Blue & Gold

We need a HOME warm-up game against a 1-AA team more than we need another ROAD trip, this time to UCONN (though I do like that matchup!)

If this is true, why do you think they would do this?

Actually, I think that alphabetically we're #2.But I agree. DK didn't break many long runs, and broke no tackles. Didn't juke at all either. Generally a RB either breaks tackles or jukes, but DK did neither. Here's to Alex Allen's recovery! Here's to Gary Pride coming in next year! Here's to (cross your fingers!) Morgan Williams giving us a verbal!!!

I agree. I love Rome - one of my favorite Zips players ever! - but I think we'll be even better in the front court next season with Wood starting at power forward, McKnight the first off the bench, and Sweich starting at center.But the back court, withouth Dru, will be precarious. Both Dials and Middleton are 2's, not 1's. McNeese is an unknown, and I've heard he's a defensive liability. Darryl Roberts didn't qualify. Hopefully Ronnie Steward - the point guard we signed from Columbus - can come in and fill Dru's spot right away. Now that OJ Mayo is in West Virginia, Steward is considered the best point guard in the state. But there's NO WAY he'll be the shooter that Dru is! Hopefully he may be just a bit quicker and able to penetrate a little better than Dru. But no way will he be able to drill the 3 like Dru!

Agreed. But if I may also add our traditional gripe that the Beacon gave the story absolutely no game-day coverage. That, naturally, doesn't help either. But today's ABJ post-game coverage was very well done.

Hey Z.I.P. Just curious, but what do you do for a living out in Hawaii? Is the economy completely based on tourism dollars?

Arg! Don't remind me how many excellent Buchtel players picked Pitt over Akron during the Owens era!

In all due-diligence, the athletics administration HAS to read this board, right?! I mean, what a priceless resource this board is, in order to glean opinion from and insight of your most loyal consumers? So, if the athletics administration is not somehow aware of this thread already, heads should roll! My fear is that they don't even take time to get familiar with the discussions on this board. Again, the thoughts, whether intelligent or not, of their MOST LOYAL CUSTOMERS!!!

Thanks Zipsrifle! Great find! Now I've gotten absolutely NOTHING done today, but I've loved every second of it!!!A couple comments:1) Traditionally, football stadiums are always positioned north-to-south. This solves the sun problem. It's due to this fact that cliche' for a hard-nosed RB "Running North and South," originated. Here's another cool little factoid: Traditionally baseball stadiums are positioned with the first-base line along the southern edge of the playing field. This is also due to the sun. It's also where the term "Southpaw" for a left-handed pitcher originated; his pitching arm would be toward the south. Canal Park didn't follow this scheme due to the fact that they wanted to get some retail space along S.Main St. It doesn't seem to bother anyone that much, so maybe we could tweek the football stadium a bit too, ala, Option #1.2a) Do you guys think the proposed stadium looks just a little too much like a glorified high school stadium? I was dismayed to find other MAC stadiums in the Similar Stadiums portion of the report. We should NOT have a stadium AT ALL similar to any other bush-league MAC school!!! They had BGSU's stadium pictured. I've been there for a game, and trust me, it feels like an over-sized high school stadium. It doesn't feel "Next Level" AT ALL!!! We may just as well rent out Fawcet Stadium. BUSH LEAGUE!!!2b) BUT.. I was relieved and excited to see SMU's Gerald Ford Stadium listed in the similar stadiums section! A week or two ago ZipsNation had an overwhelming consensus that THIS WAS THE IDEAL MODEL FOR A NEW STADIUM! Beautiful, big-time feel with around 30K seats. CAN WE JUST TELL THE ADMINISTRATION TO BORROW THE ARCHITECTURAL PLANS FROM SMU SO THEY DON'T SCREW THIS THING UP?!?! WE ONLY GET ONE SHOT AT THIS!!! Of course I am speaking in hyperbole... but barely!!!3) I was glad to see that they were mentioning a clock tower in their initial discussions. Akron has many beautiful, old clock towers around town and I felt this would be a great way to encorporate tradition into the new design. They even referenced the Univerity of Denver in their report. But none of the architectural renderings had a clock tower. Hey, this isn't as big a deal as building a stadium like SMU's!!! BUILD AN SMU CLONE!!! WE'D LOVE IT!!!

