Captain Kangaroo

Former Zip Comes up Big in front of 70,000 Darren Mattocks of the Vancouver Whitecaps scored Jamaica's first goal on a 31st-minute header directly off a throw-in. Otherwise, the Americans largely dominated, finishing with a 10-3 edge in shots on goal — including eight in the second half, as they furiously pushed the attack.

Terry Pluto wrote a column on the Zips in today's PD. It isn't worth a link. Teflon Tom Wistercill still gets no mention of responsibility for the InfoCision tumbleweeds and the Football Program's situation. And Pluto thinks Dan Enos still coaches CMU.

Column

This one has been sufficiently beaten into the ground. While the question itself is legit, the people that incessantly respond, re-posting their same tired rants, will quickly ruin the thread. If you want to re-re-re-re discuss the merits of dropping to 1-AA, or how athletics conflicts with the mission of higher education, or whatever non-football subject makes you passionate...please do it in a non-marquee forum such as the "off-topic" one. Or General UA discussion. Let Dave and Balsy and Zip-O-matic type their hearts out there. But not in the Football Forum. I want the football forum to be held to a higher standard. I'd rather it has zero activity for two straight weeks than have it be consistently populated with people who are trying to, intentionally or unintentionally, bring the program down. Thread moved. Yet again. Any further threads on this topic, or ones that I feel with quickly be hijacked to tired, non-football rants will be deleted.

A Jamaican Eskimo

K-Roo and Dr. Z get it. This is the time when strong leadership is required. Scarborough...Van Horne...whomever...needs to come out guns-a-blazin' and say: "How the F#*k does some wing nut faculty member's uneducated, self-serving opinions get any media traction whatsoever? We are D-1A, we'll always be D1-A, we have a great team this season that will contend for a MAC title. We have a great coach and great kids whom we support 100%. The last 6 years are ancient history. It is time to move forward and get the football program back on a Championship track. Our team this season will be great. Get your tickets now and come down and have some fun." "Furthermore, to address the issue of revenue - our last AD made a horrific football HC hire. We've been politically correct in ignoring this fact for some time....but in light of the shadow he cast over our program, it is time to call a spade a spade. At a time where it was critical to put our collective foot on the gas pedal he single-handedly set our program back 10 years. The hole he put us in was unprecedented, but we are finally out of it and moving forward. It is short-sighted and ignorant to look at the past 5 or 6 seasons of Akron football and InfoCision and say that is our fate. Instead, the football program and this 30,000 seat stadium are our way OUT of our financial bind. That stadium is a way to galvanize the local community, generate revenue, get alumni and prospective students on our campus...it is a sleeping giant that we are committed to awakening in 2015." "There is one reason to drop to 1-AA. That's to save 22 scholarships. But why would we do that? You can't tell me with the facilities you see on campus, the coaching staff, the student athletes...that Akron football can't compete with Bowling Green, K.e.n.t. State, Toledo, Ball State, etc? That's insane. We can compete at the 1-A level. We can, and should compete for a MAC Championship every season. And after enduring and overcoming what Tom Wistercill and Rob Ianello did to the football program, the winning starts now. If you want to discuss dropping to 1-AA, have an educated discussion with me after the 2015 season. Until then, discuss Cate Jenner or deflated footballs or Johnny Manziel or whatever other "sports" topics you "sports" guys discuss for 12 hours every day. Leave Akron Football alone, because, to be quite honest, you know nothing about it."

I can't give the faculty douche bag any more exposure in the football forum, so the thread was moved. If people want to try and bring the football program down, they can do it here in the Jokes Forum.

A shining diamond of a post amongst a sea of diarrhea.

1.) I would say otherwise. 2.) There are over 115 D-1 football programs that will never be OSU. Big whup.

New basketball arena on the old Jackson Field baseball diamond? My heart goes out to the baseball team and staff. They were improving, and had a great coach.

This topic has gravitated towards "Non-football." If anyone wants to create a topic regarding school funding in the "Off topic" or "General Discussions" forum, please do so.

