72 Roo

ZIP, sadly I agree. This hire either says they don't care or they don't have the resources. I believe it is the latter. I don't know for sure, but I believe Williams was told his budget was limited and if he wanted more money he had to go into the football or MBBall budgets. Being unwilling to do that he hired a caretaker, a person who has no history of turning a program around. Jodi left the program in an Ianello-like state. We are now the worst in the MAC. Williams knew this was coming as the season unfolded. He had time to prepare. If this is the best he can do we really need to question his ability to lead and grow.

I listened to the interview and was disappointed. Melissa did not energize the listeners as to the vision she wants to bring. In fact there was very little confidence built regarding her faith in herself in turning the program around. The interview further indicates to me that athletics cares little about being at the top of the MAC in WBBall. Melissa did talk about three returning players that she was excited to coach in the upcoming season, but who in the hell gets excited about returning players from a three win team. A major overhaul is needed and there was zero discussion on that. You win with talent first, then with coaching. There was little confidence built here that we can expect both. I wish i could be more positive about this but that's just the way I see it.

Z.I.P. echos my feelings. WBBall is the feature program of women's athletics. This hire tells us a lot about what is going on behind the scenes in athletics. It is a safe hire, but by no means an exciting one. I truly hope Melissa is able to break the downward spiral of WBBall. i don't see a reason to believe she is capable. She was part of one of the most disastrous periods in WBBall history. As a recruiting director she did not bring in any talent. Kest lost her effectiveness for reasons I do not know nor understand. Melissa bears some of the blame, especially if she is going to get credit for the better years Kest had. Giving her the HC position does not make sense unless Williams had no money and that would explain why he let the Ashland coach slip to BGSU w/o a fight. There is nothing here to excite the Zip faithful. It actually causes more concern than excitement for Zip athletics.

You passed on the obvious .... "it's 8:50 on a Friday night and Kent stills sucks!"

I saw Jaison and the rest of his Trotwood Madison team play Hoban in the state playoffs in 2016 in Columbus. His 6.25 time for the 40 was evident big time. I thought the Madison OL was poorly coached. Hoban dominated them even though Madison was far bigger. They made no adjustments at halftime and the final score was a near 40 point win by Hoban. I hope he is ready to improve his feet and his explosiveness. I trust the coaches saw something in him that can be improved and he will be part of the steady talent upgrade we are seeing in our team. If he's ready to work he made a super decision to become a Zip.

I think you are too casual in assessing the performance/roductivity of our OL. They have not been good for 3 years and the rebuild that they are undergoing now does not give any indication that they are ready to blow any DL out of the way. They will need at least a year to gel. That leaves this year in serious question. But I like your optimism.

Amen brother! That would be great news

Jerome was a hell of a player for us and I am glad he came to Akron. I rooted for him then and I hope he has a good future. Yet focusing on this issue now brings into question his decision-making and maturity. Too many athletes feel it's all about them. Humility is in very short supply. This may be another example.

I hope you are right. That's a step back towards respectability if not competitiveness.

Maybe you are disappointed in the article, but I feel it is what we deserve. Our pathetic last two games will color any improved expectations.

I'm glad you are on this site. You have made it more informative and that's what I value most of all. Keep coming back again and again.

You assume our games are going to be in Canal Park. As best I recall, even when Rem was our last coach, and one with the best credentials in program history, we only played a handful of games in Canal Park. To play more games there the owner and AD agreed additional lockerrooms and offices had to be built. The price tag was a cheap $500,000. We could not find the money, even at a time when we wanted to build the program and profile. Our renewed program is being resurrected on the cheap. Most, if not all, games will be at glorious Jackson Field, the worst field in the MAC. But you gotta start somewhere. If you liked our current softball season you'll love baseball. BTW, how can Jones survive?

Ianello used the same selling point of early playing time to lure recruits into his program. Look at the quality of players he left TB. Look at his results.

I like the idea and I like yours even better. I have never liked the MAC as a conference to grow in. But it is the best for us now and into the foreseeable future. So how do we make it better? We do what C-USA is doing. We play the conference members who want to be at the top. By doing this the MAC instantly becomes a better conference for us provided we accept the challenge of being in the top tier. I would love to see this happen.

Unfortunately that's the hand this resurrected program has been dealt. To think otherwise is foolish and not realistic.

Thanks Hilltopper. I bet there is a good coach in that mix of 75. He's not going to have much to work with. No doubt he's also going to have to be creative in getting resources for his program, but if he is persistent, holds to a good long-term vision and can recruit Ohio we have a chance to one day be competitive.

Huh? Kest resigned. Williams is free to start the hiring process. The board has absolutely nothing to do with this transition except for directing we get a better coach and stop the bleeding. The women's program is a dumpster fire.

I find your point hard to argue against. Realistically we have an underperforming women's program. Despite outstanding Swimming & Diving and Track & Field. Cross Country and Tennis could be considered average this year, but have had some very good years so they are not lost causes. This situation points to the need to have fired Jones at the end of the season. She must have time left on her contract. I still believe we should be a better program than most MAC schools. I concede to your point that we have not been so. Damn! I still expect more out to Williams. Find a way to get us to the top of the MAC and it all starts with coaching.

