Hilltopper

For once, I think you might be on to something.

The PD conducted a study of the working conditions and employee satisfaction at NE Ohio companies. Lo and behold, GP1's favorite whipping boy came in at #6 in the large company category. LARGE (500-plus local employees) I know this contradicts his theory that Infocision is some kind of modern day sweatshop, full of modern day slaves. It appears that those who actually work there see things a little differently. Northeast Ohio's Top Workplaces In the future, please stop trying to bite the hand that feeds us(UA Athletics).

Thank you for your comment Mr. Gray. Not so fast my friend! Are you certain that it isn't "grey"? .....

Thank you for your comment Mr. Gray.

Doug Martin sure knows how to pick jobs. SI thinks he is a coach on The Worst Team in College Football.

You nailed it ZW. Until we get rid of the carpet baggers who actually make the decisions, we will never be consistantly good at FB.

Over the years our coaching staff has been provided cars by many of the local dealers in exchange for advertising and other perks. Nothing new there.

Its college basketball guys. Every team is losing players and counting on incoming freshmen and previous bench players to fill the gaps. Every team except for a handful of the best programs are having the same questions about their rosters for next season. That is the attraction for me, the constant change and growing process for these young men. I'm looking forward to next season. Will we have a perfect team? Not likely, but it will be fun to see how things shape up as the season progresses. Some people on this board need to take a chill pill.

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.