TennesseeZippy

It wasn't Kesling. He's UT's radio announcer. I grew up in Akron and now live in Tennessee, so I'm both an Akron and Tennessee fan. It was Aaron Murray, the ex-Georgia Bulldog QB who was the color commentator. He was the one who kept suggesting that Irons transfer. One time, it may have been a joke. Mentioning it over and over again... unprofessional and irritating. Of course, Murray is an ex-QB of the Leg Humpers...

The master vs. the student. Interesting match-up, indeed.

7:30 EST. Knoxville is the same time zone as Akron.

Wanted to give all of you a "heads up" that the start time for the Akron-Tennessee game on Sept. 22nd was finalized this morning. Start time will be 7:30 PM. Television in the Knoxville area will be on Comcast Sports South, but I don't know if the game will be televised in Akron. Those of you traveling to Knoxville have a safe trip next week, and I hope that you really enjoy Neyland Stadium -- it's a special place to watch a game.

Actually, schools can initiate contact w/PSU players. They must first notify PSU of their interest in recruiting a player, and then they can proceed w/out restriction from PSU. A school not on recruiting sanctions can sign a player and that player would not count against the 85 player limit THIS YEAR, but that scholarship must be deducted from the next year's count. A school that is currently being sanctioned by the NCAA for recruiting violations (i.e. USC), can sign a Penn State player, but they cannot exceed their max scholarships as imposed by the NCAA for their own recruiting violations in order to add a PSU player to their roster. I've attached a copy of the official NCAA guidelines on PSU players' recruitment in case you need any further info. Hope this helps! NCAA Guidelines for the Recruiting of PSU Players

As one who grew up in Akron and now lives in East Tennessee, I'm really looking forward to this game. My family and I live an hour from Knoxville, and we usually go to one UT game a year. Guess which one we're going to this year? LOL I hope that there are a lot of Zip fans who come down for the game. Neyland Stadium on a Saturday is a great atmosphere, and you will not regret the trip whatsoever if you are a college football fan. Between the Vol Walk, the Volunteer Navy, the checkerboard endzones, and the Pride of the Southland Band, it's one of the best experiences in all of college football. I think that you will see that those in Knoxville are very friendly hosts, and you will enjoy your time in Knoxville. I guess with my two favorite college football teams playing each other, I can't lose...

Having listened on Sirius XM to those inbred "Bammer" fans who take every word that Paul Finebaum says as "the Gospel Truth", it is no surprise that Alabama fans ridicule the Bowden hire. Have any of those Bammer fans poisoned any trees lately? Just wondering... I'm sure that Bowden's not perfect, but he sure does have a track record of rebuilding programs from the ground up, including UNA. Not being liked by both Bobby Lowder and Paul Finebaum is probably a good sign in my eyes, not something horrific. And, as an aside, Bammer's program has historically been the most corrupt program in all of college football, and remains so. You will be meeting with the "Grim Reaper", a.k.a. the NCAA Infractions Committee, before you know it. Your rogue boosters and Nick Satan will have you back on your usual probationary period shortly. You Bammers must love being on probation every other year -- because you cheat over and over again. Hope you Bammers enjoy another whipping by LSU in January! In the words of Jime Rome, Lions, "I'm Out!"

Being an out-of-towner, I was wondering if anyone could post recent pics of the stadium and the dorm construction surrounding it. How close are the dorms to being completed, and has landscaping in this area occurred? Thanks in advance!

Well hopefully the coaching talent can win over some players.I'd rather they win games than players. Every press release about our new coaches has a quote from Ianello about how the position coach or the coordinator is a great recruiter, but I don't see mentions of them being good coaches.When you win games, you don't need to be an amazing recruiter because the talent will be drawn to you. We have enough talent to win the MAC already. That should be the main focus.Browning is VERY respected in coaching circles. Kiffin has given him a lot of credit down here for improving UT's running game this past year. I can't believe Akron got him to be a position coach. Given his extensive history, I would have expected that someone would have to offer him a coordinator position to get him. Great hire!

