LosAngelesZipFan

Haven't done a deep dive on the candidates, but my gut says Jeff Boals is the guy. Wasn't he a great recruiter, here and OSU? Great Ohio connections. Would be great to have L Dru on his staff for the LeBron connection. I would like somebody that has an Akron connection and that we know/knows us. I am terrified that Williams has a favorite he's been waiting to hire some place a'la Coach I. Geesh, I just got a shudder...

This is very much like the discussion thread of early 2015 when similar numbers came out... I think UA's investment in its campus, including the Info, were all essentially necessary. The campus was totally transformed, but at a pretty reasonable budget. There wasn't really any crazy expensive buildings put up and even Info, while nice, isn't opulent or crazily overbuilt (smaller and less spiffy than recent high school stadiums in Texas actually). And it was funded at a time when debt was historically cheap. To me, UA got alot of bang for the building buck and it HAD to-- the campus re-build basically brought the campus up to "acceptable" modern standards, correcting 40 years of under-investment in a campus that when I started there in 1985 still looked like a medium sized city's muni college (which is what it was until it was taken over by the state in the '60s). The shocking thing for me continues to be the idea that the 4 NEO universities-- on top of all the redundancies of administrations and classes and overlap of students and funders and efforts-- spend a collective $90 million on sports every year. That is a large amount of money invested amounting to not much of a return for any of them and certainly not much for the area as a whole. Put another way, just this decade will end up with nearly a billion dollars being spent on state university sports in NEO... and the reality is not many people in NEO care that much about any of those sports or teams (at least in part because they are too busy following OSU to give a damn). The lack of interest and split of the audience and support means none of the teams at any of those universities has the scale and funding to progress in a meaningful and sustained way. Everything is just stuck on "spend a lot, don't get much".

LOVE this: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/03/university_of_akron_may_host_u.html#incart_river_home

Other, similarly rough journeys:

I must admit it is gratifying to be known for something, even if it's not widely embraced... I just looked up the tweet you are talking about and really like it from a marketing professional perspective... just adds another kind of goofball dimension to things and of course I love that is singles out Ohio State for ribbing and that it is UA and Kent working together on something... now if only... http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/02/akron_us_zippy_and_kent_states.html?platform=hootsuite

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/opinion/sunday/americas-great-working-class-colleges.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/ http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/ Unfortunately, UA does not rank highly on this measure of mobility (1360th).

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/opinion/sunday/americas-great-working-class-colleges.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/ http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/ Unfortunately, UA does not rank highly on this measure of mobility (1360th).

Yeah, it's a really bad situation that is just getting worse, as the article above reports (most eyepopping factoid: In 2005, revenue generated by the Power Five leagues was $570 million. According to the Knight Commission, that revenue will be $2.8 billion by 2020). At a time when universities are more important than ever given the pace of economic change driven by technology and globalization (I highly recommend Tom Friedman's new book "Thank You For Being Late" where he talks about this being the Age of Acceleration), we have basically turned them into a sports league/fetishistic fashion statement rather than engines of economic opportunity. I still think our only way to gamechange this is to merge the Akron and Kent football teams (at least)-- that'd immediately save $5-8 million that could be better deployed for greater impact in NEO. I know, I know... there would be a chunk of people that are diehard Akron and Kent fans that would HATE that idea...would rather have no football team than a combined one...those 43 people between Akron and Kent that would really hate this idea (half of whom are on this board) should get together for a dodgeball game, or canasta, to settle their differences. To your point, basically no one else in the world would care or notice. And in a few years a combined program would hopefully gain some traction with a student base of nearly 70,000 and 500,000 alums within easy driving distance in a football talent rich area.

