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Let'sGoZips94

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Posts posted by Let'sGoZips94

  1. On 7/25/2025 at 8:53 AM, clarkwgriswold said:

    The alumni game was fun.   LCJ, Cheese, Banks, Dawson, Sayles, Tribble, Thornton, Hunter, Diggs and Gray played.  Enrique was there but didn't play. 

     

    Two pieces of news from the event:  Enrique has been signed by Minnesota (I believe on a 2-way); and Groce was in Europe recruiting. 

     

    This is a little off topic, but is our soccer program able to recruit the world like apparently Groce is? This is a pretty big piece of information that shows just how deep Bud's pockets are along with the other financial support for the program. 

  2. 12 hours ago, GP1 said:

    How embarrassing for Memphis. They won 11 games last year. Let me be the first to welcome them to the new G5 division. 

     

    I will say, it's been nice to have an off season without all of the conference jumping. That part of college football may have run it's course. 

     

    If anything, we're going to see the P4s start trimming the fat in the coming years. If the G5s position themselves right, they'll be able to add some outstanding institutions. 

    • Like 3
  3. Enrique finished Summer League in the top 40-50 (out of over 400 players) in PPG with 16.2, and just missed averaging a double double with 9.6 RPG (5th most in Summer League).

     

    Side note: Kent's Justyn Hamilton (1 GP, 6 PPG, 1 RPG) and Sincere Carry (2 GP, 1 PPG) also participated, and that's putting it nicely. 

  4. 21 hours ago, GP1 said:

    I'm of the opinion that if G5 schools snap out of it and begin to use their athletic departments to benefit the athletes students alumni fans and general community around their schools, their greatest days could be ahead of them. 

     

    Further, I believe there is room for only one professional football league dominating the attention of Americans in the fall and winter. That league is the NFL. I believe over time Americans will grow weary with the pro football of the P4 schools when they realize only 3-4 schools are capable of winning the league. It won't happen overnight, but interest will erode. When that happens, people will look for other ways to spend time with their family and friends. OSUlike games are out of reach for most families. Why can't G5 schools provide games at a time and day of the week when families can attend? Get people to the games and everything else the school offers is on display for the taxpayers. Make it a great day for them and then you have something.

     

    This pretty much hits the nail on the head. Akron needs to lean 100% into being a family-first and college-fun environment and atmosphere. The only way to solve Akron's problems is to plant seeds among each generation and hope they turn into a blossoming fan base. Akron is simply doing a poor job at planting those seeds. Akron, as a community, finds a way to support Cleveland's AA baseball team just fine. why? The Rubberducks find ways to connect with the community, especially the youth. It's going to be take a group of non-traditional higher education suits to get creative, swallow their pride, roll up their sleeves, and reach the next generation. Too many people who have been in charge at Akron have seemingly solely focused on donors. It has been such a shortsighted strategy to put all the eggs in the basket of people with aging money. 

     

    Delaware, of all universities, is currently doing a NCAA Football 26 marketing campaign where people from around the country can submit a video or photo of them winning the National Championship with Delaware. I forget what the prize is, but they currently have applications from at least most continental US states, if not all 50 states by now. I don't even think they have any cool in-game features. Meanwhile, Akron has the turnover/touchdown tire, Zippy, and the Wagon Wheel in the game, yet nobody is using that to creatively promote the program/university. 

     

    I won't stand for any G5 fan base building slander. It's a total fallacy. The Sun Belt has had football for ~25 years and they are leap frogging the MAC in attendance. Yes the MAC lives in the shadows of the Big Ten, but what would the Sun Belt excuse be? They are in the shadows of the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, AND SEC. Steinbrecher has done Akron no favors with how he has destroyed the MAC's reputation, but Akron is still capable of being creative and unique. If the conversation continues to strictly be "how can we cater to donors," Akron will continue to fall further and further behind. If the conversation shifts to, "How can we unequivocally reach the youth," we'll get somewhere. 

  5. On 7/18/2025 at 7:40 AM, a-zip said:

    Is he still growing.  He looks even taller.

     

    I don't think so but he is still developing physically. His profile is much more solidified and defined. He's working hard and getting rewarded for it - starting in every summer league game and typically getting around 30 minutes of play time. You could tell last year the Pacers liked him; I don't think they would typically attend, as a team, just any two way player's high school celebration. If he keeps this up and continues to develop, I fully expect a legitimate NBA contract to come his way. 

    • Like 1
  6. 10 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

    I've played a round with Ryan. He can really crush it off the tee. He grew up playing country club golf. He is a really good guy and a good coach. If he ever gets a break on the injury situation from his first 2 years I expect a MAC championship run.

     

    I've always been impressed with how publicly he supports the other Akron athletic programs. Agreed that the injury bug has plagued his tenure here; hoping that changes so we can see what type of program he can really build.

    • Like 1
  7. 2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

    OU in the Sun Belt Conference sounds almost as bad as Cal and Stanford in the Atlantic Coast Conference!

     

    My dad and I were talking about this earlier today. The Sun Belt's footprint actually isn't bad for OU with Marshall, App State, JMU, ODU, etc. With the MAC adding UMass, the MAC's footprint is no longer as friendly to OU, and I'd imagine the MAC is looking to expand around UMass a bit more as well. The next TV deal will probably see the Sun Belt jump the MAC in value, so I wouldn't be surprised if Ohio is indeed exploring the Sun Belt.

     

    20 minutes ago, egregiousbob said:

    Zero truth to this rumor. 

     

    Wasn't the same said about NIU to the MW initially?

    • Like 1
  8. 1 hour ago, GP1 said:

    Excellent question! P4 schools won't want to give up a glorified scrimmage each season. There is strength in numbers. The G5 schools could negotiate higher paying paydays as a group instead of individual, desperate ADs negotiating bad deals to make it look like they are doing something. 

     

    With the amount of money now in college football, I don't think it is unreasonable for G5 schools to get a minimum of $5 million per payday game. It's a drop in the bucket. Instead, they settled for peanuts in comparison. 

     

    For a lot of P4 schools, paying $5 million for a guaranteed win makes more sense than scheduling another P4 school that could result in a loss. 

     

    There are roughly 60-75 schools in P4. There are 60-70 G5s in the DI FBS ranks and another 129 FCS members. Non-P4s having any negotiation power in this situation goes against the basic principles of supply & demand. Having any sort of union-style arrangement for G5/FCS would 100% backfire when the P4s realize they're paying collectively paying ~$350m (for one win each) that could be kept in house if they break away entirely. 

     

    I'm not entirely sure what the solution is for G5/FCS, but creating their own division and expecting anything from the P4s ain't it. I'd much rather see G5/FCS make the move to collectively break away from the NCAA entirely and leave them with the problem child that is the P4. If it's going to become a capitalist market, be on the offensive instead of simply reacting to everything P4s do, which ultimately hurts G5/FCS. 

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