You save 22 scholarships if you drop to 1-AA. It would have a negligible effect on the football budget. Dropping to 1-AA would not increase enrollment. It would not increase attendance. Unless you think there is a huge upside to replacing Toledo and K.e.n.t. on our schedule with Gardner Webb and Eastern Illinois. Had we dropped to 1-AA say, 6 years ago, Wistercill would have hired a "1-AA Version" of Ianello, and we'd be in the same boat we're in now, but with a smaller chance to crawl out of it. The problem is not 1-AA vs. 1-A, it has been the lack of UA Athletics vision and leadership. There are plenty of additional negatives to dropping football to the 1-AA level. Too many too list. Dropping to 1-AA is not the solution to increasing anything at The University of Akron except the fast-tracking of its irrelevance.

Off he goes...

Or the fact that 61 million is chump change for a 27k seat stadium. And you couldn't build it smaller and still be a FBS or FCS program. It is widely known that InfoCision paid 10 million for the naming rights, and Summa paid 5 million for the field naming rights. And Towpath paid $100,000 for the Press Box naming rights. Would InfoCision still pay 10 million towards a 20k seat stadium? No. Would Summa still pay 5 million for a 20k stadium? No. So a big chunk of whatever money saved from building a rinky-dink stadium would be offset by the loss of naming rights revenue. And interestingly - If we'd have built an FCS stadium, the guy that coached our loss to Gardner Webb would have lost an additional 10 games to FCS schools every year. And we'd be in the same boat we're in today. Except Scarborough probably would be saying "I wouldn't have dropped the program to FCS."

I really don't know which is better: The people that ignore what was reported/quoted in a newspaper column because what wasn't said in the column supports their opinionThe people that use Akron's football attendance during the 2002-4 football seasons, when Lee Owens was going .500 at the Rubber Bowl, as some sort of proof that football at InfoCision cannot draw crowdsThe people that say Ianello was horrible, that Wistercill was horrible....then use the attendance during those years as proof that football at InfoCision can't draw crowdsSuch a tough decision...

No. But that's why it would have been nice for Scarborough to own-up to UA's past mistakes that contributed to the attendance issues, and make the statement that there's a new sheriff in town, and that things were going to change. Didn't happen.

I agree. He's got a 30k capacity stadium. A Bowden for a coach. The Stiles Center as a training facility. He needs to focus on filling the stadium to a capacity that generates a profit, not blaming the guys before him for being stuck with it. It's there...it's not going away...and if you are creative and industrious, the table is set to fill it to a respectable level. Football can be a driving force for alumni interaction. Community interaction. And subsequently for getting some cash flow into the University. It is only an albatross if you are lazy, and make horrific decisions on the key attributes necessary to fill it. At Akron, this has been botched year after year since Bill Muse moved the Zips to the 1-A level in the mid 80's with absolutely no infrastructure to support it...with the exception of hiring... Gerry Faust. The Zips have done one thing really well since moving to D1-A...and that is show everyone following them what NOT to do in order to be successful. You're welcome, Boise State and Marshall. We've taken the accordion out of the bloated boll weevil's hands. Hopefully we put it in the hands of someone capable of playing some music. If not, 7th verse will be the same as the first.

You should PM it's writer and tell him your feelings. Perhaps even do lunch?

If only you ran out of posts...

That is not unique to D1-AA schools...it is commonplace at every level of every sport. If the Zips had the success of NDSU, they'd be expanding the stadium, not trying to point fingers at why it's empty. While the Zips were reeling-off sub .500 ...hell...sub .100 seasons, the Bison accomplished this (from Wikipedia): 4 Consecutive National Championships (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) FCS Record5 Consecutive Winning Seasons (48 winning seasons in last 51 years)5 Consecutive Playoff Appearances (2010-Present)5 Consecutive Wins against FBS Competition (2010-Present) FCS Record38 Consecutive Non-Conference Home wins (Ongoing)16 Consecutive Playoff/Post-season Wins (2011-Present)23 Consecutive Home Wins (2012-Present)What's the Wikipedia definition of "The Opposite of the Ianello Era"? See above. Youngstown State had a great fan following in the 90's, when they were annually playing for D-1AA championships. 20k + at Stambaugh was a weekly event in the fall. After their run, attendance plummeted. Losing has that effect. What was the average attendance of the Coleman Crawford era Zips vs. Dambrot or Huggins? The best FCS schools have no unique formula to drawing large crowds and getting on ESPN Game Day. The formula is the same everywhere in the world - 1.) Win games 2.) Lather, rinse and repeat If instead you: 1.) Hire a putz 2.) Lose 90% of your games You probably won't fill your stadium.

