Z.I.P.

Was that the recruits or the coaching though?Many of those highly rated players are still here. Let's see what the new staff can or can't do.Maybe all those great O-Linemen were designed to run block from the 'I' formation? Good luck Rob.

Yeah, this was news six wks ago -- sorry I meant to mention it, but never got around to it. As far as MAC soccer goes, Bowling Green and Northern Illinois both have excellent recruiting classes coming in. I'd look for NIU to again be a tough team to beat in future years, and UB, HU and BGSU will still be fair to good teams. But, we're in the MAC for the forseeable future. And that's the way it is.

That seems to defeat the purpose of enlarging the field. Why have more teams if they don't have a real chance to play the top contenders. That "play-in" week (or whatever) would just be a "NIT" within the NCAA. That said, I love what is being talked about -- and it would re-ignite my interest in the NCAA BB tournament, which has waned in recent years -- simply because of the added TV exposure which is supposed to be part of the plan. The single reason I have lost interest is because of the poor broadcast capability of CBS. With just one network it is impossible to broadcast -- or more literally, it is impossible for viewers to see an entire game in the first 2-3 rounds of the event. And frankly, by the end of that the NCAA loses even more interest with just the "usual suspects" remaining to play one another. With ESPN involved, with their four networks, it should be possible to broadcast every first-round game in its entirety. And THAT would make a world of difference.

Recruiting updates from me will be sparse. There's a whole new group of coaches...and I have no way to meet them until signing day. Or maybe the summer golf outing.Sucks. This used to be my favorite time of year.A 3 star running back that is committed to NIU visited Akron this weekend and could very well switch his commitment to the Zips. His last name is Bowers.Bowers has switched his commitment from NIU to Akron. Congrats on another good get.That's interesting. Maybe a sign that Howard will have to greyshirt.Howard is not going to greyshirt. If he does sign with Akron he's either gonna be eligible to play in the fall or he won't be eligible. If he is not eligible he cannot go on scholarship in January of 2011, which is what greyshirting would do. He would have to pay his own way for one full year. At the end of the semester in May/June of 2011, if he has good enough grades he would become eligible to go on scholarship in the fall of 2011 and play at that point as a redshirt freshman.I've also heard that he may not sign on Wednesday in hopes that he can get eligible this spring and then go to a BCS school. Not sure what he is going to do at this point.If the kid doesn't want to go to Akron, why doesn't he just SAY so, and the school can stop wasting its time!

IF we were to win the MAC tournament, a win here might take us from a '13' to a '12' seed in Spokane.

Any idea what became of Angel, Z.I.P.?Angel got an assistant job at Southern Florida U in Lakeland (I believe that's the location) the following year. Mary Ann Grimes was the gal who quit on, as I recall, the day after Christmas. Just names in the great morass that has been UA WBB. Angel got national publicity for her age -- and because she was too young to rent a van for the team when they went on the road. I think someone from the SID Ofc took on that job. She was just a year and-a-half out of Northern Kentucky when she got a D-1 HC job! Roxanne Allen...she was the very unique lady who came from being WBB and tennis coach at Wooster to guide our team. Recruited the best player in program history, Cheryl Bowles, who was Kansas City's Athlete of the Year and had Big-12 offers. Seemed as if Roxanne was the anti-GP-1 -- putting GPA ahead of W-L. Her teams had the highest GPAs in school history, with several each year above 3.5, but her victories trailed off every year.

It's always been my interpretation that conservatives think Holden Caulfield was just a Goddam whiner, who grew into a hippy and lived at Haight Ashbury before eventually becoming a literature professor at Can't State. Liberals think the book was written about them.

Look, I can tell when an arrow is aimed at my head. And even at my age, I'm nimble enough to duck ahead of contact. I attend more women's/girl's bb games than men's (and I attend a lot of men's games). I attended Akron women's games in the late '70s and early '80s, when there were perhaps two dozen fans in Memorial Hall. I put up with all the years of sad, losing seasons. I tried to provide excuses to outside WBB fans when 23-yo Angel Donley had to take over as coach when her boss quit over the holidays -- right when the team had some of its best young players ever. The coach who followed Angel took the ladies to their one and only post-season tournament, where they played even with MSU for 35+ minutes. I met that team at the airport and gave them leis on their arrival in Hawai'i in 2000. I have a long-term emotional commitment to the welfare of the teams and players -- that hasn't changed with the passing of numerous 20-loss seasons -- and won't change when they manage to win 20, something that I believe has yet to be achieved, but could be only a year or two away.Jody Kest arrived with lower expectations than even most Akron coaches, and she immediately recruited a band of HS all-stars including a state POY in Sarah T. Given the information that I and others had as an average fan at the time, it looked as if coach Kest had gone overboard in her disciplinary actions, and lost not only the players whom she dismissed -- for reasons that remain unreported, but some, including academic stars, who decided they'd rather play in D-2 (or in one case, the SEC) than be what seemed like a victim of the coach's rath. Wins and losses don't play into the question of whether I support the team, it would take a heck of a lot for me to give up on the ladies. Wins and losses don't play into my evaluation of the coach's relationship with the team either. I'm more than willing to congratulate coach Kest for beginning the program's turn-around. I expect the victories to continue, and that she can get a BCS-level job in a year or two. Notice she brought in her newest assistant from Virginia, who is being groomed as her successor. But, in my mind, the jury is still out on whether Jody is just a winning coach, or whether she is a 'good' coach. I would rather my daughter play for a good coach, who always has the players best interests in mind, than for a winning coach, who only uses young athletes for their own career advancement. There are a lot of those coaches around, but fortunately, Akron has managed to have coaches like Keith and Caleb who are capable of winning while earning the respect of all their players and building them into better citizens. I hope its proven that Jody Kest is a good coach, but that proof won't come on any basketball court. Go get 'em Zips.

