Captain Kangaroo

Is TDM sweating a little bit?

I'm dubious it was a good 10 minutes...

Antino's slightly more "committed" than TDM.

"Dambrot left Akron to be the head coach at Duquesne. He had been the head coach at Akron from 2004 to 2017 and an assistant with the Zips since 2001." No wonder Dambrot made so much money...he held two positions!

I hope we don't need to poach Robert Morris' recruits. That would be a bad sign.

If you asked me how many NCAA Tournament games Dambrot would have won if he coached at Akron another 13 years...I'd say 0.

Winning championships in any league with a relatively equal playing field is tough. MAC programs have an equivalent budget, talent pool, etc. And Dambrot was always at, or near the top of the MAC. He's a good coach. No one can deny it. But Groce is a different guy with different strengths. And those strengths have translated to consistent post season successes. That is something that eluded Keith Dambrot for 12 years. I will trade a MAC regular season championship for a 3rd place regular season finish and a nice post-season tourney run any day of the week.

I think you also felt Rick McFadden should be the next Zips coach? Compare McFadden's resume to Groce's. McFadden - Akron assistant. Groce - Butler, NC State, Ohio State assistant. Head coach - Ohio and Illinois. In the 5 years Groce made the post-season (not including this season, where an interim coach finished the NIT), he's won at least one tournament game 4 times. Had he coached in the NIT this year, it would have been 5-out-of-6 seasons that he not only made the post-season, but advanced beyond the first round. MAC regular season titles are for Dambrot. Groce has consistently won where Dambrot rarely did...in the post season. I love the Lolla/Porter parallel drawn by MDZip. I think the Zips upgraded with Groce.

I think one can spin the numbers to suit whatever side of the fence they'd like. I see a lot of people harping on Groce's 2011-12 3rd place finish in the MAC East. But they ignore the fact that he won 29 games that season. Dambrot won 22. People say OU got lucky, winning the MAC tourney when the Zips missed an open 15-footer. But they ignore the 2009 NCAA-qualifying Zips, who were bailed out by Brett McKnight's miracle save & toss to Humpty for a buzzer-beating three that saved Dambrot from losing to the #12 seed Toledo in the opening round. See what you want, I guess.

Seems to have a connection to Robert Morris? Maybe Josh Williams hasn't played his last game at the JAR?

Someone posted a comparison of Groce and Dambrot's 2009-10 thru 2011-12 records. Dambrot had a slight edge in overall wins. Groce had a "blow-Dambrot-out-of-the-water," landslide edge in post season success. It was also surmised that Dambrot's overall win total advantage may have been bolstered by a comparatively weak OOC schedule. Someone once called Dan Hipsher "Bobby Knight, without the wins." Groce could be "Keith Dambrot, WITH the wins"? Only those pesky post-season wins of course.

I recall when Huggins left for Cincinnati, he recommended Anthony Buford stay at Akron. Buford may have been the best basketball player in Akron history, so it was admirable that Huggs didn't try to poach him. Buford stayed for his Junior season, and then transferred to Cincinnati for his Senior year, where he was the starting 2-guard on their Final Four team. Different era I guess...

Is there such a thing as a Twitter Tantrum?

What they're saying about the Groce hire

We have two common streets? In the interest of full disclosure, in chronological order: Bulger 132 Annadale 419 Brown (now demolished) ? Sumner (rent was $50/mo for the summer, utilities included) 526 Gage

I was from Gage Street. 526 Gage Street, to be specific. But I couldn't play worth a damn.

Of the Zips all-time great players, how many were from Akron? Some...sure. But many were from elsewhere. You limit yourself if you focus on "locking-down" the Akron area. If we have a great coach and a great program, the better local kids will organically gravitate towards UA. Show them a little recruiting "love," and they're a Zip. If the Zips want to compete as a high mid-major, they still need to recruit regionally/nationally.

Hunter Yurachek: "So what kind of player is Antino Jackson? Can he help us?" Keith Dambrot: "Good little guard. Senior. He's not a world-beater, but he'll be good for 20 minutes per night for you. I'd recommend you take him." And the Tweet soon followed.... Hope Noah's knee is solid, cuz he's gonna play 40 minutes every night next season.

