Zipsrifle

This is a complete crock. These guys have probably NEVER been to a MAC game and there is no rhyme or reason why they ranked the schools this way (except the top two). Like others here, I have been to most of the MAC stadiums and trust me, these guys have NO idea what they are talking about. Buffalo's stadium is a complete pile, like EMU's stadium, as it has a running track around the football field THEN they have the seating. You are far away from the field and the endzone seating is basically permanently closed it is a whole lot of concrete with nobody there. I haven't been to the Glass Bowl, but they probably nailed the top two stadiums (Toledo and WMU).

Lots of people up in the "club level" which was open to the public. I would estimate at least 500 people were up there in total. Nice place, the bar was open. I'm really excited because we've moved down to the second row in the upper deck this year for our season Tix!

Any word on if it's indoors our outdoors yet? I'm bringing the wife and kids and we need to dress the little ones appropriately. I heard they were going to make a decision at 11:00 but haven't seen anything yet. I assume this means outdoors.

I'll admit, I didn't know what to make of the "Promotional" aspect of Terry Bowden. I think initially, I thought it was self promotion and would have limited benefit to the University. Now I think that this is part of the plan. Get your name and face out there, use your connections to get people looking at your program and that gives you an advantage in recruiting AND building buzz about the program. After two years of ho hum I'm finally starting to get excited about Zips football again and I haven't even seen a down. Results come on the field, but I'm already seeing something out of Terry I haven't seen before.

I have to say the ABJ is doing better than I expected covering the Zips. I am once again excited about the Zips, but don't take that to mean I expect a MAC Champion this season. It's the honeymoon period right now with the new coaches so I'm going to take may now typical wait and see attitude. The coaches seem very loose and unconcerned right now (at least that is what I get from the media) so I'm not really sure what that to make of this? It seems that at least the kids are having fun.

If Dr. P is setting up what I think he may be setting up, they will need to make room next to John R. on Buchtel Common for his likeness. He's bordering on living legend status...

Very impressed with what has been happening lately. I was very nervous after PW turned us down but now I've got pretty high spirits. NEVER saw this happening. Hopefully my gut is right and Rob didn't know how to coach...

No way it sells out. I'll be happy if there are 15K actual people in the stadium.

Same to you, Lee. And all other members. From Summit County, to Hawaii to the Middle East and everywhere in-between, Happy Holidays to all the folks who've made this the go-to web site for Zips Athletics discussion and news. I'm grateful. Same to you, Captain. Thanks to you and the moderators for the financial backing and to all members for the passion you share for everything UA and Zips Athletics! Happy Holidays. +1

I'll second this. I just hope the university remembers the fans that stuck through the team during the past few years. HA! If you don't give UA money, they don't care how loyal to the program you are.

Wow, better hire than what I expected, especially the ways things were going in the past few days. With that said, I have to say I've been burned too many times by the Zips to be jumping up and down right now and reserving rooms in Detroit. Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic. So, I will take a similar approach I have taken in the past few years. Terry, GIVE me something to be excited about, SHOW me that we can win. I really have no idea what state our program is in right now, so Terry, in my book, you've got plenty of time to turn this program around. I do not expect to be blowing out MAC teams right out of the gate. Get a few wins, next year, show improvement as the season progresses, that is all I'm hoping for.

After the field house and the stadium, we are all-in with football. As we should be. Building a winner here, building a tradition here, building the kind of bridge between the school and community that football is uniquely able to build... it's downright critical. Heck, it's even more critical now, if you ask me. This low-point in a way reminds me of when the infamous Peggy Elliott nearly succeeded in destroying UA on her pathetic way out of town. What followed was caretaker Marion Ruebel righting the ship and setting the stage for the Landscape for Learning and the amazing things Dr. Proenza has been able to achieve in campus improvements, research growth, corporate partnerships, etc. Out of the bedlam and chaos left by evil Queen Peggy, came the greatest era of growth and development the university has ever known. OMG, Peggy was the worst. To put things in perspective, there were some concrete steps in front of the Gardner Student Center that were falling apart. They weren't like 50 steps, no more like 6. Instead of fixing it, they blocked it off for MONTHS. When someone asked her when they were going to fix it she said they were trying to allocate money to fix them. REALLY! 25,000+ students on campus and you can't fix 6 steps! Thanks for pointing this scenario out. You gave me some hope that maybe we'll be a decent program in the future.