Anyone read this: https://www.amazon.com/Smartest-Places-Earth-Rustbelts-Innovation/dp/1610394356/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482613888&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Smartest+Places+on+Earth

And just for grins/grimaces... https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/10/25/knight-commission-meeting-worries-over-spending-and-stability-football-bowl

First, I am so jealous that W Mich is coming out here to play USC. God Dammit I want to see an Akron team play either USC or UCLA. (I guess I'm equally glad that this team is not coming out here right now given the year...) In terms of scheduling, it's never seemed like we had much of a plan a'la ODU, one that strategically scheduled games that advanced the program in multiple ways (games that were winnable, would attract local interest or give us visibility in a recruiting targeted recruiting area, etc). To me the ideal is to consistently have other city schools-- Syracuse, Pitt, Cincy, Louisville, Memphis-- with a mix of lower tier B10 and ACC, all 2 for 1s so we get a nice mix at home. Then every few years play a "body bag" game but not always the same ones-- sick of going to Penn State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. Would love to see some Pac-12 games mixed in occasionally. I have to think that for kids from the midwest, going to play UCLA at the Rose Bowl would be alot more interesting than Wisconsin and Penn State over and over. Does anyone feel any reason to really hope/believe that TB has the program in a place that it can do what W Mich has done or that there is a plan to go from "not being terrible and occasionally being decent" to being a team that is consistently a big winner? I love that TB has stabilized the program, and I don't discount how big a challenge that was post-iCoach. I'm not saying it's time for him to go at all. I am wondering whether he has the passion/energy/desire to drive the program to the next level. And I think given the economics of UA, the question has to be asked is the program worth $8-12 million per year. If you're making that investment and it's yielding significant marketing and culture benefits, then the answer is "yes". If you're making that investment and actually getting the opposite of positive awareness-- if the program itself is reinforcing negative perceptions-- and it's at a time of overall fiscal 'crisis' (thank you Scarphoon for making a manageable financial brush fire into an out-and-out dumpster fire next to a Mexican fireworks stand)(too soon?), you have to think about seriously about that investment.

Cool UA research and mention on NPR Morning Edition today: http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/12/10/504691357/million-year-old-hero-bug-emerges-from-cave

Really good article on Herman leaving UH...well worth a read. Fun to think about the Akron connection to the athletics (Mack, Hunter). I love the ambition and commitment of the their president, that they hired great ADs (with Akron ties), and young up and coming coaches. My big takeaway is that if UH is struggling to move up to a new conference, keep its coach, etc., what do universities like Akron do. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/sports/ncaafootball/houston-power-5-conference-tom-herman-renu-khator.html?_r=0

That's exactly what I was thinking too K92-- I used to hope for a Keith Jackson called Akron game, then UA hosting College Game Day... wonder what that'd be like? Still waiting and hoping for breakout season from an Akron team. What PJ Fleck has done is beyond amazing... I'd like to think that there could be a convo w Terry that puts as an objective for him to identify a PJ Fleck-like talent that he can get on the staff and groom to take over for him in a few seasons.

Hey Hilltopper-- no, I've never worked in the public sector. There's a big difference between a university and a company--- and let's not pretend that companies don't make lots of mistakes in transitions (Disney being a great example, where there is a now a 5 year drama playing out over who Iger will allow to succeed him). Big companies don't just pick someone from the ranks either-- they have succession plans and Spencer Stuart and strategic plans and process. My point was that the ABJ did what it should do which is point out that this is another example of poor board oversight and management, as 72Roo points out. The biggest decision that had to be made to turnaround things at UA was blowing out Scar... thank God they at least did that. But to the point of the role of the ABJ, they probably would not have acted so quickly without the public pressure applied via the ABJ op-eds.

I have to say that I totally agree with the op-ed-- what was the rush on this? This board has been notorious for being impetuous with making atrocious hiring decisions. Anyone that was a party to hiring Scar should be thinking like 15x before making another decision and creating a process to get alot of input from many people throughout the community. Instead, they have hired a guy that was doing great in the interim role and made him president without benefit of a process. It is, in a word, haphazard. It's also organizationally lazy. They should have spent the next 6 months defining what was needed and understanding how the process failed so miserably the last time. Having refreshed the objectives and qualifications for the role, they could then evaluate whether Wilson is the right guy or not. The only reason to do this so quickly was if we were in the position of losing him, but I'd be really disappointed to hear that he would being play that game 3 months into an interim position. Otherwise, having him be "interim" for 12 months would have been entirely logical. Give him a chance to fully earn the job. If there's isn't unanimity that he's the right long term choice, do a national search that includes him. If he's the right guy, he'll win out in the end. Now, they have committed to him without really knowing whether he's the right guy or not. This is nothing whatsoever against him-- all the signals are really good, fantastic even. He seems like he is just the right balm from a student perspective. But that's only part of the job-- is he strategic? Can he command a room of other leaders from NEO? Can he raise money? Can he bring in that highly respected polymer researcher or faculty member? What is his experience with managing athletics-- a huge part of the job given the size of the budget and the cost being passed along to students. The BJ is right to call out UA's board for their ongoing haphazardness and impetuousness. The community deserves more and the U needs better.

