Captain Kangaroo

Chuck's Fine Wines in Chagrin Falls

Still looking for a gift for that discriminating beer drinker on your list? Had this 2 nights ago. Maybe the best barrel-aged beer I've had to-date.

I spoke to Nemec a couple months ago. A big part of his job is just helping newer student athletes get adjusted to college life. Finding their way around campus, scheduling classes...he helps them with a lot of the stuff most people would take for granted, but that's critical for an 18 year old kid who's away from home for the first time needs. He's not drawing up X's and O's or going out and recruiting. He doesn't have a big salary. I was surprised to learn he was only allowed to travel with the team to one of the OOC away games. He's the perfect guy for that position. He seems to be a helpful "surrogate grandfather" to a lot of the kids, but with the added benefit of being a HS football coach for 40 years. I think his dad even coached at Penn Hills for a couple decades. A good, unsung hero of the Zips staff that took some administrative burden off the coaches and let them focus on their jobs. I'd hope the new staff would consider keeping him around. At least for the full transition year.

If it looks the second coming of Rob I-and-II-o, I’ll have my pitchfork sharpened after game #1.

This is what you get when you make a coaching change. Hopefully the grad assistants are keeping some of the other commitments on the line until the new staff is announced. You make a change like this for the next seven years, not one. So I hope Williams takes his time and get the best candidate. If it lasts into next week, so be it. As long we aren't courting Old Man Winters up in Michigan.

Quan is gone...

Let’s Go Zips!!

Dammit...then we'd be like Toledo or NIU. Wouldn't that suck, Zips fans?

And the settlement is....what?

As a position coach, maybe.

I guess if you are the first, and only candidate to interview so far, you’re no doubt the “leading candidate.”

His players stayed at Akron, and graduated from Akron. That tells me they didn't mind playing for him. In a 100 person company you'll always have a few discontented people, but I never saw much complaining about Bowden from players on social media. I was at several practices and I never heard any negative comments from players about Bowden. They seemed to like him.

Eat them up, eat them up, go Zips go!

Kato had all the mobility of Hermann Munster. That kills his game. He's not a pocket passer. With a healthy, sharp Kato we could compete with anybody. With a hobbled, or no Kato, we sucked. That was the fine line we rode towards the end of the year. We rode it with Woodson too. In the past several years we've just never possessed a running game, any semblance of run blocking, or a decent #2 QB. And here we are...

I don't buy the "He lost the team" sentiment. We shut out South Carolina in the second half...if you're a 4-7 MAC school...how do you shut out a bowl-bound SEC team for a full two quarters while you quit on your coach!? We forces four turnovers in that game. If the Zips quit, the score should have been 66-3. Kato is a sophomore that improved over the course of the season. He had a terrible Miami game early, but you'll get that from a QB in his first starting season. Had he stayed healthy, we probably at least win 2-out-of-3 vs EMU, BG and NIU. If you believe the George Thomas comment that Bowden would have been fired last year if wouldn't have won the MAC East, I contend if Kato didn't get hurt this year, it would have botched Williams plans yet again. If you want to tell me Bowden needed to go because he'd run his course and we needed new blood...the stands were empty...sponsorships were down...our OL play and RB's were perennially at the bottom of Division 1 football...I would have a tough time arguing it. But I never saw the players quit on the coach. They always played hard. They just didn't have enough talent and depth across the board. I think the next coach will reap the benefits of what Bowden has assembled here much like Brookhart won his MAC Championship with a large contingent of Owens' players, or Darrell Hazell won at Kent with Doug Martin's guys. Bowden got Kato for the tough "toddler years." The next coach will get him for 2 full seasons in his prime. Add Stewart...Morris...Boogie...Williams...what a great situation to step in to.

This thing I like about him is he's effective, and consistent. You know what you're going to get from him night-in-night-out on both ends of the floor. The other guys have been up and down.

