Let'sGoZips94

Welcome to Akron, John and family! This time around, your welcome is more friendly.

I edited this to only show the ones I'm interested in, which is quite a few. Three thoughts... 1. Not a gauntlet, but good, solid competition. 2. Seems to have the mentality of "You won't come here? Ok, I'll go there and beat you." Lots of road games. 3. Wondering if any further connections/relationships were built while at Illinois, and if he'll have some more pull to get some better home games at Akron.

At least one recruit has already said they will honor their initial commitment to Illinois. I hope he doesn't try to pull the players to Akron. I admired in that press conference video that he said to the recruits to continue to go to Illinois. Now, if they make the decision to follow him on their own, I won't complain.

That video actually erases much of the "antics" that I dislike about Groce. Very humbling, and makes me kind of excited for him to come here.

Well, he found a way to get there, and found a way to have NCAAT success, all within 4 years. 13 years of "wins" got us 3 NCAAT appearances, and 0 NCAAT wins.

Yes, and I've been through 300+ games of MAC success with nothing to show for it but a bunch of Participation Trophies such as consecutive 21 win seasons. I would've traded a 21+ win season for a 19 win season that included some upsets and an NCAAT win. I. Want. Tournament. Wins.

So he took Tim O'Shea's players and got them to win a NCAAT game over Georgetown? That's a Helluva feat. Then took his own players and went to the Sweet Sixteen two years later.

Didn't he beat Georgetown in the First Round 2 years prior to their Sweet Sixteen run? I'd say that's hardly "lightning in a bottle" if he had NCAAT success in his 2 appearances, not to mention the recruiting success he was about to have before leaving for Illinois.

If he brings talent in like Caris LeVert and Bradds, and schedules teams like Butler instead of North Carolina Alphabet Soup, then goes on to have NCAAT success, I would consider it a major upgrade. Still not crazy about his demeanor/antics, but I do think he is a good hire for the program as far as recruiting and potential postseason success is concerned.

Amen.

I think a majority of those critical of Dambrot also believe Duquesne to be a lateral move. Not to mention he did a good job of kicking us while we are are down a bit with some of his departure comments. MSM to Akron would be a vertical move. While the MAC may be a 1 bid league, at least our 1 bid isn't guaranteed to be in the Play In Game. With all of that being said, nothing about Christian excites me.

Source?

Impressive. Apparently, he also recruited well at Illinois. There were people clamoring for the University not to fire him out of fear of losing their recruits. Like I said, I'm torn. I don't like his coaching style, but I'd also take a Sweet Sixteen run, or even Elite 8 just to tick off the OU fans even more.

To add to my earlier post as I sit here bored at work, pondering a John Groce-led Zips program, Groce is part of the reason I came to dislike OU so much. With that being said... With a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, I'd consider going out and getting a beet-red John Groce tattoo. The fact that Caris LaVert had committed to OU (de-committed when Groce left, correct?) speaks volumes. Then again, Dambrot had a commitment from Dylan Ennis. I don't know. I'm torn.

Never cared much for Groce's demeanor on the court. You can tell he comes from the Thad Matta coaching tree, as his face gets just as red as Thad's.

Kieth/Akron His similarities - not good similarities - to LeBron amaze me. Might as well have had an hour-long TV special to announce he's taking his "talents" to Pittsburgh.

I think part of the reason we won that game was because guys like Antino (whom, if I remember correctly, had a pretty good game) are from the Houston area. Also, Houston didn't want to be in that game. Throwing in the towel/giving up is completely different than not playing with fire/passion. I will never accuse this team of forfeiting/quitting/throwing in the towel. I will say that they seemed to walk through the MAC Championship Game, while Can't came out like a bat out of Hell. Did Can't earn it with their effort (complementing Can't... )? Yes. Did we assist them with our lack of passion/fire/energy? You betcha. That game was within 1-3 possessions the entire time, which is a testament - in my opinion - to how much better we were than Can't skill wise. We just didn't apply ourselves, which makes me believe (having the knowledge we do now) that some of the guys had pre-determined transfers. I'm not saying everyone didn't apply themselves, but teammates feed off of each other, and when a couple guys don't want to be there, it can kill any energy for the other players.

I do. When you don't show up in a Championship game, against your arch rival, with essentially a home crowd, and a ticket to the Big Dance on the line... You've pretty much signaled to me that you do not want to be here. When you don't blow out inferior teams all year because you lack 40 minutes of desire and effort, you've signaled to me you don't want to be here.

I think it was posted in another thread that some of these transfers were pre-determined before KD's departure.

I have switched my HC preference. I'm all in on Kevin Kuwik.

#1 I want to hire a guy that gets us to the next level. #2 I want to hire a guy that gets poached by the next level. Either scenario works for me, because more than likely, they are synonymous.

1. Lost all 3 NCAA Tournament games, one of them by 40. 2. Continued to bring in weak, WEAK opponents.

No doubt. I'm not saying he should have paid for the renovation all by himself. But he kept whining and whining about no renovations/new arena. Ponying up money himself, and going public with that to get help, would have been a good way to jump start the project.

Let's think about this. Dambrot wanted a new arena/JAR renovation, right? A few years ago, he signs a contract that makes him the highest paid coach in the MAC at over $600k a year. He then coaches this last year and earns a retention bonus, bumping his total annual salary over $900k for this past year. My point was, instead of consistently whining that there isn't progress on a new arena/JAR renovation (which will have the bill passed onto the public/students via taxes/tuition increase), why not make a statement and say, "Keep your retention bonus, but it has to go into a JAR renovation to jump start the project." Or how about, when you sign your fat, $600k /year contract, put in there than you will take $500k for the first X amount of years, as long as that extra $100k+ goes towards a JAR renovation/new arena? Then have some language that feeds the money in on the back end, when revenue increases because we have a better arena and more program success. That was my point. Sorry if it's stupid of me to think it would be nice for a coach to maybe put the students/public/University as a whole first for once, especially with the knowledge that the school is in financial trouble. If he left because of the money at Duquense, why didn't he leave years ago?