GoZips

When they hire a real athletic director.

72 Roo, kudos, well said. You, sir, are an optimist. At this point, 4-8 season is far beyond this putrid coaching staff's capabilities. There is something I need to get off my chest. Early in the game. Right after Syracuse scored their first touchdown, Alex Allen was doing his job as a senior leader "getting in the grills" of the already dejected defenders when a coach (don't know him by name), roughly threw Allen aside and addressed the players. The players and Allen were stunned by the coach's behavior, Alex walked away dejected and perplexed as were we who witnessed the abuse. For me, that capped my already prejudiced view that this coaching staff sucks.

He's ultra-conservative when it comes to playcalling. It's a sign that he doesn't trust his players to go out and do anything beyond the simplest plays. It's also why we didn't see anything resembling a trick play, not even a simple reverse. To say nothing about counters and draw plays. Which are effective "conservative" play calls. I think I saw one screen pass which came in the third quarter shortly before I left the stadium with that same nauseated feeling JD's teams gave me.

Tommy W. is here to enhance his resume and move on. Okay, fine. Build the damn basketball arena, get the feather in your sorry assed resume and get out of town. I want an AD and a football coach that loves being a ZIP. Fire Wistrcill NOW and hire Mike Waddell. At least we know he gives a damn.

The sooner Tommy Wistrcill and Ronnie Ianello are fired the better off Akron will be. Shame on Dr. Porenza for hiring these losers.

I am continually amazed that people never absorb the content of previous posts. As recently as last Friday (August 27), the Zips were working to get matching dates with Michigan State. The Milliken game is a last second addition. Show me where that school name appears anywhere in previous posts. Frankly, playing Milliken prior to the Dayton trip is a God send. If the Zips and the Spartans could have matched up mutually available dates then MSU on the road would have been Akron's opponent. It was not to be. As for firing the scheduler, march your arse down to coach Dan Peters office and fess up that you are volunteering your hinny for the next 365 days to help secure a great, to your personal standards, 2011-2012 schedule. He'll be happy to see you.

Unlike W00t, I liked the first half. The early adversity of the own goal challenged the kids to reach down and pull themselves up. They responded well as they repeatedly took VCU to task. The first half was "all Zips". It was, at times, sloppy with weak ball movement. However, most of the half was played on the VCU side. Akron controlled, or better still, dominated. Several Zips suffered from footing slips. Is this as before, due to short cleats? Short cleats give better speed at the price of making it difficult to cut. Which is exactly what happened to Meves. The newcomers quickly showed that they belong. I agree that the AK-Rowdies were out in force and plenty loud. As for berating them for busting Gillard and the two former players, I say to the Rowdies, go for it. Its soccer, not high tea or cricket. Personally I thought the 2,835 count was a tad under the actual. Not many schools can charge five bucks to watch a non-counting exhibition game and draw more than flies. I sat in the high row of the east bleachers for the first half. Unfortunately, I could not see either goal scored because the balls were low and the view blocked by the Rowdies. Still, a commanding view of most of the pitch. I moved to the new northwest SRO embankment just west of the Zips bench for the second half. A really good view of the action and goal scored. Of note is the influence passed on to Gillard and his charges. Playing VCU was very much like playing the Akron reserves as their style on both offense and defense looked all the world like Akron's style. Which, of course, came from Mike Freitag, the former, great Indiana coach Caleb Porter played for. Thank you Mike. Gillard will have VCU among the top ten teams in the country with in three years. What a great legacy for Caleb and his charges.

Here's a gift from an SEC fan. TV Listings 2010

Are you kidding? They should sell tickets and help out anyone who is actually showing interest in the program. Amen

Looked to me that the defense is miles ahead of the offense. That's pretty much normal this time of the year. The number one defense was particularly tough. Most offensive plays were passes. Necessary to develop timing. A lot of misses, but enough solid connections to see real potential. I, for one, am particularly pleased to see in your face, smash mouth football back in Akron. Kicking game was spotty with a couple of excellent plays. The punting so-so at best. Nice to see actually PATs and kick offs being executed. Nice improvement over a program that recently had its first kick off attempt at the first game kick off. While still extremely wary, I am warming up to coach I a little. His staff has solid credentials

Took a side jaunt through the nearly completed soccer stadium renovation after the FB shindig. Awesome ... AWESOME ... AWESOME !!!!!!!!! The pitch is smooth as a billiard table. The new north side team shelters are first rate. New seating in both end zones including most of the original grassy are the Rowdies prowled in the past. Seating is behind the Rowdies Zone and elevated so the fans will be able to see over the jumping Rowdies. Nice touch. Flat west end, but with about four rows of seating. Even better, plenty of SRO area at that end of the pitch. Walked up on the new grandstand. Three rows of chair back seating that seemed a tad wider than average. Perhaps to accommodate winter coats. The bench seating still being installed. Some of the new seating is literally at nose bleed level where the press box is yet to be built. I think you are going to love it.

Zips one game away from having a complete schedule. Thin possibility of an away game at a major Big Ten program. (not OSwho).