Actually, with regard to seeing what people can do, there is no statistically significant difference between seeing what people do second hand compared to seeing what they do first hand.Have we gotten official confirmation from the university about Browning being hired. I asked the Volquest mod over the weekend if he had heard if Mitch to Akron was official, and he said that he did not. He speculated that Browning may be a candidate on the University of Kentucky staff now that Rich Brooks is retiring. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Especially with Lemming doing the ratings....JD was a WR coach at Pitt and developed some great WR too.This sounds like Dejavu.Boy, this has come out of the blue. I'm in the minority thus far, but if it is Ianello, I will be estatic. Not only is this guy a great recruiter, he's been a great position coach who really developed Golden Tate and others. I understand the concerns about no coordinator history, but I think his upside is great. He is one of the 'hot assistants' out there right now, and if Akron can get him, it's a real coup.

What is "offensive GA" ? Check here for your answer. Grad Assistant.CK called this one (Browning) back in September.I always thought GA's were young entry-level coaches. Lookie there, I learned something.They usually are young, entry-level coaches. Kiffin got creative in this situation to get Browning on staff. Kiffin had already hired his whole staff, and Browning ended up coming available. Lane really respected Browning and knew he was a very good recruiter. Browning saw it as an opportunity to coach with Monte, and was willing to take the GA position because Syracuse owed him a full salary because they fired him when they fired Robinson and his staff. Tennessee in essence got a ninth assistant on staff at a GA salary because Syracuse had to pay the difference between the GA salary and what he made at Syracuse. Browning can't go off campus to recruit and there are some other restrictions because he's a GA, but they really wanted his input into the offense.

There's definitely interest on Browning's part from what I hear down here in Tennessee.

Just asked a moderator on a Vols premium board about Mitch Browning. The mod said that Browning would definitely be interested in that job. Interestingly, however, the mod also thought that Browning may not be Akron's first choice, even with the connection with our new AD.

Bowden's a no go in my opinion. A lot of rumors during the years about some shady recruiting while at Auburn. And, the sad thing was, he still couldn't recruit there.

I don't think that you have to bankrupt the University for the next HC, but I do feel as if the pay needs to be elevated to be more attractive to attract rising assistants and/or coordinators. Pay in the $300,000 to $400,000 range would be more in line with the best paid MAC HC's. That's what I would think would be most appropriate if the UA administration is serious about elevating this program. Not earth-shattering, but significantly more given the current salary structure. And, we probably need to up pay for assistants as well.

Loeffler interviewed a couple of years ago with Tennessee and should have been hired over Dave Clawsen (who's now the HC at BG).He's a great QB coach, and has developed Tom Brady and others. Brady speaks highly of him. And he's from Barberton, so there's a local tie there. Not saying we should hire him, but would be one that would be intriguing to interview.As per that UT staff, Browning is a good one, no doubt. The two others from that staff that I would hire having followed them this year are Eddie Gran (RB/Spec Teams Coordinator) and Lance Thompson (Linebacker Coach). Both are OUTSTANDING recruiters who have really cleaned up on the recruiting trail this year. Gran in particular has developed a few RB's that you might have heard about, esp. Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams. Thompson will move up the coaching ladder as time goes on, he is a very impressive personality and has done a great job with the LB's at Tennessee this year, esp. with all of their injuries.A couple other names from the South would be interesting. Gary Crowton is one of the two finalists for the Memphis job, and he's the OC at LSU. Also, Hugh Freeze, the current HC at Lambuth University. I know that this season has been a BIG disappointment, but the one difference that Akron has now compared to the last coaching search is the football facilities in place. If the adminstration is willing to pay the money for a good coach (and I know that's a big if), then things could really take off.

I think it's a healthy part of a growing fanbase.There's some validity to that Ask VolunteerNation.As part of above VolunteerNation, there some validity to both viewpoints. The UT football program had become stagnant under Fulmer, and the uproar over the state of the program got the AD (Mike Hamilton) to move and make a change at the front that was sorely needed. Sometimes fans have to show by their unhappiness that losing is unacceptable so that change can occur. Some people may not like Lane Kiffin's brashness, but boy, he's a much needed breath of fresh air in Knoxville. Give him about 2 more recruiting classes, and UT will be back. He's an unbelievable recrutier, and Monte's taken a very good defense and elevated them up another notch.Conversely, however, sometimes the uproar voiced on internet boards is totally out of control. Some of the hate that I viewed on Volquest, Inside Tennessee and other boards was scary. Very juvenile and just plain sickening the hate that is spewed sometimes. I think the factor that comes into play is that because of the internet, people feel as if they can post whatever they want to anonymously regardless of the percussions that their words have on individuals. I used to participate on boards a lot more than what I do now, and that's because some people don't have a clue how to relate to others.I don't know what is in store for the Zips football program when it comes to the future. I know that from what I've seen from afar, Info is beautiful and the campus has made a dramatic turnaround compared to 20 years ago when I was there. The only thing that I ask on this board from others is that an individual thinks a change is needed at the top, please voice these concerns in a respectful manner and not in ways that degrade and destroy individuals and their families. Coaches and their families are human beings as well.

