Captain Kangaroo

Me, as Terry Pluto's boss....I LOVE it!

With Dambrot as the head coach I don't thing obtaining better ties to the Akron area is a priority. He's already as good as it gets.

Not to sound too "pos"..............but we're the defending MAC champions and I think we are infusing a lot more overall talent in 2006 than we're losing from 2005. Unless you're Can't, every college program loses some key seniors.

If that's the case (I know it isn't) we'd have the wrong coaching staff at the U of A.Maybe that's the way they approach things at Can't, but not here.

Your theory has more validity than you might think:

Perry QB picks GramblingChristopher Horner/TRIBUNE-REVIEWBy Kevin GormanTRIBUNE-REVIEWWednesday, April 5, 2006Desmond Brentley never let go of his dreams to play Division I football, but the Perry quarterback had resigned himself to the notion that he would have to attend prep school to attract interest.Then, Brentley did what he knows best -- taking a step back and letting it fly. If Division I programs weren't going to recruit him, he would recruit them."When I thought about it, I figured my name wasn't out there enough," said Brentley, a two-time City League Player of the Year. "I sent out a package with my highlight tape and newspaper articles about me to schools. The response we got back was tremendous."Now, Brentley is headed to one of the most famous college football programs in the country. He signed Saturday with black college football power Grambling State University in Louisiana, the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions. Grambling produced Doug Williams, the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, and Eddie Robinson retired as the winningest coach in college football."They've got a rich history," Brentley said. "I'm excited."Under the direction of first-year coach Melvin Spears -- who replaced Williams -- the Tigers averaged 371.3 passing yards per game last season. The 6-foot-2, 228-pound Brentley put up some impressive numbers of his own at Perry, becoming the first City player to pass for 2,000 yards in back-to-back seasons and finishing with 4,344 yards and 49 touchdowns.Last fall, Brentley completed 109 of 206 passes (52.9 percent) for 2,226 yards and 29 touchdowns to lead Perry to its sixth consecutive City League title.Brentley hopes to compete for the starting job at Grambling, where Bruce Eugene set an NCAA Division I record with 140 career touchdown passes and school single-season records with 56 touchdowns, 305 completions and 4,928 yards last season."Their quarterback just graduated, and the position is up for grabs," Brentley said. "Hopefully, I can get the starting job."Brentley has added motivation. He waited on scholarship offers from Akron and Temple to gauge Pitt's interest. When the Panthers passed, Brentley was left empty-handed when the other schools pulled their offers late last fall. He planned to attend Milford Academy, a prep school in New Berlin, N.Y.Now, Brentley has circled a date on his calendar, as Grambling's tentative 2007 schedule includes a Sept. 8 game against Pitt at Heinz Field."I've got the opportunity," Brentley said. "It's just extra incentive for me. I've got to work hard. I think it's a great opportunity for me to play early.

I don't think there were any female coaches, but this chick sure kicked some ass in the finals:

