zipper

Were you even paying attention? The guy laid on the floor, our guys are celebrating, jumping up and down in kind of a moving huddle, they didn't even see the guy. Cvetinovic helped the guy up and was being obviously apologetic to the Can't guy, making sure he was okay, when he got pushed in the back by another Can't thug. And that is what started it.

I agree. I always thought Fleming was a stud and a big time player and that we were lucky his dad coached here or we wouldn't have seen him on our campus in the first place. I doubt he stays here considering the situation, and I would assume he gets "found" by some bigger program out there.Unless, of course, the new coach talks him into staying!

This is big time:http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/1006868...men-for-2009-10It's thrilling for one of our recruits to be mentioned in such good company.

Yeah, and besides all he accomplished, I always noticed he walked around in suit and tie, even at games. That made me feel like he thought this place was special and first-class and like this was one of the finest universities you could work at. I think he represented Akron very well. And I think this new guy is going to be just as good if not better. Just a gut feeling ...

I guess I don't completely understand the point. Was Minnesota supposed to NOT do business with Learfield just because they had a former employee of Learfield on staff? Duh. If anything it probably hurt Learfield to have a former employee in Minnesota's ear during negotiations. This blog entry is proof positive that you can make something out of nothing if you try hard enough.

Yeah, that is just stupid: stupid for "some" to believe, and stupid for Elton to report it. If HY was going to get the job he'd have gotten the job. That was just internet rumor and shouldn't have been published in the first place, but it had no bearing on the outcome, I'm sure. Do we really think Dr. P would NOT hire someone he thought was best for the job just because something leaked a couple of days early? Seriously? Now that would be extremely "stupid" too. Elton's journalistic capabilities are amateur.

You gotta love Elton. Mr. Positive:http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/in...inhouse_fa.htmlI remember hearing the same kinds of reports of internal angst when Akron passed on two prior interim ADs: Mike Rodriguez (Mike Thomas) and Mike Waddel (Mack). People initially don't like change, even if down the road it's all okay. I'm sure this guy is going to be very solid and it looks like an impressive hire.Plus he appears to have a great mentor in the AD at Minnesota, who presided over a what was a very successful era at Miami of Ohio. Hopefully he'll pick up the phone and call Maturi when questions arise.Welcome, Tom!

I completely doubt the veracity of that post. They're bringing people in to interview. This is the rumor mill hard at work, folks, no matter who on the committee thinks this will happen.

I think that would be another good decision. Another guy that seems to "get it." I meant to comment on that earlier. I think GP1 brought it up.It must be a good decision if it gets Z-P to make a post! I was just throwing out an idea. I think GVH would be crazy to look into it. He has a really good job right now and would be crazy to get back into the rat race.You might have been just throwing out an idea but it's a good one. Van Horne is well liked and respected. I also bet he'd stay around for a while - I think he's had other opportunities to leave Akron in the past but has turned them down. He gets athletics.I know I sound like I'm down on Hunter. It's just that in his main area of responsibility here he has been, well, lackluster. If we don't cough up the bucks for a real search I'll think we're back to where we were when we hired that one guy (the bald guy - here just over a year before he got canned - Somebody, what WAS that guy's name?) where we don't operate like a big program, we just move someone up who may or may not be qualified. I'm sure Mack supports him, and some of the coaches may even prefer the devil they know to the one they don't. My question is, objectively (and I don't think Mack OR the coaches can be objective here), who is the best candidate for the job? I'm sure there are athletics people around the country right now planning on applying for this job. Doing anything else than a national search is rinky-dink. Trying to rush Hunter into the job makes me think some want to rush it because they know he won't stack up to the nationwide search. And if that's the case, he shouldn't be the AD. If, however, after interviewing several candidates he's the best, then by all means, the job should be his.

I want to know what Dambrot wants. My hunch is he wants it on campus, and his thoughts should be considered. It has to be incredibly easy for students to get there - look, did we not learn our lesson, ala the Rubber Bowl?

Interesting. I've never understood the philosophy of just hiring from within without checking out who else is out there. And I remember an almost identical article written about Mike Rodriguez when he was the interim AD after they fired that goofy guy whose name I am subliminally blocking. What a disaster that guy was! Anyway, the Beacon always wants the inside guy to get the promotion. And I still believe this is a very attractive job and if they do a national search they'll get great candidates.

