a-zip
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Posts posted by a-zip
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Nobody believes that Keith Dambrot is the best college basketball coach in America -- not himself, his wife, his children or even his dog. A lot of people, including me, believe that he's the best college basketball coach for UA. Any coach as good or better than Coach Dambrot but without connections and loyalty to UA would be gone to a higher-paying school the minute the Zips had a successful season or two. A string of coaches would likely produce more who are worse than Coach Dambrot than better, given the level of resources UA allocates to the program.
Nope, the only way the Zips get 7 consecutive 22+ win seasons and 7 consecutive trips to the conference championship game is with Coach Dambrot. If it was easy, a lot of coaches would replicate that. Try making a list of all the D1 coaches in the country who've done it, then give them a call and see if any would be willing to come to UA and sit in Coach Dambrot's plush office at the JAR for the same salary. Is it worth playing musical chairs with coaches for a chance at one who might possibly lead the Zips past the first round of the NCAA tournament one season only to move on to a better job offer with the possibility that his replacement puts the Zips in the MAC cellar?
Is it fair to criticize Coach Dambrot for things we perceive he could do better? Heck yes. The only thing not open to criticism is perfection, which means that everything is open to criticism. But there's a huge difference between educated, constructive criticism and sour grapes potshotting. An honest discussion requires that each of us acknowledges that we are fans and not great experts on all the technical intricacies of college basketball. We also must acknowledge that we don't have access to all the facts about individual members of the coaching staff and the players. At that point we can begin having a reasonable and respectful discussion about what we think might be happening and what we think might be ways to improve things.
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Nice, sincere post and I think it comes from the right place. Thanks for posting it.
My opinion of KD is not as down as yours, but certainly not as glowing as is posted on this board. I think KD is a DII coach with DII ideas who has surrounded himself with people mostly having smaller ideas and experience. We saw a real DI coach last night in Frank Martin coach circles around KD and he isn't exactly John Wooden. That doesn't make KD a bad MAC coach though. Those ideas can win in the MAC and that is what he has done. For most fans and more importantly the powers that be in the Administration, that is sufficient to justify being the highest paid coach in the Athletic Department and to have a contracted extended out 10 years. The former is deserved, the second is idiocy.
Unreal, we are one of the top winning programs in the last 5 years. KD is a DII coach and surrounded himself with people having smaller ideas and experience????? Yea, I guess Shaka fits that mold......and Lebron and the best recruit the MAC has ever seen, Zeke. What do you expect GP1, do you think people are lining up to come to Akron?
I see the helter skelter substitutions the same as you. Many on this board see it as a method of "figuring out his rotation for MAC season" and I see it frequently as grasping at straws and directionless. For example, why at the first stoppage of play are three substitutes brought into the game last night? Three tells me the wrong guys started the game. Why is Diggs not starting and being brought off the bench?...Is he our Kevin McHale?...Good grief, start the freaking guy because he is at least working hard when he is in and has some ability.
If your opinion is the same as mine, you will continue to feel unsatisfied as Akron marches through a horrible conference and easily ends up in at least the MAC Championship. There is a very good chance that despite what you saw the last couple of games, Akron will be in the NCAA Tournament this year. You will find some enjoyment in it, but in the back of your mind, you know what lies behind the facade of 20 win seasons.
So you are unhappy with our teams success and progress? We are winning our conference consistently and beating our rivals. Let me clue you in, if a top recruit comes here, it is because of KD, not the shiny arena and hordes of fans coming to see him play.
At the end of the day, the reality on the ground is this. We have an idiot for an AD who could never be trusted to hire a basketball coach if KD left so he keeps throwing years of contract extensions at KD, who nobody would want outside of Akron, to make it look like he is doing something. People like me trust KD more with the basketball program than the AD, so we back KD because of the disaster that would follow.
Wow! Best basketball coach we have ever had is locked up for 10 years and the AD is an idiot???? i guess he is an idiot for extending a football coach with a losing record too
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Heeeeree we go. Likely the same people wanting Embick's head early in the year and who thought Bowden was fumbling now want Dambrot's head....unreal!!! Do what you usually do Akron, stop coming to the games ;-)
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We looked tired in the second half, plain and simple. A rough part of the schedule for the guys and a lot of travel. Things will be fine.
