Captain Kangaroo

The rule was, at one point, that a D1-A school needed to average 15k in home attendance once every four seasons. That rule no longer exists.There were other loopholes along the way. At one point, if you played in front of "X" number of fans you could bypass the 15k rule (so if you played at Penn State in front of 105,000 you were set for the year). I think there was also a "warning" period, where you could miss the 15k requirement, but get a 5th season to make it if you made strides towards the goal.Either way, it is no longer a requirement.

I think it would be a combination of facilities and coaching that would have been a factor in his decision.If that bit of wisdom doesn't elicit a Zipmeister reply, I will be sorely disappointed.

The PD's Bill Livingston wrote a column today describing an excerpt from LeBron's new book. In it James admits to smoking some pot in HS (not the purpose of this post, so please refrain from any related commentary or start a different LeBron thread elsewhere).The column itself has nothing to do with this thread, but how Livingston closes it is very applicable to the Zips basketball scheduling.Livingston writes: "As a boy, he [LeBron] was always disappointed when Akron's name was almost never on maps of the USA in his geography book. He set out to make the city proud. He did just that, and also changed the landscape of possibility here."Like his former player, Keith Dambrot has the ability to change the "landscape of possibility." In his case, it is for his mid-major's ability to earn an at-large bid. To do so he needs to schedule tougher. Otherwise, complaints regarding the NCAA's at-large selections ring hollow. A "few" seasons? This is KD's 6th season, not his 3rd. He's reeled off 4 consecutive 20-win seasons. He's brought in a Top 50 player in Zeke. How long do fans wait for a top-flight schedule before they can officially become impatient? 7 years? 10 years? The Mountain West Conference (football) is challenging the BCS. Not by complaints, but by action. If they continue with an indomitable purpose, they will ultimately succeed. It can be done. I'd love to see UA attempt to reverse the NCAA at-large selection trend. Keith Dambrot is a gifted coach...one of only a few who could pull it off. Another one is Gary Waters....and he has a head start.

I'd like to see someone (can't get up the nerve to do it myself) put this same poll up for the Morgan State game alone. I just can't see it drawing over 20k. MORGAN STATE? You've gotta be kidding me. And if you think 25,000 people will show up just for an "event", and not care about the opponent, then why don't we still have the Acme Zip Game? This shows just how wily Hunter is. Hunter knows.Barring a lightning storm or tornado, if the opening of the new stadium doesn't sell-out, heads will roll.

Alexander Compares UA, K.e.n.t. and CSU (novel idea)

So Rosa Parks should have sat at the back of the bus and kept her mouth shut? Sure...why fight an injustice...just roll with it. The only way to reverse that trend is to fight it. To schedule each season with the goal of getting an at-large if you slip up in the MAC tourney. If you schedule weak, and subsequently resign yourself to winning the MAC tourney as your sole NCAA bid hope, then you have no reason to ever complain regarding your chances of getting an at-large. It isn't the NCAA keeping you out, it is your own scheduling policy.CSU has placed themselves in a position to merit an at-large. I don't expect CSU to win the games necessary to receive such a bid, but they have a shot. With Gary Waters...a better shot than most.We have two mid-major scheduling examples to follow this upcoming basketball season. CSU's and UA's. Bookmark this thread and re-visit in in mid-March 2010. That's when you'll see which was best.

Compare the Zips' Schedule to Fellow NE Ohio-based 2009 NCAA Tourney Participant CSU

I voted 20k - 30k. But Hunter's calculation says 18k.The best thing about predicting 18k is, when you average 24k you can boast that you exceeded goals by THIRTY THREE PERCENT! No one ever put on their resume that they set their expectations 33% too low.If JD's team lays an egg this year, Marketing is off the hook for any bad attendance blame. If the Zips are winning, and the stadium is filled to anything less than 90% of capacity, Marketing will, and should take a beating.People watch football in bad weather all the time. With an on-campus stadium I don't see bad weather making a huge attendance impact. I see it as an excuse...but not a real cause.

As stealth as those bomb shelter entrances are, I would still doubt that they would bear any load should additional seating be added above. I would think the seating would be built with similar steel support as the east and west stands -- hey, maybe those columns for the wrought iron fence are strategically placed to be the base for future steel? Never know.Also, looking at the height of the north end zone building and its proximity to the field, if seating were added above, would not virtually all the fans be unable to see the back of the end zone? As nice as it will be to have the grassy knoll behind the south end zone, I think that end actually is more conducive to adding additional permanent seating. The sights lines certainly would be better.All I know is those stairway entrances have more roof layers then buildings at the South Pole. I thought the same thing!!!

