Captain Kangaroo

If berating players causes eating disorders, Bruce Weinkein must weigh about 26 lbs. now-a-days? :blink:

I would say he wasn't the best Zips football player I ever saw. He would have been if he could have stayed healthy, but he was ALWAYS injured during his Akron years. Obviously he gets the edge regarding his pro career. What happened to Dwight last season? Probably the same thing that happened to the entire TB team in 2003, I guess? Hopefully there are a few more Zips in the NFL in 2004 to give JT a run for his NFL-Zips supremacy title!

I interpreted it the same way. My respect for Ellen drops with every column she scribes. I guess we'll have to wait until our new coaches/teams start winning some games before she changes her tune.

Beautiful post.

Allan looks like he's 12 years old?!! :blink:

I did a google search under OLZIP and this is what I found. Menacing...very menacing... :blink:

cClick Here Also articles on "Almost Zip" Dante Booker and others on this site.

I think we should let him stay, but we should restrict his use of the "." button. No more than 36 consecutive ......'s or the post gets deleted! Then again, the guy that gave me the recipe for "Apple Pie" can probably do whatever the hell he pleases and I can't complain. I've seen this OLZip guy. Back in the 30's, in the days of the leather helmets, were the OL's 146 lbs? Man, if I were QB and he were my left tackle, I'd roll right every damn play!

You've seen all the questions posted here. If you could pose a few to JD it would be greatly appreciated.

Bubba is done. Moeller lost to Brookhaven. He's looking forward to his collegiate career! Two years riding the bench behind Bryan Hipsher and he should be ready to roll in 2006-7

Another interesting battle to watch will be Sullivan vs. Swiger for the field goal kicking and kick off duties. Does Sullivan win the job back?

Wonder where he'll end up next year? Likely at CSU? I don't think anyone else would take him.

I like the schedule. PSU is a weak Big 10 team. If we can formulate a defensive strategy, we can certainly compete with them. MTSU @ home is a very winnable game. We'll draw 25K for it (+/- 5k, depending upon how we compete against Penn State) UVA game will be tough. A beautiful road trip in September! Can't is away...but it is a whopping 7 miles away. In my eyes, it is essentially a "home" game. We'll have as many fans there as Can't...probably more. Thursday night is a GREAT idea. All the folks that sit on their butts watching OSU every Saturday (or any other TV game) can still come out and watch the Zips on a Thursday night. The weather will be fine. It makes this game standout from the sea of Saturday games. AND...peole have obviously learned their lesson that the Can't State/Akron has no business being played in late November (if you want people to actually show up at the stadium). NIU is a great road game. A real chance to make a statement against a solid MAC West program. I was sick of playing EMU and CMU every damn year. Buffalo @ home. Homecoming game. @ UCF - Can't beat going to central Florida once the weather begins to turn cold. UCF is obviously a good opportunity for a road win too. Ball State - Should be a good home test. BYE week before Marshall is great! Marshall: Having this game on a Friday night is a great opportunity. National TV for the best QB in the land! He deserves that! HS games will be done, except for playoffs. That means no conflicts with 95% of the local teams. And, many of the HS playoff games will be on Saturday anyhow, right? Marshall game in November gives us a great chance at a late-season 20K crowd too! @ OU is another good opportunity for a road win. Miami @ home. The weather in late November can only help us. I'd much rather play these guys on a "slow track" than a nice warm day in September. Again, if we're a good squad, this game has a chance to draw upwards of 15k. MAC Championship game: We'll be ready! Great schedule!

Hey Z-P: MTSU has been 1-A for several years!

I hear there's a new beer that's all the rage in the Akron area? I couldn't tell you how many bottles I saw strewn about the Rubber Bowl parking lot last season? Rumor has it it may be re-introduced this fall in conjunction with the Fryeisman campaign? The 2004 version will actually have DOUBLE the "carbs" of the 2004 version, just to piss off all the low-carb wusses (ie. Miami and Can't fans)!