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An early Christmas present would be to end Barack Obama's win streak while attending Oregon St. basketball games. We look good so far.
This may be premature but…….is Tree the best basketball player we have ever had? He is amazing, not sure what is going on in his head after his disappearing act earlier this year but my god if he is able to come back next year he will have an incredible body of work
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I did my share, many times. It does matter because they WERE they best team of all time. When you calculate the talent level of the players and the coaching staff, there is no argument. I only wish that team was playing for a back to back title.
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It's truly insane.
It is a "live or die" situation right now. I think UoA made a play to become a player and it does not appear the community is supporting it. Until the community does, we should not build arenas, cut our losses and move on. Say bye bye to Dambrot, Bowden eventually. If you are not a part of the new super conferences, you are going to be f&cked from a sport standpoint. So somebody tell me how UoA is going to flourish after that?
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It would be funny if it wasn't so concerning. I'm not sure when it started to get so out of control, but the "building process" is completely out of control. Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe I'm the only sane person in a room full of crazy people, but there are a couple of arguments that take place about the "building process" at universities. Let it be known that I am a fan of taking a cab/limo from the airport to my hotel because it speeds up completion of the task of getting from the airport to the hotel. It seems to make total sense to me. I am not a fan of taking the Super Shuttle from the airport to my hotel as it can lead to too many stops between the airport and my hotel, making no sense to me at all because it requires me to do a bunch of things that don't directly help me achieve my goal. I still believe the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
The first argument is the Super Shuttle argument...if we build gyms, luxury dorms, football stadiums, softball stadiums, etc. it will attract more students and will give the school more money so they can provide a better education. So basically, let's do 15 things to make one thing work. Seems to over complicate the issue to me. Ya GP1, but you still got to the hotel. That is correct; however, along the way a fat lady hit me in the head with her ass getting out of the Shuttle, the fumes made me want to throw up, I had to sit by a European guy who hadn't bathed on at least two days, my back is killing me because the shocks were destroyed on the van, the springs in the seat are poking me in a place I would rather not be poked and I missed the presentation because I had to stop at every freaking hotel along the way.
The cab/limo argument. Wouldn't it be better to pour a bunch of money into the direct stream of educating people? Better labs. Better professors. Better research. Fund tuition for top notch students so they could study under these great professors doing cutting edge research. An actual building process of making education better and not building structures so presidents and ADs can put it on their resume for their next job.
This is what i have been trying to say with regards to my disappointment in attendance at our sports teams game. I initially thought is was a great idea to make a play to gain recognition through success on the playing field. It can pay off if there is support. Lets face it OSU is a fine school but they are a preferred choice because of sports programs and the recognition they get from that…..I promise you their buildings, labs, teachers, research are funded through the sports programs (alumni), it is great way to become self-sufficient. Ask young kids what they think is a better college - OSU or Northwestern…..they would likely say OSU. I said it before and I will say it again…if UoA does not prosper, the city will stagnate. How are we going to attract the top professors, student…..by waiting for the state to give us money?
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It would be funny if it wasn't so concerning. I'm not sure when it started to get so out of control, but the "building process" is completely out of control. Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe I'm the only sane person in a room full of crazy people, but there are a couple of arguments that take place about the "building process" at universities. Let it be known that I am a fan of taking a cab/limo from the airport to my hotel because it speeds up completion of the task of getting from the airport to the hotel. It seems to make total sense to me. I am not a fan of taking the Super Shuttle from the airport to my hotel as it can lead to too many stops between the airport and my hotel, making no sense to me at all because it requires me to do a bunch of things that don't directly help me achieve my goal. I still believe the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
The first argument is the Super Shuttle argument...if we build gyms, luxury dorms, football stadiums, softball stadiums, etc. it will attract more students and will give the school more money so they can provide a better education. So basically, let's do 15 things to make one thing work. Seems to over complicate the issue to me. Ya GP1, but you still got to the hotel. That is correct; however, along the way a fat lady hit me in the head with her ass getting out of the Shuttle, the fumes made me want to throw up, I had to sit by a European guy who hadn't bathed on at least two days, my back is killing me because the shocks were destroyed on the van, the springs in the seat are poking me in a place I would rather not be poked and I missed the presentation because I had to stop at every freaking hotel along the way.
