Z.I.P.

Well, that makes two of us. I've found in the past that there are a number of Akron parents and local followers who turn out to see the team on the West Coast. I haven't contacted the soccer office yet, so don't know where the team is staying. Be careful, or you might get invited to host the squad! In portland the team was fortunate enough to stay in a West Portland mountain home owned by a former Zip footballer. Check out the Columbus Crew Academy which feature somewhere between 3-5 future Akron players, depending on circumstances. Friday on ESPNU or ESPN2 (if they finish pool play in the top 2). Go Crew. Go Zips!

Interesting news from out of the Pitt Panthers' den: Jamie Dixon has a verbal commitment from McDonald's all-America 6-8 Dante Taylor out of National Christian Academy in Maryland. Check it out at http://hoopwise.com/ and you can comment to the FOX Sports blog at the link -- as I have!

Wow! That is fantastic. Frankly, beyond what I would have ever dream of for my alma mater. I wonder if anyone is reading conversation (e.g., MAC BBs) from our competition about how big a 'get' Zeke is? I did read -- was it Elton Alexander (?) suggesting he could be the biggest recruit in the league's history. Like others, though, I hope we don't expect Zeke to come in and immediately be the "go-to" man. With expperience at this level, he will be a huge contributor. But as much as we'd like it, it won't happen immediately. Will it?

I would say this was hilarious -- but that might make someone think I could figure any of it out. :blink: Could this have been the response to the aforementioned: "Describe your team's season in a Jimmy Buffet song"?

Can you believe this? ESPNU is blanketing their Friday & Saturday schedule with Development Academy coverage! I might have to take a sick day. http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArtic...6.html#scheduleMonday's Crew vs LAFC game should be VERY interesting as LA had the best record in the league during the regular season -- and I guess its a home game for them. Can Sigi Schmidt's youngsters pull the upset in his ancestral homeland (UCLA).-----------------Nice game by the Crew Academy today -- they drew with LA Football Club, 1-1. Goal scored by? Lobo-bound Mike Green! Hmmm, 2 goals in 2 games. We'll find out on 9/12 if he can score against ZIP FC.To win their pool, Crew needs to beat Concorde FC from Wash-state by 6 goals in their final pool game -- 6-0 was LAFC's margin over Concorde. You have to sin your pool to play for the title on Friday. In any case, the team will be on ESPNU or ESPN2 Friday. If you want to see the future of American futbol catch these games.Click for details of today's competition. http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.j...Week08Sked.html

Odds are I won't be able to make it unless the College Cup is played on the West Coast -- an unlikely scenario. Find me in the stands at UNM Soccer stadium in Albuquerque 9/12/08.I've noticed how many universities have "double-service" track & field and soccer fields. The place they play in Cowlumbus; Drake Field at UCLA; New Mexico's place are all track stadiums first. So the idea that Akron is at a disadvantage because they don't have a major soccer-only facility may not be that big a thing. It doesn't appear to be hampering Caleb's ability to recruit future pro players.BTW -- did anyone see the 16 year old Ethiopian, Ibrahim score for Toronto FC vs the Chicago Fire yesterday? Bob Bradley better get that kid's immigration documents to his doorstep, like now, man! Hurry before the Canadians get there first.

Can you believe this? ESPNU is blanketing their Friday & Saturday schedule with Development Academy coverage! I might have to take a sick day. http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArtic...6.html#scheduleMonday's Crew vs LAFC game should be VERY interesting as LA had the best record in the league during the regular season -- and I guess its a home game for them. Can Sigi Schmidt's youngsters pull the upset in his ancestral homeland (UCLA).

Columbus Crew Academy U-18 squad defeated Capitol Area Soccer League (CASL) 2-0 in the first round (?) of the US Soccer Development Academy Nationals at Home Depot Center in Carson, CA (Calling L.A. Zip, get on your moped, and get down there!). Goals for CCSA were from New Mexico frosh-to-be Michael Green, and Akron Zip-to-be Thomas Schmitt. Crew also includes Akron 09 class verbals (so we are told) Ben Speas and Chad Barson, along with all-American and incoming Indiana freshman Nick Blevins.USSoccer.com says the finals will be broadcast on the ESPN networks -- probably meaning ESPNU. Maybe next weekend.Check it out on the US Soccer Youth blog at http://ynt-ussoccer.blogspot.com

Actually, my father, who grew up in Cleveland, remembers games between military academies being played years ago at the old municipal stadium, and the place was packed. Of course, those were different times, when the military academies were good.I beg to differ. Navy is still very good (they'd kill any MAC school) and Air Force has been respectable of late.Is this Navy program, that would kill any MAC school, the same Navy that lost to Ball State last year? I believe the last time Akron played Navy ('99) was at their place and we walked away with the win. There is no service academy that plays at a higher level than the MAC. There might be some good games but a service academy would not win the MAC title.Well, I am of two minds on this (which fortunately equals one numbskull). I follow Navy FB a fair bit, since their two recent coaches Paul Johnston -- who will be a succcess at Ga Tech -- and new appointee Ken Niumatalolo got their starts in Hawaii. I believe Navy would be the favorite to win the MAC, were they a member this year. But, it would be a very close race, as they are very close to the MAC's top teams. I love watching their multiple-option offense -- especially after watching the one dimensional offense at my local BCS bowl-playing school.