Wow, I am stunned! How bad is our program that an Akron Native, former player and former coach turns us down?? I mean, Can't State seems to have gotten a decent coach and we appear to be begging people to take the job! We have amazing facilities, are 20 miles from the pro football hall of fame in a great football recruiting area and we may be left getting whoever will take the job! I'm starting to think TW should have been canned a while ago 'cause he's screwing this search up too! Well, we'll just have to see who the new coach is.... I'm really bummed right now.....Still hoping for the best.

Who cares who is pimping their guy, isn't that the point of a fan forum? Every once in a while a new guy pops up, lights up the forum for a week and then is gone! I just wish he would take the time to read the existing posts, all the information he needs is already here.

Yea, I have to say that I'm preparing myself for a long turn around. When RI came in "The cupboard is full". Since then, the cupboards and the kitchen have been emptied and demolished, the house was burned and the foundation filled in. We started digging a hole elsewhere on the property and now we have decided to stop. When JD came in, something changed. I think we had pretty solid MAC players on the team from LO and from my viewpoint the attitude changed and, maybe he was a better coach, though his recruiting was riskier. RI appears to be the exact opposite which leaves us with, well, not much. I hope the state of the program is better than I think. Hopefully RI did recruit some good players and the new coach actually knows how to, well, coach! I really view our program as being in absolutely horrid shape. I get the feeling that TW is just begging coaches to come here and we will just have to take what we can get. I will support the team whoever is the coach, but I do think my Season Ticket renewal will depend upon who is hired. I like PW, but if it is someone else, I will educate myself on this persons background and decide for myself if I think this is a good hire. I'm not doing this as a threat to the program with some illusion that it will sway the administration, rather, it is a personal decision. Last year it started becoming a chore to go to the Zips games and was no longer exciting or fun. I'll take the beating if I think things are moving in the right direction, but I'm not gonna just stand there and blindly get beat silly.

Though I'm pulling for PW, this has to be a weak spot for him. I don't want LO's staff here again and some of those D2 coaches might not cut it here. But, what do I know...

Though I would be disappointed if he said no, I respect that it is the best decision for him. I've thought about this a few times. Why does a guy who has already brought one program from nothing to national prominence want to do it again, but in a much more demanding environment? He will have to work harder than he ever has before and the ultimate prize is virtually impossible to achieve. He has plenty of money, is well respected, I imagine he has lots of job satisfaction and, as much as people bash Detroit, SE Michigan is a nice place to live.

In the brief research on the three "finalists", frankly, all 3 have solid resumes. I love great defense in any sport and wiu all else equal, I would take a defensive guy (Narduzzi). I like the connection to Akron and the NFL experience and possibly the connections for additional quality coaches (Johnson). Still, to me PW is the man. He has Already done what we need to do here at Akron, BUILD! We have tried the highly regarded assistant the last 3 times and it failed! He could have been a star assistant at a Big 10 school if he wanted, but he chose to finish what he started at WSU! He knows the MAC, coached the MAC. I agree with others, he will get other D1 offers, I hope he gets our offer and I hope he wants to see Akron be successful as much as the other alumni here!

Though I am pulling for PW, I really want us to hire the best coach for the job. Now, as I've said before, I don't have the skill set to do this, so I hope there is an objective search committee out there looking for the best coach for us. WE MUST GET THIS RIGHT, LET THE EXPERTS DECIDE! TW is NOT an expert. I really think this program is on life support right now and NOT getting the best coach we can get our hands on, I fear, is going to put it into a long term coma. There better be a committee with qualified people searching for our next coach. No way should someone in our current Administration get their favorite guy as our HC. They had their chance and they blew it, ROYAL!