The cab/limo argument. Wouldn't it be better to pour a bunch of money into the direct stream of educating people? Better labs. Better professors. Better research. Fund tuition for top notch students so they could study under these great professors doing cutting edge research. An actual building process of making education better and not building structures so presidents and ADs can put it on their resume for their next job.
This is what i have been trying to say with regards to my disappointment in attendance at our sports teams game. I initially thought is was a great idea to make a play to gain recognition through success on the playing field. It can pay off if there is support. Lets face it OSU is a fine school but they are a preferred choice because of sports programs and the recognition they get from that…..I promise you their buildings, labs, teachers, research are funded through the sports programs (alumni), it is great way to become self-sufficient. Ask young kids what they think is a better college - OSU or Northwestern…..they would likely say OSU. I said it before and I will say it again…if UoA does not prosper, the city will stagnate. How are we going to attract the top professors, student…..by waiting for the state to give us money?
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It would be funny if it wasn't so concerning. I'm not sure when it started to get so out of control, but the "building process" is completely out of control. Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe I'm the only sane person in a room full of crazy people, but there are a couple of arguments that take place about the "building process" at universities. Let it be known that I am a fan of taking a cab/limo from the airport to my hotel because it speeds up completion of the task of getting from the airport to the hotel. It seems to make total sense to me. I am not a fan of taking the Super Shuttle from the airport to my hotel as it can lead to too many stops between the airport and my hotel, making no sense to me at all because it requires me to do a bunch of things that don't directly help me achieve my goal. I still believe the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
The first argument is the Super Shuttle argument...if we build gyms, luxury dorms, football stadiums, softball stadiums, etc. it will attract more students and will give the school more money so they can provide a better education. So basically, let's do 15 things to make one thing work. Seems to over complicate the issue to me. Ya GP1, but you still got to the hotel. That is correct; however, along the way a fat lady hit me in the head with her ass getting out of the Shuttle, the fumes made me want to throw up, I had to sit by a European guy who hadn't bathed on at least two days, my back is killing me because the shocks were destroyed on the van, the springs in the seat are poking me in a place I would rather not be poked and I missed the presentation because I had to stop at every freaking hotel along the way.
The cab/limo argument. Wouldn't it be better to pour a bunch of money into the direct stream of educating people? Better labs. Better professors. Better research. Fund tuition for top notch students so they could study under these great professors doing cutting edge research. An actual building process of making education better and not building structures so presidents and ADs can put it on their resume for their next job.
This is what i have been trying to say with regards to my disappointment in attendance at our sports teams game. I initially thought is was a great idea to make a play to gain recognition through success on the playing field. It can pay off if there is support. Lets face it OSU is a fine school but they are a preferred choice because of sports programs and the recognition they get from that…..I promise you their buildings, labs, teachers, research are funded through the sports programs (alumni), it is great way to become self-sufficient. Ask young kids what they think is a better college - OSU or Northwestern…..they would likely say OSU. I said it before and I will say it again…if UoA does not prosper, the city will stagnate. How are we going to attract the top professors, student…..by waiting for the state to give us money?
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If you had to notice that on gozips.com that means you didnt notice it in person. Were you not there? How can you complain about a games attendance when you didnt even show up?
Wow, you really got me. The reason I was not there is because I live 8 hours away. I still go to as many games as possible. BTW - just because I pointed it out on gozips does not mean anything, way to miss the point dude
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Butts in seats, how many high schools in the area have higher attendance? Canton Mckinley? Does the athletic department have to schedule around them too?. Watching the recap of the Toledo game on GOZIPS.com, in the highlights of the game there are a couple of plays where you cannot see a single person in the stands.
