72 Roo

Yeah get to it and stop thinking about what most men are thinking .... sex and beer, altho' maybe not in that order.

All would be lost if we got the wrong coach. That is not the case. JG will get the job done and have a higher ceiling than KD. The road there will not be smooth and perhaps the rockiest phase is what we are going thru now. But we will emerge as a better progrum and we will reach higher levels. He needs time. Support him and let him do his job.

I think we lost more than you state. But I'm pretty much on board with the rest of your post. If we keep Antino and find some rebounding help we can have a decent, not great, year. Grace will not lose the game KD lost because the team wasn't prepared or able to play with discipline.

I now like the guy!

I'm a tweener, I enjoyed Western Cult and hated Eastern Civ. Got good grades in both. Keep after those cookies. The fate of the world depends on your success in unlocking the secret.

The fate of western civilization depends on your success! Speaking of Western Civ did anyone have Dr. David Reide for that class? I'm sure he must have talked about the immense contribution of Zip cookies to the betterment of our lives.

Skip, I can't think of a higher calling than to discover the source of these cookies. God speed you in your mission. You are carrying the hopes and dreams of our ZNO community and generations of Zips now and in the future. FWIW I have it on good authority that Pope Francis is trying to find these cookies for the Vatican coffee shop.

Thanks for the perspective brought to this thread regarding my comment on Antino's actions at the presser. Many of you are right. I do not know the circumstances and have been quick to judge. This transition has been different than any coaching change I have ever experienced. Some stupid things have been said on this thread I believe more out of frustration than insight. My comment can be lumped in the former category also. I regret it. I'm going to trust that Groce has a plan and he is working on it. That's all we can ask of a new coach. The rest is just guessing and that can get us all into trouble and not help the progrum.

I understand the desire to keep him here, but if he really passed thru Groce's presser and left then he made his actions all about him. That's disrespectful to our coach and we are not so desperate that we need him, and that attitude, for only a year. The negative chemistry that could result is not worth the risk. Next year will be tough with or w/o him. If he can't be all in we don't want him.

When last season imploded there was great talk of much needed change, however you saw it. It seems the change we got was more eye-opening than most of us wanted, but I believe it will be the absolute best for us in the long run. Groce is putting together a kick-ass staff and that is the most important factor. Those guys know how to find and recruit talent. We all wanted an easier transition but it's not to be. Let's face it, we lost a lot of under-performing talent (Josh, Hughes, Noah maybe) or yet-to-be-proven talent (TDM, Hughes). Groce will do better. Unfortunately it will take him time, 1-2 years, but it will be worth it. We weren't going any higher with KD. He admitted it by leaving. So let Groce do his thing and set a higher standard. I wish KD and all the leaving players well, but once you are gone you are out of my mind. I follow people who want to be here, not those who want to leave, coaches and players included.

Obviously a slow day so I'll offer this. Most, if not all, of us do not know just how good the education is at Akron. I work with the College of Business Administration and the Fisher Sales Institute in preparing our students for sales competitions. Teams are sent to NIU and Kennesaw (sp ?) State, two nationally highly regarded sales competitions. We are regarded as one of the giants in these competitions. Our students are so well prepared that companies go to these competitions and offer career jobs on the spot to our students. It is not uncommon for each Akron student to come back with a job offer. The training Akron students get is outstanding, better than the training my own company gave its sales recruits. Take a little pride in our school. There are more examples of excellence than we can ever know. Now how about Boals ability to recruit or where we will place any arena?

I never thought I'd be so eager to see the football season come. BBall has left such a sour taste in all of our mouths that I want to turn my attention to football and let coach Groce begin building a better progrum. I have no doubt he will do it, but next year may be tough for us to take. After that I think he will have the progrum rocking.

I would not beat yourself up for going to other suites to eat Zippy cookies. the way I look at it is you are keeping those cookies from falling in enemy hands who may be prowling our suites, press box and reception areas. That's your story and you should stick to it. It's very unselfish of you. Pardon me, in the face of such heroics I'm ready to cry.

I hope the Zips do figure it out and make the leap to the top 50. It will take excellent coaching, more financial resources and a committed administration and fanbase. Those things don't happen overnight, but they can happen over time (many years). I hope to see it. Nice post.

I'm an alum too and I applaud your passion. We want the same things for UA. We don't have the resources of a P5 school or a no DI football school and that is unquestioned. Resources can be built over time if you get in the right conference. Case in point, every member in the Big Ten this year will get $37 million from the Big Ten TV package. As a member of the MAC we will get $1.7 M. I agree our situation is not etched in stone, but it only improves incrementally as each coach puts his mark on the progrum, improves it and probably moves on. I don't want him to but that what happens in the MAC. I'm sure you know better and have a solution, so know that you have my complete support as you move the Zips to a higher level. I do not want to attack you. If you took it personally I apologize. I just couldn't pass on calling out your perceptions. Go Zips!

