72 Roo

An opportunity was missed by our AD by not being at this game. I can assure you OSU took it seriously and so did their administration. Christine Johnson, the president of OSU, was in attendance. There was a lot on the line. Guthrie needs to seize every chance he gets to network with big, influential athletic depts if we want to grow. Kudos to Jared for calling our poor play exactly that. We were sh*tty. Contrast that to Arth's presser in which he sugar coats incompetence and wastes time on OU-Duquesne. What about addressing our issues starting with QB and DL? I think he doesn't talk about those issues, and others, because he doesn't have an answer.

I wonder if he would take a pay cut to be head coach at his alma mater? I've lost confidence in this staff, from the top on down, they are incompetent and do not appear to be able to grow into the job, which was my hope. Guthrie needs to go to Miller and find a way to make a change.

This game pointed out to me that we should not get too low over football. There's not much we can do for now. I had hopes for Arth even though I did not support his hiring. He seems like a nice guy to talk to. He also seems out of his depth in running a D1 program. We are not in the position to buy out his contract so we are stuck for 2 more years. I had hoped for progress, not expecting perfection. I got neither. Arth has a poor staff and it shows on game day. The team is not prepared. I believe someone checked out the D1 coaching experience on his staff and it amounted to nine years over 10 guys. That is pathetic. The team is not improving because the staff does not know how to improve them in the face of adversity, which they should have learned before coming to Akron. Arth's press conference was so sad. He railed against loss of confidence, but offered no specifics on how to build it. Well coach, confidence is built in practice. It is achieved thru following your leadership with total commitment and knowing their tutelage will get your thru any unexpected turns in the game. These players are not as talented as an average MAC team, but they can overachieve if they believe, work hard and are willing to follow a vision for a better program. That vision and leadership are lacking at Akron. Many of us fell for the trap that if you start young (Fr) players they will get better, like the OL. Not necessarily true if the players on that line don't have the ability to get better or be coached up. Our OL's have always been young and always supposedly ready to turn into a great unit. For now we can only hope Guthrie has a plan for football. This scares me considering Guthrie has never run or been part of a school with D1 football. My suggestion is to follow soccer and wait for basketball. We had hoped football would get better, but as a corporate strategist once told me hope is not a strategic plan, you have to go out and make change (improvement) happen.

I watched the presser and I came away with no excitement for this team. I don't need promises, but jeez give me something to believe in, not 13 minutes of coach-speak. My biggest disappointment is that I am not seeing any drive to win from the head coach. I believe that until we fill the cupboard with talent we need to see passion for building a winning program. I have met Arth. He is one helluva guy. But I'm still looking for proof he can deliver a winning program.

The Zips are on their way to the top. MSU was no slouch and we beat them at their place. Jared has done a remarkable job in cleaning house of his cancers and bringing in new talent that embraces the Akron soccer culture. Jared is also not given the credit for the exceptional job he does as a field coach. He and Mitchell and Groce and Perisse and Engle only serve to prove my point, which is the right head coach is the prime factor in winning. Go soccer Zips!

Unfortunately our upward trend is winning one more game than the previous season. At this rate we will be an unstoppable machine in only 10 short years. I hope it happens.

No wonder our athletic dept/marketing is keeping quiet about this team. They must feel the potential embarrassment is too great to bear for their delicate little egos. So far there has been more news about womens soccer than the sport that eats up the largest portion of the budget and could potentially return some money to the coffers if they start winning. You can't make this s**t up. Sheesh! Go Zips against Wright State tomorrow!

Based on the pre-season hype that we are developing an offensive juggernaut I am predicting we score 3 points.

Is this addition by subtraction? If Mitchell waited this long to make his decision he apparently was not that committed to Akron. Good luck in finding greener pastures.

I think you have captured how i feel. I want Arth to succeed. That is good for him, the program, the university and me. I have had little evidence that he or his assistants can coach. Maybe they can, but we are not seeing it. Being critical yet supportive is a reasonable description of my feelings.

The excitement (for the season) is close to orgasmic. I think we can beat Bryant and maybe one other team. That alone will give us a 100% improvement over last season. Let's see anyone else in the MAC match those gaudy numbers! The excitement our athletic dept is building for this season is off the charts.

