xu9697

I'm sorry..you are right. The 13,000 last year and 12,000 the year before are good numbers.

The MAC should do what the PAC12 does= play the championship game at the better team's stadium. Neutral site stuff only works for a couple of leagues, and certainly NOT for the MAC...especially when that champ might be going to Detroit 3 weeks later.

I do not have a copy and would be interested. For those that to have a copy, perhaps they could "trade in" their old one for a reduced price on the new one.

Didn't we have 2-3 guys in that game a couple years ago? With Bowden, I'm thinking this will be the last time we have just one in there for a long, long time

Technically, I only said that the A-10 would go after Butler. :-)

I think a more likely scenario is the A-10 going after Butler.

OK, this is off topic, but... Went to Cleveland Zoo yesterday (we are members) with my 3-year old son. This is what I saw: 3 people wearing UA sweatshirts, 2 wearing UA hats. 1 Can't hat 0 CSU apparel So...good "coverage" at the Cleveland Zoo!!! I was happy to see no Steelers gear, plenty of Browns gear and maybe 2-3 OSU related apparel.

6,000 is small for their aspirations, IMHO. 7,500 seems to be a true, good minimum. You are 100% right about the survey...find out who is coming, who wants to go, etc. I think general public/ alums would go more if the seating was better (more comfortable) and there was a bit more to do right around the arena (places to eat and drink). I think students would come if the seating was better (better spot on the side of the court) and if it was the "place to be".

This is a great post and would be a great subject to talk about in its own thread. I think the decline in college basketball (and perhaps basketball in general), is many layered and can be deep and potentially QUITE controversial. Just one quick thing as it relates to Akron and similar= whatever size you think the NCAA tourney field should be, the thing that partially kills Akron, CSU, Can't etc. is the fact that winning the regular season title in your league means almost NOTHING when it comes to the NCAA tourney (esp in the MAC when there is no real home court advantage). Regular season league winners should be rewarded an NCAA bid. Plain and simple. After that, figure out the rest!!! And, perhaps, if an NCAA bid WAS on the line for the regular season winner, games would see a bit of an uptick in attendance, especially as you move into late January/February.

The late Joe Paterno thought football should return to leather helmets. He just might have had a point.

Feel free to disagree, but please understand that I wasn't speaking of just Akron. I was looking at the MAC as a whole (not hole...in this case).

It will be interesting to see if this affects MAC football: http://www.uticaod.com/m/sports/x134177959...ll-scholarships A kid might look at one of those schools now and think, "I could start in the MAC by my soph or jr year, but I could come right in here and start. And this school has better academics". Now, I am not slighting the academics of UA or any other MAC school. Patriot League is NOT Ivy League, but it does have a good rep as far as I know. And as the MAC moves more and more EAST, this could be an interesting development. Obviously, UA's best players will not be deciding btwn Bucknell and UA in most cases, but it could affect the depth of some of the MAC programs.

At this point, I pretty much agree with what you are saying. For a long time, I have hoped for a conference for UA that included Temple, Buffalo, Toledo, Navy, Army, ECU, etc. For a little while, I even dreamed of getting Memphis involved and having Temple and UMass join in basketball (even though I know it would hurt my alma mater's conference). Obviously, things have moved in a direction that already make some of this impossible. I still think that a time may come where the non-BCS schools join up with perhaps the CAA schools to form another division. I know some are vehemently against that kind of situation and dream of being "the next Boise", but I find the possiblity of a 16 team playoff with CUSA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, CAA and WAC with 1-2 possibly home playoff games at INFO much more appealing as being something that is realistic.

You're a bit new to all of this, but be ready to be surprised and disappointed. Yes, I think Bowden can help create a couple thousand extra fans for game 1. But if attendances is more than 20,000, that should be more than enough to please most of us here. I appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, but there needs to be a little of the "walk before you run" reality here.

I'm going to have to disagree. Toledo just revamped their basketball arena in 2008, and it seats 7,000+ with club seats, loges, etc. Last year they build an indoor practice facility for football. Honestly, I have not been to the Glass Bowl in almost 25 years, but they do get some nice teams coming to play their AND their football team has been way more successful than ours. Not sure if there is room for expansion. I don't think you can discount Toledo from any of these discussions.

