GoZips

This is NOT entirely true. While Marshall has experience with going to bowl games and purportedly has a fan base that will travel neither item is sufficient to actually overcome the huge out lay of capital (money) required. There has to be a willingness to market the product. Past Marshall involvement with bowl games came to them THROUGH the MAC Conference. Bowl committees are interested in just one thing; SELLING TICKETS. Charlie Frye is starting to be well known around the college football world. He has the potential to be a huge draw for a bowl game. This really is Akron's ace in the hole. Mel Keiper's recent remarks calling Charlie "the BEST quarterback in the draft" and Sports Illustrated listing Charlie as the number one non-BCS player in the nation are marketing tools that bowls just love. Remember, their goal is to sell tickets to the local population. Not even the best followed team in the world (Notre Dame) sells 60,000 tickets on its own merits to a bowl game hundreds if not thousands of miles from home. Marshall schelping a 1,000 fans to a bowl game or Akron bring just 500 is a drop in the bucket in either case to a committee trying to fill a 60,000 seat stadium. The bowl committee needs something to market. That is exactly why College Football News and now some others are projecting a match up between Fresno State and the Zips. A shoot out of grand proportions puts a twinkle in the bowl committee's collective eye. If the Zips do go to Hawai'i Z.I.P. and I (GoZips) will provide lots of tips on enjoying Hawai'i. While Z.I.P. lives in Honolulu I have traveled to Hawai'i more than a dozen times. Either or both of us can give lots of details on enjoying your stay in Hawai'i. Z.I.P. obviously knows the lay of the land far better than I do. however, as a frequent and cheap assed visitor I know tricks that delight tourists such as myself. A comment mentioned earlier by one of the posters is an excellent and well thought out remark. That is, plan for at least a week and two weeks is much better. Hawai'i does NOT have to be expensive. As recent as the last trip the men's basketball team traveled to Hawai'i I enjoyed a corner room that both overlooked Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach for THIRTY-FIVE dollars per night. More to follow if we travel to Hawai'i. Mahalo

I happened upon a video presentation on ESPN about Gerry Faust today. Coach and several others spoke about his love for Notre Dame and his ability to ingratiate people. As an acquaintance of Gerry's I am proud to know this high caliber man. If you only measure in wins and losses you need to be kissing the ass of Bob "sure I cheat" Pruett. But, if you can see the honor of being a real man of class then you will hold Coach Faust near and dear in your heart. I only wish I could have seen the entire video article .

Dr. Z have you need of a grammer lesson? How do you get "will be" from reading "may be"? GoZips made no claim that JD "will be" the new HC at Pitt next year. Only that you can infer that JD is certain to be one of the prime candidates if the Pitt HC job opens. Since this particular matter has been posted on the Internet in several places, mentioned on TV and radio I think if is safe for me to raise the spector that it could happen. JD did a decent enough job in a trying situation to at least warrant a look by a selection committee. No one on a selection committee is going to whine about how JD "stole" anything. Rather, one could expect they would count in his favor his rescourcefulness and ability to attract prime players.

Oh to be blessed with that naivete' we call "fan". GoZips makes it a point to be on solid ground before he pontificates. Where I obtain my information is not for you to know. All you need to know (and you can verify this) is that I am correct far, far more often than I am wrong.

While I have some misgivings about young Mister Ray Williams I also think of the line from the movie Seabiscuit where the trainer Tom Wilson says, "you don't throw a whole life away because one part is broken". Let's give the kid a chance. As for shipping him off to Cant State, why? Coach Lee Owens mentioned in conversation (he IS a friend of mine) that a football team is composed of every sort of character you find in society. Thus, you find the good and the bad. As grown ups and leaders we attempt to wean the young to the good. Then we trust in Providence to the outcome of our efforts. Let us do the same with Ray Williams.