Meh. 99% of the guys that played pro football couldn't hire a college coach if their life depended upon it. I like Groce, but it's a little early to call him a great hire. He was a low-risk, obvious choice. I'll hold off on the hosannas for the new women's coach until she coaches...maybe 10 games? I'll hold off on the hosannas for Sabo until he coaches...maybe 1 game? I hope we make a great hire, win a couple championships and fill InfoCision. But 30 years of history tells me there's a decent chance we'll screw it up.

I would contend that, had Woodson not been suspended, Bowden would have won a lot more games. And if Kato wouldn't have been hurt this season, we'd have more games. Probably would have been bowl eligible. Woulda... coulda... shoulda... I met Rob Ianello shortly after he was hired. Within 1 minute, I knew the guy was a jackass that would fail. Yet he made it through the UA interview process and got hired. I trust no AD. I look at Notre Dame. Bottomless pockets. Resources out the wazoo. Best facilities. Tradition. And they hired Ty Willingham, Bob Davies and Charlie Weis. I trust no AD. AD's are nothing special. There are bad ones, mediocre ones, and a few great ones. The great ones would be successful in any business. They're leaders. Not just because they played football. A solid COO or VP of Sales at any successful company, with zero football experience, could hire a great football coach at Akron. Maybe Arth is awesome. Maybe Williams is enamored with him for some other non-football reason (like UA was with Faust and Ianello from Notre Dame, or Thomas was with Brookhart - the "young up-and-comer" at the time). I don't know. We'd better interview at least two other candidates, and give them a serious look.

Because all the other Zips athletic directors since the late 80's have made such outstanding hires?

I would love to see him get the job. I don't think he'd fail...he's just too football-smart, and driven. Joe Moorhead wanted the Zips job seven years ago, but UA hired Bowden instead. That Moorhead chose Getsy as his OC at Mississippi State tells you all you need to know. I got to know his parents a little during his stint at Akron. Fantastic people. A great football family. The thing that stood out to me about Luke was - he always conducted himself as an absolute "pro." He never said a bad word about any of his teammates after a game. He's very analytical. I remember at one scrimmage Chev Pace hit him late on a blitz, even though, as the QB, he was wearing a red shirt. Getsy barked at him, "Chev! That was LATE!" Pace sort of put his tail between his legs and shuffled back to the D side. I probably can't explain in text how an action so simple spoke so much to me about his leadership , but I still remember it 14 years later. Everyone on the team respected him. To me, Luke Getsy is classy, he's a pro, he's driven, he's got an incredible football acumen, he's paid his dues and increased his responsibilities at every step through his coaching career, he's got great morals, he's a great leader, he's young and motivated, he knows the area, he's a University of Akron graduate...I don't see how UA could go wrong hiring him. Does he have previous HC experience? No. But if you're at Akron, you need to think outside the box. Hire Luke Getsy.

UA didn't. But Kent did. "Over the years, I often talked to Kehres. I knew he had been offered chances to coach at Princeton, UMass and Kent State. He was tempted by Kent, because he would not have had to move. That was in 1997 after winning his third national title. But in the end, he stayed home."

A recruiting coordinator from Notre Dame...how could that possibly go wrong? Are calls in to Charlie Weis and Ty Willingham?

Scarborough stuck around and taught a class while completing his President's contract, so why not? I think Faust also had the title of "Fundraiser" as he completed the balance of his coaching contract? Bowden's new wife is from the Akron area, so maybe he'd want to stick around UA in some capacity.

I wish there was a place on ZipsNation to discuss recruiting.

"InfoCision Stadium might be an albatross" Had she ever been to the Rubber Bowl? I would love to see her write a column on why such a nice stadium is an "albatross." Who's fault is it? Scarborough said "I wouldn't have built that stadium." Seems like everyone is keen to blame Mike Thomas for giving UA a beautiful on-campus stadium for a paltry 61.5 million dollars (it would cost double that to build it today). Different topic for a different thread, but it just bugs me that no one since Mike Waddell has busted his butt to fill UA's football stadium.