Hilltopper

I'd be half-way to dying a satisfied Zips' fan. I've always wanted to see the basketball team make the Sweet 16 and the football team crack the Top 25. (No football jokes, please ) WHOA!! No kidding. Dissappointed if we don't make the Sweet 16? GoZips...love the optimism. But, can you show me at least one basketball expert who is willing to say that the Number 6 team in the MAC last year, that lost 4 pretty key players to graduation, is going to emerge as one of the Top 16 teams in the country? I don't believe there is a college basketball expert who wouldn't agree that if at least 70 of the D1 basketball teams that are better than the Zips get wiped out by bus accident, disease, or some other mayhem, that the Zips have a reasonable shot at a sweet 16 run in the tournament. Such an outcome is unlikely, but is a possibility. I knew we could count on you to set Skip straight on this topic!

Oh, the humanity!!!

There has been no marketing at Akron since Joe Dunn stepped down as Sports Information Director, what, twenty years ago? Mike Thomas era saw a ton of Marketing progress. The AK-Rowdies were formed...new logos (H-U-G-E improvement to the school's image, apparel sales, etc)...numerous promotions (some bad, some good, but promotional efforts none-the-less). Mike Thomas & Co. would never have stayed in Akron longer than they did (3.5 years?)...but if they could have stayed another 3.5, Zips fans wouldn't be dreaming of taking "The Next Step," we'd be living "The Next Step." No arguement from me on that CK. But since MT left, there has been nothing. In a related note; we are starting our vacation today in Myrtle Beach. My daughter is taking the ACT today on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. When she left this morning, she was decked out in all her Zips gear, so I told not to be surprised if some guy named Hunter saw her he might want to call her out for wearing her Fear the Roo shirt!

Sounds like a great marketing idea to me. Too bad we didn't think of it first. But I guess you might have to make some kind of a marketing dept for that to happen!

Looks like one of our favorite posters on ZNO, about the arena project, has made lots of friends on that message board.

Get Mike Birkbeck, TW. Unless they are willing to pay him $150k+ and improve the facilities, that is not going to happen.

Massarelli surely is a good possibility. That is the kind of coach that this program needs. Maz is currently the manager of the Lake Erie Crushers. My son is a student at his baseball school. He and I talk about Zips sports and Central Catholics sports every time I see him. He would be a great choice, but who knows if he is interested.

The "Diehards" are already paying for a seat license every season. I pay $100 per seat to be able to keep the same seats. http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_...TCLID=205085466

He had the best game of all the players this spring. His brother was sitting in front of me and they are very excited about him playing next season.

The problem the program has is they don't attract new customers because they have been so bad the past couple of years. My guess is Coach I is not a golfer and doesn't have many golfers on his staff. At the end of the day, I'm not certain a golf outing for 150 of the same people who go every year regardless of how the team performs is the answer. Those people would be happy with only a good game day experience if the team won. I've been saying this for a few years and nobody listens. They need to have people in the Athletic Department (not the football office) who schedule public speaking engagements for Coach I, KD and Coach Kest that take place throughout the summer and as many as humanly possible. Targets would be Rotary (as many as possible), Chamber of Commerce (as many as possible), Akron Womens Club, etc. Use these sessions to sell tickets. If they would just ask for freaking support instead of throwing up billboards and crossing their fingers, more people might come to the games. Put a personal touch on it. What they really need to do is get the business of those not attending at all. Spending a lot of time trying to please masochists is not the way to go. I'm one of the masochists and if I still lived around, all I would want is a decent place to park within walking distance to a bar and the stadium, food at the game that wouldn't choke a goat and a seat that didn't require physical therapy after a game. The hardest thing to do in sales is bring on a new customer. It is also the most expensive. It's easy to throw up billboards, buy ads in the ABJ, buy a bus ad, etc. Going out and asking people for their business is hard. It's why they don't do it. It costs NOTHING to be a speaker at a public forum. Most of the time you get a free dinner and all you have to do is get yourself there. They should put up signs around the Athletic Department saying, "Get them to the game and give them something worth watching." It's so freaking simple. My bad GP1, my post wasn't very clear. My event was not a golf outing, it was a cocktail party designed to introduce I-coach to a bunch of people in the Akron business community. The diehard fans were willing to put out a few grand to get the ball rolling, but no go. Its exactly the same thing his agent did for his other client who was hired at a new position last year; Brian Kelly. There was not going to be an open invitation to all the members of ZN.O.