BIG ZIP is correct. The above consitutes the basic rules. However, I want some one to explain to me how it is that every single bowl eligible I-A team that has one of its six wins against a I-AA opponent is being considered as a qualifier. These teams include: Nebraska, Tulane, Wyoming, Alabama, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and UCONN Surely at least one of these powerhouses claimed a I-AA victory to bowl qualify in the past four years. Or is it the next four years? Or is this simply a shell game? UCONN hasn't even been a I-A school for four years. I count forty-eight actual qualifiers with four "bubble" qualifiers giving a field of 52. The games this coming weekend will largely determine the field. As Zips fans we best hope and pray that there are no upsets (sic) or other phony baloney shenanigans. Z.I.P.s beloved 'Bows best throttle Northwestern. Hawai'i also has to beat Michigan State in order to qualify. Some how I don't think Tommy Chang can pull this off. LSU chokes at pathetic Arkansas . Colorado vs Nebraska is a toss up since its in Lincoln. Tulane isn't going to beat TCU. Thus, count TCU as the fifty third team in the field. Boston College being a highly ethical Catholic school chokes at home against a sorry Syracuse team to let the Orange slide in. UAB is at Southern Miss. But Southern Miss has an upcoming home game against California who is 9-1 and wont cotton to a fix. So, Southern Miss is toast. Memphis chokes at South Florida to help their cause. South Florida also has a win against a I-AA opponent. Its not the legitimate games that I fear. Its the history of certain conferences that take care of their own. Its like the Zips basketball game down at UNC last year. The Zips out score UNC something like twelve field goals and lose the game because UNC shoots fifty or so free throws to the Zips seven. Capice?

Get use to this: Of the six bowl eligibile teams in the MAC Akron would be the LAST one to get a bid to any bowl. Why? Several reasons. The Zips are an unknown quantity when it comes to sending fans to a bowl game. Bowls want huge attendance. Shamelessly the MAC front office is willing to promote Marshall over Akron simply because Marshall "travels well". Bowls want huge attendance. Akron officials never carried through on their promise to promote Charlie Frye nationally. Thus, Charlie is still largely unknown to most everyday football fans. Bowls want huge attendance. Akron officials are taking a reactive wait and see attitude. Basically, they do not even want to go to a bowl game. Akron fan base can not be counted on to travel. Bowls want huge attendance. It comes down to this. If and only if the Zips are the magic number 56 available team the Zips will go bowling. You'll see pigs fly first. The Akron officials do not want to go a bowl. Bowls want huge attendance. Have faith in JD (he may be the new HC at Pitt next year). The rest of them ... they simply work at Akron U to collect a paycheck. They don't care like you and I do. Take that to the bank.

Are they coming in waves or platoons? The new men's basketball comes in full court pressure, go for the steal, fight for the rebound and get down the floor. On offense its the same, drive the lane, work the baseline, kick the rock in, kick the rock out, find the open man and fire. Get the offensive bound and stick it back in. For twenty minutes the Zips played with all the emotion and drive of my rubber ducky with the missing squeaker. 31-20 at the half was shameful. How about LAZY? Didn't anyone want to play? Bubba chucks three bricks and never fires again. Actually two for eighteen from three point land is sad for the entire team. Period. Free throws, are we an NBA team? We shoot free throws like we are the fricking Lakers. That is to say, lousy. What ever was said in the locker room at half time did something neither Hipsher or Owens ever got from a team. The Zips came out and demolished Mount Union. Full court pressure. Double teaming. Traps. I think these guys are getting it. When the lead reached 35 the last three minutes of the game the Zips had all three walk-ons and two freshmen on the floor. They held their own. They scored. They rebounded They made a couple of steals. The walk-ons were as fun to watch as the starters. Saturday Hampton will be a much sterner test. If you like up tempo, pressure cooker basketball, be there.

