Zip Watcher

Fascinating to me that the guy @ IU makes less than 2/3'rds the UA Futbol coach.

Don't know .. don't care .. that game knocked 50% of the remaining players out of a survivor pool I'm playing. :bow:

We're squarely in Andy Marte territory here now.

Both teams bunkered for the second half of the games because they knew they were toast if they didn't out number the Zips in the box.This with the Zips 2 best playmakers (Ampi & Nanchoff) not playing or not at full strength.2 ACC programs played the Zips and didn't score a regulation goal. And the Zips didn't come close to bunkering in either game.I'd take my chances with the Zips playing an ACC schedule. They clearly outplayed both UVA and UNC in regulation & overtime. Do they run the table? Who knows .. but they'd have a better chance of running the table in the ACC than anyone currently in the ACC or in the NCAA for that matter.Go Zips!! B)

Me too .. perhaps you can still use the "endzone grass hill gnome" sometime though.

Zen .. can't speak for the Great GP1, but in my case:YesS-CorpAbsolutely.

This is another good indicator that Latina is on his way here too.

I sit corrected. Seems like a solid hire.Go Zips! B)

http://footballcoachscoop.com/Scoop.htmlNot surprising. We're seemingly becoming Notre Dame minus Weis as far as our coaching staff goes. But I think I like this hire. Aside from football, every sport at ND is in the Big East. We now have a Big East level S&C coach.I'll bet $10 he was the S&C coach for football only @ UND.

Sometimes, yes .. other times .. not so much. We need an applet where you can play music behind a post when someone is reading the post. This one needs the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" .. nice motivation speech. I'd have written the exact same thing 10 years ago. Might be interesting to revisit in 5, and then again in 10 years. Hope it's a prosperous 2010.Opportunity does flourish amid chaos. And that too!Go Zips! B) B)

Curtis Brown similarly.

Yep .. select "options" @ upper right and choose the "Standard" display mode.

Seems straight forward enough. Once the permanent facilities for Soccer are complete, that could open up some space in the North End Zone for a Lacrosse team .. and couldn't they play their games on Shrank Field?With the city & the U creeping to a new Basketball facility, the JAR will be improved upon as a BB practice facility and that could include Gymnastics team rooms .. the JAR becoming the home venue for Volleyball & Gymnastics, while serving as BB practice facility.

Were something like that to ever come to pass, and I'm not predicting anything of the sort .. the Big East would be adding UA (and FOUR others) to make itself a BIGGER conference. It's all about the Benjamins. They need to have 12 to have a championship game, with the TV $$ and exposure that brings .. in order to maintain / solidify their place in the BC$.If Big East only adds 1 or 2 .. I don't think UA's in play, except the remote possibility of maybe backfilling a C-USA spot. But if the Big East loses Rutgers, and comes to realization that it needs to get to 12 FBS teams (this probably also necessitates a full split of the league) .. then they need FIVE. And if they go hunting for 5, the dominoes will fall and affect MAC membership in some way .. thus affecting UA.In my mind, it's hard for the BE to find 5 new members without affecting the MAC, even indirectly. The most often shouted options at other boards for BE include: Temple, UCF, East Carolina, and Memphis. Keep in mind that TV markets / urban areas are a driving factor in BE membership. Now if even one of those teams isn't a fit or an option (maybe Temple is never back in?? .. or Memphis understands it's better to be the tallest midget in C-USA) .. where do they go? It will touch UA directly or indirectly if the BE wises up to the fact they need to have 12 FBS teams.Personally, I'm just rooting for utter chaos and a complete reshuffling of the conferences East of the Mississippi .. UA doesn't have a long history with the MAC like some schools, and they are investing in infrastructure that would indicate a commitment to moving upstream at some point .. so the chaos of a large restructuring could be beneficial. Who knows, maybe a new Great Lakes / Mid-Atlantic FBS league emerges with like-minded universities out of this? It'll be more fun to watch it happen than it is to speculate.Regardless .. Go Zips!!! B)

It fits my understanding of the vision set forth by Proenza & Thomas, and carried forward by Rhodes & now Tom: Think bigger than the current conference. Strive to be the best in the state and compete on a national stage.Well done guys .. Go Zips! B) B)

I thought you quit on the Zips? What possible interest do you have in what UA's conference affiliation is now or in the future?Go Zips!

Based on what? Source?