OK, I'll bite. Since I started this discussion I'll offer why I feel the Akron job in women's basketball is better than the BGSU job. First let me acknowledge that from 2001-2012 Curt Miller had BG at a level above the rest of the MAC. He left for IU and fizzled out after 3 years. But the BG program was bad under Jennifer Roos. To be honest ours was worse under Jodi. So why do I say the Akron job is better than the BG job? Many points could be argued but the biggest is that BG does not want to play at a higher level. They built the Stroth Center to accommodate a grand total of 5,000 fans. That is the damning statement that their athletic dept is making about where they want to be. Our gym, while a piece of crap, seats 5500. We know it is crap and we want better. That is what makes our program an upgrade over BG. They have low aspirations, we don't. We aren't there, but we want to be. They are content to be happy with a low expectations. Their athletic infrastructure speaks volumes. Even hockey, their primier program, is no longer relevant at the top level. So yeah, I think we offer more and that is potential. We ain't here yet but an aspiring coach could take us there better at Akron than at BG. Yet let's remember why I started this discussion. It was not about who has the better program. It was about why did Larry Williams let it get to this point? He had a bad coach, who lost 19 MAC games and needed to be removed. Yet he delayed making the proper move. Why? Jodi was not going to survive this season, so as AD prepare for it. A damn good coach, Robyn Fralick, of Ashland and Ohio Coach of The Year, was plucked away by BG. OK that happens, but when it does you have a plan B and you move on. We have done nothing to date. As I have said before, I like Larry and I support him. But when he falls short of the job I'm going to say so. Go Zips!

It's not difficult at all if you look at her record over the last three years. She is in a profession that always asks "What have you done for us lately." She neither recruited well, nor coached 'em up, nor laid the foundation for a turnaround. We should, and must, expect more.

I like Larry Williams and hope he proves to be an outstanding AD. But when it comes to our current situation in hiring a women's basketball head coach I hold him responsible for not being ahead of the situation. As last season unfolded everyone in the world knew Jodi had to be replaced. She was neither coaching nor recruiting on a high level. The pipeline of talent to turn the situation around was non existent. It was Larry's job to go to her, review her performance and discuss changes. If he waited for her to "think it over" shame on him. That's bad management and leadership. We lost the best coach in Ohio when BG hired the Ashland women's coach. Larry should have already had back channel contact with her letting her know a change was coming. I've got to believe our resources, vision and future are far better than BG can offer. If she would not come to UA then other candidates should have been identified. Succession planning is one of the most important aspects of any large organization leader. The wait we are experiencing now should have been avoided. I hope he still finds a good one.

I saw Brett Ekkins our OL coach a day after the spring game. We had a great conversation. We started talking about the spring game but progressed into the future of Zip football. I'm really impressed with him. His enthusiasm is infectious. He seems to be a guy who is in love with his job and more importantly loves being at Akron. I like having that attitude on our coaching staff. I told him i wasn't impressed with the run blocking in the game. he offered that they did not want to show anything but he felt good about our run game. He said he loved the bigger backs we have coming in like White and Alce (sp ?). Our line is evolving to more athletic guys which will allow us to run wider, something we haven't done much in the past. Coach E said the quality of our recruiting has improved so much because 1) players love our facilities, 2) they see the coaching staff as men who enjoy Bowden, each other, and are here for the long run, and 3) recruits feel Akron will win soon. I asked coach about RJ Kelly from Hoban. Specifically wondering how we beat out Minnesota and other power 5 schools for him. Coach said Kelly really appreciated what Akron could do for him in academics i.e. business school and the future opportunity to play for conference championships. Most of all he liked the culture that is building in Akron football. Finally coach said he has been assigned Columbus for recruiting. The feeling is that too many good players are coming out of there and we need to get our share. I also thought back to ex Pres Wilson when he remarked that we should cut scholarship/recruiting expenses by focusing on more Ohio recruits. Perhaps this is an outgrowth of that. I say fine as long as we are getting the quality we need to excel. I'm tired of losing. No breaking news here, but I thought some of you might enjoy hearing more about football.

The match saw the intensity ramp up after the opening 15 minutes. Both teams came to play and win. It got chippy at times. I thought Maryland had more opportunities to score but the Zips were not impressed. I spoke with Jared at the half and he said the team is starting to come together. They are understanding each other better and he will have depth once again. The new guys coming in will supplant many of today's starters. Bottom line is we played Maryland even with players that may not start in the fall. We will probably have a rocky fall start, but Jared will get them to gel. My biggest concern is who will be our distributing midfielder next fall? get that solved and we are ready to go deep in the playoffs.

I think we all have opinions as to why this presidential turmoil is hitting us now. For what it's worth here is what I have heard from an administrator at UA regarding the recent turn of events on Wilson. The executive committee of the board of trustees felt they needed stability so they went to him and said the following (paraphrased) " Matt we realize the UCF position was a once in a lifetime opportunity i.e. huge enrollment, past experience there, more prestige, more money, bigger stage, attractive area, etc., but we need stability and to quiet down the turmoil. We want a commitment from you that you will give us 5 years. Can you give us that?" Matt responded "I like it here, but if I hear of an interesting situation I will listen." The board said that's not good enough and we won't accept it. Matt and the board agreed he should resign. I have never felt we have had a good, much less visionary, board of trustees. But in this case I firmly feel they finally did their job. So I support this action while I regret losing Matt's talent. Yet with no commitment we can't have him continue. Now I hope we see the board actually lead and not be content with being political appointees who only seek to pad their resume for future opportunities. Not sure that will happen, but I can dream can't I?

S**t, she would have been a perfect fit for us. That lady knew how to build a program, win and coach. Unfortunately our change was necessary. I look to see the same change in softball. Our program is at an all-time low.