Time to go vote The Zips are up against it. While the TD pass to Montgomery was spectacular and key to winning the game lesser plays lead in the balloting because the offerings are from the ND vs Tennessee game and the Oklahoma vs Texas A&M. Both these schools have zillions of fans. Vote Here

GUEST ... right. Chad Mraz did play at St.V-M. My source wasn't sure and thought Mraz played at Revere. I don't know from nothing. Haven't seen #34 the past few practices. Might be gone. A #43 has joined the team. Could be #34 as both are very dark complected guards. Supposedly #33 Zack Sowers from Zanesville transfered in from another program. He is a walk-on.

Generally speaking coaches can never recruit enough QBs. QBs tend to be excellent overall athletes who have size, speed, skill and most importantly they UNDERSTAND the game. Most high school QBs also played a defensive secondary position. Hint, hint. BTW ... look to the NFL. Several former college QBs play a different position in the NFL for the same reason as I stated above. Randal El of the Steelers comes to mind. There are most asuredly others.

ZIPSFAN Sort Of .... There are currently five walk ons practicing with the team. I managed to get four names. Chad Mraz, a freshman who played for Revere wears #5. Nick Goddard, a sophomore from Wadsworth wearing #25. Zach Sowers, a freshman from Zanesville wears #33. Maurice Kanaan probably from Akron Firestone wears #15. No guarantee that I have their class stated correctly. I heard that Zach Sowers is a transfer walk on. He may be a higher class than freshman. Lastly, there is a #34 who I have not identified. To my way of thinking having plenty of walk ons helps build the quality of the team. They play their guts out for the most part. While they never seem to have enough talent to be a major factor they certainly provide much welcomed depth. I hope that all of them "stick" and are rewarded with floor time late in games where the Zips are comfortably ahead. God bless them one and all.

Rumor of a possible men's BB recruit out of Wisconsin. Anyone have any details?

UPDATE. Still darn lonely at BB practice. All the slugs must be dead. A few walking wounded. Various sprains, etc. Still, plenty of eager bodies laying on the wood. Kind of hard to predict who'll start especially in the backcourt. I lean toward Drew Joyce at the point and CEDeric Middleton at the two guard. Futch, Wood and Patterson in the front court. Possible to see McFadden at the two. Futch and Wood own the inside with Travis and Millum fighting for playing time. Darryl can either sub for Wood and Futch or play the three. I lean toward playing him at the three. This makes Travis the odd man out. Make no doubt about it, Romeo will see tons of floor time. Millum is on the thin side and might be a canidate for red shirting. Bubba has a sweet trey shot. But, he is way, way to slow and doesn't seem to grasp the in your face type of play Coach D is looking for. Mario Collins understands the type of game and hustles his butt. Mario works the point sufficiently well to allow Drew longer "blows". We are definitely thin at guard unless McFadden is moved to the two hole AND at least one of the walk-ons steps up his game. The basic philosphy reminds me of former coach Kevin Mackey of Cleveland State fame. Run 'n Stun in your face quick paced basketball. Get down the floor quick. Cover down. Deny. Skip passes. Look for the open man. The Zips will be raining threes and throwing down all the dunks they can find. Lots of lead passes, layups, slams, alley oops. You are going to love it. Sadly, Nick Meyers seems to be mentally opting out. What a waste.

Hey, Brudda Aloha Z.I.P. tanks fer da heads up. Dat was a gud web site. Found a new name der. LIN NATEHART, er, Nate Linhart a 6' 7" Wing man. Found da brudda's mug one a web site. He be a big boy. Strong like a bull, nod a nene. Nate Linhart 6'7" of Gahanna Lincoln HS near columbus. Several good comments on his skills and size. On a good team and chose Akron over BGSU, Miami, WVa, Wrong St. Aloha brudda. See you soon.

