Captain Kangaroo

High Expectations

PD Column

Good Luck Mike!

I just wrote what I believe. If it follows what you or GP1 said, then you're probably in the right.

A couple times during the season JD mentioned his back-to-back dismal recruiting classes of 2005 and 2006, and discussions he had with Mack. He alluded to Mack agreeing to his plan to right the ship and get things back on track. If you look around the country, the popular thing to do is can a sub .500 coach after 5 years, especially after three consecutive sub .500 seasons. Especially if you are the young, up-and-coming, looking-for-the-next-job-UA-is-just-a-stepping-stone AD. Especially if the aforementioned coach wasn't your hire.Like the decision to keep JD, or not, you have to appreciate Mack sticking by him. It pretty much defies every possible precedent. We'll find out next season if he made the right call. I'm on record as saying he did. If I'm wrong, InTheZone will let me know.

Ohio State doesn't recruit, they select. The 6' 5" 285 lb DL with the 2.65GPA, or the 6'5", 285 lb DL with the 3.02GPA? Hmmm...which should we take....?Non BCS schools are forced to take risks that an Ohio State doesn't need to. It is a totally different ballgame.To further expand on the point -- Some -clown like Chuck Amato can blast UA for taking non-qualifiers, but schools like NC State do the SAME thing. In their case, the at-risk kid goes to prep school for a season. Same kid, they just get him a year later.To even FURTHER expand on the point -- A friend of mine works in collegiate education. He formerly assisted in recruiting at a mid-major school. One day he was walking a highly touted recruit and his mom around the mid-major campus. The mom said: "We were at <BCS School> last week. They said they would give <son> a personal tutor for each class. What can <Mid-major U> do?"Knowing <Mid-major U> did not have the resources to give the kid such a ridiculous amount of attention, the recruiter said "Here at Mid-major U we teach kids to be self-sufficient. We assist them, but we focus on giving them the tools and direction to stand on their own two feet. When <son> graduates from school, he won't have a tutor at his place of employment. We will prepare your son for the real world."The kid signed with the BCS school the next day.This is basically what GP1 mentioned. UA wasn't set up to handle some of the recruits JD signed 3-4 years ago. At a BCS school, a surprisingly large number of those kids would have, by some miracle, found a way to stay eligible.

Found one. See initial post for the link.

Rivals BoardEdit: Found an active Dayton board: UDpride.com

Cracked ribs suck. It hurts just to breathe, and don't even THINK about sneezing. Hopefully it is something less severe.

"Hard words from a hard man."

Jacquemain couldn't hold Butchie or Charlie's jock strap. He's better than Gromek, Gill, Fahler or any of the other Owens QB's, if that's worth anything? I don't think it is.JD has made his share of recruiting mistakes at the QB position. Luke won us a championship, but having him for only 2 seasons was a risk. We could have gone for a "stud" HS QB and had him for 3+ season to build upon. With Luke in the fold, we couldn't recruit a decent QB for two seasons. No HS kid wanted to sit for multiple seasons with no chance to start.JD miscalculated on Carlton Jackson.JD has a serviceable QB in Jacquemain, but he's been a 4+ year project to achieve "serviceable" status. On his best days "he manages the game." On his worst days, he loses the game. You don't win in the MAC with that type of QB. You win 5 or 6 games.

I think the basketball team has done a nice job of beating the teams they should beat over the past 4 years. They've just struggled to get over the hump and beat the teams they shouldn't (ranked opponents like Pitt, Creighton, Nevada, Dayton, etc). And, to win a championship. Beating Eastern Michigan or Urbana? No problem.

Umm... yes because it would mean that he recruited a capable player that was actually eligible.Some of these defenses of JD are getting ridiculous.I feel the same way about the "pro-Owens" guys that make up mythical graduation rates on Owens' behalf. Like anyone with 30 free seconds can't look up how Lee's classes really ended up.Note: 2001 was one of Lee's later classes (7th). Not his 2nd or 3rd.Thankfully for Lee, the NCAA scholarship penalties for not being on track for graduation weren't instituted until he left.

K.e.n.t. vs. Kansas @ 9pm on ESPNU.K.e.n.t. looks to be having the best OOC performance of the MAC programs thusfar.

While no one can deny the strides he made in 2008 vs. 2007, he's going to be a 5th year senior next year. I don't know how much improvement he's got left in him. I wish he threw like this in his Sophomore season. Then I'd be more apt to believe.It is a big leap of faith for me to believe he can be a clutch performer in 2009. His mechanics are solid, but when the game is on the line, he turns the ball over...and over...and over.

In all four MAC East losses (OU, Temple, Buffalo and BG), we were either tied, or leading in the 4th quarter.When you have a jittery QB and a porous defense you tend to lose close ones. JD needs to address that in the off-season. If we had Nate Davis at QB, the Zips would have been 5-0 in the MAC East. We wouldn't have lost any of those in the 4th quarter. Would that have made JD a better coach?

