72 Roo

If ever there was half-hearted praise this is it. The Zips can do better. When they do they will receive better praise that is not tongue in cheek. Earn it Zips! You can, and should, do better.

Damn. Did we play well?

He did play and did quite well until he came up against the famous kryptonite defense of coach Lex Luther. It was ugly. A little known fact is that on Luther's staff was a young rookie assistant called Satan. After learning all he could from Luther Satan changed his name to Sabin and the rest is history. If you want facts you will find them here at ZNO.

Lots of folks disagreeing with me. That's OK, but I'm still not convinced that BVP is good for us. Groce does best when guys are in his system 2-3 years. I don't believe he helps us that much. In fact I don't think he is quick enough to play in Groce's trapping ZeeFence. Keep helping me understand the error of my ways. We all want the Zips to excel. On second thought, the hell with excel. Let's kick everyone's ass!

I hope not. We can do better, especially considering he's a one and done.

B & G, you are spot on. Ali is a good talent , no doubt. At Akron he was under the protective arm of Groce who knew his strengths and weaknesses. Groce was addressing his areas for improvement while giving him lots of PT. He's not going to get that somewhere else. Your post captured reality. BTW, he was not offered before entering the transfer portal. That tampering which can get you heavy sanctions by the NCAA. No coach is going to risk it.

I've been told she is not returning. She and Hanna are the poster couple for underachievement. Guthrie will invest when he has the right leadership in place at each program.

I did not see a notice that Hanna was fired. It was common knowledge that Hanna was gone after this season. He was a guy that was not well liked in the athletic dept. He never owned his performance, always blaming others and circumstances. Guthrie had tired of his act a long time ago, but gave him time to change his (Guthrie's) mind. Hanna merely reenforced the decision to part ways as soon as possible. Any change is a welcome change, but Guthrie tells all his coaches that if you can't consistently get to the top three in the MAC your job is not safe. I like those expectations.

Good! The university and the city have much to gain by cleaning up Exchange Street and making it more friendly for the public. Look at what Kent has done with redeveloping their main drag. It is very nice and a destination for people after work and weekends. Exchange Street could be the same with forethought and imagination. The university has so many events that can draw people. With a nice Exchange Street with shops and restaurants those people will stay. The street improvement is the first step.

You are probably right about Gross. As far as our John Groce is concerned he has already turned done offers.

Catdaddyp, I love the position analysis you are providing. They are first class and addictive for any Zip junky. FWIW I'd like to offer one suggestion. Can you include the player's year and if he is returning or a transfer. There is such needed and welcomed change to our roster I am unsure of which players are new (high school and transfers) and which are holdovers from previous years. Just a thought. Thanks for joining the board.

B & G, you overlooked the TE position because for years our coaches have overlooked it. This coach is determined to use all his weapons. In Joe We Trust.

I liked Aziz as a person and teammate. I liked the potential in Aziz. Groce knew his capabilities and I thought Aziz would figure more into our plans for 22-23. But I am also sure Groce had a meeting with Aziz and explained that more playing time would only come with significant improvement. I think Aziz took that into account and decided he wanted to play more and the transfer portal gave him his opportunity to find out where that might be. I'm thinking that he will find a starter's position with a lesser team and lesser conference or he will be a backup at a P5 and get little more PT than he would have with us. This is a time when we have our mojo shaken, but as I've said before it also presents opportunity, opportunity to get better. Groce knows that. He will take advantage of the scholarship openings to find a big that can move, play ZeeFence and score. I'm OK with that. The sky is not falling. We've taken a hit, but we can emerge better.

I was still basking in the afterglow of NCAA tourney qualification and an almost/should - have win. Then this gut punch came around. How could any player reward Groce with telling our coach he deserves better? This is selfish. This is the product of bad advise. This is already yesterday's news. I'm over it and looking forward to what Groce does to fill the spot. Ali will land at a bigger school or one that will supposedly give him more publicity. But will he get better? I doubt it. Groce developed Ali. John tolerated his back-downs, his 15 seconds of dribble-dribble, his turnovers and his immaturity. Why? Because Groce was the best teacher to coach him out of it while also giving him playing time. I don't think Ali will get either at another school. I feel bad for Groce most of all. He was rewarded with ego driven selfishness. But out of this arises opportunity. Opportunity to put together a better team, one that buys into being a Zip. One that loves teamism and ZeeFence. Our program will continue to get better with better talent, facilities and fans. All Ali wants could have been achieved here. Bad advise leads to bad decisions. Now he will live with it. Ali can do whatever he wants. So he did. Ali who? I already forgotten. In Groce WeTrust!