Attending open practice was darn lonely. Other than a local high school coach taking notes, I sat alone in JAR as the kids went through their Sunday morning practice. Come join me. Coach Dambrot holds open practice for you. You will immediately see the difference from the recent past program. Its all about hustle. Its fast paced, in your face basketball. Lots of wind sprints laced through the practice. Be in shape or barf. Even the drills have changed. First one I watched reminded me of Hoosiers. Ball handling skills emphasised. Get down court quickly, turn and attack the ball. One thing NOT like the movie there was no pass the ball four times before taking a shot. Basically its pound it inside, shoot, rebound, kick it out for a second shot. The score is going to zing to stratospheric levels. I just hope they spread the wealth rather than ala Tarver. The kids look to be in great shape. No bloaties in the group. The freshmen look like they belong. Dials was there, due to an injury not dressed. Sixteen in uniform for practice. Made for a rapid paced set of drills. Reminded me of running three lines in a hockey game. We might not have great players, but we do have great depth. Love it.

Beg pardon. There are still seats available in the lower bowl. I purchased my season tickets yesterday. I was able to change my seat location. There were a number of open seats to choose from. Be prepared to pay the "juice" money if you desire lower bowl seats. Mine were $100 per seat as I sit on the ends. Expect $300-500 for middle seating. That's PER SEAT. In conversation with coach Dambrot I learned that he intends to hold OPEN practice. Coach also stated that this year is one to get the kids acclimated to his style. He expects that NEXT year the Zips will begin their rise. You are going to love the conditioning of the kids. Matt Futch and Jerimiah Wood have shed their baby fat. Rob Preston is a solid twenty pounds heavier. Nick Meyers looks solid. Bubba Walther is fifteen pounds heavier (thank God). The goal is to build community (family) then turn them loose.

Astro, thanks for the heads up. Interesting article. Not being a Zips follower you probably missed the implication of "in the old days PSU would have crushed Akron no matter who the quarterback was". Akron boasts the primo QB in the nation. The young man most likely to be the first QB selected in next year's NFL draft. This is not a joke. Do a little research on one Charlie Frye. Think you will then understand what the writer was implying. How good will the Zips be? That mostly depends on the defense. Last year the Zips put 31 points on the board at Wisconsin. The near by Suckeyes managed just ten against the Badgers. The Zips can score in bunches. The Achilles heel has been the defense. Fix that and the Zips are a prime time competitor. Other wise sit back and watch football games with basketball type scores that the Zips all too often come out on the short end.

Roger "I've never been to Akron" Brown is reporting in the Plain Squealer that Jake Schfino is one of the wide receivers that will test the Brownettes when Tennessee and Cleveland have their exhibition game on Saturday.

Today's Leakin' Urinal has an article on how Can't State is planning to promote their low attendance football team to the students on campus. The goal being to increase student attendance to Can't State home games. Akron and twelve other schools, including Cant State are endanger of losing their D1-A status in football for failing to meet a minimum attendance requirement of 15,000. The major programs wallow in their 100,000+ average attendances (at ticket prices 3-4 times the cost of a MAC ducat). But, they want more. They want the future Jason Taylor, Randy Moss, Ben Rothelisberger, Brian Leftwich, Dwight Smith, Chad Pennington to be part of their football program. Every school knocked back to D1-AA produces a two or three players that bloated giants covet. These kids are now up for grabs. This player grab would not stop at eliminating all non-BCS schools from D1-A. It will not stop until even the perennial bottom feeders of their own conferences are beaten down as well. Thus yielding a top dog category of forty to fifty elites. Once this monopoly is established the sky is the limit. All the top players, all the TV revenue, all the status, all the glory goes to the "elect". Bring on the lions, the Christians are meek.

