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Hilltopper

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Posts posted by Hilltopper

  1. Increasing JAR Attendance/Engaging the Fans

    in Akron Zips Basketball

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

    Although my memory sucks, I am 99% sure last year they charged for parking in the deck and I had to show my season holder parking pass to get into the deck.  I was surprised this year that they were not charging for the deck.  If it was free why did the U send me parking passes for lot 1 as part of my season tickets?  I think they made it free after they sent out the season tickets.

    I must have been wrong about last season. 

  4. Game 22- South Alabama

    in Akron Zips Basketball

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

    I'd rather play Arkansas St, but no one is gonna give a sht if we beat Arkansas State or South Alabama in 6 weeks when they are looking at seeding. Plus, we had our shot at them

    And this is why the coaches think this whole thing is just a waste of time. $50,000 expense for no return.

    • Like 2
    • Sad 1

  8. Enrique Freeman

    in Akron Zips Basketball

    Posted · Edited by Hilltopper

    1 hour ago, Zippy87 said:

    Anyone understand this?

    Enrique's family is from Puerto Rico. Vayqeuros De Bayamon is a team in Puerto Rican professional basketball league. It looks like they drafted him.

  9. Game 20- Northern Illinois

    in Akron Zips Basketball

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

    The Zips traveling to DeKalb always feels like a trap game. We always seem to underperform there. Even our wins often seem ugly.

    It might have something to do with their arena is basically a big barn sitting in the middle of a cornfield. At least they got rid of that awful floor design.

  12. More Cuts coming to Akron ...

    in General UA & Campus Discussion

    Posted

    16 hours ago, UAZipster0305 said:

     

    It's been a while since I have checked in with this thread, but never have I been more disappointed in my fellow UA alums and supporters, and not just this particular post. I say this as an alum and someone who is STEM faculty at a major research university (not Duke).

     

    Academic departments do not exist to serve industry nor vice versa. Rather, both coexist and grow in a complementary manner to serve an economy and create a community of support. UA's expertise grew out of the rubber industry, and because it was on the cutting edge of innovation (which all top STEM departments are), a whole new economy of polymers emerged. UA supplied intellectual property and graduates with advanced research training that allowed new companies to form and grow. This is why ACS and companies support the program, and it is the reason NEO is known as polymer valley.

     

    Now, did polymer science and engineering need an entire college unto itself with the associated overhead of administration?...almost certainly not. Being a department within the college of engineering enables the same productivity, thus it is almost certainly a better value having been consolidated. However, a drastic reduction in faculty and the commensurate decrease in intellectual property, research funding, and graduates is as bad for surrounding industries as it is for the university itself. These losses are substantial too because polymer science and engineering was one of only two nationally ranked programs at UA, along with I/O Psychology. Do you enjoy seeing UA diminished on an international or national level? I certainly do not. Do you want to see UA become exclusively a regional state university? I do not. The truth is, UA WAS the Berkeley of polymer science and engineering, and Proenza was 100% correct for celebrating this fact.

     

    To Hilltoppers comment, the professor to student ratio is likely out of proportion for the polymer science and polymer engineering programs because they are primarily graduate programs in which faculty salaries are paid more through research grants, contracts, and endowment than teaching. It takes a lot more resources to mentor a graduate student to being a top scientist because it requires so much individual attention, whereas thirty undergrads can be taught in parallel via lectures and with the help of graduate students. Nearly all other departments have both undergrad and grad programs, so apples and oranges.

     

    To adzip,yes, many of the students in polymer science and polymer engineering are not Americans, but that is the result of having an internationally-recognized program. It has international reach, and the program requires students with international-level credentials, experiences, and distinctions to maintain. How many STEM faculty at any university are international? How many of our best soccer players over the years have been international? Why is this a problem?

     

    The only justification for such a reduction in faculty should be that resources previously available to support salaries were no longer available and this financial limitation was impossible to overcome through other means that were extensively explored. In any case, the loss of that many faculty in one of UA's few nationally and internationally recognized programs should cost executives their jobs.

     

    Finally, the logical disconnect between so many posters here at ZN desperate for national recognition for sports but to not care about even maintaining international distinction in academics and research is astounding. Without a doubt, the latter is easier, especially in the current landscape, given the less even playing field in athletics, which is now further exaggerated by NIL

    Thank you for such a reasoned response to the issues facing UA. I love athletics but I also recognize the limitations a school of our size is facing in this new age of NIL. My hope is that we continue to not go full in to this arms race that we can never win. Hopefully the new administration can find the right formula to have a balance of academics and still maintain a presence in sports.

    • Like 4

  13. Charles Guthrie

    in Akron Zips Basketball

    Posted

    Guthrie hit the lottery when the new president at UA decided to force him out. The Fordham job is a big step up for him. As far as other coaches not liking him, I call BS on that. A move to Fordham for them would be a great career move too. Better league, much bigger budget and a better academic institution. 

  16. 2025 Portal Departures

    in Akron Zips Football Recruiting

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

    How much are they going to pay a kid like Norton? 10k? 5k? Is that worth uprooting yourself, making your family fly across the country or drive 10 hours every weekend to see you play Florida Atlantic or UAB? Are they transferring just for the prestige of getting paid something?

     

    I wonder how many portal kids are happy after their transfer, versus those who are delusional, and regret not "dancing with the girl that brung them"? I'll bet it's well over 50% at the G5 level. 

     

    In the end you've been to 4 different schools, made no lifelong friends...just been a football mercenary, have no real university to call your own...got $12,230 total dollars in NIL money after taxes...and after their eligibility has expired still need another 21 credits to get a general studies degree. 

     

    Steve Spurrier used to say - "The hardest thing about recruiting is convincing a kid that has no business going to college to come to yours." Now you just need to wave a couple bucks at them and they're yours.

    This is a hall of fame level post. It totally lays out the ridiculous delusion of NIL and TP for 90% of student athletes.

    • Thanks 1

  20. Around the MAC

    in Akron Zips Basketball

    Posted

    57 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

    Explain to me how the worst team in the MAC (Kent) is by metrics considered the best team in the MAC by both the NET (127) and Kenpom (131).

     

    Waiting.

     

    There are lies, damned lies, then there are statistics.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3

  21. The World of College Football

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    13 hours ago, Spin said:


    NIU to the Mountain West? Do they have an airline as a sponsor? Those 2700km five hour flights what for 100+ pax and all the equipment aren’t cheap.

     

     

    The extra money they get will more than make up the difference in travel costs. The other sports will most likely end up in the Horizon.

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