I bought a pair of reserve seats for the 'Cuse game while at the FB scrimmage. Told that only season ticket holders will be considered for away game tickets. Hello .... just how stupid is the athletic department? Here's a program several yards short of a full deck playing the "if you aren't on board as a season ticket holder you can't come to our away games" game. Pure STUPID. As previously noted: does Akron actually have an AD? And they question why I refuse to give out of pocket donations and buy season tickets. Hey, listen up ... I'm NOT the vain, stupid one.

Update: From Rasor's column ... "The fourth is the most intriguing. Oren Wilson is a defensive tackle transfer from Michigan State. He started 12 games last season for the Spartans. He will have one year remaining after he sits out per transfer rules in 2010. He is transferring because of an incident before Michigan State's 2009 bowl game that landed him 21 days of jail time. This article suggests that Wilson wanted to return, but Spartans coach Mike Dantonio said otherwise." He's a beast. I'll take him.

Not to rain on your parade .... Why would a "senior to be" leave Michigan State for Akron? Grades? Legal troubles? Akron's great, though completely unproven, coaching staff? Large crowds bother him? This simply does not add up.

The team is also putting new carpet in both the players’ and coaches’ locker rooms. And this is relevant how?

Tnx, Cap'n. Article mentions that Moore is five-nine. Perhaps IPFW is the place for him.

Doom 'n Gloom. And, I'm an optimist ... !!!!

I am confused. I do not know whether to be terribly sad or just plain angry? And, who should I direct my anger toward? Earlier I posted a comment , sort of tongue in cheek, about Akron having an AD. The longer I have thought about that question the angrier I am becoming. I already decided (months ago) to not renew my football season tickets. Why? Because Ron Ianello is a joke. Akron suffered through six seasons with an inexperienced coach who floundered repeatedly. A coach who's best asset is his rather attractive wife. Looks good at press conferences; but, contributes nothing on the field. What ever success JD Brookhart had came on the back of Lee Owens. Now, mind you, Lee was no great coach. He recruited decent talent and had a decent staff. The Zips even won sometimes. Had Lee ever read up on what a pass rush is and learned to not make stupid gambles on fourth down, he probably would still be the Zips football coach. JD, on the other hand, was an even worse fourth down gambler than Lee was. If that is even possible. JD brought a new dimension to Zip football. Bad plays. Stupid plays. Incredibly bad plays. Worse, JD saw himself as a "healer". JD tried to rehab a wayward player. What he should have done was cut the kid loose the first time the kid got caught. "This ain't no kindy-garden", to quote a line from the movie Rudy. Now, having suffered through the JD era the vaunted or is it vaulted minds chose another green horn head coach. Stupid. It causes me to be angry. Why? Why do we Zips fans have to be the laughing stock of a terrible conference? Is there something in the water? Why repeat a bad decision? May be Akron deserves to be a laughing stock. Gloom and doom and the first play has yet to be run. Bad decisions, player defections, inept text messaging. There is absolutely no feeling that the season is going to be even mediocre. Putrid is the likely end result. I challenge Ron Ianello to prove me wrong. Frankly, I do not think he is up to the task. I think RI still struts around in his Rudy jacket. He is not even aware that this is Akron.

AD? Akron has an AD?

Well said. Southern Cal is still layered in slime. The untainted players for USC have not yet been born.

I think it is just dandy that the Zips are adding coverage in a region where 1350 can be heard. What I would like is a radio station that covers Medina County and the western Cleveland area. Neither of those stations penetrate this area at night. And, those of us that know, once you pass over Ohio route 21 when heading west on I-76 WARF is non-existent. Must be a whole passle of Zips fans in Farrell, PA. Guess I'll just have to start following Ashland.

I'm sorry, but that might be one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. By letting every team in, you destroy the 4-month regular season in favor a couple week tournament. If the regular season wasn't meaningless enough, you want to reward bad teams with home court advantage? That certainly doesn't make any sense. I'm sorry. What are you not seeing here? That the elites continually rule college sports just because they can exclude everyone else? Say, aren't you one of the people that continually laments that Akron never schedules home games with the likes of Kentucky and UCONN? Or, are you among those who does not care that Akron is never able to climb on to the top tier?

I have for many years advocated an open tournament. Let ALL the division one teams in the NCAA tournament. And did it in a unique manner. For the first couple of rounds the higher seed team plays at the lower seed home court. Example: number one seed Kentucky plays at number three hundred-thirty-three Prairie View A&M. For the second round all the winners play at the remaining lower seed home courts. This is repeated until sixty-four teams remain. Then the seeding by region occurs. At this time the secondary tournaments can invite the losers of the first couple of rounds. This levels the playing field just a bit. More importantly, it improves college basketball by forcing the snobbish elites to play in venues they would never set foot in.

ZW, I really like your starting line up. It puts four proven players on the floor to start the game/season. Abreu needs to be backed up by an under class man. Putting Steve back on the point will eventually lead to the same break down the Zips suffered last year. You do not develop players by letting them sit. One or two incoming players are likely to be red shirted.