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This topic, in general, is what I've been wondering about the most the past few days. We just had our most successful season in a very long time and we should enjoy this Toledo win for quite a while, but the lifeblood of any college team is recruiting. Are we in a better spot there? So far I'm not sure.
If we really want to be a top MAC program, I think we have to be a top-3 destination in conference. What I was trying to do is picture what I would do if I had offers from all MAC teams and no one else, and lived somewhere that didn't provide me with loyalty to any. Is Akron in my top 3? To be honest, I can't imagine. NIU, BG, Ball State, OU, Toledo.... these are still top destinations IMO. And if Miami gets the right head coach, that's still a great destination too.
So I think we still have a ways to go, but I do feel we're pointed in the right direction.
If my recruiting trip was during one of our home games (empty stands) I would not be impressed……I know, I know…I have beaten this comment to a pulp but couldn't help it.
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What is your solution? Or are you simply venting?
If I had a solution, I would dial it in so I guess that means I am venting. I think OUR University has done everything I would have thought of to get people to support our teams and I think it is sad the 5th largest city in the state of Ohio can't get even 10K to a game. They have committed to what I think is most important;
1- Bringing in and keeping top coaches - seriously we currently have Terry Bowden, Bobby Bowden, Chuck Amato, Terrell Buckley, Jim Tressel, Jim Dennison, Keith Dambrot on our campus……..unreal!! - our other coaches are pretty impressive too, but these are BIG names I just mentioned…….lets not forget Lebron and unfortunately we lost Caleb (not any fault of the administration) . One of my original posts years ago on Zipsnation talked about the key to success being keeping top coaches - they have done that. Seriously folks, these are some impressive people dedicating their lives to UoA.
2- The facilities are top notch - The excuse used to be the Rubber Bowl was off campus and falling apart - problem solved. The Info is beautiful and on campus, Stiles Field House is gorgeous. Cub Cadet is one of the best. These are fun/top notch facilities.
3- Is it money?? season tickets are a steal!! You can get a season ticket for less than a single OSU game it think.
4 - School pride - Dr. Proenza has built a beautiful campus and it keeps getting better. Something to be proud of. I like being there.
5 - Winning - most of our teams do very well, in fact we were at the top of the Sears Cup challenge a couple years ago. Yes the football team has been terrible but if anyone doubted they would get better under TB, they are crazy. The Toledo game was exciting, JMU game exciting, Can't game exciting - ALL WINS, nobody was there.
The mayor and the community should be kissing Proenza's ass. If these investments fail and UoA does not prosper the city will rot.
All I hear are excuses and bitching - bad weather, not winning, black fridays, uncomfortable seats, the AD sucks, Lebron is a traitor, etc etc. I just don't want to hear it anymore. These people have done more than enough - time to look in the mirror Mr and Mrs Akron. What else is there to do? I am at a loss….. People want a new basketball arena? Why bother. Am I expecting 100K to our games….no. Am I expecting the Info to sell out……would be nice but not getting over 10K is pathetic.
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You can't be serious comparing Ohio State to Akron. OSU has the largest fan/alumni base in the country, is currently playing in the biggest rivalry game in the nation, and playing for a chance to go to a national championship. Oh...and it isn't black Friday.
Yes, in a way I am. 110,000 + people can go root OSU no matter what the weather or what color the day is - our school built a beautiful new stadium and we can't get 10K…….pathetic. Weather and lack of wins was the excuse for our rivalry game against Cant State Game (on Jim Dennison day).
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My guess for yesterdays actual attendance is 3500 butts in the seats. Main reasons for lack of interest are Black Friday, early start time interfering with Black Friday shopping, 3 wins combined over the previous three seasons, cold weather.
Yea, looks like Ohio State is having the same issues
When do the excuses run out?
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I had this discussion about SOS with a friend, who is a typical, brainwashed OSWho Football Honk. He always tries to make the case that the Suckeyes football team is penalized in the national championship picture because of the weakness of their conference, just like Akron in soccer.