Big Jim, I was one of those who wanted us to go with Irons or our second teamer M?????? (however it is spelled) than Gibson or Kato. I still feel that way. But I am not at practice every day and I do not know who is producing. I will have to rely on the staff to make the best call for the program. My problem is that I have seen little that allows me to have confidence in the staff. I hope they prove me wrong this season. I want them to succeed.

How true, how true.

Yeah, there are 11. Lucky we got them on the schedule. I have it on good authority that we tried to get Hiram, but had to settle for Point Park.

I disagree wholeheartedly. The support football has had from the athletics administration is appalling. There has been none. COVID has nothing to do with putting out more information in the spring on women's lacrosse than spring football and recruiting. The AD's office and sports information has deliberately decided to do and say nothing to get us excited about football. That is shameful for them and they need to be called out for it. All other MAC schools are doing more for their team than Akron. Their job performance in supporting football has been disgraceful. They re doing this for a reason and it is maddening to see the logic to it. We should not, and can not, tolerate this.

"Enough of them. What are the G5 schools going to do?" The answer GP is nothing. There is no leadership in the G5. Schools are wasting too much time and money trying to become the next P5 member, which ain't gonna happen. As much as the G5 schools teach their students to be creative and think outside the box, when it comes to athletics administration there is none of that.

Loved that uni. I wish they would bring it back.

I'm in agreement with GP1 here. Texas and Ok are gone and with their departure the Big 12 is dead. There is no way the rest of the CFP teams will allow the remaining Big 12 to add more teams and keep their membership in the CFP. That will mean adding more teams that will split the pie of money and that will not happen. Look for some members of the Big 12 (Colorado, OK St) to go to the PAC 12. The rest are screwed. The ACC will break up with NC going to the Big 10, maybe even ND. Maybe FSU to the SEC. What emerges is three super conferences that all leave the NCAA for football. The MAC and Akron will play no role in this. That is a good thing. These changes finally force the G5 to look to their own future w/o the former P5. Let the G5 stay in the NCAA and have their own championship. Forget about the money of the CPF, the conference network money and the big bowl payoff money. The G5 schools were never going to taste that. It's better that they focus on what they can control. Look to their own interests and let the greed of the P5 eventually eat them alive from the inside. It will take decades, but it will happen.

My bad. The BCS played its last season ending championship in 2014. It was succeeded by the College Football Playoff made up of the same members who were in the BCS, but raking in lots more money. Interestingly enough, Forbes reports that if the proposed 8 team CFP becomes reality the TV pot to split amongst the 65 members will increase 6-7 fold. That alone will pay for much of an athletic dept budget.The TV payout is exclusive of the money offered by each bowl to the participants.

If the Big 12 does have to refill, and the BCS allows the newly reconstituted Big 12 to stay in and get a part of the football playoff money, you better believe there will be a huge effort to be a new member of the Big 12. My money is on the BCS siding with greed and refusing to let the Big 12 stay in. That strategy will allow more money for the BCS members because there will be fewer members to share in the pot.

The Zips are working on the hidden ball trick with Cato's hair. Arth has gotten sick of being called predictable. This is the new OC's response.

I appreciate that you want to hear some ideas that can make the situation better. But in this case neither me nor you nor anyone on ZNO is paid to come up with ideas. Guthrie and his staff are paid to do that and still we hear nothing. I guarantee you that any idea I, you or Joe ZNO come up with is better than nothing. We need to expect and demand more. So far we have nothing which is crap. We should not be afraid to call it what it is. If we applaud anyone for doing nothing we are insuring that that is exactly what we will get in the future. Let's set the bar higher.

If the way football has been hyped since Guthrie started the job I'd say his grade in marketing communication is pretty damn poor. With limited time before the first game every day lost in getting the public excited for football is a squandered opportunity that he bears responsibility for. I can't get too excited so far in regards to his management.

I think they are a waste of money. At the Boise Famous Potato Bowl Trevor Maddox called our white uni's the best in college football. I agree. if it ain't broke , don't fix it. Spend the money on promotions instead. BTW, the Fear the Roc logo is too small to see from the stands or on TV so why have it. A waste of $ when we are short on it.

This top ten countdown series is the only thing to look forward to as our football season approaches. Please, someone, explain to me why the university is not creating any hype whatsoever, for any sport? Ultimately the marketing is the responsibility of the AD, I don't give a damn how new he is. The conspiracy side of my brain is having a real field day. Help! I want to get excited about UA fall sports.