A new football stadium for the Zips MUST be built on campus or in the near downtown area. Any other location is a D-1A death sentence to the Zips. I like the idea of a stadium across the street from Canal Park. For one thing, the butt heads at the Leakin' Urinal would have to trip over it every day they go to work. It would block their view of the emaciated downtown area they helped create. The Zips need to raise home attendance to a level that they are not on any endangered list. An on campus stadium with freeway access, university parking lots, student interest would help tremendously. The Zips do NOT need to chase after an undersized professional soccer stadium 20 miles from their campus. A 25,000 seat stadium is just as much a death sentence as the distance is. While the NCAA requires a 30,000 minimum capacity facility, anything under 45,000 severely hampers scheduling "name" opponents likely to attract the less than rabid Zip fan. Perhaps it is high time to abandon the nickel squeezing approach to college athletics forced on MAC schools. If the mighty Suckeyes can squander $900,000 per annum on a corrupt basketball coach and to say nothing of paying out millions to buy out a high priced contract of their new corrupt basketball coach, then Akron is entitled to more than scraps that fall from the lavish table set for the Pig Ten swine.

TOTALZIP no way can this be laid at the feet of JD. The seeds for Sutton's decision were sown long before JD arrived at Akron. Its not about nice facilities. Its more about the respect the kid perceives he is getting or not getting. Lee was the very first coach to offer Sutton a "ride". Owens staff worked long and hard on Sutton. He made his choice. Its a good one. More power to him. As for Can't, all you have there is a beat writer who may have changed "Akron" to "Can't" or selected one school when the kid mentioned both. We don't know at this point. Sutton probably doesn't measure up to Kennedy or some of the other incoming RBs. Kids love to play. At Akron he may have had to sit. At NU he'll probably play a lot or he'll be calling JD. It will take JD three years of recruiting before we can evaluate his success or lack of it in recruiting. Thus far, with Kennedy and Tuzze I am pleased with what he has done.

Dang, ZIPSRIFLE, now I know why I'm getting e-mails from the PD for their personals ads. I always put in the data field that I'm a 96 year old man living in Jacksonville.

ZIP WATCHER ... outstanding post. I am in near complete agreement with you. I especially rankle at the idea of playing a one game at their house game with anybody let alone a mere A-10 team. Like you, I don't think the A-10 would fair well in a battle of the two conferences. A few years ago the Zips scheduled Rhode Island in a home-n-home series. Those same years had a home-n-home with Wyoming and a 2-for-1 with Purdue. I question the wisdom of even scheduling a one game series on the road against an A-10 team. The Zips still have to "pay" with a road game for last year's "bracket buster" game. If the road game is Dayton on at least regional TV as part of the "bracket buster", then and only then will it not stick in my craw. If the Dayton game is a stand alone it sends a terrible message about the sorry state of Zips basketball. I have long lamented the poor job of scheduling football opponents. Where the Zips always opt for taking the money for getting their brains beat out on the road as opposed to actually having any comprehension about how to improve attendance. Football (and basketball) attendance is improved for the season with early wins against name recognized teams AT HOME. That doesn't mean beating Ohio State at home. It means beating some schlock ACC, Pig Ten, SEC school at home. Most of the other MAC schools have long since figured out how to get home games with the likes of these schools while the Zips go on the road two or three times for the money and the losses and the poor resulting attendance. You want a reason to fault the AD or coaches here it is. Piss poor scheduling and the forever excuses of why we just can't. As much as I like a number of former coaches as people it was the scheduling philosophy that rankles me even more than pathetic defense (in both football and basketball). Far too often past coaches have been pleased just to play Ohio State (in football) or North Carolina (in basketball) as opposed to having an actual attack plan to BEAT that opponent given the opportunity. Never play anybody just for the money or the opprotunity. Every game should be an opportunity to win. This far more than anything else hacks me about Akron. Some MAC schools (BG, Toledo, Miami, Marshall) make very effort to beat an opponent given the opportunity. Akron traditionally plays like tha patsy they were scheduled to be. This is why Marshall may well upset the Suckeyes this fall in football while the Zips come home from Happy Valley with their tails betwen their legs. Until I see other wise I expect the same lousy performance and excuses from both Brookhart and Dambrot.

Gentlemen, excellent observations from both of you. Let's hope the football office has people wise enough to read these boards and on occasion accept the advice.