But, there is one HUGE difference that I point out all the time. During the OOC part of the schedule, Akron goes out and VOLUNTARILY SCHEDULES top-notch competition. And we do it year in, and year out. Take the 2010 Caleb Porter led Zips, for example. We go on the road and open the season against Wake Forest and North Carolina, and win both games. We played top competition, and beat them. There was no longer a doubt about where Akron stood, as opposed to if we had been running the table with some selected easy wins, and then feasted on our weak conference opponents to post the best record possible. We weren't waiting for teams from other stronger conferences to lose, so that some sports writers could automatically move us up in the polls by way of default.
We should be rewarded in a big way for taking matters into our own hands and proving our worth, and it's not happening. It's a complete mystery to me.
I just hit the "like" buttonj
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It helps when they play on a field like that. I've played on a field like that, and they might as well of played it in the parking lot. Wouldn't made much of a difference. That's how rough it is. Marquette knows that field, and how it is during this time of year, while Akron doesn't normally play on that type of field. That's the type of home field advantage that is hard to surpass. Was hoping we could just make it to the 2OT as that right half of the field got majority of the possession in the 1st and 2nd half, along with the 1st overtime.
We lost and we were outplayed. The better team won.
The only thing I will say about our 2013 post season is once again we were screwed by the NCAA. If we were properly seeded, we would not have been playing on the "frozen tundra" of Marquette. That is a tremendous home field advantage for them and it showed...... our players did not seem to have their feet under them as well as the Marquette team. Seriously, the way the NCAA handles the seedings almost makes the regular season and conference tournaments moot. They can use the fact that we play in the MAC against us but our SOS is still high. Hell, they say we play in the MAC but if you include post season;
2013 - we played 6 MAC teams, 5 Big 10 teams, 3 Big East teams
2012 - we played 8 MAC teams, and 7 Big 10 teams, with additional games against St. Louis, Creighton, St. Johns, South Florida
Do we really play in the MAC?
No disrespect to Marquette...........Congratulations, well deserved result
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You have no idea how cold that sounds right now.
This team has something to prove. This years NCAA tournament is very important for the program. Every win is proof that the NCAA committee has no idea what the hell they're doing.
I think the NCAA knows exactly what they are doing……and they are corrupt. It will continue until someone calls them out. I think our seedings in the last 2 years warrant some sort of an appeal. It will not help us this year (our team will take care of that) but hopefully someone, like us, will call these morons out.
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Yes. Ferns blew up between his sophomore and junior seasons (I believe) at some camps. He then accumulated offers from great schools all over the country. Note that I am not trying to hate and wish him the best. Because its uncommon for a kid form our area to be such a touted recruit (probably biggest since Joey Galloway?), many people have paid close attention and share a similar opinion to me. I've caught a few games, including the state championship game a year ago, and, in my opinion, he just doesn't make the plays you would expect out of a recruit of his ranking, or really any plays at all. When I've watched many other players on the team stuck out more than him, but isn't necessarily a bad thing. Both WRs from last season went D1 (one to Purdue, one to Ohio), and the RB who graduates this year is going to YSU.
Ferns is a great person, has hard work-ethic, and is a great athlete, but I am not impressed by the football player Michael Ferns. I would assume coaches like Saban, Meyer, Hoke, etc know a little more than me, but we will see I guess lol.
Sorry to go off topic.
LZip - you are very diplomatic, I appreciate your comments..
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Pretty solid 1st half and entertaining game so far. Zips getting some nice chances and have a few goals. Indiana getting some chances as well, but haven't capitalized. Would like for the back line to play a little better, but besides that, looking good!
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I realize it is about what we have done this year but at some point our recent history has got to weigh in at some point. In the last 5 years we have ended the season ranked in the top 11.
2008 - ranked 9th
2009 - ranked 2nd (tied in national championship, but lost in PKs)
2010 - ranked 1st (won national championship)
2011 - ranked 11th
2012 - ranked 7th
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There's no better wakeup call than a slap in the face from the NCAA. Time for the Zips to hoist a big chip onto their shoulders, carve through the field and thoroughly humiliate the NCAA.
