xu9697

Agreed. I think 3-4 wins is possible with Morgan State, Buffalo, UMass and Can't.

A few reasons= 1. Right off the bat, I think UMASS, Can't and Buffalo are winnable games. 2. We keep 3 Ohio teams still but also continue to add to the Eastern presence. I would rather be associated with talent in the East vs. in Michigan...I think it can open up more recruting opportunities. 3. Personally, I just like the chance in seeing some of those teams more often vs. the directional Michigan schools and Northern Illinois.

I think that plays out VERY favorably for the Zips to make strides quickly.

Amato would have been a solid hire as our HEAD coach. The fact that he gets this position here is pretty darn amazing. Good things happening, for sure.

The Bowden name, the facilities, and some young, aggresive assistants are key. I'm hopeful this staff will not be FULL of older, looking-to-retire type assistants/ assistants who have spent a great deal of time at the bigger programs and are now "settling in" at UA. Sure, he needs 1-2 trusted vets. But what we need to balance the staff is young up and comers on the staff.

I have mentioned similar sentiments about D'Orazio in other posts. If he can win the QB competition, great. IF not, kid can be a great safety. Put him back there, move Rossi to LB and hopefully hold onto Wagner and the defense gets better in a hurry. D'Orazio and Rossi are like Wagner= they are, pure and simple, football players! Nicely did run the spread at Willoughby South, and he ran it well. I wouldn't count him out.

Nice Dumb and Dumber reference (kind of an odd one considering the hire is NOT dumb... :-). Great hire!!!

New candidates emerging: http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?showtopic=25169

Rumor has it that ITZ and WNN were the committee!!! Cannot confirm if afootball is part of the committee.

Is this like an auction? Hey, TW...I will do it for $97,500!!!!

So, if we hire Mason, you are done "supporting" Zips football?

Since TW notified Coach I as he drove to his Mom's funeral, I am hearing Dr. Proenza will wrap a pink slip up and make sure it is under Tommy W.'s X-mas tree.

Did not realize he is a YSU grad and coached under Tressel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Mangino

Definitely worth a long look. Perhaps in those 2 years he has cooled off a bit. And maybe dropped some weight, and I say that for HIS health= the stress of coaching and being obese has to be a terrible combo.

When you start to investigate these guys, you find many lifers (been there forever), oftentimes in combination with being a graduate of that school. I looked at teams in the playoffs this year/recently successful programs suchs as Northern Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, JMU and ODU. Same M.O. in most cases. Indiana State guy has been mentioned, and although he is relatively new there he is also, as others have said, a graduate.

I advocated this a few years ago. NOW, to be honest, I was not advocating him at all this year. But, based on where we are now (if we have in fact struck out on Tressel, PW, Loeffler, Narduzzi, etc.)... The key with him is he would need to surround himself with 1-2 guys he knows well..then the rest need to be young, aggressive up and comers. I know many are not a fan, but this guy has gone to 3 crappy football programs and made them at least average-good. Besides a short run under the big guy at Kansas (Mangino), none of the 3 schools have done any better since he left..and, in most cases, considerably worse. Wow..and I realize I just wrote the same thing (basically) I did 1 year and 3 months ago.

I have a VERY hard time believing that any assistant that has been there for the last 10+ years had NO IDEA what was going on. This would be a very questionable hire. I think that whole staff should get a "show-cause" penalty! I know were at the bottom of the barrel. And,this guy may be a good coach. But, anyone who has been on that staff is at least tainted. Please stay away from that crap. That whole mess in Unhappy Valley isn't over yet. PERFECTLY said!!!!

I have a VERY hard time believing that any assistant that has been there for the last 10+ years had NO IDEA what was going on. This would be a very questionable hire. I think that whole staff should get a "show-cause" penalty!

I already have the patent on the "playbook fronty pack". Hopefully will be ready by next season.

Spoke with a Michigan fan here at work today (his cousin played football at UM and he actually worked at UM for a couple years)= he says Loeffler would be a great hire. Said that a lot of UM players wanted to keep Loeffler on as the OC when Carr left. Just throwing it out there. I remember lots of ND folks were sad to lose Ianallo as well.

Notice how he says nothing about us having "Great leadership in your athletic department".

Proenza should not be fired. He has done an awesome job in many areas. HOWEVER, I mentioned this in another post: If Proenza hired a guy liked TW and just let him hire his buddy without a true interview process (as some have alluded to), then he does need to be questioned and scrutinized for signing off on that and now he MUST MAKE SURE the process is "kosher" this time.

http://www.gobearcats.com/sports/m-footbl/...ian_mike00.html I mentioned him in another post, but now we really need to focus on this guy or a VERY similar guy. If Campbell at 31 can be HC at Toledo, this guy can be HC here. His resume hits MUCH of what a lot of us are looking for= A few years as a coordinator (with successful offenses) Experience in the MAC Experience in Ohio Experience with QBs (as a player and coach) NFL experience (always can be a selling point to recruits) Only thing he has not done is HC. But his resume far outweighs Ianallo, Loeffler, etc. and, besides the UA connection, his resume MIGHT be better than Mike Johnson's considering where the majority of his work has been done. TW...did that $25,000 lead you to asking him.

I wanted Winters or someone with HC experience OR a LOT of OC/DC experience. With that being said, I have ALWAYS been a fan of the former QB as Head Coach. QBs, especially if they got to the level that Loeffler did ("playing" at UM) are LEADERS and have experience as the most important player on the field. With that being said...Powlus did nothing here in his position (or so it seemed).

Wow. Big-time bummer. Back to "on-the-job training" coach. Ugh.