justify these EXPENDITURES there needs to be demand/interest. Do we have that? I don't think so. Let's just say the interest was there......the next thing needed is MONEY. Do we have that? Nope, not enough to have all the things ZNo fans want. So what do you do next? You try and get funding through the city, state, corporate sponsorships. It does not appear anyone is interested. So, what do you do next? You make financially responsible decisions. Making those decisions when you have limited resources means you have to make sacrifices. So, I ask - with what TW has to work with....is he doing a good job? My response is that our athletic teams are as strong as they have ever been and I think we have the coaches in place to get to the next level.

I am really bummed about this, I was excited to see Kincaide. My guess is the "style" of QB TB wants did not fit with Chandler. He appeared to be more of a drop back/gunslinger "pro style" quarterback. It appears the direction TB is headed is for more of a mobile/scrambling style quarterback.

Wow, I see your point. FIRE HIM!! DON'T RENEW HIS CONTRACT!! The masses that wanted to see the Riverhounds exhibition must be furious…I don't blame them. My bad.

Competition is good ?

Exactly. It doesn't appear as though anyone is interested. Naming rights are essentially advertising. If nobody goes to an event, why spend the money if 2,500 people are going to see it.. (If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there….does it make a sound) Joe Akron has spoken!! Watch the dominoes fall…………

Damn, I would not want to get into it with a Zippy.

All I can judge on are the results on the field, court, pitch, track, firing range, diamond. I like the coaches we have. I have not seen the books.

I did respond. The fact that the overall state of our athletics is as good as it has ever been.

DUDE, you are making my point!! Outside of iCoach what else has he done so poorly - you keep repeating the same thing. I GET THE iCoach already!!! Sh*t happens. Hell, Notre Dame hired Gerry Faust who was a HS football coach. It was a bad mistake….drop it. If we lost 20% of our fan base, my calculations would say we lost 2K people ;-) I don't have solid proof of TW's contributions and I am not sure if I am privy to that information. I do know our athletics have been as good as they have ever been in the last 10 years as a whole. We have good coaches already…..what do you want him to do…..fire them so he can put his stamp on them? Things are looking up. You, and Joe Akron, need to forget iCoach and support the fantastic staff we have. To boycott TB and KD and JE is rather childish. I am just saying there is more to this than ONE holocaustal hire. I am sure Dr. Scarborough, being the thoughtful leader he is, will weigh everything and make a decision. I can assure you it will not be only on the iCoach hire. You know, I think we all respected Proenza and his decision making... right? He was also a thoughtful leader. He made some amazing things happen during his tenure to this campus. Have you thought about why he didn't fire TW…

I say it like that because it is a broken record. I say it because I GET the iCoach hire was terrible. He is not here anymore so the HS coaches should not be pissed and I am quite sure TB, Tressel and the chest have charmed the pants off the HS coaches. Its time to move on. You ask how many potential fans were driven away in 2 years………I ask you - how many "fans" did we have to begin with? You say it like we have lost hundreds or tens of thousands of fans. LOL There are many other aspects of the job that should be factored in. If AD's were fired because of a single bad coaching hire it would be a constant carousel everywhere. Hell,the Florida Gators who have unlimited budget and actual "fans" can't find a decent coach. Coaches are not lining up for the UA job - if they are and they are good…they will move on quickly. I don't think we have that at UA right now. I think we have stability and coaches that will stay even if they win. That is unheard of in the MAC. There have been a lot of good coaching hires at UA and a lot of good coaches retained. There has been consistency with the athletic staff for a while now with great coaches I might add (and NO Caleb was not his TW's fault, he was the highest paid coach in NCAA, and was even kept from his alma mater Indiana). If Caleb was going to ever achieve his goal of coaching the men's national team, he had to go to MLS. I am not saying I support TW or want him fired. I was simply looking for a bigger picture to make a decision.

In will post my question here. Do you all think this team was better with or without Tree?

Now that the season is over, I have a question. Do you all think we were a better team with or without Tree?

20 WINS!!

So proud of this team! KD has done an amazing job this year. Funny, the comment was made at the beginning of the game that Akron has more depth. With all the players we have lost….impressive.

Big dog looks frustrated.

No. Just trying to rationalize why kids don't go out and support their teams nowadays when there are more students living on a nicer campus now than in the past.

I was talking to some friends the other day about our teenagers….A few of us had boys who had turned 16 last year and didn't seem real anxious to get their drivers licenses (which is OK by me). We joked about how each of us, when we were young, got our drivers licenses on THE DAY we turned 16 and how liberating it was. We scratched our heads trying to figure out what had changed with our boys. The answer we came up with was in our day if you wanted to do something - i.e.. hang out with buddies, play games, attend a game, etc…..you had to go somewhere. Today, with the internet, XBOX, PS4, Twitter, Facebook, video messaging, iPhones, iPads, etc……………you really don't have to go anywhere for entertainment - you can have food delivered to you and stay in the comfort of your home, dorm or wherever you might be. Kinda sad.

One of the things that is confusing to me is the fact that the university and other businesses HAVE made an effort to bring students to the school by building REALLY NICE dormitories on campus. Does anyone know the numbers on how many students live on or right near campus today vs the 70s/80s? I have to imagine it is substantially higher today. Seriously, these kids have some really nice places to live…..pools, wireless internet, Starbucks, etc. I would think they would be having more fun and have more pride in their school than a kid that lived in an old beat up house or dated dormitory in the 70s/80s. Some of these are really nice!!!! http://www.uakron.edu/reslife/halls/all-halls.dot http://www.depotatakron.com/?gclid=CMHQgOvsicQCFdgPgQodaJUAKA http://www.uakron.ocm101.com/property.html?id=431 http://envisionapartments.com/?gclid=CMfo8ofticQCFRckgQodJlAA_w