Does anyone know if when they graded the field area initially whether or not they installed the drainage system for the turf at that time, or if they will install the drainage system when they actually install the turf? If the drainage system is already installed, they could be laying turf soon. If it's not installed, they will have to do that first before putting the turf down.

For all the slack that Syracuse took, they made the right hire in Doug Marrone. He's a great recruiter and coach. He was at Tennessee for a while, and did an outstanding job before going to the NFL. They may take their lumps this upcoming year, but they will rebound in the near future.

I went to the webcam bookmark that I had been using, and I got the 404 error message as well. On that page at the top, there is a link for webcams. They have a link for the Infocision webcams on this page, and I used it, and was able to access the webcam. You'll just need to update the bookmark, and you should be OK, because the address for this site is a little different.Try this link:Updated Infocision Stadium Webcams Link

AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Here's a radical concept for y'all. If a discussion or topic doesn't interest you, then you don't participate in it.Good grief. :blink:It's not interest it's overkill on the same topic.I already said in your defense you hadn't asked the question before. If, look back through the Cams live 50 plus pages and growing thread. You'll see the very topic been asked and asked many times already.I've only seen the topic discussed ONCE in the 50+ page thread. It was me who asked the question. And, I've read that thread religiously throughout its time, so I would be very surprised if my question about the type of synthetic turf was asked elsewhere in the thread. Just because you may not like the question asked, or just because you may not like synthetic turf, that doesn't mean that the question shouldn't be asked. And, why waste time e-mailing the AD when others on this site may know what type of surface is going in. I've been polite to you throughout despite your comments berating my questions. But I've had enough. If you don't care about it, then just keep your comments to yourself.

Big Guy, what you are not understanding is that there are multiple companies that make synthetic surfaces. Some are excellent surfaces, some are not. That's why it's important what company is making the synthetic surface. Just because a synthetic surface may look like the FieldTurf brand, it doesn't mean that it's a quality synthetic surface. There are differences in durabililty, playability, traction, etc, between the manufacturers and their surfaces on the market. We all know that carpet-type surfaces are not used anymore. That's a given.I prefer natural grass over anything synthetic, but it's not realistic to have grass in this stadium given the multiple events that Info will be used for, especially in the fall. If you are going to use a synthetic surface, then the FieldTurf brand of synthetic surface is what I would want, not the AstroTurf brand of synthetic surface.

Pictures of that, please for us out-of-towners!!!!! Many of us have been waiting for this day for a long time. I'd just wish that they had blown it up into smithereens!!!

Really? I thought the Rubber Bowl had a new AstroPlay (from the AstroTurf people, not Field Turf) surface installed in 2003. And "similar to" doesn't really say a whole lot, especially when the quality differential among the kinds of artificial surfaces is so wide.You are correct, '82, it is AstroPlay that is installed at the Rubber Bowl, and in the other UA facilities, not FieldTurf. The newer brands of the AstroTurf line are similar to the FieldTurf brand, but they are different companies who make the brands. FieldTurf is generally more respected by athletes and organizations that install it, and almost all NFL stadiums with synthetic surfaces have installed FieldTurf, except for Buffalo (AstroPlay), and Baltimore/New Orleans(Sportexe/MomentumTurf). I would much rather have a well-kept natural surface to play on. I don't think that you would get an argument from most athletes that they prefer grass to synthetic turfs. However, realistically, this facility will be used heavily in the fall in a cold climate. Even with the best groundskeeper and drainage system, the turf would be in poor shape by the end of the season if it was grass. Just look at Heinz Field as an example. The same thing happens in Nashville with the Titans and Tennessee State sharing their stadium. Partly out of necessity, it needs to be a synthetic surface. I just hope that they go with the FieldTurf brand, although AstroTurf has improved since they have restarted the company a couple of years ago.