How on earth can you infer this crap from my post. All I said was coaches will move on. Why will they move on? because they made the progrum better. So each coaching regime will move the progrum ahead and that is why other schools want the coach. Like others have tried to say in their posts, if he leaves after 3-4-5 years he has done his job. We will always be inferior to some progrums because we don't have their resources i.e. money. That being said a successful coach will make us better than progrums ahead of us but within reach. If he's successful that's a given. All aspects will get better but we will not equal the big boys. That takes tons of time which I'm in for. Sheesh! Living in reality is a blessing because it clearly identifies where you are and what the next steps for improvement are. That's based on fact, not hope which is a lousy strategy for hope. Calm down and have a beer. In fact have many and I'll buy. Let's move on to arguing about Boals ability to recruit, isn't that new. Oh, it's been beat to death. OK, then how about the place for a new arena, on campus or downtown.

You are not willing to live in reality. We are a stepping stone and always will be if the coach is good. The nature of the beast is to seek and accept bigger and bigger challenges/stages. Look at Dayton. They are way ahead of us in every category for comparison: salary, prestige, facility, rabid fan base, season tickets, attendance, schedule, conference, media exposure, etc. Yet they lose coaches regularly. They don't want to but they do. As much as any coach wants to build his progrum, if he is successful he will be exposed to better opportunities which he will take. Get use to it.

We appreciate your post and at-large well wishes. We don't have to start hating each other until we finally play. Until then I think their is much respect between our progrums. The rivalry could grow to be very fierce which is good for both of us and the conference.

That's pretty creative thinking UAZipper, but I love it. It would immediately put Groce's stamp on the progrum and show he's bought in. It would be a shrewd PR move on his part. All that being said it will not happen in the real world, but it's fun to live in fantasy world for a brief moment.

From what I've been told Williams is waiting for the outcome of the Boals Ability to Recruit Debate before he moves on. He is absolutely paralyzed until that piercing question is answered. As we all know he depends inordinately on ZNO and he wants the full debate completed before making a move. Unfortunately that will mean most of us will die from self-inflicted gunshot wounds rather than see it out. Bye cruel world.

Nice to see a post from you Captain. I was worried that with Keith's announcement you were standing on the edge of a tall building or in deep depression as I haven't seen much reflecting that satirical wit. Welcome back.

B & G.... Ya got me. I fell for it big time. Well done.

I harbor no ill will for KD leaving. I do feel the way he left destroyed the feel-good Akron story he preached and lived ..... until it did not suit him. Like Skip I got to know him but my way was thru away soccer games as he watched Roby. He was impossible not to like and I still feel he is a good person. He handled his leaving the wrong way; he refused to admit he was the biggest factor in this team not going deeper in the NCAA tourney. Forget the arena, attendance, budget, resources. It was there for him to do it and he didn't. That's hard to take. It's easier to leave. KD raised the level of our progrum. The next guy needs to take it further before he too leaves. I've read some great posts about who are next coach should be. But that decision is up to Larry Williams and Matt Wilson. I'm giving them my faith that they will find the best replacement. By then I'll stop feeling bad and start building up the Zips. The JAR will be improved, someday, and a new arena is a target of this new regime. Let 'em do their job. For us the measure of a man, or fanbase, isn't how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.

Thanks for the correction MES102. I forgot about South Florida. Keep the posts coming they are good.

The news of KD leaving stunned me, primarily because I had bought into the KD story: Akron boy, Akron mom, Akron grad, Akron success story. I wanted him to stay and be our coach for years. But after taking some time there are a few thoughts I want to share. KD's decision was emotional not logical. He was going to leave when he realized he had his best team and he couldn't get 'em to the NCAAT. So blame everyone but yourself. The irony is that the greatest single factor in getting this team to the NCAAT was KD himself. At the end of the season his team was not prepared. He did not coach what to do if Big Dog is shut down, or what to do if the 3's aren't going in, or how to stop a hot dribble penetrator like Walker, or how to switch to a zone, or how to play with discipline, or how to shoot FT's (a lacking hallmark of his teams) or how to make good decisions under pressure. All those things he controlled yet didn't coach them up. So who is the problem here? It wasn't a lack of talent, it was how he used it and therefore he controlled the team's destiny. A new venue won't change that. He could have had a better job than DU like Dayton, but he was emotional. He took the first train out. At Duquesne the job will be just as hard as at Akron and his chance for an NCAAT legacy is doubtful. That being said he had to leave because he lost the team and the lockerroom. These players stop playing for him. It was displayed in their lack of discipline, their fundamental errors of jumping up in the air and then deciding to pass, their lackadaisical turnovers, their on again off again defense. They were often out-hustled by lesser talent and KD was out-coached at the end of the season by Miami, BG, Kent, and UTA. When they won it was because they had more talent, not heart or effort. This episode proves to me that Akron is what it is... a mid-major in a lousy conference that will be a stepping stone program. That takes some of the romance and hope out of the story for me. I always wanted to believe that we could catch fire and grow to be a Gonzaga over time. Without fundamental change will never happen. The biggest change of all, to me, is getting the students to attend/pack the games. When that happens the games become an event, then publicity, fans, donors and facilities follow. Finally, as we look for a new coach let's cut the crap about us being so financially strapped. Wilson will balance the budget in two years. From there we can grow and not look back. Our credit rating will improve and programs will expand. Give him time. If you made it this far thanks for reading. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Still am and always will be a Zip.