Simply continuing along this line... I drove to the JAR last Tuesday to inquire about season tickets. The two people behind the 'bullet-proof glass' at the JAR didn't even acknowledge my presence for about a minute, let alone smile or say 'Hi.' Their actions communicated that I was bothering them and interupting their conversation in order for them to simply toss a Season Ticket Pamphlet through the window at me... and then, of course, immediately go back to carrying on with their conversation. I don't think I'm nit-picking here. I think this is highly insulting, let alone absolutely unprofessional. I believe this betrays and illustrates a very real lack of tact, intelligence and interpersonal relations skills that must transcend the athletics department. Does it start at the top and trickle down? Fortunately, from all accounts, it ends with JD and KD. From all accounts they are as gregarious and eager to talk with/spend time with the fans as any coaches you'll ever meet. But the people that are supposed to be public-relations professionals, i.e., the athletics administration (marketing, sales) seem as incredibly rude and inept as could possibly be imagined in one's worst nightmares. With the incredible apathy from the Akron area towards Zips athletics, these people should be going above-and-beyond the call of duty towards potential fans; they should be bending over backwards to accomodate and entertain potential customers. Instead, they seem to be fighting against even the loyal Zips' fans! Who needs to be fired? Something drastic needs to happen. A change in overall philosophy and personality is desperately needed. Again, I DO NOT feel I am overreacting. This is profound incompetence.At least we on this board are feeling frustrated and outraged at this athletics administration. That is NOT the opposite of love. The opposite of love is apathy. So, kudos to everyone in The Nation!!!

Thanks! Never saw that before; didn't know it existed!

Where is Captain Kangaroo's recent post RUNNING VERBAL COMMIT LIST? I'd been following the conversation on that thread and it seems to have disappeared.

Gotta do whatcha gotta do! JD's bringing in premier talent. To get these sorts of players there often is a price to pay!Go Zips!

Thanks Hugo!!!* Moderator - edited*I'm not compliance director, but there is a concern regarding fans and alumni contacting recruits in any fashion. Just to be safe, please do not post questions to any known recruits on this site. Note: Please don't take this the wrong way...this isn't a "scolding"...I'm just being safe here. I'm glad Hugo checked in. Hope he likes us Zips fans. We're pretty decent folks.

Bring on Walt Harris!!!

Who are the other 4 not mentioned above?

Hey Captain,Are you certain about Sean Fobbs? Both Rivals and Scout still has him as undecided.Great list! Thanks for your research!!!Go Zips!

I was just on Rivals and they reported that we've offered McKinley RB Morgan Williams. It's about time!!! Let's keep our fingers crossed on Morgan! Dennis Kennedy seems to be a bit lacking when it comes to breaking the long runs and breaking tackles at all, for that matter. And with the injuries to Alex Allen and Aaris Reed and last year's big RB recruit Aaron Boone unable to qualify academically, signing Williams would be more valuable than ever!One question: Did JD wait this long to offer Williams (after 2 outstanding seasons at McK) because JD was waiting to see which school Frank Edmunds would choose? Edmunds ended up choosing Ball State and this seemed to coincide with the Zips' offer to Williams.

Great link uakronkid! It's absolutely unacceptable that the MAC is 5-7 against Horizon League opponents! It is also unacceptable that we are 1-3 against Southern Conference opponents! Frankly, I'm not certain I've ever heard of the Southern Conference!!!But that overall record may not be as lousy as it seems. The MAC is 0-3 against the SEC. 1-7 against the Big East and 0-5 against the Big Ten. No, that's not good, nor is it acceptable. But honestly, those losses are not surprises, nor, do I suppose they should be considered Bad Losses.What encouraged me was our record against the Atlantic-10! The MAC is 5-2 against A-10 opponents! The question was posed a week ago which conference one thought the MAC should get into a basketball "challenge" with, ala the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Mike Rasor was of the opinion that the MAC should challenge Conference USA. I'd like to see that! I also thought the Atlantic-10 would be a good challenge opponent. Nationally, the A-10 is considered a step above the MAC (just like C-USA) but as you can see the MAC can more than hold it's own against the likes of the A-10! The MAC is great, entertaining basketball! Showing how we fare against C-USA or the A-10 may help elevate the perception of the MAC both in the midwest and in the nation.

He had a handful of scholarship offers. His final two schools of choice were CMU and ... Akron! Ouch! He would have looked great in the blue and gold!

Make no mistake that you are getting these kids because of the future facility plans. Most kids that have committed have mentioned the $100 Million Plus facility plans they were shown. You're absolutely right! I just wish we could see those plans too!!! We're all getting so fidgety over waiting so long for an announcement and architectural renderings! I check this board everyday and the first discussion I look for is anything on the new facility.

Akron U is slang. When I was a kid (I'm only now in my early 30's, so it wasn't ages ago) and we'd play touch football in the backyard, instead of counting to "6 Mississippi," to rush the QB, we'd count 1 Akron U, 2 Akron U, 3 Akron U...

So what do they say?And they're not yellow, are they?! I think I remember some poster describing them as yellow? Can't is pee-yellow. WE ARE GOLD!!! I hope they meant GOLD and were just making a mental blunder!

Mackey is a born leader. Stokes is also a leader. I think Jabari has potential. But, sad to say, that's about it. A year ago today I was on top of the world with this team. Today, I am peeing down my leg when I think about facing OSU to begin next season! I'm having nightmares about us being completely outclassed and embarassed!But hey, at the very least, when Getsy was smelling up the field last night, it was really good to see Carlton Jackson get some great PT! Oh, wait...?

Ditto. In the past, the escape clause of being a Zips fan has generally been the fact that there were no expectations not to be lived up to. Not so this season. After a solid 10 months of hope and hype concerning this football season, I feel completely defeated and emotionally drained.