Zipsrifle

If the "Over the Phone" part is true, then that is REALLY Bush League! At least have the decency to look the guy in the eye while you are breaking the news!

Winters is getting the seal of approval from former UA Interim AD Mike Waddell on twitter. This coming from the guy who hired Caleb. Winters was high on my list but with that endorsement it just jumped higher. +1

Does anybody think Proenza told TW "You will use a search committee!"? I sure hope he did!

I think one of the reasons I prefer someone who has had success in the FCS vs. an assistant (or one year HC) from a "Big Time" program is that the coaches from the smaller schools know how to recruit and work with "Lesser" talent. Lets be honest, most kids in Ohio fall all over themselves to attend OSU so there really is no sell. I would also imagine that having great talent around you all the time makes your coaching job a lot easier.

I probably posted something similar two years ago.... Anyway, I think someone with Head Coaching success in the FCS is my preference. Of course, my ideal situation is to get a guy who would want to stay at Akron, but right now, I will just be happy if we start winning again.... Winters may be the guy, hell if I know....how far from the MAC is the GLIAC?

Can him

Personally, I think it is crazy to even talk about JT coming here. Really!? We are the most horrid college FB program in the country! Why would JT come to the graveyard of college coaching, ruin his college reputation when he can coach on the pro level and, if not successful, still be admired by millions of OSU fans? On another front, TW needs to go. We were "bad" in JD's last year, but TW took it upon himself to hire the coach of the highest profile sport at UA, and failed miserably! The luster is off the Info and all the other Mac schools will have caught up in the facilities arms race by the time we turn this around. Rob I did his best, which was horrible, but it is TW who is responsible for hiring him and he must GO!

Well, I know I am way behind with my Rifle updates again as work has kept me from the Nation for some time. The team started the year off great with a win in their 2nd match at Navy, but then have had mediocre results the rest of the season, losing to Ohio State and Tying Morehead State. I have a special hatred for Morehead as their shooters, despite losing to us on multiple occasions, made no bones that they felt the were far superior to us. Anyway, this past match the Zips tied Morehead, which is unheard of! Hopefully the team can regain the hope from the first Navy match and get to the National Championship match at the end of the season. See the press release below: PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE Date: November 20, 2011 Event: Akron -vs- Morehead State University in Kentucky Location: Morehead State University in Kentucky Akron Rifle and Morehead in rare tie The two schools started the day with each hoping to walk away with a win to carry them through the holiday season. But when the noise was over the very rare situation of a tie game was evident. How rare? Each team can earn up to 4,800 points with each pull of the trigger being worth up to 10 points. Thus the odds of a tie are hard to figure. So each team concluded the match with like 4555’s wrapping up the first half of the rifle season. Smallbore rifle was all Morehead as the top three slots belonged to members of the Eagles. Sophomore Victoria Brown continued to lead the zips with her 569 in 4th place followed by Freshman John Hupp (564) and Senior Ryan Stein (563). “Definitely not our day for smallbore,” states Akron Coach Newt Engle, “This team is way better than that and now we need to figure out what happened and get back on track.” In smallbore the Zips finished behind Morehead, 2254 to 2272. Even though the total Akron score in air rifle was a little low, (2301), the zips did manage to outpace the Eagles who fired a 2283. Senior Zac Szabo lead the charge by setting a new personal best score of 581, also earning him the top gun honors. Finishing in second and third, teammates senior Ryan Stein (579) and junior Nicole Dietrich (577) rounded out the top three slots at the match. This match wraps up the first half of the season for the Zips who will return to action on January 14, 2012 in Morgantown West Virginia against the very powerful WVU Mountaineers.

If the guy is a recruiting guru, then does it make sense to keep him on as a recruiter and get a new head coach until he finds a new job? No question in my mind, the guy needs to go as HC. Our team packed it in a long time ago. Don't know if I'm going to keep my season tickets or not, maybe I'll just give the money to the Rifle Team instead.