Hey! I have finally, after a couple of months of elation, come back down to planet Earth regarding the Akron Zips' class of 2008 -- and the start of the class of 2009. I REALLY thought that Kofi Sarkodie, from my view of him in international competition was arguably the #1 recruit -- at least among backliners and playmakers. I will be disappointed if this young man does not make freshman all-America. Put Kofi and his international experience and remarkable passing and attacking skills alongside similarly-skilled forward Darlington Nagbe, then add in 6-foot Canadian Teal Bunbury and local speedster Chris Barton and you get not just the best overall class in UA history (just a tad ahead of last year's), but a truly elite national recruiting class coming to Lee Jackson this fall.HOWEVER -- and I say that with the emphasis "all-caps" encompases -- when I took a look at what the REALLY elite national programs are building, it makes me realize just how steep is the mountain Akron soccer must climb to make it up the mountain that is the NCAA College Cup to the promised land we all know coach Porter can conquer, and is laying the groundwork to tackle the summit.I took a look over the past week at those other elite programs: defending national champion Jay Vidovich's Wake Forest Deamon Deacons; the Cavaliers of Virginia; Maryland's Terrapins; the Bruins of UCLA (are they REALLY mired in the lowest marks in recent history?); UC-Santa Barbara -- another program tied to a bullet that already owns a national title; Mike Freitag's Indiana Hoosiers; and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.The findings are: in Man, do these schools have superstar magnets, or what? :blink: You might call it a toss-up between the top three in the ACC for King of the Hill. Sasho Cirovski at Terrapin Tech gets 8 ball players -- five all-Americans, including the nation's #1 ranked midfielder and goalkeeper. The MF Kaoru Forbess also gets votes for #1 overall in the class, while the goalie is Zach McMath, starting GK for the US U-17 07 World Cup team in Korea. Playing "Can you top this", Virginia captures the NSCAA national POY Chris Agorson from under Cirovski's eye in the national capitol area. Agorson's a 5-9 forward who plays for the US Under-20 team. They also grabbed 6-2 defender Hunter Jumper, the best outside back in the east. So, not to be outdone, Jay Vidovich's class of nine at Wake includes 6 all-Americas -- five of whom are over 6 feet tall. The stable will include Danny Wenzel, another #1 overall contender and another US U-17 starter, Nick Millington.Looking to the West, you can see the passing of the torch as Best in the West heading up the coast to Santa Barbara, where the Gauchos 2008 class includes two US national starters -- perhaps the country's best youth forward, Danny Barrera and the set-up man from the Atlanta suburbs, Bryan Dominguez starting attacking midfielder/CMF for the U-17 team. Along with that -- as if that weren't enough -- the Gauchos again dig into the Great White North to take 6-5 forward Reid Fraser, who turned down a pro contract with Sheffield United of the Championship Division to head to pinot noir territory.So how about the most heralded program on the West Coast, the Bruins of UCLA? Coach Jorge Salcedo brings in eleven new baby Bruins, most of them with Region IV ODP experience from out of the Cal South "state", the nation's best (I think five of the nine age-group finals in the boys Region IV tourney here in Hawaii three weeks ago had at least one team from Cal South). But -- among Salcedo's group is my own pick as #1 player in the class of 2008, Barcelona FC M/F Eder Arreola from Chino Hills in Orange County. Along with Arreola, the Bruins bring in Victor Yanez, who has played for the national U-17 teams of both the US AND Mexico. Looking in Akron's own midwest or Great Lakes region, the two biggest competitors are the one's who appear at the top of the 2008 schedule, Indiana and Notre Dame. Mike Freitag continues Indiana's connection to the rich vein of football in the St Louis area by picking up 4 stars from the city, all over 6 feet in height. Included is the 2007 ESP Camp Golden Boot winner as best of the best, Will Bruin (with that name, how could he not be at UCLA?) the 6-2 forward. Then they add 6-2 US international defender Tommy Meyers, and Ohioan Nick Blevins, who is just the second player in state HS history to score 100 goals and 100 assists at Bloom Central. Good luck against that line-up in the opener, coach Porter! How about the Fighting Irish, our second opponent? They have 3 all-Americas included among their seven recruits. One is Brendan King, who was in residence the last two years with the Bradenton National Youth Academy. Alongside him is 6-1 F Mike Rose, who grew up with Virginia's Agorson in Severn Park, MD. Rose was Golden Boot Award winner at the 2006 USYSA U-16 nationals. Finally, the Irish add Aaron Maung a 6-1 central midfielder who played for Trinidad and Tobago in the 2006 U-17 World Cup. Do you think Akron might have had a better chance of recruiting this kid if they had sent the school steel drum band to entertain him?So, hey, this is the picture at the elite level of men's college soccer. I understand well why so many experts say American soccer is held back by the lack of international and professional playing experience among the players just moving into what could be the growth periods of their careers. In most countries, all these star youth players would be earning paychecks and developing professional careers before they reach 20 years of age. But in the US the main route to professional careers comes through college play -- for good or bad. College soccer fans are the beneficiaries. Enjoy the game these young studs display. And be glad many of them will be playing at Lee Jackson Field over the next four years.Good luck Zips. See you in Albuquerque, Sept 12.