I received several complaints regarding the direction and content of this thread. Upon review there seems to be a problem. For those new to ZipsNation -- Many sites similar to ours will allow name-calling and personal attacks. This site doesn't. We all get sucked into some frustrating exchanges on occasion. And the moderators are pretty lenient on letting little stuff slide. But if a line is crossed, or repeatedly pushed, we'll have to take corrective action such as deleting posts and activating warnings. We don't want to do that...so please use common sense regarding board etiquette.

Personally, I hope K.e.n.t. loses evey game this season by 50 points, except for the Akron game, where they lose by 65. To me, that would be much better than K.e.n.t. doing well. But that's just me. I don't think we're crossing paths with K.e.n.t. football recruiting all that often now-a-days. The few times that we do, if the kid wants to choose K.e.n.t. over UA...well...K.e.n.t. can have him. K.e.n.t. hasn't won anything in football for 35+ years...I highly doubt this will be the season they turn in all around. I highly expect the 2010 K.e.n.t. overall win total "over/under" to be 3. Give me the "under."

Where is Dead Horse when you really need him? Jesus...

Not for me. We're the Zips, not the Roos.How about: ROOS ARE SHOES

UA Marketing Kicking it Up a Notch! BAM!

Worst article I've ever seen. Some people should not have access to computer keyboards.

Shock the World?

Those have been there since the goal poste were put up...And here I was popping champagne corks... Hope you were in the Firstmerit Club Level when you were doing that. Of course I was! Know what I call my loge?

Those have been there since the goal poste were put up...And here I was popping champagne corks...

The little orange wind flags are atop the goal posts!

By virtue of the fact that we're still losing to some of those teams, I don't believe we are ready to play an OOC schedule like Miami's. Unless of course, we want to lose all our "marquee" OOC games like Miami does (at least recently).It will be interesting to see how KD schedules in the future, as our talent level improves. If you want to back up the "Gonzaga of the East" claim, at some point soon we'll also need to adopt a "We'll play anyone, anywhere, anytime" approach. That's where the Gonzaga's & Boise State's of the world separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

UIC ebbs and flows. They beat us 2 years ago, so they aren't a cream puff by any stretch.Valpo is typically a great opponent. Last year they sucked. But they still beat us, so they aren't a cream puff by any stretch. You also cannot fault UA for scheduling Valpo in 2009-10 because it is a mandatory return game for the Bracket Buster.Malone is essentially a scrimmage. I don't have a problem scheduling one such game per year, early on, to shake off the rust.Niagara is a solid program. You cannot fault UA for scheduling Austin Peay because both recent games were mandatory Bracket Busters. The game in November was also set up via a 3rd party tourney.IMO - It seems if we play great basketball in the early/mid-season, for back-to-back seasons, we will get a attractive Bracket Buster opponent and our SOS/RPI issues will be solved? If we play to begin 2009-10, and again in 20010-10, the 2010-11 schedule should play out to be VERY tough.If we play mediocre, well get mediocre Bracket Buster opponents and have a so-so RPI/SOS.

I disagree.Sincerely, Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce

Ask 100 smoking-hot girls to be your prom date. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Now wait a few months...after said smoking-hot girls have not received any concrete offers from guys who've been keeping them on the hook. All of the sudden you start looking a lot better. A few more "yes" responses start to roll in.Ask 100 "middle-of-the-road" girls to the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Maybe half?Ask 100 homely, butt-ugly girls top the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give Doug Martin an immediate "yes?" Get the picture?Your analogy works if you assume that you're an average guy. Akron should no longer be in that position. Akron should be the guy that those smoking-hot girls are waiting on. I know why that's not the case, since Akron lacks two things: winning and being a part of the "popular kids clique" in the form of the BCS. But that doesn't mean that Akron shouldn't be above average when everything else is at the top of the MAC and the facilities are better than half the BCS.Compared to the other suitors for our smoking hot girls, we are "an average guy." Our standards are now above the standards of most of the MAC programs you're fretting over. And July is too far away from prom to lower those standards.Say K.e.n.t. gets 20 verbals in August. What would that say about the caliber of recruit they targeted? They would have secured 20 kids who were obviously really...REALLY desperate for a date.

Ask 100 smoking-hot girls to be your prom date. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Now wait a few months...after said smoking-hot girls have not received any concrete offers from guys who've been keeping them on the hook. All of the sudden you start looking a lot better. A few more "yes" responses start to roll in.Ask 100 "middle-of-the-road" girls to the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Maybe half?Ask 100 homely, butt-ugly girls top the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give Doug Martin an immediate "yes?" Get the picture?