ZachTheZip

It's not mentioned in the article, but coach Nemec will also serve as the High School liaison for the staff.

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/varsity-letters/varsity-letters-1.279974/john-nemec-retires-at-Can't-roosevelt-accepts-spot-on-university-of-akron-football-staff-1.485828 Coach Nemec is retiring from his head coaching position Can't Roosevelt HS to become the Zips new Director of Player Personnel.

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/varsity-letters/varsity-letters-1.279974/john-nemec-retires-at-Can't-roosevelt-accepts-spot-on-university-of-akron-football-staff-1.485828

Heard there will be an addition to the staff. Local guy.

Some good news is coming up soon.

"Silent majority" implies that most people out there are opinionated on a matter. Just because you have a strong opinion on something doesn't make everyone else automatically care about it. That can be difficult to accept.

The quality of students entering UA is better now than it has ever been, and the biggest improvement has happened over the past few years. However, that is because UA recently got the greenlight from the state to turn away remedial students or direct them toward partnered community colleges. Did Tressel have anything to do with that? Probably not. The timing of the decision matches well with his hiring, but the lobbying and planning likely goes back several years before then.

You're right. I could be describing any of the candidates. One thing I took from today's article is that the faculty at UA is overstating the president's dutoes. They're putting every responsibility on him, leaving none for the VPs and deans. The next president needs to manage those people, not do their jobs for them. But of course the faculty senate should be expected to not have any clue about how things really work.

It's a brilliant bit of marketing. It shows that Akron is fun, it shows off the stadium, and it gets posted all over the internet right as the most time of the year for football recruiting is getting underway.

So what reasoning do you have for supporting him? Just because he wrote a dissertation on some nonsense that has nothing at all to do with academia? Is it because he has a cheesy self-promotional website? You say he isn't liked because of leadership? What leadership? I don't like this guy. Everything about him just feels wrong.

None of the candidates are great. The dead horse that is Jim Tressel's candidacy continues to be beat, Dr Nykiel has never been involved in administration at a major university, and Dr Scarborough has a mysterious past transgression at DePaul, and is a favorite of the UA faculty which in my book means he shouldn't even be considered.

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ua-finalist-says-universities-make-dreams-possible-1.484829 Presentation #2. For what it's worth, all the Toledo people I've talked to can't wait to get rid of him.

Toledo guy is streaming now. http://www.uakron.edu/live/

Remember these renderings from several years ago? They don't quite match up with the new plan, but it's a good starting point. (click to embiggen)

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/it-s-time-to-accelerate-change-ua-presidential-finalist-says-with-video-of-forum-1.484208 The first of what I expect to be three presentations full of easy questions and non-answers.

We don't let more people in by increasing applications. UA can only allow so many students in, because there are only so many professors and only so many classes. It's somewhere around 5,000 but I don't recall exactly where they set the cap. So say that normally 5,500 would apply. You take the best 5,000 or however many meet our new academic standards (it used to be first-come first-served with open enrollment). We send the rest to junior college or one of the CCs that we've recently partnered with. If you increase the number of applicants, you still take only 5,000 students, but you take the best ones from the increased number, which naturally increases the average test scores and other metrics that academics like to pretend are indicators of future success. As for Tressel maneuvering his way through the state government, I doubt you'll find anyone out there with more connections to state legislators than James Tressel. Don't underestimate the network he built.

Yeah? The buzz from most of the country is that Tressel would bring Akron into relevance. It would make Akron a "real" university in the eyes of the ones who matter the most: prospective students and their parents. The best way to improve the academic profile of a university is by improving the applicant pool. There are two ways to do that. The first is to go through the difficult process of hiring better professors (Some of the best professors I ever had were adjuncts, and many of the absolute worst were full-time with tenure), and spending money you don't have on programs across the university. The second way is to increase the number of students that are applying which, now that we have finally shed the "open enrollment" tag, gives us an improved student profile. A better student profile makes it easier to attract and retain better professors, and things go from there. There is no "chick or egg" debate about how to improve a university. It all starts with more student applications. And Tressel is the only one of the three who can get high school students from around the country and even in-state to consider applying to Akron where we would otherwise be an afterthought, if we were given any thought at all. It's the same reason college sponsor athletics. Get your name into the minds of the people and keep it there. It also gives us a shot at combating the resource-denial that comes out of Columbus, where a certain university actively blocks academic resources from going to other state schools, even if they aren't in the running for those resources themselves. In case you haven't noticed, "Toledo Guy" has not done any better at that than anybody else from the other state universities.

Six on the roster right now, and assuming he sits out a year, he'll come in right as Chisholm graduates. And it's not a waste of a scholarship to bring in a senior RB who played well in the MWC and can catch the ball when needed. I don't see him as a primary back, but Bowden's offense requires three RBs and he'll fit in nicely.

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/college/csu/football/2014/04/26/alexanders-mother-influence-leaving-csu/8190865/ Weird story.

http://www.uakron.edu/bot/president-search.dot Interesting that each candidate will host an open forum, that will be streamed online. if you click "Schedule" above their pictures, you can see for yourself.