I would like to believe as much as anyone that Coach Dambrot and his entire ohana (as we say here in the islands) are about to turn the corner and become not just the dominant basketball program in the MAC, but become a top-25 program which reloads rather than rebuilds. Maybe Zeke Marshall is the nucleus and the catalyst for the move that Keith talked about at his swearing-in ceremony after taking over from Dan Hipsher: becoming the "Gonzaga of the East".I love the idea, frankly, of aiming high (whoops, I AM an Air Force man after all), and trying to jump over entire leagues, rather than just beat Can't "next year". But we also need to pursue our goals realistically. I personally believe we are now just a bit ahead of the rest of the MAC overall (regardless of who might be favored to win in 08-09) in terms of future potential.Out recruiting has clearly made the jump to being at the top of the league, and not just with Big Zeke -- his presence will put our 09 class head and shoulders ahead of everyone in the MAC, but our 08 class is probably already a step ahead of the other contenders.Now, if we want to achieve that big goal, we might look at how Gonzaga itself got where it is now. GU has had -- a quick look shows -- six players in the 00's who have made at least honorable mention all-America. The are/were: Dan Dickau, Rony Turiaf, Adam Morrison, Derek Raivio, Jeremy Pargo and Josh Heytvelt (all-WCC first team, maybe not HM A-A?). Turiaf I don't think played HS ball in the US, did he?Would anyone be interested in looking up where these players were ranked as high school recruits, before joining coaches Monson and/or Mark Few with the Zags? I beliebe Morrison was an elite HS player. Was he as highly regarded as ZM?

So how much are season tix to Wake's NCAA champs men's soccer club? At least twice that I would expect.

I just wanted to get back to the original topic -- which I''ve just been able to read.I think the new logo has the classic look that will serve the league's purpose of separating itself from the rest of the "MAC pretenders" out there. (Looking forward to GP 1's reaction to that one ) On the other hand, I will continue to proudly wear my MAC T-shirt in the old colors. I absolutely LOVED the old colors, which were themselves truly unique. No sports franchise on the globe, that I have seen, wears green and red, and those shades of colors were the brightest possible. The "red" was actually that shade which is exactly midway between red and orange -- the same as what the Atlanta Falcons once wore (before Jerry Glanville destroyed the franchise) called "cranberry orange".I would now love to see the soccer program develop their own MAC-like crest for use in program-specific sales (a pipe dream of course with the current admin) of soccer related memorabilia, like team scarves. It would include the year 1954 that men's soccer began at UA. I think you can see some college soccer scarves at www.wearthegame.com .

Only problem with Terry's story is, it was B.F. Goodrich, not Goodyear which sold the Zipper. Right?

There seems to be several high caliber recruits coming to the University in the next couple years. A National Championship is looking better and better and I thought I would never say that! :thumb: :thumb: What can anyone tell us about Mason? I think it said he's 6-1? Caleb will be looking for more size up front, as the roster is small in the box, but Holy Cow, are they good!!! BTW -- the new roster is on Gozips.com

Yes, well, I remember meeting Frank Stams at the Hula Bowl, along with Lou Holtz after Notre Dame's national title. He was REALLY enthusiastic, and happy to see my AKRON tee-shirt. But I remember he was smaller than my own 6' and well under 200 lbs. Wasn't he a linebacker? Lou Holtz looked more like a player.

