Z.I.P.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're getting ahead of me here. What's in Las Vegas -- are the ladies playing there? And re: above -- are Green and Brascia 2011 verbals for coach Pfau?Thanks for filling in the blanks for those of us without Top Drawer Soccer subs.

howard may graduate but may not have enough GPA and or test scores to qualify..apparently he has or will take the act multiple times...he is having his hand hled in hs just to qualify...if he has to go prep school and makes it there who knows where he will end up...would be a shame to waste a tough runner like that which akron needs badly at lb..Is this the so-called trashing post you all are writing about? It didn't even sound critical to me! But I would request the poster correct the spelling and grammar errors and return it for a grade.

Here's what I wondered -- should I ever venture a return to Ackern Uh-hia. Are any of those Club Seats available on a individual game ticket basis -- or do they all go to season ticket holders?

This just in: Akron vs Malone, Friday Oct 1, 5 pm at Infocision Stadium @ Summa Field. On ESPN 360.com.GP-1 to be joined by Ray Bentley in the broadcast booth.

So, what is the thinking in the SI Dept that they release the women's soccer recruits the same day -- but will probably wait what...a month or more, before showing anything about the nation's #1 program's recruiting class? That is the usual lag time for our men's soccer recruiting info. Who hasn't joined the Big Time?BigSoccer has a college recruiting thread where they bet who would be the first programs to release men's recruit info. Someone said, "I'll take the Zips #1." Bad assumption -- Caleb isn't in control this time.

Here's the story I pieced together from multiple sources (And it's a funny -- but not funny ha ha -- story):Balogun finished high school in 2007 -- he's now 21 yo. Yo! He was recruited by Cal State Fullerton, but was disqualified by the NCAA qualifying personnel after months of waiting in the OC. He attended three different high schools in Houston, as well as, I assume the IMG Academy during his residency in Bradenton, which was from 2004-2005. He played in the midfield for various US teams along with Tony Ampaipitakwong, so I'd guess the relationship remains.Where Michael has been for the past two+ years after he left SoCal, I have no idea. BUT -- it looks like he still has at least three, and probably four years of eligibility remaining. Hopefully he's at least been kickin' a football around these last years.

"Unsure if he'll play wideout or receiver". Huh?

Balogun is listed at top of Akron list at ESPN Risehttp://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/...tory?id=3860470But after much searching, only references are with USA teams and youth all-star lists from circa 2004 -- as teammate of Ampai! Anybody find anything? The name DOES ring a bell, somehow.Other new names: Jared Watts, US U-17 star to Wake Forest; Shaquille Philips, fast-riser w/US-U-17 to Duke, Sunny Jane -- another of the Louisville-based South African players goes to Maryland.Also, of local interest, Wright State has three Stark County players, two from Jackson, one from Perry on their list.

He MAY be a transfer from Cal State Fullerton.If you can't read that, try http://www.fullertontitans.com/sports/m-so..._michael00.htmlNot sure if he ever attended CSUF.

He was one of Ianello's ND recruits....Sorry, that was Notre Dame College....I'm confused. Is that the one in Cleveland, or do you mean Notre Dame de Namur University in Oakland, CA?

Not that I have a problem with cool halftime routines (the panda plate lady was awesome), but who comes to a game to see the halftime entertainment? Why pay for something if it's not going to get people in the seats?Wad,You would be an even worse marketer than the people currently doing the job. Hardcore basketball fans represent a relatively small minority of those in attendance. Halftime entertainment, food, parking, the color of the uniforms...these factors really DO bring people into the seats. Ask yourself, "How does Credit Union Night draw the number it does?" It's all marketing. And zip basketball.

I could be wrong, but I think LOI day for soccer, and many other sports is the same as Spring LOI day for basketball. Anyone know for sure? In any case, the list is available on the threads below.

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.