72 Roo

Merry Christmas to all ZNO and the mods who make this possible. I have been on this site for years, if not decades, and I find it is generally a fun place to visit and post. Thank you all for making it possible in one way or another. It's good to be a Zip! Peace.

Arth should have removed him from the staff after the second season of horrendous O line play. I understand that they were friends from a long way back, but a leader has to separate friendship from performance. I'm so glad Guthrie cleaned house.

I also offer good luck to Zach. I do not believe that GT gave him a scholarship. Preferred walk-on maybe, but little else. He just wanted to get the hell away from Akron and he succeeded. He should have stayed and benefited from a good, competent coaching staff, which he never had. But that's his decision. I do not share the attitude that he could have led us to better days. His improvement over the last 2 years has been admirable, but not to the level that we could win big. If he doesn't want to stay, thanks for your time here.

Got to agree with the Captain on this one. In Joe we trust.

I'm surprised there is so much discussion on the Transfer Portal. It is here to stay. The coaches and the NCAA brought this on when coaches began breaking contracts and leaving for greener pastures with no responsibility or accountability to the programs (or contracts) they were leaving. It was just a matter of time before the players got equal treatment. The NCAA is complicit because they prioritized money over all else when they allowed the P5 CFP to be formed and become independent. They surrendered any authority to protect the best interests of the game. As most of us thought they never really cared to begin with. The NCAA further feared lawsuits and the loss of money from players who sought NIL. It was approved and the players got more power. The NCAA gave in to that growing power by creating the Transfer Portal to show players were not employees and therefore could not unionize thus allowing schools and the NCAA to keep their money. The TP is here to stay and I have a hard time criticizing any player who uses it. That being said I hate losing Matheson and Mumpfield.

That's one thing we can all agree on. I'm excited to see what coach JoeMo can do.

Snipe all you want, but this coach and staff know exactly what they are doing. Trust the process. They are getting the talent we need, just not the way you want. I trust their competence over your preference. Perhaps over the last three years you have forgotten what competence is. It is easy to forget when it is nowhere present so I guess you can be forgiven. You are forgiven my son, now go in peace and say five Hail JoeMO's.

You have overlooked Georgia, which has emerged as a better area to recruit than Ohio/W Pa. But to your point, Georgia may also be well covered by our new staff. JM is surrounding himself with a rock star group of assistants. I hope Mumpfield reconsiders. This very well can grow to be a super place for him to be, especially considering, as others have wisely pointed out, few athletes ever make it in the pros.

There are several posters here who are skeptical or disliking Guthrie. Give the guy a chance. Go talk to him. You will be impressed and you will have hope that he can turn our dumpster fire around. He inherited a mess. Williams took the cowardly route out of Akron saying he couldn't handle the changing environment in college athletics meaning he did not want to put the work or commitment into righting the Zip ship. He also didn't want to live with his lousy hire for football. It will take Guthrie time. He can't do it overnight. He made the excellent call in firing Arth. He has put other coaches on notice. He expects performance, not excuses. He has not cut the budget any further, in fact he is looking for ways to reward performing programs. BTW, football has one of the biggest budgets in the MAC. Funding is not the issue. Leadership, or lack thereof, is. All I'm saying is give the man a chance.

Please no Petrino. He is a morally bankrupt coach, who knows how to win. And then he sets back programs. IMO DocHolliday is not the answer. Gotta admit I like Getsy a lot. We need to feel good about this hire and rally around him ASAP.

Count me in. This site is very important to me. Few people in the sports world love the Zips, yet nearly everyone on this site does. I would gladly help pay for ZNO's upkeep. No kidding here, I would take pride in knowing I was helping this site to exist and grow. Thank you Captain and the other unknowns who help make this possible. Finally, for God's sake you posters who feel you have to swear at, insult, and personally attack others go make your own site. You are tedious, boring and a waste of time.

"100% agree. I would like Guthrie to go through each athletic program and tell the coaches that the standard is Excellence. Alas, excellence costs $$." "He already has done just that." Our football troubles are tied to two issues: 1) inferior coaching and 2) AD's who are incompetent in hiring those inferior coaches. Guthrie has his hands full, but he may also be the guy to turn it around. He met with all the head coaches and told them point blank if your program is not in the top three of the MAC then your job is not safe. Arth is gone. He was a bad coach and downplaying the PCC rivalry alone should have cost him his job. That was an obvious decision. Herlihy and Hanna are next. Some think the solution is UA spending more money on failing programs. It is not. Within the MAC we have nearly the highest football budget. Same is so for WSoc and VB. The problem is coaches who can't win at this level. Money will not solve that problem. We will have to go thru some pain, but I believe Guthrie can turn things around. The president and the board want football to succeed. Some on this board feel football will be dropped at UA. No one in administration supports that. Doing so would further set the university back in the eyes of the public. There is hope, yet I feel the pain of all the posters on ZNO.