Ewing is a solid choice for Georgetown. He's a Hall of Fame NBA player, and he's been an NBA assistant for some time. His hire keeps the John Thompson loyalists...many of whom are former NBA players with deep pockets...happy. He might actually do a good job...who knows? FYI - If we hired Loyer, we'd be getting someone with more NBA HC experience than Patrick Ewing.

I would say the primary things working against Rick McFadden are: 1.) He's never been a head coach at any level. If you recall - Coleman Crawford was an assistant to Bob Huggins. That staff continuance didn't help the Zips. In fact, it was really really bad. 2.) This is THE hire for Larry Williams. It's his chance to make a splash/impact hire that takes him to the next AD level. If I'm Larry Williams, do I want to turn my nationally recognized top mid-major program over to a completely untested/unproven assistant? 3.) I haven't seen any comment from Rick McFadden that he wants the job. He's out-of-site-out-of-mind. He's already listed as a Duquesne assistant. If he wants the job, he needs to pick up the phone and call the PD and Beacon...get on the local talk shows...he needs to campaign for it. 4.) Rick is a Youngstown kid. He knows Jim Tressel from Tressel's days at OSU and Akron. He served on the same Akron staff as former YSU HC Dan Peters. Yet he wasn't really even considered for that lowly job. Yeah, YSU's preference isn't the best barometer for determining a D1 basketball Coach's merit...but the fact that he is a local kid with such close ties to Tressel, yet was never a serious candidate, is a concern. 5.) Even if McFadden is "The Second Coming of Keith Dambrot," is he the best available Head Coach candidate in the nation? 6.) Dambrot's last couple recruiting classes have been disappointments. If Big Dog blew an ACL, we'd have been at the bottom of the MAC. In the past 2 seasons we've essentially seen a mix of transfers, and projects. I would disagree. But if it is indeed not a good job, it's because there have been too many recent BJ Gladden's and Peter Agba's. We need some pillars to allow projects like Olijapoke to grow, and we haven't seen any pillars recruited for a couple seasons. What role does McFadden play in that dry spell? 7.) In this era of athletes Tweeting every thought that pops into their head...I haven't seen one existing Zips player stumping for Rick McFadden? I recall when Lee Owens left (football), the players universally clamored for Paul Winters to get the job. Typically when a HC departs, if there's a beloved assistant, the players let you know it. 8.) Dambrot had his prejudices against the MAC. A lot of fans became tired of hearing about the JAR facilities...the "1-bid league" complaints. Maybe Dambrot is right. Maybe it is impossible to win at a level beyond what he accomplished. But maybe he's wrong? Maybe there is a better coach out there who can recruit a little better...assemble a little better staff...strategize a little better...take us to another level? Obviously not a "Gonzaga of the East" level...I think we all realize we don't have the $$$ to play in that game. But we can be an "MTSU". I would say the primary things working FOR Rick McFadden are: 1.) He dropped a football scholarship at OSU to play basketball for the Zips. That alone should make him a UA folk hero. 2.) He's been around the Program for over a decade, and I've never heard a bad word spoken about his character. He's a solid guy. 3.) He brings continuity to a program that's been very successful at the MAC level. He knows the bus trips, the hotels, the opposing coaches and players...he basically just needs to move into KD's bigger vacant office and he's ready to go. There's a lot of value in continuity. 4.) If successful, he'd likely be here for 10 years. He's obviously not a job-hopper. 5.) I'd like to be a fly-on-the-wall in his interview, so I'd know what he states he'd do differently than Coach Dambrot. If he says "Hey Larry...I'm going to give you exactly what you've had for the past 12 years," I probably wouldn't hire him. If he gave a convincing, fresh, passionate plan for the next 10 years I'd be intrigued. I see Rick McFadden as a viable candidate to interview. But do I really think he's the best available mid-major HC candidate in the nation? Probably not. If becoming a HC is his goal, he needs to break free from Dambrot and coach at Tiffin...Wittenberg...Wooster...Hiram...somewhere and cut his teeth at the HC level before taking-on a nationally-respected mid-major program like Akron. Build a staff. Grow something. Then, interview at UA. But that's just one man's opinion.

Klaus Zollner just PM'd you.

"Best returning big man-Hughes"?! i remember those 4 minutes and 12 seconds he played in 2017. He was freaking awesome. How will we survive without him?

I think 2011 was the last time Bill Livingston was relevant, so it makes sense.

Forget hitting up Lebron for donations... build us an arena, KD!