72 Roo

GP has hit on the single best way to improve football attendance in my opinion. That is to play good football. We haven't seen that is years here. Two years stick out to me in which you could say we got a glimpse of good football. Those were Bowden's first year, because he was such an improvement over iCoach and the year we went to the Idaho Potato Bowl. When it comes to football NE Ohio fans are fairly sophisticated. They know the game and know good from bad. We have not met their expectation to play a good game. Do that and we will see an influx of fans larger than any marketing campaign could produce.

While Rick Minter was the head coach at UC I was covering Cincinnati for my company. Despite his pedigree as a former Notre Dame DC he proved to be a horrible coach. I went to many practices, scrimmages and games. I got to know some parents of the players and they were in despair over the future of the program. Attendance was poor and there was no positivity around the team. Finally the AD & president fired Minter and got a real coach in Mark Dantonio. Before the hiring of Dantonio an argument could be made that we were not far behind UC in quality and status. A lot has changed since. Since coaching is the biggest single factor in creating a successful program I can only hope that Arth is the guy to turn around our program.

Sorry I was not clear. I'm referring to MIVID.

Hey Mods! This guy clearly does not come on this site to talk Zip sports. Isn't it time you guys banned him? The social and political crap he spews will end up hurting us, not him, so pull the plug. Long overdue.

This guy scares me. Surely he isn't here for an education. OK, I get it that most football players aren't here for an education, but most football players don't shop themselves around to 4 schools in three years either. I suspect we are a last ditch effort by him to resuscitate his playing career. I hope we haven't given him a scholarship until he earns it.

I can't believe any AD or MAC administrator is seriously proposing this scenario. It is a lawsuit waiting to happen. In essence non state of Ohio members are treated differently that members from the state of Ohio. Yet all pay the same dues and fees and have signed the same contracts for membership. This is fun to talk about over a beer and that's as far as it goes. So who's buying the first round??

I believe there is a 30% chance only conference games will be played with no fans allowed. I believe there is zero chance there will be a season with fans, even tho' UA has been social distancing at football games for years.

Don't laugh damn it! I would have made it! I've got a wicked flutter kick and a great makeup coach.

Glad to help, especially to someone who has a grasp of our history and who has joined me in killing off a few brain cells with tasty beverages.

Spin, you hit on a good point here. U of A seems to repeatedly make bad decisions that go back to the board of trustees accepting w/o question what the administration recommends. It has gone on for decades such as, but not limited to: The design of the JAR. The architect had never designed an arena and it showed. The design of the business building. Only one elevator, low hall ceilings, one back stair that no one can find, a front facade that looks like bricked up windows, a style (New Mexico abode) totally foreign to the university and the city, wasted space with an atrium that offered little usable space in the entrance. The purchase of the Polsky building that cost was doubled due to asbestos removal and then still went way over budget in renovation. It was a sweetheart deal for the city, but it took students away from the core of the university. A similar sized building could have been built across Exchange for 1/3 the cost. Add Quaker Square and you see that the B of T's have no governance ability. They give the president whatever he wants because they have no stake in the university and don't care. BTW, to GP1 if he has read this far (thanks), athletics does not represent 1% to UA. Last year it was 8% of the total budget.

Who leaked our strategy to you?

Couldn't agree with the Meister more. Lots of criticism has fallen at the feet of our presidents and AD's. Sure they deserve some of it, but who hired them? Our turnaround will start when we get a board of trustees that is totally invested and committed to UA and not in their professional careers. They are flat out incompetent. Not because they are not smart people, but rather because they are people who don't care and do not invest their time, hearts and futures in UA. When I look at our board versus those appointed to OSU, UC, Miami and OU I get sick to my stomach.

Just thinking out of the box. Could Akron be the next member of the Big ten in soccer? not all Big Ten members field a team and we regularly beat most Big Ten teams on our schedule. It fits with quality of play, while we are better, travel and rivalries. The Big Ten allows teams outside the conference when the participation in that sport is far from universal. Just a thought.

The academic achievements of our team this semester is impressive. It is my deepest hope that we can now use all these A's & B's to gain a lot more W's. We have too much experience with the L's.

The Captain is right on. When the product on the field or on the court is competitive and plays well the team(s) will be supported in the stands. The problem is that we have had presidents and boards of trustees who know nothing of athletics and could care less. They have hired AD's who lack vision and creativity. These AD's have been left alone because the prez's and BOT's didn't care and felt their jobs ended when the hire was made. The result was shitty products on the field and no one demanding improvement. When was the last time an AD was fired? We can, and should, be another Toledo, even better. It's not the budget, it's the leadership. I hope Williams is up to the task. Time will tell. I've seem some good and some bad.

Great idea. We could each bring one or two of our sex dolls to the game and double or triple the attendance. Who said marketing was dead at our university!

Didn't UAB cut football for a year and then bring it back?

FWIW, my feeling is that men's track and field, men's cross country and men's golf get cut. Joining them will be women's volleyball. Just a guess that has been made after reading between the lines of Miller's address last Thursday to some alumni supporters.

