Captain Kangaroo

I have yet to meet the new AD. One seemingly small, yet impressive thing he's implemented is displacing some lower-reserved season ticket holders in the JAR and creating a lower-reserved student section. That idea was suggested here years ago and was dismissed as impossible. Likewise, selling beer at the JAR was suggested here years ago, and dismissed as absolute lunacy. Now we have a basketball student section as engaged and full as I've seen it in decades. And during a pandemic, no less? And I can have a $6 beer at my seat and watch the game, and shockingly...nobody has died because of it. There was a General Electric commercial a few years ago which contained the phrase "Ideas are frightening because the threaten what is known. They're the natural born enemy of the way things are." There are way too many people within UA that had clung to "the way things are" for decades. And believed issues like football game day attendance is just "the way things are." Why? It is a lot easier to say "I wouldn't have built that stadium" than it is to fill it. You're off the hook scot-free...it was the fault of the guys preceding you. It seems like UA may have finally lucked into an ambitious, engaging AD who can pull it out of it's decades-long death grip on the past. He made a great hire with Joe Moorhead. He's implementing changes that are seemingly simple, but on UA's conservative scale, are groundbreaking. I look forward to seeing InfoCision butts-in-seats increase appreciably over the next several years. Based upon the student involvement at the JAR this winter, I expect an immediate uptick in student attendance at football games this fall. Great things are going on at UA. Thanks to Guthrie for pulling us Zips fans off the ventilator. After a 3-24 three year stretch, I was ready to flat-line. Now I'm ready to party! 😁

Three From The Burg

Thanks. I forgot about that one.

I'd think Akron is about 127th on the list of possible landing spots for College Game Day. Nowhere to go but up, I guess? They did make it to BG in 2003, so it's technically possible.

Tennessee-Martin

I dunno...no mention of this veteran staff having any experience at Ahola Solutions ... just marquee P5 football programs. Meh.

Another example Makes his dropped passes against Kent understandable. His mind was elsewhere.

If all that Marketing blather means "script Akron" is not on our football helmets, I'm all for it.

If we didn't fill InfoCision for that first-ever game against Morgan State, what picture would we use for marketing the football program?

This thread is dedicated to recruiting service "stars." It was created because this topic historically diverts interesting discussions within other threads. In this case I think all members would like to see the 2022 Zips Recruit Commitment Thread exclusive to player announcements and links + member comments regarding their bios.

West Virginia now has 27 transfers during this calendar year, which leads the country At one point recently, TJ Banks was turning heads Tristian Brank has a stellar 2021 by Zips TE standards. He fended off a Kentucky recruit for the starting job this past season. It will be interesting to see how the Banks vs. Brank battle evolves. And if Nik Ognenovic factors in.

The Edge just tweeted 🎶 “Ali’s not quiet on New Year’s Day!” 🎶 Bono retweeted. 🎉 32 points! 🦾

Put OSU, OK State, ND or anyone else against Alabama and Georgia today and the results would have been the same or worse. They’re head and shoulders above everyone else.

Micah Faler

I only listen to satellite radio, and always have way too much food at my tailgates… so it wouldn’t help me. But if it brought Joe Akron back from the dead I’m all for it.

Kent blows. Looking forward to getting the Wagon Wheel back next year!

Tyler originally with the Longhorns.

Good for Zach. He took an absolute beating during his 3 freshman years as a Zip. All for 3 lousy wins. Same for Matheson. I loved him, but he paid his dues and deserves to go wherever he wants. 100% confident Joe will quickly find replacements as good as, or better than those two guys. And put them is a much better position to win than Zach and Michael ever had. Unless Joe brings in an eye-popping QB transfer, I'm still high on Irons. Joe will fix his ball security issues and give him a much better line to throw behind.

I still remember seeing that quote from Faust back in '86.

Western Kentucky was too good for the MAC.

For those who think Pluto knows anything about the Zips, just shy of 3 years ago he proclaimed...

I'm looking forward to the day a decent journalist does an in-depth story on the kids who enter the portal with delusions of grandeur, and then afterwards lament they didn't know how good they had it at their original school. I have to believe the horror stories outweigh the successes pretty heavily.

I think I nailed it?

I'm not totally sold on it. The Portal isn't going anywhere, and student athletes now have the same ability to come-and-go as coaches...but I don't think it is good for college football. I would be pulling my hair out as a coach after spending a ton of time wooing a kid, only to have him bolt the program for any of the myriad of reason kids transfer now-a-days. I hate that Senior Day now consists of clapping for a bunch of mercenary grad students that you watched for a year or two. I like that the portal allows a downtrodden program like the Zips to get mature bodies and turn things around quickly. But I don't like that future "stars" bolt early (Mumpfield could have broken Matt Cherry and Jabari's records, and now he's gone). It's a shame a Freshman that doesn't get immediate PT bolts a team like the Zips, where he'd have been a starter as a Junior/Senior, and ends up at Slippery Rock. Hopefully Moorhead and his staff can create a culture where the bulk of kids the kids buy-in to each other, and being a Zip, and don't feel like starting over elsewhere. I think the surprisingly low number of incumbent Zips in the portal today (I expected 20+ by now) speaks to them enjoying the UA experience, and seeing some hope that the new regime will give them a chance to start winning at the place where they've invested so much to-date.

If a 4th string QB from Ohio State were being honored at Infocision, Zips "fans" would have paid attention. 🤢 Real Zips fans love Jason Taylor. Yeah, they wish he were more visible in his support of his alma mater, but no real Zips supporter dislikes him. 99% are proud of him. There's just so few of us it looks worse than it is. Additionally - while Taylor was strutting his stuff at the Rubber Bowl, there were probably between 500 - 2000 fans at most home games. And the teams of that era were pretty bad. Few Akronites ever saw him play.