I thought you were immortalizing the date that Johnny Hollingsworth hit is last "trey" before his game dropped off the face of the earth. :blink:

Per Vandelay sports, the speculation about a Cleveland Stadium appears all for naught. The game will probably end up at the Rubber Bowl. In my heart, it seems like it is just too soon in JD's tenure to accept the risk of a Stadium flop...and there is a substantial risk. Once our program reaches the level of, say, Toledo (9+ wins year-in-year-out) I think something like that would be viable, and awesome.

I kinda feel "cheated" that we got a coach so fast? No speculation...no big names bandied-about...no non-finalists "removing their names from consideration"...nuthin'. Makes for a dull Zipsnation board in the early-offseason! What a rip-off that we don't get to see Dambrot's first "KD" recruiting class hit the floor until the Fall of 2005! Wonder if any of the two Ohio-based 2004 recruits will make the Wendy's all-star roster? That's always fun to keep tabs on during the summer. Is Corey Jones from St V Division 1 material? Does he have any interest in walking on at Akron, in light of the coaching change? Matt Futch seems to have the most work ahead of him. He started off the season pretty strong, then seemed to tire...then fell in love with his outside shot. We don't need 6' 8" 300 lb 3-point shooters. It'll be interesting to see how this new up-tempo Zips style affects his belly (I see a lot of puking in garbage cans in HIS near-future if he wants some PT next season). Does the kid from Wadsworth fit into Dambrot's plans (Goddard?). He's allegedly a good shooter...and we're losing the biggest one we had in Tarver. A few weeks ago someone "in-the-know" told me a few hoops transfers were already on-campus . This was before the reassignment. Wonder if any names will surface (I'm sure we'll see something in the Beacon)? Owens never so much as put his foot in his new cubicle after his reassignment? Has Hipsher? Man was the MAC "down" in hoops this season. WMU was clearly the class of the MAC. Toledo and Can't were the only ones with a legit claim to an NIT. No one was griping about not getting an at-large NCAA bid. Can't's DeAndre Haynes is a hell of a player. If I were Dru Joyce I'd stare-down Haynes' picture every morning before I went to work out. :angry: No comments regarding Tarver only getting 2nd team all-MAC? After watching the first-teamers at The Gund it is obvious it was the right choice. I would easily have traded any of those guards or forwards for Tarver. Like Zipboy, I liked what Dambrot had to say regarding Travis, Joyce and Wood. He had the opportunity to "gush" over them, but matter-of-factly stated that they all have a lot of work to do over the summer. That 7:00pm Monday 1350AM show with "Fred" and Joe Dunn is actually pretty good. There are free-thinkers on the show that are "fans" yet also are critical of things that aren't "peachy." Joe Dunn is the resident Zips "shill," so it makes for a balanced show. (Most of it is HS, but Zips coverage is there for the asking). For the MAC's sake, I hope Can't wins tonight.

I'm out for tonight, but hope to be there tomorrow. I stopped over in the section 108 "hood" a few times yesterday, but didn't see you. Overall, it was the worst opening round I've seen. It seems a lot of MAC schools had bad seasons, and no one wanted to travel to the games to see an expected loss? WMU and Can't fans will probably be back in force tonight. Buffalo had a great crowd, WMU was good, Can't ok, Toledo ok, BG below average. Ball State terrible, Miami bad, Marshall bad. OU always brought a good crowd...I'm sure the Gund missed them.

Larry Penn wasn't a Division 1 player. He's better off where he's at now. That said, his complaints regarding Hipher shouldn't be dismissed as sour grapes from a disgruntled player. He basically said what we've all witnessed for the past 9 years. Enough Hipsher bashing...the future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

From what I know, this game would be played AFTER the HS regular season. The playoffs will be underway, but the game would not compete with many, if any local HS games. I did not know anything about Cleveland being considered as a possible game location? MT mentioned the near certainty of a nationally televised ESPN game at Brookhart's press conference. My information is a month old, so things may have evolved?