Wisconsin recently hired a play-by-play guy to be their AD. I can think of one guy right now who has been at the University his entire career and has had a track record of success at each position he held. He has also worked in Athletics before, but I think an encounter with sanity drove him out into a better part of the University. I'm thinking about George Van Horne. He is well respected within the Univeristy, has fundraising experience, worked in Athletics, was a former student athlete and is pretty smart so he would make a good manager. Just a thought...... He would be nuts to get back into the rat race that is Athletics, but just a thought.I'm all for doing a big national search. I think the candidate pool will be strong, with two themes: 1) the young, up and coming assistant AD at a big program. The fact that our last two ADs have gotten other jobs (although Mack's to CUSA is more of a lateral to me) should help attract solid young candidates with experience and fire to do a great job; or 2) someone a little older with more 'in the chair' experience, maybe at a lower level, but someone who might want to stay.Someone criticized Greg Burke for staying at the same job for 13 years, but isn't that what we want of someone here? It sounds like Burke has stayed where he is more because of his wife's family. From his bios it looks like he has done very well: * NSU in 2004-05 became the first (and remains the only) Southland Conference member in the league's five decades of history to sweep football, men's basketball and baseball championships in the same athletic year.* Those accomplishments have come with one of the more modest athletic budgets in the state and conference. Burke's management skill and fundraising ability have been pivotal.* Burke has displayed a remarkable ability to hire dynamic head coaches, including several whose success at Northwestern State has propelled them to national prominence in subsequent positions.* The paper cited the men's basketball success, NCAA Tournament appearances by the baseball and women's soccer teams, while other achievements included NSU leading the Southland Conference and all state public universities in the NCAA's initial Academic Progress Rates report in February 2005 measuring the job Division I athletic programs are doing helping advance their student-athletes toward graduation. NSU again sparkled in the NCAA's annual APR reports, with the men's basketball team ranking in the top 10 percentile in the country in 2006 and women's soccer sharing the national lead in 2007, while football rated again among the state and SLC leaders.* He previously served a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee (1999-2002) and concurrently served a term on the eight-member NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Committee that administers the national playoffs. Folks, this guy experienced, accomplished, is FROM AKRON, and used to work AT AKRON, and might be the kind of guy to STAY. I'm not saying he's the best candidate we can get without talking to him. I'm saying someone get on the horn and talk him into coming up here and visiting with Proenza!

I think any talk of just moving Hunter up, or getting some "homer" is a complete disservice to our athletic department. Let's see what's out there, let's see who's interested and let the best, brightest, and most visionary person have the job. (if that is Hunter, or Waddell or Burke so be it)ZW, I just have it on very good authority that most of the major fundraising for the Info was done before Mack walked in the door. I remember close to $20 million had already been raised. Perception might be reality but I don't think that was factual. But he does get ALL the credit in my opinion for gettin 'er done. That was one big project.I don't suggest Burke as a "homer" but rather that Burke, who by all accounts seems to be accomplished and experienced, ALSO is from Akron and thus might not be another three to five year guy. He looks like an opportunity to have that combination of both experience and stability. That's all.

Hunter goes public with this comment. I have to admit, this is what I am looking for in a candidate. This is a pretty aggressive move for a candidate to take. There is no doubt in his statement.Interestingly enough, I know a guy here in the Charlotte area who is both a friend and a business associate. We have known each other for a while and just kind of stumbled upon the Hunter conversation at lunch a couple of weeks ago. This guy knows Hunter well and they went to school together.Seriously, if we promote that guy I will be incredibly disappointed. The biggest jump we ever took in marketing was under Waddel. NOTHING happened before that, and imho, NOTHING much has happened since. I'm not saying Waddel is the guy but I am saying HY is NOT the guy. I agree - do a national search. Greg Burke is one candidate I want to see involved:http://www.nacda.com/sports/div1aaada/mtt/burke_greg00.htmlhttp://www.nsudemons.com/ViewArticle.dbml?...;ATCLID=1368422He is from here, I know he still has family here, he has sat in the AD chair and apparently done very well. Compare his accomplishments to HY's. This is what we need to be looking for - experience and stability.

I think a "B" is about right. He gets all the credit for building the stadium, but not for raising the lion's share of the money. That was done before him. Letting KD do his thing was key, and I totally agree about standing by JD. Brookhart is about as intelligent a guy as you'll find, and no doubt he is open to changing his strategies to succeed. Sometimes I think schools cut coaches loose too soon. But I hope we win big this year.The only thing I think you're forgetting, GP, is that during the time they were giving away all those tickets to the football games, the NCAA was threatening to cut from schools from Division 1A if they didn't have 15K average in the seats. Remember how upset we all were at the NCAA? Very difficult for schools in the north to do, especially when you occasionally have sub-freezing games where you have to shovel the lines. I think that's why they were giving away so many tickets. They had people standing at the turnstiles with counters in their hands to make sure their numbers were accurate. I appreciated that - the fudging of attendance numbers is obvious everywhere (both us and Can't currently do it) and I liked the integrity of counting and not overtly lying about the numbers. The urgent priority there for a time was not dropping from 1A, until the NCAA dropped that requirement. You gotta wonder about the common sense of the NCAA sometimes. Anyway, I was upset Thomas left, and I'm kind of upset Mack's leaving too. I agree on the stability factor. And I forgot about the Akron guy - Burke. Someone should call that guy and gauge his interest.