For me, I have made it pretty black and white. Rob needs to win 4 games this year. I know Ron English has had a few tough years before getting the EMU ship in the right direction, I try to keep this in mind. There have been a few pleasant surprises, but overall, I don't see much improvement. At this point, I have to say, I'm pretty discouraged. Granted this is from someone who doesn't have a deep football background but week after week I see the same stuff that doesn't seem to work. I also agree that TW was brought in for one reason, and that was to fill the stadium. Outside of football, he has done a great job, but I don't believe that was the main goal. I'm going to stick behind these guys until the end of the season. I believe that Rob has at least one more year regardless of what happens. I don't want to be stuck rebuilding for two more years but at some point you need to realize when things just aren't working and make a change. I REALLY do hope Rob succeeds. To me that means he is building a very sound football PROGRAM that will be ready to win in the MAC over the long term. Time will tell.

I think all the Rifle scholarships are for female athletes. I could be wrong, but that is the way it was back in the day.

Random Observation of the day: Has anyone else noticed the occasional "Beep Beep Beep" during the Mac-sports webcast? Sounds just like a Toyota locking it's doors.

Yea, they think there is a conspiracy against the MAC from the BCS officials just like I do!

Make me eat my words!! PLEASE!!

Shows what I know....

So, what's the call? Kick it deep and hope to hold them or try the onside? I'm voting for the onside.

Chisolm is good as advertised. I was skeptical after the spring game since he was going against our D, but no doubt now.

Cough, Cough, Cough

Down by what, 15 with 10 minutes left. Why do I feel we are way out of this one? I mean, I know we can still pull it out, but I have zero confidence that we can.

Man, Chisolm can move the ball, but we can't convert 3rd down and they just keep grinding it out.

Gotta say, I like this free streaming of games on mac-sports.com.

I hope we blow these guys out of the water. I know the parents of one of the WMU players and a few years ago they were saying how good of a soccer player he was. I mentioned that maybe he should look at Akron. They laughed and said, "No way, he's getting looked at by Big 10 schools like Michigan State!!!" He couldn't have made our team anyway!

I also think EMU has the edge, but it is just that, an edge. This is a winnable game against a comparable team. RI has been telling us how much this team is improved, and this is the game to prove it. For me to believe this, we need to play them toe to toe and come out with the W. I've sat through 14 losses in the past 16 games, You've had time to install, time to train, time to recruit. Time to get it done, Rob.

Well, we did what we were supposed to do yesterday. What a nice confidence booster for the team. I could go all negative Nancy here, and it may seem that I do, but I am not. I'm just glad that we went out and handled a team we should have handled. We didn't put them away as I had hoped in the 2nd half, but we didn't let them get back in the game either. As I am not one who has a good football background, I have a hard time seeing the improvement, especially with the caliber of teams we have been playing. But, it is evident to me that we won't be lighting up the MAC this year. Yesterday I really got the feeling that our youth could be a reason we are having such growing pains. I took a look at the dept chart this morning and we aren't as young as I thought. We don't have upperclassmen at every position, but more than I expected. At this point, I'm trying to believe we are moving in the right direction at a reasonable pace. I really don't have any evidence to support this, however. I seem to be saying this every week, but next week will give some additional clarity. I do feel we are much better at this point than we were last year. I mean Gardner-Webb won something like 4 games last year and I think VMI would have been more or a challenge a year ago. The EMU game next week, on the other hand is a winnable game. I'm not saying we will win, but it is a MAC team at our level. Just comparing the competition both teams (Akron, EMU) have played, I think they probably will be favored seeing that the game is at home and they have played their competition closer than we have. If this team is really improving as quickly as RI seems to indicate, then I would expect the EMU game to be a nail biter. Great day for a football game, hope to get another W next week! Go Zips!

Just a thought here, I have no information either way to support this, it's just a thought. Is it possible, that when Infocision, Summa, First Energy, and Cub Cadet signed the deals to name the Football and Soccer stadiums, they "Bought" a certain number of football tickets? Is it possible that other companies, in exchange for other services from UofA (Advertising, free rooms for functions, etc.) "Bought" tickets? I am in full agreement there weren't 14,000 people at the game and the attendance numbers have ALWAYS seemed inflated. We haven't been busted so something leads me to believe that TW and LP made sure these bases were covered so that we don't have to worry about the NCAA. As an additional topic, what a day to see a game! I took my neighbors yesterday for their first game at the stadium. They are OSU Alum that grew up near Akron. They had a great time and said that they would be very more than happy to see one game a year at Akron.