With the exception of only a few (the "pros/ringers" that attend these events with the expectations to shoot 18-under, and win something), everyone I know that attended the Outings was there to take a day off work, see old friends, get a little drunk, get to know the staff a bit on a personal level, and talk some Zips football in June. Golf is just something fun to do for a few hours while you're drinking and BS-ing. All the more reason to organize a group of about ten guys and invite the coaches for a golf outing. I'm sure getting some sun after spending most of their lives watching film in their offices for 22 hours a day would do them some good. I tried to do just what GP1 is suggesting last summer. Me and a couple of other fans put together a day at Fairlawn CC for the Coaching staff to meet some of the die hard fans. All that was required from the staff was to show up and shake a few hands and tip a few beers. The HC wanted nothing to do with the idea. Even his agent who suggested the event was perplexed. Its great that they are reaching out to the former players, but they aren't going to fill the seats at the Info. Fans like Zips Win, CK and myself are the ones who are being ignored, when they should be doing everything possible to get some excitement going about Zips football. These guys are still operating under the premise of "build it and they will come". That ship sailed a few years ago.

Kinda like you're just being a jerk with this post. No. These are two entirely separate issues. Glad we cleared that up.

Your sense of humor is boundless. ???????????????????

Kinda like you're just being a jerk with this post.

Did you stay at Holiday Inn Express last night?

Terry Pluto weighs in. It appears that Can't State have been using the coaches who left early to finance the salary of their replacement. It looks like they have a good precedent to argue for getting paid.

I started a thread on the football forum here.

Someone asked me yesterday what I thought of the Beacon Journals coverage of UA sports. I think its been much better in the last year or so. Tom Gaffney is a huge improvement over David Lee Morgan for starters. Cast your vote and tell us members of ZN.O why.

$1.2 million dollars. That makes an impact in a MAC Athletic Department budget. Just to clarify, Can't State is highly, HIGHLY unlikely to see a $1.2 million dollar payout on this. Even if the case eventually does go to court, which in all likelihood it will be settled for a much smaller dollar amount well before it ever sniffs a jury, these types of liquidated damages clauses are just not favored much in the courts. The courts will likely look at that big, $1.2 million dollar figure and say you are essentially trying to put a barrier in front of the guy ever leaving his position. They will likely look at it as a loose form of indentured servitude (we've got a big problem with that in this country) and would be very hesitant to issue a judgment anywhere close to that amount. It really is puzzling to me why Can't State is continuing to push this. They are unlikely to receive a payout that is going to cover their costs, it is going to have a deterrent effect on future coaching hires, it isn't going to bring Geno Ford back. It just seems like leftover bitterness and animocity is clouding their judgment to the point where they are making a bad decision just to try and screw with Ford and Bradley. He signed a contract. @ $300k/year. He knew he'd be on the hook for 1.2 million if he departed with 4 years remaining. 300k/yr in Portage County is a ton of money. And now he's at 700k/yr, plus perks. We should all be so burdened with indentured servitude. Its been my experience that things are put into a contract for a reason. He signed it and if he didn't get adequate legal representation at the time, thats his problem. Maybe he can get Judge Judy or Judge Joe to feel sorry for him and let him off the hook.

The Cavaliers from last year would have destroyed this years tired old Celtics just like the Heat did.

Can't State is looking to get some payback from Geno. Record Courier

Asbury looks like they have a nice program. I'll bet he fits right in, from what I saw on the Asbury University web site.

It seems the Barley House had a little problem on St Pattys day. They double charged over 1900 customers and haven't exactly set the world on fire trying to correct their mistake. Bar patrons see double after holiday

I'm sure that those SEC programs are much more accomplished cheaters than OSU, look at the results.

I don't get any audio on the videos from the Zips network. Any ideas why?