Zip_ME87

If "fans" indicates your skepticism of Zips fans who are not Zips football fans...believe it or not, it is possible to be a Zips fan but not a fan of Zips football. Sorry, your sports fandom may revolve around gridiron, but mine does not.

Amazing prediction / confidence Just before any of us saw him at Akron.

Just another Zip in the pros. ? ?? ? ??⚽️

https://anchor.fm/blueprintsoccer11/episodes/Blueprint-Soccer-XI---Scott-Caldwell---Episode-31-eh4v24

You’re absolutely right about that. We have and have had a lot of great student athletes who are and have been proud to be Zips! Stupid UA leadership that can’t give Clayton Murphy the time of day is disgusting. He cares enough to try to find a way to restore a team of which he is proud without cost to the university and they don’t even want to talk with him. A number of our former soccer players who are playing with their MLS teams in Orlando have been nice enough to respond to my DMs through Instagram and Twitter because they appreciate what they had at Akron and that an Akron fan Still follows and supports them. I’m not as close to UA football or basketball but I’m sure some of you have similar stories.

D1 Football at other than Power 5 conferences has been dying for years. Schools are digging holes they cannot afford and getting worse. 178 positions to be eliminated but not the 2 at the top of the Ath Dept,? And the new Prez wonders why folks would call for the BOT rubber stampers to resign.

The football stadium was not needed, which implies requirement. Akron could have made the decision to dump football, drop out of the MAC, and join a conference without football...like Gonzaga, Butler, etc. Upon what information do you make the claim that the football stadium made financial sense at the time? Projected attendance because Akron won 1 MAC Championship in 2005 with a 5-3 Conference record?

Thanks @TennZip With the return of EPL, then MLS, and now USL, I've been enjoying seeing our former Zips in action. With the financial situation at UA, I haven't been on the board too much. It's too depressing. I feel bad for the staff losing their jobs and for the athletes losing their Zips teams and the support they deserve. The people who should be losing their jobs are the ones who have failed and continue to fail to lead UA's academic programs as well as athletics. For example, the Navy invested in a one-of-a kind corrosion engineering program at UA, about which I hear nothing. What is happening with that program. How about other STEM-type programs...Is UA winning its share of work under various government and other R&D solicitations? As far as athletics, where's the marketing? I suggested some time ago that UA needs to offer customization of the apparel it sells. Is it really that difficult to that in this day and age of internet business. I notice on this board that various fans seem to have their favorite UA logo...the Z, the ARoo, the kangaroo, the moving A...Can't UA make it possible to buy apparel with your favorite UA-licensed logo. And why not make it possible for any fan to buy some of the special apparel given away to donors that give certain amounts...free to certain level donors, but charge otherwise. Are UA''s "big" donors that petty that they would prefer to have exclusive apparel that would still get free, but hat UA could sell to others and boost the bottom-line. I hope our current Zips are well and that our international players are able to return to campus. Out of respect for all of them, I've not tried to go by campus and see if there's any conditioning, etc. going. I'd love to see them, but even though I don't have any health issues oh which I'm aware, I won't take a chance of carrying anything of which I may not be aware to our coaches, staff, and players.

Which means no big pay day games for Akron....further cuts, likely. Any contracts likely have an out clause that includes pandemics whether or not stated specifically as "pandemic".

Thanks for the article, but I'd like to have some confidence in the financial analysis presented; not that I have any confidence in UA's either. One thing that stands out here under Akron and seems erroneous, unless I'm missing something, is "Student fees / support from university" $0. We know from UA's Athletics financial reporting that UA sports receive a significant amount of funding from this category. It seems to me that something is amiss here in this analysis; I, however, do not have a business or financial degree. I still think it is very small-minded, actually moronic, of UA Leadership to not work with Clayton to look at the numbers and find a way to restore men's cross-country. The shortcomings of UA leaders seems limitless. Every time we get a new leader, I'm hopeful that he will recognize those who have put UA in this situation and replace them with more competent personnel who can actually figure out ways, that actually work, to grow revenue.

Incompetent Athletic Department leadership, 2 presidents, and 2 interim presidents who won't fix the real problem.

Sorry to lose a recruit, but I must say congratulations to Remi Smith on getting into the Air Force Academy and choosing to serve our country. I have no idea what his plans are, but maybe he'll be flying jets some day or working in the Space Force.

???

Stop giving them straight up 5 year contracts. Make it 3 or 4 years with 1 or 2 optional years based on performance. Gives both parties an out. Given UA's history with football head coaches, it's more likely to work out in UA's favor and ensure avoiding the complete $inkhole iCoach could have been if he had not been hired elsewhere by an even more incompetent HC.

By the way, Jared was a part of the team he inherited for 6 of the 7 years before he inherited it. Also, 3 final four appearances in 7 seasons at the helm and 6 of those 7 in the NCAA Tourney; seems like we might want to cut him some slack on one season.

Questionable book keeping. My issue is not a soccer v football or a basketball v football issue. My point about the AD and his associate is that bad decisions, which have caused the athletics budget to grow and take more from the general budget, continue with no known repercussions to those who make them. The athletics budget has to be looked at as a whole. $1M should never have been spent to buy out 1 remaining year of Bowden's or Arth's contracts. Wait one year to get rid of Bowden and hire Arth and save taking a $1M from the general fund. tOSU uses football and basketball money to fund most, if not all, of their other sports. I know that UA can't do that, but football revenue, basketball revenue, soccer revenue all has to be pooled across the athletics department and not looked at as one sport or the others treasure trove. (Please notice I said "revenue" not "profits".)

This is exactly the PROBLEM. For 34 years people have said let it go, but it doesn't go because stupid leaders continue to make stupid decisions with no repercussions. Why do the Athletic Director and his associate cohort still have their jobs after wasting so much money?