UAZipster0305

I was unaware of this; however, it changes my impression very little. If it were at Mount Union with a 40-3ish record and a couple of National Championships followed by success at the FCS level, I'd feel differently. Instead, I feel that our pool of coach applicants was pretty shallow.

Sounds strangely similar to the hype when iCoach was hired.

Bowden didn't get that excuse in his favor, neither does the new guy.

This is a potential disaster. No real notable credentials and we expect this guy to outshine Bowden? Are you kidding me?! AND we have to buy out his other contract? Amidst a financial crisis that has resulted in significant academic reductions, this is criminal. At least we aren't hearing about what a great "recruiter" he is. The AD and football program no longer have my support or confidence. They are both detrimental to the overall best interests of UA. As evidence by the reactions here, this hire does nothing to inject excitement into the fan base, which is ironic given that this was part of the justification for Bowden being fired. Sounds like the same kind of logic used in explaining the program cuts while admitting they don't actually save UA money. Something universally toxic seems to be afoot. I could have supported Getsy being hired, but not a guy who has no experience at this level and whose only head coaching experience includes taking a good FCS program and making it worse while carrying player injuries as an excuse. An excuse that was not allowed for Bowden during one down season after several seasons of success. Oh the hypocrisy!

It's been a busy few days wrapping up the year in the office, and I haven't had a chance to share my thoughts until now. Several people from my office here in Maryland watched the game and gave us a lot of respect. That always feels good. As others have said, the game being on ESPNU was disgraceful, especially considering the programming alternatives on ESPN and ESPN2 at the time. What a disservice to the sport, the schools, and the NCAA. I have a fairly complete sports cable package and still had to go out to watch. As for the game, we started playing our style in the first ten minutes or so. However, I suspect Maryland then made a few changes and a commitment to not let us be comfortable on the ball. From there, we were under pressure, being fouled, or played physically all over the field. There were a small handful of very minor injuries by our players after contact was apparent, and I think it strongly influenced their confidence. Maryland's size, particularly across the back line, was problematic for us too. Egbo and Kahsay never got going. There weren't many chances for either team. Our best was in the first half coming in from the corner of the box on the left side. The shot was low and off the goalies' foot and then out of bounds just outside of the post. Had that been put high, it would have been in, and the rest of the game would have been different. It's amazing how soccer is so strongly determined by singular events. Against MSU, every one of those seemed to go our way. Not so against Maryland. Oh well. Both teams were fairly evenly matched, but Maryland likely deserved to win. However, they won for the wrong reason. As a former state licensed referee, I am qualified to say that the first PK was terrible, especially considering the context of a championship game. There appeared to be very little contact, and the Maryland player was clearly embellishing. An indirect free kick from the spot of the foul as a result of dangerous play for the high kick would have been appropriate. Unfortunately, this call determined the game and the strategy of both teams from there on. The second PK was also questionable...very little contact, if any, with the Maryland player going down easily. Lundt should have done better to lead with his hands for the ball rather than his legs; great save for him on the PK though. The red card was also garbage. The foul was not malicious and our player had not even been verbally warned for misconduct and the offensive player was headed more towards the corner than the goal. A yellow would have been fair. The timing of these events really prevented us from getting organized and making a strong push to attack. In spite of the perfect storm of poor officiating and Maryland's physicality disrupting our game, I was happy that we still played hard through it all. Going forward, Embick needs to figure out how to adjust when the other team decides to chop the game up by being excessively physical. Porter never quite figured this out either as evidence by the 0-0 loss against UVA in 2009. We may have won 3+ National Championships by now if it weren't for teams nearly or every bit as skilled as us playing defensive, physical, and direct soccer. It worked multiple times for Stanford and now for Maryland. While this strategy for other teams won't generally be effective in the MAC because the talent disparity is too great, it is becoming a consistent recipe for beating the Zips in the NCAAT. The future is bright, but figure this bugaboo out, and 2+ National Championships in the next five years is a real possibility. Kudos to the seniors for leading the turnaround. Surprising run to end a now great season. At the beginning of November, I was already looking towards next season. What a pleasant surprise! Embick has my full confidence. Go Zips!

