72 Roo

My thoughts on your questions. Can football capitalize on the momentum it's built with the season ticket campaign? Yes, they are doing it now. Can MBB 4peat the MAC? Yes. The talent is still there. Can MSOC win the Big East and make it back to the College Cup? Yes, we are loaded and may announce more acquisitions. Can WSOC improve in year 2 with its new coach? Yes, she has four new freshmen that may start. The team needed talent. She got some so expect improvement, not a conference deep run. Can Volleyball build upon the success they had last season? Yes, but slowly. VB is the second most popular sport in the NCAA and recruiting talent to a losing program is hard. Can WBB finally make a jump and make it Cleveland? Hell no. Can baseball stay healthy and look like the team some rumor mills have hyped up? Yes, their pitching has healed up. Can softball repeat the success they had last year? Yes, this coach is the real deal and he will take a good team and make them better. Can lacrosse get revenge on UMass and take back control of the MAC? No way. We give out four schollies. UMass gives out 13-15. Can our Olympic (XC/TF/Swimming) teams continue to dominate? Swimming for sure. Not sold on the XC/TF leadership. Mitchell is a hard act to follow especially outside the MAC at national meets. Poaching our better performers with NIL money will continue.

I enjoyed the lengthy interview with Dave Skoczen on the G6 podcast. Thank you to whoever sent it on to us. I like Dave. I think he is a big upgrade over Frenchy in calling Zip games. I have talked with him four times, twice before football games and twice before BBall games. Each time I found him to be warm, friendly, knowledgeable and excited to bring Zip games to the public. I will not crucify him for his on the spot answers to a podcaster. Rather I find his overall assessment of the team, whether football or basketball, to be realistic and objective. We are lucky to have he and Joe Dunn bringing games to us.

Yesterday I was on campus and did my usual rounds. For what it's worth: The renovation of Buchtel Commons is beautiful. The landscaping and pathway create a welcoming space all along the way. The entrance and arch leading to Buchtel Hall are impressive. On the other side Coleman Commons is a sight to behold. With the fountains now working it makes for a scenic place to take a walk. Fall enrollment appears to be up at an impressive double digits. Grad students are flat, but freshmen and transfers are up. Nemer's plan to get all deans and dept heads out to the high schools with our message seem to be working. Last year the football team had 11 of their athletes make their summer strength & conditioning goals. This year 51 have met their goals. Football GPA is at 2.94, the highest it has been in recent times. Those attending the first meeting of the football team described Joe as being the most positive and motivated he has ever been. His enthusiasm was infectious for all in the room. Soccer is loaded. There has been a slight setback with an incoming GK getting injured and possibly losing a season. The defense got the outside backs they needed. Goodrich has gone to bat for the soccer program adding Attila as a full time coach with a focus on operations and Bill as a GM with a focus on development. Andrew has said the soccer program will be the pre-eminent program at UA and he will not let it slip. Goodrich is highly thought of by the faculty. His door is open and he is transparent in all he does. Administrators feel we will go bowling. W's come from RMU, EMU, CMU, KSU, Mass and UB with the possibility of stealing one from WMU or OU. Some coaches feel UNLV is the best OOC team we play. They feel we will not sneak up on Wake or Minn. Crain's Cleveland Business ran an article yesterday citing UA as one of the best schools in the country (9th) for sports' achievement versus dollars spent. Go Zips!

Thanks to Dr. Z for passing on the MAC coaches survey from the Toledo Blade. I found it engaging and reflective of the general sentiment among most MAC coaches.The most interesting take away for me was that no MAC coach praised the conference, its future or its leadership. None of that came up. The coaches seemed to be trying to survive in the changing world of college football. I do agree with one coach who opined that Miami is preparing to leave because they have the resources and the backing to play at another level such as AAC. It seems to me that Steinbrecher has no vision as to how the MAC can improve and raise its stature. But we all knew that.

Thank you. I get an advisory that to continue reading a subscription of some sort must be purchased.

Apparently this is not a free site. The last time I recall the Blade doing one of these anonymous surveys the answers were very interesting and revealing. Some great, hard-hitting questions were asked. I enjoyed reading it very much. I hope someone can share it.

Goodrich's positivity and vision are much welcomed. You can't do the improbable unless you can envision it and proclaim it can be done. When Andrew was at USF he tackled attendance at football games. No one believed he could make big improvements for the usual litany of excuses. He had near sellouts of three games when the local skeptics felt he couldn't do it for one. It's possible at UA. This team has potential and more talent than in the past. They can go 6-6. With W's over RMU, KSU, EMU, CMU and UMass all we have to do is take one from UNLV or OU. That is doable. I think there is reason to be excited about this season. I will do my best to help sellout homecoming. Why not? It's better than sitting around complaining.

Delano did not convince me that we can't get 6 wins. His only significant position analysis was on Poff at QB. There are some sure MAC losses such as Miami and WMU, but Kent, UMass, EMU, CMU and Buffalo are winnable. Add them to RMU and we have six. OU is the only school that give me pause to say we can win.

Very optimistic expectations. I also believe Poff is that good, but both lines need to be rebuilt. 6-6 is more realistic and 7-5 is fantastic. I hope you know more than me and I would love to see 7-5 or 8-4. I am eager to see this team play. Go Zips!

You forgot to note that Joe inherited a season ticket base that has a waiting list and attendance that gives the Zips a decided advantage with our twelfth man. Texas A & M has nothing on us. Also how about Joe getting his budget cut every year for the last four. That freed up tons of money for our award winning marketing campaigns. Football at Akron is much fought over program to lead.

I don't believe the soccer playing conferences would not support this. The coaches recommended overwhelming approval of the two season concept. According to Jared the conferences that cared about soccer (BE, ACC, Sunbelt) were the ones driving this proposal. It is a complete joke that the cabinet sent the proposal back to the oversight committee to investigate the affect it would have on academics. Anyone who knew what D1 soccer players go thru in a season that has up to 3 games in 5 or 6 days would know the split in seasons with one game a week is far better for the players and their academics. If they cared about the athletes they would rush to this concept. Injuries would also be significantly reduced with more time for rest and time for treatment. I hope this concept is adopted.

Richie was outstanding today. Congratulations to him and the Canadian team. They can win their pod.

I question any Zip fan who is skipping a key Zip event like a golf outing for a meager excuse like his wedding. It seems Kreed has had his head turned by a subversive KSU spy masquerading as a love interest. Be very careful my friend. We would hate to lose you to the dark side. May the Zippy be with you.

Thanks for this post ZIP_ME87. We are truly blessed to have young men of high character coming thru our program. Cudos to the coaches for building and perpetuating the culture of Akron soccer. It is a fact that our culture is like no other. That is repeatedly voiced by new people coming into the program.

Another great interview. Remi is so well spoken. He made the interview interesting with well thought out answers. It is obvious he and his teammates believe this will be an exceptional season. I also believe them.