Did you call Bull and the Fox last night? If not, you sound similar to the guy that called saying that this job would typically pay $60-70,000. Still plenty of good jobs available at UA if you go to there site, including some in fundraising/financial aid (student engagment) amongst others: http://www.uakron.edu/about_ua/employment/job_openings/ http://www.uakron.edu/about_ua/employment/job_openings/ BTW...I mean this sincerely. Not meant to be negative.

I think this is part of the key. I think his role will be many layered, but I think a big part of it will be getting Akron the arena and perhaps other buildings, development, etc. I get the issues some have with JT. I hold him in high regard, maybe partially b/c of his Dad and b/c my uncle played for his Dad at BW. I truly think he CAN separate sports/coaching and focus on "coaching" young people..while using his name, clout and speaking ability to bring in the dough. I think he has made mistakes and cut corners in some areas...partially b/c he cared about the kids (truly) and partially b/c he is a fierce competitor who got caught up in "the game" just a bit too much.

I'm a huge Tressel fan and still an OSU fan. However, I will say that, while I think this is great, I am a little disappointed at the timing. I wish this could have happened in a couple weeks from now and not taken focus off Bowden and this class of players. I guess it all rolls into one big happy thing, but, since he is not starting until May 1, I find the timing a bit odd.

Tressel to UA might be more about BASKETBALL than football (but good for both and ALL of UA)! http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/02/ji...o_universi.html AKRON, Ohio -- Former Ohio State University football coach Jim Tressel will take on the role of fundraiser as vice president of strategic engagement at the University of Akron, he told student leaders this morning. Tressel met with 28 leaders at the student union at 8 a.m. to talk about his new job. The position is a new one at the university. His first goal will be to raise money for a new basketball arena, he told the students.

Don Bosco is a great place to get your foot in the door. This might be that type of recruit...not saying he can't play, but it might be a matter of taking him as a "recruiting tool" to build an "in" with that program.

Plethora of QBs? Maybe, but as of yet we don't have ONE PROVEN QB. Potts has already been switched to WR, D'Orazio could easily be a safety and Goodman would seem to be a good candidate for WR or some sort of WR/RB/QB type hybrid.

Family plan went up quite a bit too. I had it for $150 last year being on year 3, but I thought it was $180 or $200. Looks to be $240 now...wow! Look...I get the Bowden excitement. But this is still 3 years in new stadium with 5 total wins.

I am a Xavier grad and grew up in Cleveland...I put Akron and surrounding areas (on a side note..I hate that so many feel it is Akron vs. Cleveland...I am kind of becoming an "urban planning nerd" as I get older...but I will say that "Cleveland +" was a dumb ass name for a marketing plan and a slap in the face to Akron and other areas). Graduated in '97 from X, moved back to Cleveland area in 2000. I grew up a BC (dad played football there) and OSU fan. Yeah, still am an OSU fan. I feel there is plenty of room in the mind and heart for a few different schools for various reasons. When I moved back here, I decided to adopt a MAC team/school. I chose Akron b/c it was closest, urban, etc. Just couldn't choose Can't...they annoyed me, and I didn't know why. My love for the Zips (what the university has done, football, basketball, soccer, etc.) grows every year. BTW...Zipsnation is a big part of why I became and still am a Zips fan. So many fan forumes are full of idiots (OSU haters...insert comment here). But seriously...as bad as some think Zipsnation can get at times, it pales in comparison to many other fan sites I have been on/been associated with over the years.

I agree with much of what you are saying. I really only quoted you b/c you mentioned the "MAC jerseys being sold around Ohio thing", which made me think of what I had seen in the past (and confirmed today) on the MAC site. I should have really bolded out the part I was referring to. Bad quoting by me, dadgum!!!

If you go to the MAC shop on the MAC's site, Akron is one of only 3 schools (Akron, Ball State and BG) to not have a "jersey" section. Now, some jerseys for other schools are not great/pure replicas, but for all we spend on the Fieldhouse, Stadium, etc....seems we are serious about athletics...and merchandise is or SHOULD BE a part of it. I still wonder how much of an issue Akron has b/c they have Nike on the basketball side and Adidas on the football side. I have no data, but I feel that it might play a part. http://mac.teamfanshop.com/ I'm not saying the MAC shop should be the indicator/barometer for good apparel...but it says something that we are one of only 3.