I say the best strategy for WMU is let Kool score, and stop everybody else! When they played in HI, DK only scored about 8-12 ppg, but several others stepped up, winning two games and nearly beating eventual champs USC.

Richard Diaz. Looks like another academic scholarship. Piss off dem ACC boys. All we want is to be http://academy.demosphere.com/teams/108766...8/11636848.html

Check the IMG Soccer Blog interview with Blair and stories on Brenes and Ontiveros (U-18). If you're going to have a pipeline, this is the one you want! (unless you're a surfer)http://blog.imgacademies.com/tag/martin-ontiveros/

Top Drawer Recruiting Listhttp://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer...commitments/men

Does anybody know when the Vegas tourney takes place? Would be nice if it could be combined with a soccer event in Santa Barbara, around Dec 10th.

Bring him here, we'll take him, especially since he's a forward and our stock of those seems to keep running low. Since I was the first one -- a year or just more ago to suggest Teal Bunbury as the successor to Zakuani's scoring mantle, ladies and gentlemen, can you say, "Yoram Mwila"?Really? I'm thinking Nagbe is much more likely to be next year's leading goalscorer (I think he could even put in 20). I think Speas, Nanchoff, and Ampai will all increase their goal tally from last year too.Zakuani and Bunbury were more the prototypical "target forward" type, which seems to fit coach Porter's offensive vision. Nagbe, even when he's playing totally up top is much more apt to rome a larger area, looking for loose balls. Darlington will probably score double-digit goals in 2010, but I see Mwila being more a stationary target. And I hear he has a great head on his shoulders! Let's hope he uses it frequently.

When are we getting the report on the Larry Bird Wax Museum?

Bring him here, we'll take him, especially since he's a forward and our stock of those seems to keep running low. Since I was the first one -- a year or just more ago to suggest Teal Bunbury as the successor to Zakuani's scoring mantle, ladies and gentlemen, can you say, "Yoram Mwila"?

I am aware that Niagra is a good mid-major program and have no problem with them being on the schedule. That being said, they aren't going to impress the selection committee. The way I look at this schedule is that we have the middle of it pretty well set with quality mid-majors like CSU, Wyoming, Niagra and UIC. We've got one top-level mid-major in Temple. We've got one decent power conference team in Indiana State. We need to find a few more teams for the top of our schedule. Teams like a Texas A&M. Even in their best year, Niagra does not bring the clout the a Texas A&M does.Better SPELL check too! Are the posters on this thread aware that it's spelled N-I-A-G-A-R-A? I think when that male enhancement pill came out everything changed. People saw the falls, but forgot how to spell its name.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/players-to-...tch-top-100/men#4 Petts verballed to IU as a Jr. Not sure if he's going to play for Yeagley.

Rather than join in on the childish antagonisms against one sport or another (ESPECIALLY the world's most played, most popular, and simply greatest sporting and cultural passtime) allow me to tell a little story. Eric Reveno, the men's basketball coach at the University of Portland was quoted by an ESPN announcer during their recent game vs Gonzaga. "My goal", coach Reveno stated, "is to have a basketball program that our soccer team can be proud of". Now THAT, I believe my former classmate, Keith Dambrot fully realizes is a high, but realistic goal. The fact is, Akron will not in our lifetimes be a national power in American football, or basketball. Let's accept and be proud that Akron is a football, or if you will "soccer" school. At least we have a team, while to state another simple truth

Our comrades from up North did not do so well. Unless an 89-54 kersplat @ Can't is a success. I think they just allowed the kerflushes to get even more overconfident than usual. They'll be even higher than normal tonite.

-1 I did not sit with the McNees yesterday, but I too am sure they are very nice, and would like to break bread with them someday. Hey -- I DID sit with the Dials' once. And hey, what a couple!

So THAT's what a leatherneck is! Thanks, Cap'n, I always thought they were ripping off the Marines.

Let's get together, Akron, Cleveland, Columbus. How about the Columbus Crew vs Aston Villa FC at Infocision. Ohhhhh, I forgot. A. We're not allowed to play that type of football at the stadium, and B. That would just show the Crew that Akron is a real football town. :DUmmmm, by the way, did Jay-Z play outdoor at CSU in January?

A Can't home loss would be a bit of a silver lining, but not much.Does anybody know, is Humpty Hitchens still on Akron's team?

I wish mcness would have just punched smiley in the face, he's been running his mouth the whole game. I remember watching him play back in Erie, Pa in high school and he was the same bum back then...I hear his nickname is "Bubba".