I hate the idea of cutting T & F. It makes me sick. We have a top 25 program with a great coaching staff and a great indoor facility. Their indoor meets do generate revenue and with a repaired outdoor facility we could also generate some income. Before I touch Track I would cut baseball, softball, W Lacrosse and Golf. If title IX allows I'd cut volley ball or tennis too. Granted that's a big "if". That may put us at the bare minimum of sponsored sports, but I fear it won't save enough money. There will be no help or sympathy from the P5 schools or the NCAA. I would love to see the G5 schools break away, but it will only work if they all go. So it won't happen. We are looking at a fundamental and irreversible change in Akron athletics. One that I fear will destroy any across the board following Akron now enjoys.

I also could be wrong, but I thought Infocision paid $10 M for the stadium naming rights. Summa paid $5 M for the field naming rights and the former First Merit paid $1-2 for the naming rights to the club level. The annual loan service was $4 M charged directly to athletics. I don't know for how many years the debt service was.

I believe this is exactly why the G5 conferences petitioned the NCAA to give them greater flexibility in the number of sports required. I'm sure they have an eye to cut some sports.

President Miller's message is scary and necessary. Akron can't survive doing things in athletics like we have. Change is coming and it will hurt. It is clear that we cannot compete with P5 conferences and all their money. They can continue to have games w/o fans because they do not need ticket revenue to survive. Case in point, the Big Ten last year sent each member $45.7 million from the Big Ten TV channel alone. If a UA sport cannot be self sustaining I see it as being in jeopardy. Football is at the top of the list. It is desperate for ticket revenue to increase but has yet to show signs of life. I can see Akron joining many other G5 schools in forming a division below D1 that is less expensive to operate. This division would be above the D1A that YSU and the rest compete in to try to save face and earn some semblance of a TV contract. I can see sports being cut. If football doesn't go I can see men's golf, cross country and track being eliminated. On the women's side I can see tennis, lacrosse and volleyball being cut. No new sports would start. Facilities will be modest and emphasized. As Miller said things will never be the same. Our better coaches will be poached and we will not have any hope of competing nationally in most sports. We were running financial deficits before COVID-19 hit. Now enrollment, and consequently deficits, will be worse than planned and we will have to pay a dear price to emerge as a survivor. We can do it, but it will hurt in many areas. For us on this board athletics may hurt the worse.

I am so glad this game has been brought up in another thread. This 40-0 victory is one of the greatest Akron Football game ever played, if not the greatest, in my opinion. Some context is necessary here so pull up a coronavirus cocktail and read on. Akron played the University of Tampa in the 1969 Acme-Zip game which was the opener for both teams. Tampa was an excellent DII program and was accustomed to playing in the playoffs. Tampa openly talked about going D1. They floated the idea of getting Ohio State on their schedule to demonstrate their seriousness. Backers would guarantee OSU $250,000, a big amount in those days, to visit Tampa for a game in 70,000 seat Tampa Stadium. After all, Tampa beat Mississippi Sate and Tulane in 1968. They thought they were ready. To make room for OSU Tampa said it would drop Akron in a heartbeat. OSU just laughed it off. BTW, Tampa beat Akron 28-12 in 1968. Akron fullback John Vargo told me it was the hardest he has ever been hit in his life. We were coached by Gordon Larsen, the best coach I think we have ever had. Gordon was pissed and put everything into getting his team prepared. The crowd for the game was near 40,000. I had made the soccer team. As was Acme-Zip custom the soccer team played a game before the football game. We soccer players were given wooden, fold-up chairs on the field which were put all around the field to accommodate as many fans as possible. There must have been 1,000 of them temporarily set up. Ours were one row away from the field. From the very beginning the Zips played with a ferocious passion. The hitting was incredible. The foreign soccer players I sat with were stunned at the collisions they saw only a few feet away. Akron took it to Tampa from the opening kickoff and never stopped. They reflected their coach's indignation and were ready to make a statement. Tampa blinked first and then damn near quit. Akron didn't care. We played with determination until the final whistle. Make no mistake, though, Tampa was a talented team. They had All-Americans Jack Del Gaizo at QB and Leon McQuay at RB. Later Freddy Solomon and Jon Matusak, two NFL All-Pros would play for them, but they were not on this team. Tampa went on to win its next 8 straight games, but for this game their coach, Fran Curci, could only say that the team "was bleeding' and he hoped he could get them back some time soon. Tampa did go on to move up to D1 in 1971. Unfortunately the board of trustees at the school voted to drop football in 1974 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were awarded an NFL franchise. The BOT thought they could not draw any crowds to support D1 football with an NFL team in town. I love Akron football. To this day I find it hard to recall a better game nor one in which I am more proud of the team and coach. They proved something that night. It was a joy to be there. Hope you enjoyed this first person story. Go Zips!

I think this is a mistake. Harvey Glover, Len Paul's teammate, was from South orange, NJ. Len was definitely from Cleveland.

We'll take a raincheck.?