The man from Zenica (Bosnia-Herzegovina), is what Fox Soccer Channel color man Max Bretos called former Zip Sinisa Ubiparipovic -- along with the longest name in football, during yesterday's New York Red Bulls vs FC Dallas MLS match up at Giants' Stadium at the Meadowlands. And Sinisa came up as big as his name, making an MVP performance stand up as New York defeated new Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman in his dubut after a short lifetime as SMU mentor. Right from the outset, Ubi, getting the start in place of the World Cup qualifying Claudio Reyna at left MF, was the most inspired performer on the pitch, getting three first half near-miss shots on goal, but serving up the corner kick perfectly on the Red Bulls only goal of the day in the one-nil victory. He had the prettiest play of the game, a left-leg volley near the top of the area that was just deflected by a finger from the Dallas keeper around 15-20 minutes in, but the game-winner came only minutes later.It's not likely that Sinisa will get much opportunity to shine in NY, backing up the US international Reyna, but he's putting himself on display for other teams, and could be in a transfer window come this off-season. Sinisa has a golden future either in the MLS or Europe. He doesn't turn 25 till late in August.

Would be nicer to send 'em to Armstrong Stadium at IU for the weekend against two of the region and nation's top teams. If we get off to the start we're capable of -- THEN we can worry about Columbus when October comes -- and not have to worry about it effecting our post-season chances.BTW -- it's Sunday, June 22nd. Has anyone seen our coach today? We may want to stake out the airport and prevent him boarding any flights for Dallas.

Given our history, it would be a bathroom stall without a door on it and a Cambodian guy sitting on the toilet.Hey GP1,I hear Tony Ampaipitakwong and his teammates are waiting for you to show up at the first Akron football (or "soccer" as some call it) game this year. They're offering a free tatoo, if you'll play goalkeeper for the opposition.

I mis-wrote! The Indiana Hoosier, come Houston Dynamo player I was thinking of, who was recruited by Caleb was John Michael Hayden. Well, Hayden...Holden. Who's counting the # of Tecates I've been drinking lately, anyhow? No one I hope.

What a back line!!!! Clean sheets for the year, anyone?P.S.: Look for Zakuani to get double figures in goals this year. Coach Porter's biggest problem will be trying to hold onto these guys for four years -- as has been shown in Hoosier Country, where Kofi Sarkodie's brother has fled the IUPen to become a professional footballer.

A natural target for the Zips' recruiting net would seem to be Kofi Sarkodie's teammate from Ohio FC Mutiny, defender Chad Barson. Chad is in Portugal with the US U-18 squad that defeated host Portugal, but scored just one goal in its three games in the tournament. He started and played 90-minutes in all three games. Barson has been with the U-17 pool for a year now, I think.I know someone out there knows more than I do on the recuriting status of Barson. We will have to beat out those @#*&%#s from Indiana to get him, I'm sure. Another interesting tidbit: I see that coach Fischbein of New Mexico has managed to corrale UConn transfer Euan Holden, brother of Houston Dynamo -- and former Hoosier all-America Stuart Holden. Stuart was recruited to IU by you-know-who. Adds another layer of intrigue to Part Deux of the building rivalry between the Zips and the Loblos, which will become heated again at 7 PM on September 12th. Be there or miss out, FC Zip fans.

Interesting article. I've been glancing at rivals over the last couple days as well because they're counting down all Div 1-A programs 120 through 1, doing 10 per day. K-ent was 113th of 120. At least the zips MADE IT to day 3 and 99th overall. If a lot of things go right (williams and jones swaps, qb play from whomever, a decent performance from the wideouts) I think this season could be surprisingly similar to 2005 with the Zips shocking some people. And that, honestly, would be the best way to go into the first season at the new stadium. Almost the same way the Tribe magically began to be competitive the year before going into the Jake. B)I saw the first of the Pre-Season CFB magazines on the newsstand yesterday -- Athlon's, and it confirms that just about every MAC team has 2/3 of its starters back from last year. As I recall, they put Akron 5th in the East, and as happens every year, they put K-E-N-T in second! Okay, it's Rolleyes time Just wait till the guy from Cleveland's zine comes out -- he has Can't first every year, anyway -- so will probably send them to a BCS Bowl game this season.

EASTERN KENTUCKY???????????Wow, the UA Ohana has got to be glad Coach Dambrot has passed up the Rainbow Classic opening for this dream trip to Coal Country!!!! I expect GameChgr 54's mom is glad though that the trip can wait till her pride 'n joy hits the hardwood. Seriously, folks, its time to start looking at a ZipTrip to the Pacific, before the rest of our airlines shut down!

Bush is one of the best goalies this program has ever seen. He's very solid. Don't knock him.Who's knocking him? He's the best GK in UA history! BUT -- Last and I believe only goalie to ever win the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy as national Player of the Year: Tony Meola.Now, is Caleb Porter on his way to the Big 'D'?