This is why Proenza had better put together a hell of a Search Committee to find the coach. F the opinion fans on ZNO, make the right hire and lets get this thing turned around. Ummm..... no. This administration knows they have F'd the fans enough, and they are not going to make a hire such as Ianello again that may come out of a "process" but leaves everyone saying WTF and then places the blame squarely on them if and when he fails. If they all want to save their asses, they'll hire someone the fans and alumni are behind, which at this point can really only either be a big name or Paul Winters (Mike Johnson has alumni support too, but doesn't want the gig). If they go with a choice of the fans, everyone shares in the blame as a community when the guy fails. They go out on a limb, its squarely on their ass again, and they know they can't survive that. Come on..... To make a decison because it is safe? Absolutely the wrong approach! Those in the "administration" are paid to LEAD and make strategic decisions for this university. Plus, I am not convinced it is anywhere near unanimous among alumni that they are insisting on an "Akron Man". I'm not. I want the best coach available. That might be Winters, but I think there might be better people available. I will be angry if I find UA did not make every effort to find the best person they can get. If a legitimate process leads to the hiring of Paul Winters, he will have my 100% support. Anything less, and they will have people waiting to say "I told you so" if Winters isn't successful. How would that even be a "safe" approach for the administration? Good post. And they are indeed searching for the best people available. There are some great coaches out there. It all depends on whether they can get them to come to Akron. Good posts. The main reason I DON'T want the administrations listening to the fans is ME. I love watching football, but honestly, I don't know much. I have to imagine there are lots of passionate but basically football illiterate football fans out there (like me). My experience has been that things appear simple until you begin investing large amounts of time in it, then you realize why it is so hard to get ahead. I often summarize this sentiment with this sarcastic phrase: "Everybody is a race car driver. They admit they wouldn't win the race, but they could easily stay on the lead lap." Ignore the idiots, let people who know what they are talking about make the decision! Those people need to be on the search committee.

This is why Proenza had better put together a hell of a Search Committee to find the coach. F the opinion fans on ZNO, make the right hire and lets get this thing turned around.

Where do you guys get this information? Dr. Suess. He's in the english department. I'm not being a smart ass. It's a sincere question. There are a few people who seemingly have inside info. Where's this come from? Acquaintances in the athletic department? Local businessmen who are involved? Is this student talk from the Student Union? Hints from GA's? I was going for a satire type post. If you re read it you will see it. I imagine you saw "Paul Winters is our guy" and missed the last part that makes my statement total bs. Of course it isn't funny if you have to explain it You'll have to forgive me, I'm in the middle of a very boring 12 hour shift. Aaah, nice! Dumb question here. Would Winters have an "Agent" like Urban Meyer supposedly had an "Agent"? Are we just playing the same game OSU did?

I like the resume. 1. mac experience so he knows how hard it is to win in the mac. 2. Good experiece in the midwest 3. Coached with winning teams 4. Offense, offense, offense wins games in the mac and puts people in seats. 5. Looks like the under the radar guy I would like to see Again, bringing in good candidates makes for a good decision. It's like going to a party and all 20 girls there are good looking. If you pick one up, you couldn't make a bad decision. I want a guy with more experience AND with HC experience. Look, 9 years ago the guy was a graduate assistant, Now you want him as HC?

Yea, I think we need to look at this guy based off of the comments here. I think the WAC is a step above the MAC so he may have success here. I also agree that he probably won't want to come to Ohio unless he has some experience here. Did he have a young class or something to explain the down year??

False. Coaching is just like playing. The cream of the crop rises up through the higher ranks. There is a reason guys like Les Miles, Jim Tressel, Nick Saban, etc...are where they are. The same thing goes for NCAA coaches moving up to the NFL and failing. Every level is different and you can't always predict success at one level to the next. Thank you. This is what I have been saying all along. I think for the most part, coaches that are buried in obscurity are there for a reason...nobody wants them. And college coaching is a pretty tight fraternity. Guys that are doing a great job tend to get noticed, and get frequent offers for better opportunities. So once again....if Winters has been pursued at any higher level.....even a I-AA school....I'd like to know about it. This article proves nobody else hass looked at Winters. Full Story: http://detnews.com/article/20111125/SPORTS...-built-a-winner