That was an awesome write up... I just sobered up from the last game I went to at Dix in like 1990 or 91. I have to say that our band sounds really good and loud at times... did the band expand in size? That must add to the atmosphere...

I guess one sure sign of TB's progress is that we are now able to knit pick wins... Mine: 1) As all have noted, the defense got torched by a single guy, a non-qb, on team that has been terrible offensively. Our D just got manhandled and run over much of the game. Again. Against Appy, they did get that last stop and the offense just couldn't get it done, but what has to happen/can happen to get the D to play more effectively? (Tackling being one thing, as has been noted...) One thought is that we need to chew up much more clock on offense... Kent had huge ToP advantage at half and it persisted through the game. Need to keep the D off the field and as fresh legs as possible. This should have been a blow out given their QB sitch, but ended up a nail biter. 2) If Woody's shoulder was dicey enough to not play, how could Chapman not have been getting some reps w the first team? He shouldn't have been so unprepared to start-- not really his fault. Probably a real benefit to all that this happened, but seems like there should have been some gameplanning around this scenario during last week. 3) MTB! Wow...I'd love to see him, Natson and Lane get more touches in innovative ways. Let's mix in that wildcat more often and not just in short yardage. There was a reverse to Natson but I'd like to see more with him getting the ball and a chance to fly. And also Lane.... there has got to be more ways to enable him to be a factor. And when Woody is back, how about figuring out ways to work Chapman in-- obviously a great athlete. Over the last few years we've progressed from a very conservative offensive (by necessity given the personnel) to one that now has the personnel to be much more wide open, but we are doing it in a somewhat "old fashioned" way-- throwing down field more. Given the talent on the offense and the gelling of the o-line, I really wish we had more innovative sets and plays. Seems like we should be able to pull that off... A win's a win, especially against Kent but man it was way closer than it should have been...

Just watched the ending... I withdraw all my doubts on Chapman....that pass to Natson was perfect. Wow, what a crazy ending. MTB has got to get more touches... We have a crazy amount of playmakers on this team... they have to find a way to chew up clock, keep the defense off the field and as fresh as possible.

That's a bummer... would have been a huge boost of confidence if that could have sustained that.

It also kinda feels that the Zips aren't playing with much heart either... kinda at half speed...

It is kind of inconceivable that Kent's 4th string QB is having this success... he's literally not a QB but is killing us.

Scary that a non-QB now QB'ing for Kent is demonstrating far more touch than our back up. The INT was inevitable. Total head scratcher on the play calling... why are we trying down field throws w someone that just needs to get a couple of completions to get some confidence. Also far more wildcats w him. And is there a shovel pass something or other for either Natson or Lane? Seems like they are running exact play set w no adjustments. And defense continues to be a huge concern... this is a 4th string QB! Blow him up.

I don't think you are off base at all... the cost of a college degree has skyrocketed, way out of proportion to inflation. Beyond that, there is a huge mismatch between the degrees being pursued and the job opportunities that are emerging-- McKinsey estimates that something like 25 million jobs will go unfilled because people just haven't gotten the right degree or training. It is a huge economic drag on the economy as a whole. Ohio is in the bottom third of educational attainment, ranking 38th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_educational_attainment) despite the number public and private universities.

I totally agree... a consistent winner in the MAC only gets the program to minimum attendance requirements I think (an average of 15K per home game). I don't think it goes much beyond that with any consistency while still in the MAC. Interesting to look back at the last 20 years of Zips schedules-- we were playing, and beating, Cincy with regularity. Wish we could be in a league with Cincy, Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, Memphis (and maybe Toledo). Universities within driving distance in mid-size media markets.