We got hosed last year too (even worse) by getting a 5 seed after being ranked in the top 4 in both RPI and Rankings. As of last week we are currently ranked 8th by adidas and coaches poll, 18th in RPI, then we went on a tear through the MAC tourney...............again, how does this equate to a 24 seed!!!!! F*^?!! corrupt NCAA. Seriously, why do they even bother having rankings and RPI.
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Too funny, early in the year - people were complaining about TB, people were complaining about Embick, and now it is gloom and doom for KD and the basketball team. Do your usual Akron……..bail on the team, don't show up and cheer them on.
South Carolina Version 2.0
in Akron Zips Basketball
Posted
I realize this is an open forum and anyone can say whatever they want but it would be nice if people put things in perspective and looked at the big picture before reacting and calling for people’s jobs. In the past year there have been posts calling for the heads of the AD, TB, JE and now KD (oh, and some people even call Tressel incompetent). I personally think the school and athletic program are in as good a shape as they have ever been. The campus looks beautiful, the facilities are great and we have tremendous coaches and administrators that most schools in the country would die to have (I am not just talking about MAC schools). Here are my thoughts;
FOOTBALL – we got off to a rough start but played an incredibly tough schedule. TB talked about how good UCF was (and they are), their QB is projected to be drafted 3rd in the NFL Draft and are playing in a big bowl game. Michigan, never been more proud of our team, would have loved to have seen a W the team deserved
. Lousiana, beat Tulane in their bowl game. BG – bowl game, Ohio – bowl game, N Ill – bowl game, Ball St – bowl game, Toledo (we knocked them out of a bowl game). The team improved dramatically, attendance sucked, BUT people were complaining about TB, play calling, etc. 
FUTBALL – People were saying JE was a mistake, we should have gone for a high profile guy with our soccer stature. We struggled early, couldn’t hit the back of the net but eventually started scoring goal towards in the end (which I attribute to a great coach making adjustments and coaching his players). Our soccer team had 12 freshman because our guys get DRAFTED. That means tough rebuilding every year and likely slow starts to get everyone to gel. We were 17-4-1, undefeated against the Big 10, ACC and made it to the second round of the NCAAs (after getting hosed by the NCAA on seeding). Pretty damn good I say.
BASKETBALL – Here we go again, people are questioning KD now (the best BBall coach we have EVER had). We have played 7 games in 14 days, traveling from Akron, to Hawaii to South Carolina (brutal schedule!!!). Two of these early losses came to Iowa State (12 rank) and S. Carolina (who I bet we will see in postseason this year). Folks, the team has got to be tired and rightfully so. You want to talk about a young team…..we have ; 1 senior, 4 juniors (Harney/Tree included here), 4 sophomores and 4 freshman. In addition to that we lost arguably the most dominant center the MAC has ever had and a very good point guard who, if he wasn’t such an idiot, would be a senior right now (needless to say a glaring weakness on this team). Is that KD’s fault?
THE ATHLETIC DEPT – We have some of the best coaches in the NCAA (I include women and men’s sports in that statement) and gorgeous facilities. To my knowledge, contracts are in good shape with all of them. Folks, the caliber of our coaches vs the salaries some of them could be making are way out of whack. We should be happy to have them all and it would be nice if they were given support from the fans for their hard work. I guarantee you most of them could do better. As mentioned by someone else earlier, most successful MAC coaches are gone after a year or two of success, we have been able to keep ours. BTW - Caleb did not leave for another NCAA team (and I guarantee you he was courted by many to include his alma mater). One of my first posts on this board I stated keeping good coaches is the key to success in the MAC so hats off to TW.
So, in my opinion things are just fine, not perfect, but just fine. The only disappointment I have is with the fan base
that seems to look for excuses to not support the teams……not enough wins, bleacher seats, bad bathrooms, etc. etc. 
The campus is a fun place to be, the teams deserve more support………if they get the support the coaches will be more inclined to stay, top recruits will want to come here, the teams will get even better and maybe there would be justification to build a new arena to match the Info. So put your OSU jerseys in the bottom of the drawer and go support YOUR team Akron!!