THAT is a good idea. I'd take Fleming, too. Either one, but JD has business acumen and can raise money and people who know him like him and trust him. Excellent thought!

I'd take Waddel. I'd also take anyone else who's worked for or trained under Thomas - is there anyone else good on his staff at Cincinnati? I was most pleased with things during his time here and anyone who operates in like mind would be great. I'd also ask Dambrot for his suggestions. He loves this university and while it might be unorthodox to suggest names to become your boss, I trust he'd have the university's best interests at heart - even for football. If there's someone he likes, they should be looked at. Let's hope they at least ask him.

I have never been a big Mack fan and I'm okay with him leaving. I agree - what did he really accomplish here? That stadium was going up with or without him, and most of the funding was raised by the prior AD. Thomas also hired KD, not Mack, and Caleb was the choice of a search committee before Mack walked into the office and basically just stamped their choice in his first week on the job. There's no strong internal candidate. I'd take an assistant from a BCS program, or someone older (and thus experienced) who probably doesn't want to move.

Mack will obviously be going at some point here. And while Greg's wife may like the south, Akron is a great place to live, and I think Greg has family here, too. I at least would want us to bring him up here to interview. Two reasons I support him here:1) He's obviously a pretty good athletic director - he's sat in the chair at a lower level and knows pitfalls and what to avoid and more importantly what to do. He's hired good coaches and raised money. 2) It would be an attempt to stop the revolving door. While I was extremely happy we had the successful years we did with MT, and Mack did a good job of getting the stadium actually built, it would be great to have someone in place for a decade at least.

im having a good time picking on these hapless buffalo students. I wonder if all 8 that have posted on there will make up the majority of their 15 person student section?Akron 82Buffalo79Tight game but we pull it out.

I don't know about the basketball facility but I guarantee you Rhoades didn't have anything to do with the indoor football facility or the student center - both were done a couple of years or so before he got here. Is Elton that sloppy or is Mack aggressively fudging on his accomplishments here? So when it's that inaccurate, I don't trust anything about stated plans for basketball arena improvements. Would be nice, though.

GP1 has always had some kind of SERIOUS grudge against Mike Waddel, a guy most here would agree was extremely well liked and did the best marketing job we have ever seen here, whether he came from radio or not (and I think he wasn't doing radio before he came here, but not sure). I don't get it, but I know Mike has a strong personality and maybe he just rubbed GP the wrong way. I've always thought it takes a secure person to handle a strong personality, so maybe that says more about GP than MW.That said, I don't think you can judge whether Mike would make a good AD or not based on jobs he did not get. Mack just didn't get this job. Thomas didn't get the Pitt job, and this doesn't make either of these guys bad ADs. Maybe both Rhoades and Thomas didn't get other AD jobs before Akron. My guess is all these guys have strengths and weaknesses just like we do in our jobs, and Waddel has them, too, I'm sure. Doesn't mean he won't be a great athletic director at all. Mike Thomas must think he does a great job or he wouldn't keep on hiring him - he'd hire someone else, unless now you're going to tell us you know the mind of Mike Thomas and why he hires Waddel, anyway. Geesh, GP, did he diss you or something? Seriously, dude, chill.

Captain, they do all sound like great fundraisers. It's funny because I read Mack raised the money for the new stadium, and I'm pretty sure the hard part of raising that money was done before he got here, whether by Thomas or John LaGuardia. Either way ...I like Burke and I like that he's from here and he seems to have done a great AD job somewhere else already. Looks like a great fit to me, and maybe we can end the revolving door.

Base salary is only a part of the picture. Tack on the perks and he's closer to double that. Plus, the next step up is upper-BCS (Texas, USC, OSU). You can't make that leap from UA to OSU. There is no option to raise Mack's salary and keep him. Unless you want to throw the whole MAC salary structure out the window.After short-timers like we've had for the past 15 years, maybe it is time to look at someone with some potential staying power. Do you give a guy like Mike Rodriguez a shot? Or do you take the next hot up-and-comer, and just resign yourself that you'll be replacing your entire Athletic Department staff every 3-4 years for eternity.Isn't it time we brought this guy home?http://www.nsudemons.com/ViewArticle.dbml?...;ATCLID=1368422

Just heard a rumor that could be completely false - that Owens was leaving Ashland. Anyone else hear this? I was glad he left here but he's been solid down there, right?