Getting excited to get takeout and watch the Zips get that second star! Take it to 'em, boys! Watching from Baltimore, MD and rooting for the Zips is an interesting paradox. No team I'd rather beat in this game than UMD because they knocked us out in 2003 and 2005. We are yet to beat them in the NCAAT. We are overdue and playing so so well! Game on!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/12/08/maryland-soccer-is-taking-its-redemption-tour-ncaa-championship-game/?utm_term=.c9027251121e

After beating NW and playing ISU tough, everyone thought we were headed there this season. The starting talent was there, but then there were injuries, and we are not yet deep enough to sustain those losses. Most MAC teams are a few key player injuries away from being the top or close to the top of the MAC to below average.

My point exactly. I feel this decision was made more towards personal gain than the University's and program's best interests in mind.

Though not recently, upon opening of the Info, there was plenty of talk about being the Boise State of the midwest. We played for a MACC. Think about that relative to not even being average FCS with iCoach. That's how far we've come with Bowden. Because we have a down year, you doubt his abilities to take us any further?

Given the situation of one year left on Bowden's contract, the AD micromanaging the situation and removing Milwee would have been appropriate. And what if that happened and we went 8-4 next year?

Yes, hard to compare sports, and it's likely more difficult in football in my opinion because there are so many more personnel and less games. One bad game has much more of an impact on evaluating the success or failure of a season in football than basketball. With regard to Buffalo basketball, as you point out, they were "getting close". Akron football was by far the worst program in the country for several seasons. We may not have even been an average FCS program. TB was taking us from the cellar to average. So all else being equal between sports, the comparison doesn't hold. We are getting to average. We could have held on another year and then made a change after Bowden's contract expired. That's all I'm saying.

And what CK observed and was aware of indicated otherwise. A change needed to be made and that was an intervention with Bowden to demote Milwee. Agree to disagree.

No, you stay grounded in reality and move forward. For Akron football that means having the perspective to realize we will never be Boise State. As I've expressed in another post, geography alone dictates that. The recovery from the worst D-1 program in the country to where we are now has been worthy of our loyalty to the coach who made that happen, especially given the current financial challenges of the University. After financial recovery or Bowden's contract expires or he chooses to leave, then we consider the possibility of taking the next step to grow into an NIU or Toledo. In another program, we have more than Boise State in football or Gonzaga in basketball; neither of those programs have ever won an NCAAC. Think about it...Boise State and Gonzaga are not even the Akron soccer of football or basketball. And here we are on the verge of capturing our second NCAAC tomorrow night. In terms of universities in Ohio and other than OSU, I believe only UC has won more than one team national championship and those two were over 50 years ago. No other MAC program has ever won a national championship. Point being, we already have the national prominence you desire; it just doesn't happen to be in your favorite sport. Nonetheless, this is the essence of our athletic culture! Good football and championship soccer are not mutually exclusive, but let's have some perspective. I feel that unless we have a MACC in football every year, some of you won't be happy, and you don't think we can get there fast enough. It has taken soccer forty years of consistent winning and highly stable coaching tenures to get to this point. Now is not the time to fire another football coach prematurely and introduce the strong possibility of regressing to where Akron football has almost always been and further compromising University finances to do it. We need to establish ourselves as a consistent above average MAC football program, and that's where Bowden was taking us. For right now, we are inconsistent, and that's exactly what you'd expect from a program recently getting itself out of the cellar. Think about this: Bowden beat the B1G west champs in the same season that we fired him. That is absurd! When have we ever beaten even the worst of the B1G programs in football? That's right, never. It's rare that we've even been competitive let alone won.

What a dominant performance! This team is flying high. Given the teams we've played, this could be one of the most impressive runs ever to an NCAAC. What's even more incredible is that we've won every game in regular time. Avoiding extra time has been tremendously important in dealing with being on the road for several consecutive weeks. With the starters in, MSU only had two chances. It's too bad the subs couldn't keep the shutout for Lundt. Oh well. Indiana was an excellent team, and Maryland is peaking at the right time, but I firmly believe we finish this thing off tomorrow night. We are a freight train / buzzsaw right now. There is so much confidence and joy on the field, and it's amazing to watch. Second star! Great media coverage and fan participation...exactly the kind of stuff the University needs during these difficult times.

