Captain Kangaroo

A slight upgrade over last season's schedule. Now we need to win one of the marquee OOC games. CSU @ home is going to be awesome. It'll be cool to see Gary Waters back in town. Also good to see the Billikins on the schedule. Rick Majerus has done a nice job resurrecting their program down in Saint Louis and it should be a nice match up (I assume Millikin is a type-o, right?).

What if this match were being played across the street?

I don't believe this for a minute. I don't care if we win the national title every year for a decade....people don't care about soccer. Believe whatever you want. On campus, nobody is excited about football. Might have to do with the focus on marketing being "hey, we have a new coach, but that's all we really have going for us right now". The coach's face is plastered on everything related to the team but there's almost nothing about the actual team, who they play, or any of the actual players. A great marketing tool is to create a star player (we have several in Allen, Nicely, LaFrance, Wagner, and Sewell) and show that the game is about the players and what they can do on the field. We get none of that, though. Then lead them there, ZTZ!!!! I believe ZTZ has mentioned several times he will be watching soccer on Saturday, not football. I think we could do a little better as far as a Pied Piper goes... Sorry. I have not been following his tweets.

I don't believe this for a minute. I don't care if we win the national title every year for a decade....people don't care about soccer. Believe whatever you want. On campus, nobody is excited about football. Might have to do with the focus on marketing being "hey, we have a new coach, but that's all we really have going for us right now". The coach's face is plastered on everything related to the team but there's almost nothing about the actual team, who they play, or any of the actual players. A great marketing tool is to create a star player (we have several in Allen, Nicely, LaFrance, Wagner, and Sewell) and show that the game is about the players and what they can do on the field. We get none of that, though. Then lead them there, ZTZ!!!! I believe ZTZ has mentioned several times he will be watching soccer on Saturday, not football. I think we could do a little better as far as a Pied Piper goes...

Sure...BTW, my goal is to have all our food/beer/soda consumed before the game...seriously come on by. I don't want to drive anything back to NY. BTW, you can't miss me...I look like a slightly younger light brown haired version of the actor Tim Robbins...same height and build. So do you look more like Tim Robbins, or the guy who looks like Tim Robbins?

From Rasor's Edge:

If that is true, and I don't believe it is, someone should be held accountable. Who? The same guy that spend his summer creating a huge buzz-kill surrounding the football program rather than marketing it. 25k should be a "given." And YouTube Tom should live another day, and create more videos.

You can't be serious? It will be 25k+. And everyone in Akron knows Syracuse is BCS. And I will drink a lot of beer on Saturday. Those are three stone-cold locks. If we had 15k in attendance for our home opener versus Syracuse, Tom Wistercill (AD) would be fired before halftime.

I was thinking the exact same thing as I watched it. It's because he's a pretty good QB. Matt Rodgers had as much chance in the Zips QB "competition" as Eugene Jarvis has being a kidney donor.

What's the phone number? Is it the 1-888... one? I need a good laugh...I gotta call.

It was only a matter of time before Mike got sucked into "The ABJ Way." I give him credit... he lasted longer than most. This oversight, however, reeks of David Lee Morgan. I have to believe Mike had a ghost writer. Both Odefin & Dawson are still listed on the GoZips.com roster. We suck. Maybe Gaffney is getting his inside information from David Lee Morgan? Some how, some way, this involves DLM. I'm sure of it.

It was only a matter of time before Mike got sucked into "The ABJ Way." I give him credit... he lasted longer than most. This oversight, however, reeks of David Lee Morgan. I have to believe Mike had a ghost writer.

It would be an interesting debate - "Which is more short-sighted?" The Zips knee-jerk, ill-conceived, unbelievably poorly-planned jump to 1-A back in 1986 or A Zips poorly planned, number-massaged, wasteful drop to 1-AA If we play our cards right....we could hold the record for the two dumbest moves in D1/D-1-AA history. Wouldn't that be cool?

After seeing the 398th post from GP1 calling for the Zips to drop to 1-AA, I got to thinking... has The Great One quantified exactly how much money the Zips Athletics Department would save by dropping it's football program to 1-AA? Let's begin with 22 scholarships. At a value of $20k/scholarship? That's $440,000. For Game Day -- Let's fly to the campuses of SE Missouri State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Murray State, James Madison etc instead of taking bus trips to Oxford, Toledo, Bowling Green, K.e.n.t., etc. I'm guessing we'd lose about $100k on that deal? That's puts the savings at roughly $340,000. At at lower division, we'll save on coach's and Athletic Department salaries...maybe that tacks the $100k back on? I think you can go back and forth all you want...at best you save $500k if you drop to 1-AA. Being an "equivalent" to a directional Michigan school ain't the sexiest thing in the world... but it beats being Morehead State Junior. Dropping to 1-AA is not worth saving a measly $500,000 ($20/student).

JT picks the Zips

Didn't they just change the look of the whole thing like a year-or-so ago? I remember someone getting their panties all in a bunch when people complained about it?

Lot #9 Baby!

Hopefully he beat-out Doug Penno for the job.

Dr. Z with a kick-ass idea!

Mike Thomas got the practice facility built, and transformed stadium talk from a wet dream, into a reality. He hired Dambrot. Mack Rhoades got the stadium completed, and on-time. He cleaned up UA's shoddy athletic academic support. He hired Kest. Our new AD's meal ticket is Rob Ianello. Little STO deals are nice. Getting the soccer stadium upgraded quickly is very nice. But changing the nick name from "YouTube Tom" to "Touchdown Tom" is what will impress. Bringing winning football to Akron is equally as impressive/important as getting the stadium built. That is what gets you a BCS AD job. Winning football helps everyone, and losing football drags everyone...every program...down. UA can't afford to lose on the football field any longer. TW's job is to change that. And of course, not to screw up the good thing we've got going in hoops. TW's successor will hopefully have the Basketball Arena Project as his/her BCS AD resume'-building ticket.

If you want to sit with Akron fans, call the UA ticket office. If you want a cheap ticket, go to the game and buy one from someone outside the gate. There will be below-face-value tickets in abundance at all Zips road games this year. Yes, even at K.entucky. If it is a MAC road game, there is a very good chance someone will hand you a free ticket outside the gate. I don't know that I have ever paid for a MAC road game. And other than K.e.n.t, there will be a million empty seats to choose from at every MAC stadium. "Reserved" tickets aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

Take that, Shaka Smart and District Baller!

I want to see Rodgers in a baseball cap, holding a clip board. Maybe mop-up duty vs. Gardner Webb and K.e.n.t. too.

Who knew? I, for one, and absolutely shocked. I thought it might be the case because...well...Nicely is a lot better quarterback. Somewhere, Mike Rasor is weeping.

I agree. I know a lot of old guys who absolutely can't stand the fortune-telling, doom-and-gloom spouting worry worts on this board. They view ZipsNation as a bunch of whiners who never can place a positive outlook on anything. All they do is worry and complain. Or, complain and worry. How can we fix that, and get those coveted "old guys" to participate? I also agree the name-calling on this board is out of control. I will contact a Mod and see what they can do about it.