ZachTheZip

It's too late to have them ready for the first two games at the stadium. They're missing a HUGE amount of single-day business, but I think they are going more after the regular university students who will eat there year round than relying on high traffic for 6 days a year.

It's about time.

Thats a good name. It could Be Buffalo, Akron, Can't??, Toledo, Bowling Green, Ohio, Miami, and???Bowling Green toyed with moving to D-II. If there's a move down they're taking it. Can't would drop, despite their fans reassuring themselves that removing a large chunk of seating capacity counts as an upgrade and investment. Ohio and Miami are pretty much married to the MAC and would follow it whereever it goes. Ball State isn't spending money and I think they would strongly consider dropping despite their one year of success.Akron, Buffalo, and Toledo are clearly committed to staying at this level, and I think CMU and WMU are as well. NIU's decision depends on whether their president retires or not. If Can't moves down, YSU could move up without it becoming too crowded in NE Ohio so long as they add a second half to their stadium. A few other FCS schools like SIU might make the jump, too.

I think that the remaining MAC schools and which ever FCS teams move up to fill the power vacuum should call themselves the "North Coast Conference". I think it could work as a brand.

I thought Hunter was the heir apparent to Mack. Why hasn't Mack left yet and let Hunter do his job as the interrim AD?

Huge effort, thanks. One would think the Athletic Department would have this worked out. Thanks. The department kind of has this worked out, but it's hugely disjointed. The media guides aren't as standardized as I thought they would be and there isn't a record of anything for a few sports.

Added Women's Indoor Track individual championships. Women's Outdoor track will be added soon along with Men's Outdoor Track's 2009 season.I'll figure out a better way to organize this thing once I get everything in one place.

I've got it! We can sell souvenir "Rubber Bowl" rubber bowls to hold your nachos in, and they can come with troughs of cheese on the side. It's brilliant, I tell you!

http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_...CRIBER_CONTENT= All I can say is "It's about time!"

Other than Iowa State, which Big 12 teams do you think Akron could beat?Texas A&M sucks right now, but that's the only other team IMHO.Baylor comes to mind...

Maybe something outback themed... like an Outback Steakhouse. What ever happened to the idea of having a restaurant in the stadium?Something I like is having Papa Johns pizzas at the RB and the JAR even if they are grossly overpriced.

We already have a "Z" pretzel as a sort-of signature food item, but it seems like everybody does that.

NO!Never again.

Maybe Hunter had ideas that Mack wouldn't let him act on. Now's his chance to show that he can handle it and that he has his own vision.I agree that "stability" is not what the athletics department needs. Stability = stagnation.As for what Hunter can do in a short time, he just sold UA out for some cash to play Virginia Tech with no return game. Expect a few more visible moves in the near future.

Of course he would be named the interrim AD. He was second-in-command and that's usually how that works.Think of the next week or two as a trial run. What he does in the next few weeks will determine if the university will go on a national search or stick with Hunter. His fate is entirely in his hands.

Honestly, Akron's future schedule is woefully incomplete compared to other schools. VT is completely set through 2015 and it wn't change hardly at all, but we don't even know all the teams we're playing next season. Somebody needs to step up and start planning for the future.We're used to Akron and other MAC schools constantly changing schedules and signing last minute deals and so we think scheduling is like that for all of college football, but it's not. In fact, the MAC has a reputation for backing out of contracts and trying to change things that are already set, and it's the reason why things are so difficult for us trying to get things straight because nobody wants to schedule a MAC school.

I think they waited so long to schedule us to make extra sure that Jason Taylor wouldn't be playing for us.

http://www.techsideline.com/news_archive/s...rticle-4540.phpI thought 1-off games were going to be a thing if the past. Akron had better be getting a huge payday for this. Scheduling so far into the future usually means that guarantees end up below the current rates for bought games.

I'm from Akron. What has Cleveland ever done for me? Nothing in my lifetime. I think the city needs to start over from scratch and find a new identity. Remove the source of all the superficial misery: the sports teams. Then they can focus on making the actual city better until it's worthy of having professional sports teams again.

It's the beginning of something much bigger. Zips basketball is at the point where it can stand on its own merits, not depending on the charity of a local superstar. It's a sign that Akron basketball is ready to take the next step.As far as the Lebron leaving Cleveland thing, the city needs him to leave more than he needs to leave the city. Clevelanders have never been able to appreciate what they have and instead focus constantly on what is outside their reach. Until they learn to do so, they don't deserve to win a sports championship or even have a nice city. The Browns should move to LA, the Indians to Columbus, and the Cavs can go to Buffalo or Pittsburgh. Those cities would appreciate them even if they aren't pulling in championships.

Whoever the next AD is, they can't just sit on the successes of Thomas and Rhoades. There's lots of work to be done, still. The soccer stadium needs built, the JAR is supposed to be renovated soon, Football needs to keep improving to fill the stadium, something has to be done to upgrade the rifle team's facilities, and there will have to be a real sell job to get the community to believe in the athletics program.

I remember you talking about tailgating just outside shrank, but just an fyi, they're doing some parking garage project down in that area so that lot has also been turned into the access way to get into the actual shrank garage. I don't know if you're still thinking that lot, but you might want to do some checking around to make sure it's still going to be available etc.Good call, looks Like I'll need to make a scouting run to Akron in August so see what the deal is.I just drove past there. If you were planning on tailgating anywhere near Shrank, it's been turned into a giant construction site.

Boucher stole the show, but I think a lot of it was his supporting cast and a momentum swing. In these All-Star games your performance is greatly affected by who else happens to be on the field at that time.

Thanks.

Jacq at least needs to start at Penn State. He's played in front of crowds at OSU and Wisconsin, and so shouldn't be nearly as awe-struck as a rookie would be when they run out on the the field in front of 100,000 fans.