I really don’t see what the big stink is regarding the schedule. The weekday games suck, but in general it is pretty competitively balanced.Saturday September 2 at Penn State State College, PaBig deal…we’ve played there several times before. The sky didn’t fall. No one died. Penn State is a tall order for any MAC school at this time, but we have a 5th year senior QB and a bunch of returning starters. And for once, we have a defense that can force punts. PSU is a great start to our season. I look for a game similar to Wisconsin of a couple years back. Saturday September 9 at N.C. State Very good opportunity to beat an ACC school. NC State loses some key players…and to be quite honest…they aren’t an upper-echelon team to begin with. This should be a competitive game, much like the games a few years ago vs. Virginia and UConn. Hopefully JD’s game day savvy carries us where Lee Owens couldn’t.Saturday September 16 at Central MichiganHope no one on our sidelines forgets the blown 17-0 lead from 2005. If you want to compete for a MAC championship you have to win this road game. Will we be beat up after playing two BCS schools? No more than CMU, who opens with Boston College and Michigan. Saturday September 23 NORTH TEXASGood, competitive home opening game. Much like MTSU 2 years ago, but I don’t see a repeat of that outcome. Saturday September 30 at K-ent StateYou’re a fool if you count this as a road game. This is a home game for the Zips. A freaking 7 mile bus trip. And, we’ll have 2X…maybe 3X the fans at that game than K-ent.Saturday October 7 at CincinnatiA second great chance at an OOC BCS win. A four hour bus ride for the Zips ain’t no big thing. Saturday October 21 MIAMI Miami at home, and October 21st should be some decent weather. Assuming the Zips and Miami are tied for 1st in the MAC East, bank on 20K+ for this game.Saturday October 28 at Toledo* FINALLY we get to play Toledo. A tall order to beat them in the Glass Bowl, but if you want to win a championship that’s where the road goes through. 2 hour road trip is sweet.Saturday November 4 BOWLING GREEN* Would have been a HUGE game had Jacobs not left early for the NFL, but still a very big game. Like Miami, it is held on a Saturday which bodes well for tailgating. Hopefully no one is stupid enough to move it to a weeknight if ESPN99 calls.Thursday November 9 BUFFALO This sucks. Freaking lousy opponent, and it is on a weeknight. For what? To be on ESPNU? 99% of the college football fans will be watching the “regular” game on ESPN2. Give me a break. Attendance-wise it will suck. It should have been held on a Saturday, regardless of the Thursday game the following week. It screws the local Akron fans royally.Thursday November 16 at Ohio Athens, Ohio ESPNU 7:30 p.m.Thursday game certainly screws the road trip for most of us. Friday November 24 WESTERN MICHIGAN Very winnable game on our home field to finish the season. That’s what you want. But…FRIDAY? Again, I don’t get the avoidance of Saturday. Yes, the HS playoffs are going on, but screw them. Thursday November 30 MAC Championship Game Detroit, Mich. ESPN 7:30 p.m.Always a fun time. I’ll deal with the Thursday conflicts for this one.From a competitive point of view I really like the schedule. Good OOC chances for wins, and our primary competition’s teams visit the Rubber Bowl on a Saturday. Date-wise, the last two weekday home games really suck. Welcome to the MAC, I guess.Prediction: 7 or less wins = Disappointment8 wins = Expected9+ wins = Start worrying about JD moving on. Hope the new contract and stadium is sufficient motivation for him to hang around Summit County for a couple more years.

If it weren't for Jason Taylor, Vic would be the Zips top NFL player ever:Safety Victor Green to retire as a JetApril 4, 2006NEW YORK --Safety Victor Green signed with the New York Jets on Tuesday so he can retire as a member of the team for which he played in 1993-2001.Green entered the NFL as a rookie free agent out of the University of Akron in 1993 and moved into the starting lineup as the Jets' strong safety in 1994. He was selected as a member of the Jets Four Decade Team in 2003.Green played for the New England Patriots in 2002 and the New Orleans Saints in 2003, finishing his career with 1,000 tackles, 725 of which were solo, 25 interceptions for 643 yards and three touchdowns. He also recovered 16 fumbles and forced 12 fumbles.

Man, that's the best post I've seen from you in years!

I think the most telling statistics can be gleaned for her final (4th) season:5 total wins: Lafayette (non-scholarship program)MSUW (whoever the hell that is?)Jacksonville State (2-9 after their loss to the Zips, 11-17 at year's end and fired their coach)Toledo (11-18, last in the MAC west) Miami (8-20 on the season)Included in her 23, 2005-6 losses are: A 45point loss to PittTwo losses to Can't: By 24 and 19 pointsLoss to YSU (finished 8-20) at the JARAfter 4 years you can't blame your losses on the previous coaching staff. You have to show SOME sort of steps towards being competitive. The MAC is an absolutely HORRIBLE women's basketball conference. To have such a cakewalk schedule year in year out and boast a 0.15 winning percentage is atrocious. The Zips are 1 "Cheryl Bowles" away from 16 wins. That's all it takes to bust into the MAC's upper echelon is one standout player. Kennedy could never get that player and 4 years. With no visible signs of progress, enough is enough.BTW: An comparison can be made to NIU's Joe Novak, who took over an atrocious football program and struggled mightily for 3 years. His win percentage was actually worse than Kennedy's if you can believe it. But, in his 4th year, with his players, he began turning things around. If Kennedy would have followed Novak's improvement pattern, she'd still be coaching.Joe Novak Year-by-Year 1996 Northern Illinois 1-10-0 1997 Northern Illinois 0-11-0 1998 Northern Illinois 2-9-0 1999 Northern Illinois 5-6-0 2000 Northern Illinois 6-5-0 2001 Northern Illinois 6-5-0 2002 Northern Illinois 8-4-0 2003 Northern Illinois 10-2-0 2004 Northern Illinois 9-3-0 Silicon Valley Bowl 2005 Northern Illinois 7-5-0 Total 10 seasons 54-60 (.473)

Man, that is flat-out wrong.

Pittsburgh area.

Steve Swiech6-9 Jr. C Elizabeth ForwardNotable: Led the Warriors to first section title, averaging 26.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 4.2 blocks a game before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in playoffs. Owns school records in career points (1,353), rebounds (687) and blocks (231). Akron and Duquesne have offered scholarships.