It absolutely amazes me that, with one sentence, Scarborough has completely deflected the blame for an empty InfoCision from where it actually lies (Wistercill/Ianello/1-11's/weekday November games), to -- "That stadium should never have been built." Now, the guy's off the hook for any attendance liability. HE would never have ok'd this stadium, so it isn't HIS fault. Wistercill was hired to fill the stadium and get the football program rolling. That was his #1 priority. He instead he spread napalm over Summa Field. I'm seeing too much damage control and negativity, and too little positive crowing about having the best football facilities you'll find short of the P5 programs. InfoCision and Stiles are absolute gifts to anyone with a freaking clue. Bowden probably can be included in the "gift" category too. UA needs to fight the association of Zips Football with the low attendance with aggression and facts. We hired the worst coach in college football history, and let that guy gut the program. And if you were dumb enough to want to watch it, you needed to do so at 8pm on a Tuesday night, vs. some of the worst opponents in D1-A. UA needs to OWN the fact that it made horrible football hires at a critical juncture in the Program's history. Not spin awesome facilities as some sort of liability. Stop whining and deflecting blame. Be proud of our football program. Take advantage of the riches you possess. Win games. Put butts in the seats. Scarborough didn't hire THAT AD who put us in this hole. But he can hire HIS AD, and get us out of it. Do it.

Thanks for posting. It looks like a baby version of Bird vs. Wilkins in the '88 playoffs. I wish we saw more of that from Nick when he was @ UA. As a Celtics fan, I'm disappointed to see Sullinger has apparently found the weight he'd shed after his foot injury last season.

Taking a June 2015 peek at Zeke

K.e.n.t. won 11 games in a single season, overcoming K.e.n.t.'s 40-year football baggage. I am not worried about newspaper articles affecting the Zips recruiting. Quality coaching takes care of any such issues. To grow football attendance at UA is a huge opportunity for someone. Facilities and coaching are at a high level. If that someone that wants to bust their ass, the table is set for that person to fill the stadium, stuff their résumé, and move on to a huge P5 promotion. I hope we have such an entrepreneurial "up-and-comer" at UA. I already know what will happen if we don't.

We should all hope to have a "shit sandwich" like a new $65 million football stadium on campus. As the great philosopher Flava Flav once wrote: "Don't believe the hype." Have you ever heard Tom Wistercill publicly state ANYTHING like: "What a HUGE f*ck up I made. I had one f*cking thing to do...hire a real football coach to fill a brand new, beautiful stadium complete with a brand f*cking new, state of the are indoor training facility...and I COMPLETELY screwed it up. I hired a complete know-nothing jerkwad, and look what I did...I almost single-handedly ruined Akron football." No, he never says anything like it. It isn't in his best interest to point the finger at himself as a prime contributor to why it has been an albatross. And in Akron, devoid of any real news outlets or fan base, 800lb gorillas can easily be swept under the rug. The excuse is the fans...the excuse is Ohio State...the excuse is "the youth of today"...the excuse is...anything but - "I screwed up." Toxic Tom Wistercill was a remora on the belly of Caleb Porter's accomplishments and of Mike Thomas' hires. He was less than worthless, and that's why he's gone. Who else could turn a five-star restaurant into a Shit Sandwich Factory? If Scarborough is publicly bemoaning the still-relatively-new football stadium, shame on him. If he has no employees bursting with ideas to fill it up, then shame on him. Anyone can sit with a thumb up their butt and blame the guy before him for all his seemingly insurmountable problems. If we hired such a guy as our President, then we screwed up to a level beyond royally...we screwed up polytechnically. Some saps will fall hook-line-and-sinker for the "we made a mistake building the stadium" excuse. Because they blindly believe everything that people in authority say. Giving Wistercill a sweet new stadium was like giving a bloated, dead boll weevil an accordion. It doesn't matter how expensive the accordion is....bloated dead boll weevils can't polka. K.e.n.t. football can win in the MAC. They proved it 2 years ago. It doesn't take much. Bowden can do it. I believe in the guy. But it pisses me off when someone tries to sell me on the theory that UA's top-notch football assets are an detriment. Flava Flav don't believe it, and you shouldn't either.