I think it is much more likely that we regress to where we are now or not even that.Expecting otherwise is the quintessential definition of insanity. Look at our history. What makes this time around any different?

Bowden remains the best D-1 coach we've ever had. The expectations of so many of you are unrealistic; we will never be a Boise State and likely not ever an NIU or Toledo. Someone like Solich is difficult to find. Anyone younger we get who is successful will be courted by larger schools with more money, and we will thus be repeating this process regularly.

Okay, maybe it wasn't the best analogy. I still had faith Bowden would have gotten us there.

Discount the initial 1-11 season and things look very different, especially given the MACEC, most ever wins in a season, the two bowls, and our first bowl victory, all in the last four years. We weren't at OU consistency yet, but I think we were headed there with Bowden. A new OC would have made a huge difference in results this season and going into next. Instead, we are rebuilding again...

Bowden seems like a reasonable guy. If the AD approached him about demoting Milwee and bringing in someone else, I think he would have complied. I highly doubt that conversation ever took place though.

We can speculate all day. I see your point, but I disagree. I don't see us increasing attendance much in the first year of a new coach as the team performance will likely be comparable or not as good through the first season or two. Long-term, who knows.

I discount TB's first season. He walked into a true dumpster fire. Beyond that, I don't know what other seasons you are referring to that were terrible. Most wins in a season at D-1, first bowl victory, another bowl appearance, MAC East Champs, student-athletes graduating at a solid rate, no scandals,...those things make him the most successful D-1 coach we've had...and we fired him amid a financial crisis. He should've been retained and maybe even extended with the understanding that Milwee would be demoted or asked to leave. Don't forget, our second most successful D-1 coach (Brookhart, only MACC), and the most successful at the time, was fired by a headlining attempt to open the Info and build the career of an AD...and we got iCoach. At least one AD later and a new best coach, and we are wanting to repeat history. You're delusional. UA doesn't and never has had much of a paying public. And neither does any other G5 school wedged between a national P5/BCS powerhouse and an NFL team. Even if we caught lightning in a bottle with a coach like Fleck, he'd be gone right after and we'd likely be right back to where we've always been. Bowden would have gotten us to OU like stability, and that would have been great for UA. Our version of Frank Solich is fine by me.

It doesn't matter. At the very least, the optics of the situation are terrible. This is not OSU. Boosters aren't buying out a major portion of any coach's contract. Their money would be better allocated on addressing our real pressing financial problems. Athletics are a luxury. And yes, I enjoy Akron football. I attend games and listen to or watch them all. I had class with Dwight Smith and Chase Blackburn. I love that we have an NFL HoF'er in Jason Taylor. Our history involving John Heisman and the forward pass are great bits of our history and tradition. I reiterate, suspending a handful of the athletics programs, including football, is the prudent thing to do. If not suspending them, firing Bowden was a terrible decision.

We could find another conference if being in the MAC requires continuous football. As I said in a more recent post in this thread, I'd be all about reducing women's programs commensurate with the loss of football. UA's financial problems are easily fixable; athletics are a luxury. If those who donate towards athletics were told that UA's overall success depends on reductions in athletics and corresponding donations being best allocated to academics, I think most alums and friends of UA would concur and participate accordingly. Academic program reductions should focus on the liberal arts. as UA is more of a STEM school. However, all reductions should be made after negotiating with CSU, KSU, and YSU about corresponding reductions and concentrating certain programs at specific universities. For example, UA, CSU, and YSU don't all need colleges of engineering. What programs could UA and CSU cede to YSU to compensate for contracting their engineering?

Yeah, given the situation, the fact that UA is still trying to build and accelerate athletics spending says all I need to know about the cause of UA's problems. Suspending the football program in addition to several women's sports commensurate with Title IX is the right thing to do. UA softball and volleyball have never been good. They can be suspended until academics and finances recover. I'd rather have a physics department and comprehensive Ph.D. programs than athletics. We are afterall a University, not an athletics club.