I read the Beacon article. Now I'm wondering...He was given a new 5-year deal, but did anyone actually HEAR him say he was staying put -- is there a statement from our coach? You see, I have little faith in anything I read in the paper, especially when it comes to supposed good news for Akron area sports teams. Please let it be true. It will bring great holiday tidings.Statement from Porter included in this Official Press Release from GO ZIPS ... dot COM.

A couple of follow-ups.Seems like the BigEast screwed themselves 20 years+ ago by not getting Penn St. in then. It would have probably prevented the BC defection last go around.As for media markets .. all of my conjecture pre-supposes that if the BigEast goes to 12 FB teams, there's a split in the conference, and the non-FBS teams are their own conference. Thus the Philadelphia market would be devoid of any Big East, other than fringe Rutgers fans. FBS Big East would need Temple in order to maintain Philadelphia.I can't see a scenario that would have any of the BE Catholics adding FBS or upgrading to FBS .. it's not in their makeup to shake the budget around that much. All of them are traditional basketball schools. Odds of Villanova making the jump to FBS have to be pretty small. Are BC & ND the only FBS Catholic Schools Now? BC is a big school .. ND not so much.

That's easy .. if I'm the Big East, I take Temple .. the dynamics are different than they were a few years ago, and Temple would have to come in as a full member. But after Temple, if you're looking for 5 total additions so as to have a 12 member league .. who else do you try and get?Temple to the ACC is an interesting one that I hadn't considered before. In fact, I think that's a REALLY interesting idea. Especially with BC in the mix now .. the footprint wouldn't really change. And how far is Philadelphia from College Park, MD .. can't be too far.I'm just rooting for multi-conference chaos. Is that too much to ask?Go Zips!

Hadn't really thought about Arkansas and the SWC thing. So the dominoes could circle around to the Big East eventually.I'd just like to see the Big East lose a team, need two .. recognize they actually need FIVE .. and split into two leagues (one FBS full members, and one with the Catholic schools that don't participate in FBS). There was an interesting article awhile back .. not sure who wrote it or where it was .. about the 8 non FBS BigEast members splitting off and forming a new Metro league, taking Dayton, Xavier and maybe a few others with them to form a 10 or 12 team league for all sports sans football.If the day came where the remaining 7 Big East members need to find 5 suitable members (5 so they could have 2 divisions and a Champion$hip Game) .. I think it would be fascinating to watch the whole thing play itself out. MAC schools probably wouldn't be in the conversation for spots #1 or #2 or maybe even #3 .. but if you think about that league finding 5 new members that play FBS .. there's not many other places to look.Go Zips! B)

Just in thinking about the logical candidates for Big TelEveN membership, based on size & location of the institution, I'd come up with the following, no particular order:ND (never happen)Pitt (natural rival for PSU .. competitive pretty much across the board?)LouisvilleCincyMissouriOther Big East (Syracuse or Rutgers?)I'm sure there's many more that folks will speculate about .. but it seems to me that the move that would have the LEAST impact on the MAC and potentially UA's situation would be if Missouri jumped to the Big TelEveN. Big XII could back fill easily from within the WAC / C-USA / MTN West .. and the dominoes would probably stop there.If however, the new member comes from the Big East, the dominoes and implications for UA could be MUCH more interesting. Some Big East coaches are already clamoring for a ninth team since they now have to schedule 5 OOC games (only 7 conference games). If one of the teams jumps out, the league will be FORCED to take action to at least replace that team. Perhaps it would trigger the re-structuring / growth of the Big East than many have been predicting since the last go around .. maybe it won't.My comment that chaos brings opportunity relates to UA and its options. If the move is Missouri .. nothing's going to really change with BigEast, C-USA, MAC .. etc. However, if a member of the Big East jumps, then UA will be presented with potential options to re-evaluate it's conference affiliation.The strategy around UA has been to think bigger .. a big dustup within FBS conference alignments will give Luis & Co. the opportunity to explore more options than they have available to them right now.I'd like to see the Big East forced into some action, needing at least 1, maybe 2 or 5 teams. B) Go Zips!

Merged topics.

News From the Worldwide Leader.Here's hoping they look East for #12. Opportunity exists in chaos. B) B) Go Zips!

Did you get to see Brian Kelly berate his QB after an INT during the Big East Championship game?No I didn't see it, and since I'm not a Cincy fan .. I pretty much don't care.