LosAngelesZipFan

Oh thank God Scar didn't see this SNL parody-quality marketing dreck last year or we would have AKRON U IS HOT HOT HOT ads running

How was that pass interference on lane? Did he push off? It looked like he got half tackled as the ball arrived.

He really was hot- right in TBs face. Felt like terry was saying "u do know our history right? And the sack of crap I took on. And we're at Wisconsin next week."

Defense is a real concern. Disappointed that Ball didn't seem to be the force that I was hoping for. Had hoped he be a dominating back at this level. What was with their coach going off on tb?

Defense is getting run over right now... Scary

Fairly certain they found a broken olive jar in the car and footprints the size of scar's irratically leading away from the crash site

At this point it will be 10 or more years til we play osu again which I think is too long- I think the opportunity to play them is something that Ohio kids look for. If BG Etc are regularly playing there, I think that hurts us. I also disagree that quality of opponent for home doesn't matter. I think we would go 12-0 against Gardner webs and vmi and still draw less than Canton McKinley. For the cle-akr market, at this point, the only way to draw large 20-30k+ crowds is winning and meaningful opponents. I think our basketball amply shows that winning alone won't do it (though it is clearly necessary as well). i asked the question in the context of appy getting Miami and the name opponents that Toledo has managed to get at home (which includes Boise st, Syracuse, Miami, Byu, Kentucky Etc etc). Winning is a prerequisite, but I don't think we are filling info if it's just against Mac level opponents

Going back to earlier in this thread on scheduling... does anyone know why Akron doesn't have a date scheduled with OSU? Was it because iCoach lectured Fickell for running up the score the last game? I get why BG has had several games given the Urban Meyer connection. Anyone have any insight? BTW, someone mentioned when Toledo played OSU in Cleveland a while ago...wasn't that first offered to Akron but we turned it down? I recall that being the case, but would love to know if that's true. I couldn't find any marquis home games scheduled in Akron for the foreseeable future...Iowa State doesn't quite count/cut it in terms of igniting local interest.

v cool that Dennison and Huggins were there

Really cool to hear the Akron reference and Clayton's run followed up with focus on Shawn. That's gotta help Coach Mitchell's recruiting!

So I love this idea and posted a few weeks ago that this is what UA should be doing- highlighting world class things that are happening at UA like track and mens soccer. But... I don't love this execution. It feels very ticky tacky-- bad v/o, ham handed copy, too hard a sell... "go for gold at UA" sounds a bit like an ad for a used car dealer. The idea of highlighting excellence and people that could have gone to many other places but chose UA is great; appending a short term "enroll here now please God enroll quickly please please" subverts that. It is just this side of "buy one degree and get another for free!" IMHO, the ad should be a "here's to our Olympians... best of luck from your family at UA... we're with you!" And then something that says "you can get anywhere in the world by starting your journey at Akron". Or something like that. It should be elegant/sophisticated and not sales-y-- little v/o, stirring music, great video... I like that we are doing it... just wish the execution was better and more aligned with the brand we want to be. Which is still a 100% improvement over Scarphoon where they were doing things that made no sense and they were doing it badly.

Regarding getting the 'canes at home like Appy... given the relationship Coach Terry has w Florida schools, do you think we have explored getting them to Akron? They are going to Cincy and Toledo over next few years. I think this is the type of team that would raise eyebrows in NEO and give people a reason to look closer at Akron. There should be a marquis game like that every year...

respect for getting Miami (and Idaho) at home! What's the story behind that?

I would call that just a start... his job, as the brand guy, was not to destroy the brand. To tap the brakes on the President's half baked ideas by suggesting they do some research first. He was tasked with increasing enrollment and instead it is tanking. It is tragic that he and Scar still are going to be paid for the next year. They were a disastrous, calamitous, horrific combo... the Johnny Manziel of collegiate administration (but without the bevy of hotties...). Let's hope football has a good run, soccer gets to the national championship and basketball makes it to the dance (and wins a game), and that Clayton Murphy and Shawn Barber win golds wearing Zippy rub on tats. That would begin to replace the brand capital that Scarphoon & his side kick Bow Tie destroyed in just 18 months at the helm.

Great live interview just now w KD from the JAR on ESPN...wearing an Akron Basketball shirt... nice exposure and KD did great

Just watching the post-game presser w LeBron... got a question about preparing and winning his first championship at SVSM... said he had a "great high school coach in KD who is now at hc at Akron U". I will forgive the Akron U reference for the fantastic shout out (and the incredible game)...

yeah, was thinking about these 3 on the USMT as well as Clayton Murphy and Shawn Barber... UA should do something that shows that it is on the national (and global) map in these areas (soccer and mens track). These programs are as good as any in the country and attract talent from all over the world-- that would be a great message to send right now. I also saw that UCincy's president just left http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/06/university_of_cincinnati_presi.html. Maybe we can draft on their presidential search process since they seemed to do a good job previously... like, we should wait and just interview all of their finalists. I'm only half joking...

Maybe Caleb could be UA's next president...he always seems up for a challenge

yes, but to be fair, the source of the doom and gloom talk was &%$#@ assmonkey president who has now created actual reason for doom and gloom....

And this just in via the "leadership (and PR) matters" dept: http://www.ohio.com/news/education/ua-bracing-for-20-million-revenue-drop-from-lower-enrollment-projections-1.687833 NOW we have a genuine financial crisis. A sudden $20M drop in revenue in one year is disasterous. For context, Scar was characterizing the prior budget challenge of a $10M shorftall over 3 years as a crisis (which he then lumped in $40M of additional spending to support his half-baked ideas). So this is really quite scary for UA. I am sure their consumer research is showing that UA is dropping fast in consideration which means enrollment goes lower, budgets get cut more and bad press continues, which means even less consider enrolling, etc. Downward spiral. Really hard to arrest and turn around something like this once it gets started... Really really bad narrative has been set up resulting in negative momentum. The Akron community needs to rally around UA to keep it from spiraling downward further.

Wow... http://www.ohio.com/news/education/ua-bracing-for-20-million-revenue-drop-from-lower-enrollment-projections-1.687833

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/06/former_university_of_akron_pre_2.html#incart_m-rpt-1 He is teaching courses in strategic management? Oy... can't imagine the text he is going to use. How to win friends and influence people? Drama program would be better... "How to act like you are facing a financial crisis"...

Ok I just gave $50 and put "in support of the removal of Scarborough" in the comments. This is the first step in healing this wound....

Great idea to donate something to recognize this change. We should all give something just say "yes". I am all for making Sandra interim president. Let's start a petition about that. I still don't agree that proenza was the issue. He did what needed to be done- from the stadium to campus, all done nicely but not extravagently.

I don't know her at all, but someone that was a Fed Reserve President would be amazing and a logical trade-off for the academic pedigree. And not to crack open discussions of the past, didn't it get determined that Proenza's "financial mess" amounted to really about a 3% correction to the annual budget. There was not a massive financial issue. UA's debt to budget ratio is on the high side, but sustainable-- if enrollment stays steady-- and reflected the need to correct several decades of chronic underfunding of physical plant. Did UA need an on campus replacement for the Rubber Bowl? Yes, or exit football. Did UA need a total campus makeover? Yes, but it needed to finance itself since the state wouldn't. Those were necessary investments, not profligate spending. I don't go on campus today and feel like it is crazily over-built. It's not a bunch of crazy architectural over-reach...it's nice, but pretty utilitarian. It was established a while ago that the "financial mess" narrative was really just a Reichstag fire strategy to implement an ill-considered, ham-fisted, half-baked strategy/experiment. If enrollment is now cratering, then there would now be a true financial mess...