My grandparents were originally from Wilkinsburg, then moved to Butler once they got married. My grandfather was a pretty good athlete back-in-the-day, and got a basketball scholarship to IUP. Prior to WWII he played in the Pittsburgh Industrial Leagues, which were pretty much the NBA of that era. He was always a huge sports fan, especially when it came to WPIAL football and college sports. He'd have LOVED following Zeke's career.He also pretty much adopted whatever college his kids and grandkids attended. My Aunt went to Maryland, Uncle to the Naval Academy, mom to Youngstown State, me to UA, my cousin to Drexel. Any time we visited, and this was pre-internet era, the guy could talk as intelligently about any of those programs as their biggest "local" fans. He was a great guy and a huge influence on me.Where am I going with this? When I was at UA (84 - 89) he would mail me any related UA athletics clippings that appeared in the Post Gazette. My favorite time of year was the announcement of the "Fabulous 22." UA would always have a few recruits on the team, and he'd send me the list along with his hand-written notes regarding which ones he thought were the better players. Even then, I always had the "inside scoop" on Zips recruiting! I think there was also a "Fantastic 44" list from another paper (maybe the Tribune?). I always like when the Fabulous 22 list comes out. Brings back good memories for me. (me and my grandfather sharing a beer and talking sports).

I changed it to Hixon. I'm just bad with name-spellings.

Stepping in for Plaxico

The video link works for me. You just need to go to the Northwestern soccer page, find the Akron match, and click on "watch it" to the right. I did need to download some Microsoft software to enable the viewer, but it was pretty much automatic.Try clicking here if you're having problems

EKU 69UA 57OVC OVC OVC I agree. A double-digit loss to an OVC school, on a neutral court, sucks. The Zips seem to be slowly solving their shooting issues. But rebounding is another story. 15-0 run to finish the game for EKY? At least Frenchy has had plenty of practice calling games like that this fall.

Tough to figure out which thread to respond within...seems like Lee Adams is rubbing off...others are now starting the same thread multiple times?Zipboy is dead-nuts on. JD f-d up his recruiting classes of 3 and 4 years ago. The guy corrected things. And he did it the right way, with predominately HS kids whom he's redshirted. Where he was burnt by WRs like Vince Hill, Harvey and Lindsay, he had to go JUCO/transfer. And he did so very well. But the lion's share are on the 5-year plan.Since Mack allowed JD to fix things "the right way" and not via some JUCO-fest, he pretty much needs to give him three years from that point. Next season is year #3.Spare me the Lee Owens crying violin. The guy had 9 freaking years to win at UA. In his 9th year he was .500 vs 1-A competition. In his 7th year, with an NFL-caliber QB, he was 4-8? What was the guy in his 8th year...something like 5-6? I forget...thank God for long-term memory loss. Graduation rates? Owens' grad rates were solid for 4 years while he attempted to build the program. Then they fell hard as he tried to get over the hump. His retention rates were below 50% his last few years. That's a fact.So how does JD win in 2009? That's the million dollar question. JD has put his trust in Captain Almost...the QB that keeps you competitive for 3 1/2 quarters, puts up nice overall stats...but walks back into the locker room tunnel the loser against any decent competition. His penchant for crippling late-game gaffes is becoming legendary. But JD has invested 4 years in trying to groom the kid to be the team leader. I can't believe he doesn't start Captain Almost in 2009, with all that time invested. Especially when Jordan Miller and Matt Rodgers have a combined 3 D-1 minutes to their credit. But can JD really trust his fate to Captain Almost? If the QB position is the million dollar question, addressing the defensive problems is the two million dollar question. There is a tremendous amount of young talent returning on the defensive side. DL and the secondary should be solid. LB may need a JUCO. But the talent is there. The scheme? I don't think there's anyone on this board who has faith in the scheme. How much more proof is needed that it is ineffective? That is wreaks no havoc. We have 12 returning DL's next season. JD, and his DC need to figure out how to use them.People like to paint with a broad brush on this board. If you want to give JD another year, you're an Owens basher. That's pretty ignorant. Even after Owens' 8th year, with the talent he had returning, I backed the guy for his 9th season. He had enough talent that 2003 should have been a winning campaign, if the guy was any good. 5-5 against D-1 competition, and 9 years to biuld to that level, that was enough for me. And in hindsight, 9 years was too long. I've said it many times...it ain't simple to figure our how to win championships at UA. It takes time. If it didn't, Lee Owens would have figured it out in 9. Or JD in 5. And unlike hoops, where one or two recruits can turn a program around, football programs are a much larger ship to swing around. The turning radius is a lot wider.JD screwed himself by losing the final three games. By going 1-4 @ the Rubber Bowl. The Zips should have been 7-5, worst case 6-6. The team had the ability to take the heat off themselves...but the fumbled it away vs. Buffalo...got shoved down the field @ OU...tossed late-game INT's @ Temple...instead of finding ways to win, they found all sorts of different ways to lose. Now we're in this situation.Keeping or canning JD is Mack's call. But he needs to make it quickly. Come out with a clear, decisive statement that he's our coach in 2009. Or that he's gone. BG, Toledo, EMU, Miami, Toledo...they're all looking for new coaches as we speak. Ball State and K.e.n.t. may be too. This is prime recruiting time. For recruiting both players and coaches. Every day that Mack waits to make a statement hurts the Zips program.JD deserves Year #6. But the fans deserve better than 2008. I want JD back, but not the same-old-same-old. He needs to make meaningful changes that allow us to be highly competitive in 2009. Because there's no excuse not to be.

I'm just happy I didn't think "Klass Zollner."