I'm all for CSU getting out of the crapper. When Akron, Can't and CSU were playng tournament-level ball in the late 80's it was a blast. McFadden vs. McLaughlin was an epic match up! We won't compete for players. either. CSU has their own niche, being a 100% downtown, 99% commuter school.I don't buy into the "we have football so we can't compete againt the Horizon league in hoops" statement that seems to be popular now a days. Our football program helps sell the basketball program. The exposure the University gained via last season, and via Charlie Frye and others is priceless. It is only going to grow.Overall, MAC schools will have to up their coaches salary level in all major sports. I do believe that's starting to cost us competitively. Does giving Dambrot $220K/yr vs. $125k/yr merit even the smallest discussion regarding abolishing football? No chance. Hell...there are scads of terrible basketball programs out there with no university football programs to use as their scape goat.

Gee, thanks. I didn't know. I really thought it was "Dean."

If OU overpays their crappy coaches, the remainder of the MAC shouldn't be held accountable. Based opon the "OU Scale," Dambrot shoud be making $600k per year and JD should be somewhere around $800k!

Nope. It's just the Beacon that sucks. Everyone knows it, so no use beginning a thread.

I agree, it is a different Brandon Anderson. If I recall correctly there was a Brandon Anderson recruited by Lee Owens in his last class. This must be him?Odd coincidence.

Cal U opens football drills By Brian HermanVALLEY INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITORSaturday, April 1, 2006 CALIFORNIA - California University football coach John Luckhardt will start his fourth spring practice this morning at Adamson Stadium. And it's no secret what the biggest question he'll keep being asked as the Vulcans try to better last year's 8-2 showing including 5-1 in the PSAC West. It's who's going to replace two-time All-American running back Antoine Bagwell? "We don't have an answer," said Luckhardt. "We may never have a player as good as Bagwell." Bagwell was good enough to run for 1,588 yards and score 25 touchdowns last season and play in the Hula Bowl three months ago against predominantly Division I players. While runners like Bagwell don't come along very often, Luckhardt isn't ready to push the panic button. "We were trying to go hard to get guys in here for competition," noted Luckhardt. "Instead of one guy, we may go by committee to try to replace Antoine." The "committee" consists of two holdovers and four newcomers. The returnees are sophomore Brandon Lombardy, redshirt sophomore ReMaro Rush and redshirt freshman Stefan Brinson, who had to sit out the 2005 campaign after transferring from Pitt. The trio rate high with their coach. "Lombardy had a heck of an off-season, Brinson is solid and Rush is our waterbug with his quickness," said Luckhardt. "They'll start off at the top of the list." Staying there, however, may not be easy with Daine Williams, Wendell Brown and Brandon Anderson around. Williams transferred from Howard University after running for over 4,000 yards at Beaver Falls High while Brown, a Pitt transfer, had over 3,000 yards and 41 touchdowns at Duquesne High and Anderson, an Akron transfer who starred at Penn Hills High.

The new stadium will be a first class facility. What has Proenza done in the past 6 years that would make anyone think he's going to emulate anything related to K-ent football?I also don't want public opinion involved with the stadium design. Retards like Terry Pluto are clamoring for a 20,000 seat venue. That's a joke. Mack Roades is getting paid to do a job. I have 100% faith in him and Proenza that the stadium project will be 1st class all the way. My biggest fear: $500 parking fees to be in one of the handful of "exclusive" tailgate lots. I think a lot of us will miss the cost and flexibility of the Rubber Bowl lower lot once we upgrade to the new on-campus venue.

Wow...that's a H-U-G-E gun to jump.I saw her at the Cleveland airport two weeks ago. She was flying to Kansas to scout some JUCO players.

A quick search on gozips.com will locate all the recruits.

I voted Tuzze...I've never seen him play but I'm very interested to see him this spring.I used to love watching Rache Culler flatten people. Dan Basch, pre-injury, could knock some people down too. They also could get a yard when you needed it. I didn't see that power in McDaniel last season. Maybe he comes in to summer camp 20 pounds heavier and with a bad-ass attitude? I'm all for it if he does. If he really doesn't change much from 2005 to 2006 we will need an upgrade, and I'll take my chances with Tuzze. Or, Kiki Gonzales.

Glenn Mason used to coach K-ent. And, they have quite a few Ohio kids on their roster. I think Mason is helping out his former employer and also saying "Thank You" to some of his NE Ohio players by giving them a game near their home.