Agreed. He is still a cancer and has no place at Akron. If he were to be hired he would leave whenever he felt like it such as when he coached the Atlanta Falcons and left mid-season w/o even speaking to the players. No class. No morals.

I asked Guthrie about the potential for conference expansion with MTSU and WKU. He saw no reason for it. Neither school brought a big metropolitan market that could increase the eyes watching MAC FB or BB. Additionally two more slices of the TV revenue would have to be given up thereby lessening what each existing school got with little chance of negotiating a fatter deal because of these two. I do not know for sure, but I bed Charles shared his opinion with Miller, who values Charles insight. All that being said I have a sentimental interest in seeing WKU as an opponent. I remember regularly playing them when we were in the OVC. We played MTSU regularly too, but I never liked them.

The results aren't acceptable for sure, but Jared is not the problem. He is capable and will make any changes that are necessary. Before anyone is foolish enough to talk about getting the pitchforks out realize that Jared was asked to run a top 5 program while losing a fulltime operations director, a volunteer coach, a grad assistant, and having his recruiting, travel, operations, and equipment budgets significantly cut. Judge him when he has the tools he needs to succeed.

The North division would.

I don't know Zipmeister. I think it is very impressive that he is considering something in Law. After all, we have a great school of law.

uch! I hate it when pundits accurately call us out. We have become a joke.

Thanks B & G. A beer is waiting for you.

Tom Arth is a good person who was in way, way over his head. Guthrie did him a favor. Arth and all his coaches knew they weren't succeeding and were not capable of success. The coaches are the first to know there is a problem, but they are wired to try to the very end. Now they can all go to positions where they can be successful and happy. I wish them all the best. A good manager recognizes the lack of talent and makes changes. He does not dwell on excuses. He does not hope the program leader can improve when there is no evidence over three years that the basic leadership skills are there. Guthrie is a good manager and he acted. He also has a new coach in mind. I love Tim Tyrell, but he is not on Guthrie's radar. Charles is thinking bigger. He also wants someone with significant D1 experience. This change is good news for all Zips. The bleeding will stop. We can, and should, win big. The process has started. Welcome KangarooJake. This site is so important to Zip fans. Your opinion is welcome and don't be afraid to be different. I'm glad you are here. Thanks to the mods who made this site a reality.

Arth is a nice guy. A good person. He has been hired to coach. He is a bad coach. He can't recruit. He doesn't work the transfer portal Like Tucker did at Michigan State. He does not improve his team over the course of a season. He hires poor assistants. He has had a thorough evaluation at Akron and it is time to end the contract, stop the bleeding and get someone in who can produce. I hope Guthrie makes the change ASAP even if that means we are rudderless against Kent.

I don't see this helping the Zips or the MAC. There would be two more pieces of the conference TV revenue pie to carve out. Less for all the original others. I don't see these two schools bringing name recognition or potential rivalries. I talked wit hGuthrie about something like this and he wasn't too excited to add anyone other than Navy or Army and Navy is in the AAC. Maybe the MAC feels it can get a better TV package. Who knows? We'll see what happens. It would sure be nice to be competitive in football so we could at least see two new opponents to measure ourselves against. As of now we measure as crap. Too bad they bring no new soccer teams.

Very high on Aziz. He will develop and be a force for us. Not so thrilled with Tribble's performance. He has been in the program long enough to know what he can and can't do. This game showed that against good defense he is a turnover machine. He has yet to understand how to play within himself.

You know. Um. Arth and his DIII staff have no future at Akron. He is in way over his head and it is obvious to all. I have visited with Charles Guthrie. He is a class act and has the vision, leadership and experience to right our situation. What I found especially interesting is that he sees football as an opportunity to turn around a failed program and make all athletics better. He will make a change. I wouldn't be surprised to see it soon so the search can begin as soon as possible. That being said don't believe for a minute that he is not exploring who he needs in a coach and who fits the profile. I know for a fact he is already being contacted about the job. Unfortunately football will once again rebuild, but that is the price of stopping the bleeding and saving football at Akron. Arth has come close to killing it. Guthrie will not allow that to happen. If you can find time to sit with Charles you will be impressed. He is the right guy for the job. He has told all the coaches that he expects them to be competitive in the MAC and if you aren't you are in trouble. Many coaches are nervous, especially the classic underproducers. On the other hand Guthrie gets along great with the coaching performers such as Embick, Mitchell, Groce, Parisi. Guthrie has been successful at every school he has been at. He has laid the foundation for success at Akron by restructuring the AD staff. Next he will make a football change at Akron and get a good coach in. I also expect him to be goobled up by a P5 program after 5 years. He is young and talented enough to make another move. I haven't believed in our AD like this since Mac Rhoades. More improvements are coming and Charles will earn our support. You know?

Get rid of the script Akron. It is a lousy logo and a poor marketing concept. The Z is unique and stylish. It means Akron and nothing else. It is ours. The AD and athletic marketing Dept, if there is such a dept, should heavily weigh what we say on this board because we still care and have not abandoned Akron as Joe and Mary Akron have.