BVP was always a pain to play against, but I think we can do better, especially for a one and done player. I think the staff can find a better addition. I guess we will all have to stay tuned.

Catdaddyp: "Its pretty clear this staff is targeting mobile quarterbacks. My concern is the ability to hang on to him as more offers are likely to come if he has a big senior season." First, welcome to this site. It's good to have you. No matter the sport there is a lot of passion for the Zips here. Your quote above tells me you are well on your way to becoming a typical Zip fan in that despite our success we start worrying about what can go wrong. We are working on expecting success no matter what as soccer, track, swimming & diving and basketball programs have shown. Give us time with football as we have been thru great trauma. But we will get there. The journey is shaping up to be fun. In Joe We Trust.

Add to that exodus women's volleyball, a case study in mediocrity. Addition by subtraction again.

I enjoy reading the Captain's posts, even when he takes issue with me. This last one was super until he wrote about Groce being lured away. I truly hate to think of him leaving. He is a perfect fit for us. But he needs to do what he sees best. Until then I will try to appreciate every season we have him, but Lord would I love to see him here for a long time.

Charles is a rising star. He will move from Akron when the situation is right. He is a great guy and better than we can provide. He will move to Syracuse (both his and his wife's alma mater), Pitt, Penn State or BC. All four will put him in a P5 position with more money than he could ever get at Akron. He also would be closer to home, which is Albany NY. He is a strong family man and wants to get home one day while his mom and sisters are still healthy. I can't blame him. I'd do the same thing. One thing is for sure, he will leave Akron far better than he found it. He will make that happen before he leaves. When he does go I will thank him and wish him well.

Illini Zip, glad to have you on board. Your posts are always informative and w/o the hype/trash we occasionally see. Keep calling this your new home. There is so much positive energy running thru Zip sports now. We have a bright future and we'd like to have you along for the ride. But I gotta ask, is calling us your kind of people a positive or a negative? Remember Groucho once said " I would never join a club that would have me as a member." 😂

I am concerned that she does not have the coaching chops needed to demand excellence from a team. She is super nice and I am rating for her, but I have my doubts.

Thanks Rufus. Your comments are very classy and appreciated. There is a great rivalry with the Zips and OU. Part of it is because we know each other so well. We especially respect Boals, originating from his time at Akron. He was, and is, a total class act. The rivalry can only help both programs. We can't wait for next year. We also are coming after you with new football coach JoMo. We are done with getting our asses kicked by the rest of the MAC, except BG.

Keep up the D, work to get a good look at the basket or hit an open man, and hit our FT's = Win! Go Zips! No fear of the Bruins. These announcers are kissing UCLA's ass.

My opinion is that Groce will leave for a better position right before his kids go to high school because once in HS he may not want to pull them out. Knowing the family man he is I think he cares about their experiences and does not want to disrupt those years by moving. His son is 12 BTW. There are big reasons for him to stay for the time being. Such as: He loves his players and he has great teams coming for the next 2-3 years He wants to build a legacy here before he goes He likes the area and the passion of the fans He likes working for Guthrie and Miller. They are all aligned Guthrie will refurbish the JAR, bringing more seats and students to the lower bowl, taking out the plexiglass barrier, redoing the floor, bringing collapsable seats out over the track on all sides. Guthrie will do that within 2 years Groce has lobbied for a separate practice facility which he will get this summer I believe all these things will keep him here for a while, but in the end he still wants to coach at a school that will allow him to win a national championship. That's why I believe he will leave one day.

In Groce's comments at the post game presser he mentioned that the success of the Akron program was one of the reasons that he WANTED to come here after Illinois. That got me to thinking of the hiring of coach Moorhead. JoMo also said he WANTED to be at Akron. If you recall a couple of years ago Louisville made a big run at Jared Embick. Despite more money Jared didn't go because he too WANTED to be here. Coach Mitchell has also built a top 25 track program here and despite other schools pursuing him he WANTS to stay at Akron. Our AD Charles Guthrie also WANTED to come here. My point is that regardless of the greed and arrogance of the P5 schools Akron is a great place to be, in fact it can be an appealing place to be and we should take pride in that. Groce, Moorhead and Guthrie will all probably move on one day. I think it is appropriate to stop and enjoy what may evolve into the golden age of Zip sports. We have coaches who want to be here. We have an administration that expects and fosters performance. We have good facilities. That's a winning combination. Add to that a fan base that, while limited, is growing and is excited. Many of the posters and readers on ZNO helped keep the flame glowing. For that we all should be grateful. Your efforts are paying off. None of these coaches would want to be at a place that doesn't care. ZNO cares! Go Zips!