I'm taking tomorrow off, so I figured I should show up for work today. Besides, it was supposed to be on the web! :angry:

So these are the shoes of U of A lore? :blink:

Will Hipsher "pull and Owens" and leave, or will he accept his reassignment? I would have to believe he'll end up on someone's bench next season as an assistant...maybe at Texas Tech? If Bryan Hipsher shows up on the court next season in anything other than a mascot's suit, or with a trumpet in his hand, I'll explode. Will Nick Meyers get some PT in 2004-5? Wonder what the three 2004 recruits think about this development? Ditto for the existing players. Who will comprise Dambrot's staff? How long will it take Ellen Alexander to bring up the racial thing at the press conference in an attempt to embarass Dambrot? If Dambrot is any good, you'd think he'll stick with the program for quite a while? The U of A has really stuck its neck out on this one...even hiring him as an assistant was risky. I think that, coupled with the fact that he's an alum, should help in keeping him a Zips coach for some time. IF, of course, he can win some games. As cruel as it sounds, learning of Hipsher's reassignment really made me happy..."popping champagne corks and running around the neighborhood naked screaming 'woooo hoooo'" happy! My season tickets will be renewed for 2004-5. I feel better about being at the Gund tomorrow. Not great, but better. For "not having this idea cemented until after the Ball State loss," MT sure made a quick decision on the hire? From the time Hipsher was gone until the time of Dambrot's press conference is about 21 1/2 hours? Seems like he must have at least considered the possibility for a day or two beforehand?

Zips to name Dambrot as new coach 03/10/04 Elton Alexander Plain Dealer Reporter The postseason. That is the bottom line. And Tuesday, University of Akron men's basketball coach Dan Hipsher was cut by it. Akron Athletic Director Mike Thomas reassigned Hipsher to the university's development and public affairs office. Later Tuesday evening, it was announced the Zips will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. today and will name third-year assistant Keith Dambrot, 45, a former Zips player, as Akron's next coach. This would bring a troubled college coaching history full circle for Dambrot. He first emerged as one of the youngest college coaches. But an Ashland College program he took to a 48-13 record (1989 and 1990) and national prominence during his tenure was later hit with two years of NCAA probation for major violations after he left for Central Michigan. Dambrot himself was not sanctioned for misdeeds at Ashland. After two years as coach of the Chippewas (20-34), Dambrot was fired following an incident in which he used a racial epithet toward his players. He returned to Akron and found work before returning to coaching at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, and three seasons ago as an assistant with the Zips. An Akron team with many of Dambrot's recruits was expected to contend for a MAC title but finished 13-15, 7-11, due in great measure to the downturn of senior guard Johnny Hollingsworth, who was ultimately suspended for academic reasons, and the continued poor health of 6-8 senior Andy Hipsher. The coach's son suffered with back problems for three years. But the final straw that led to Dan Hipsher's demise was Akron's 76-72 defeat to Ball State on Monday night in the opening round of the MAC Tournament. "The idea [to replace Hipsher] was not cemented until then," Thomas said. Thomas cited the Zips' inability to make any moves in the postseason as the reason to end the nine-year tenure of the MAC's dean of basketball coaches. That loss gave Hipsher a 1-7 MAC tournament record, which is the deepest into postseason play the Zips ever advanced under the graduate from Bowling Green. "If you look at our history in the postseason, that is what you are judged on," Thomas said. "Our teams don't get better at the end of the season. We've struggled in the postseason. We were not moving in a positive direction. We needed a change in leadership." Hipsher's 15-year coaching record at Wittenberg, Stetson and Akron is 238-182, including 112-137 with the Zips. The highlight for Akron under Hipsher came in 1997-98 when the Zips finished 17-10, won the MAC's East Division and Hipsher was named the MAC's coach of the year. One noteworthy achievement for Hipsher is the fact he is the only Akron basketball coach to win a game at rival Can't State in the last 40 years, including Zip legends Bob Huggins and Wyatt Webb. Hipsher won, 93-68, at Can't State in 1998; he won, 85-70, in 2003. "I understand they have their decisions to make," Hipsher said. "But I love Akron. I'm an Ohio guy. I'm a MAC guy. This job has meant a ton to me. The question is always asked, 'Did you see this coming?' With the young guys we have, and the guys coming in, I was looking forward to working with this group of players in the future." Now, that chore will go to Dambrot, who will start his Akron career holding an 0-2 MAC Tournament record while at Central Michigan.