72 Roo

Great news about the downtown! The more dynamic our community becomes the better time we will have attracting quality people to go to college here and stay for a career. FWIW, I had my in-laws in from Ann Arbor for a football and soccer game one weekend this fall. They were amazed at the vibrancy of the campus and our downtown. They went away becoming ambassadors for the town of their high school years (they moved away for college and never returned). I think it is well beyond a dream, by the ardent Zip supporters on this board, that Akron can, and will, become a great place to live with an attractive university culture/life. I'm proud of the town and our university! There growth is blossuming hand in hand

Temple, Miami, CMU, WMU, BGSU, UBuff. All trending downward. It could be a new era for teams like EMU, and possibly Akron. The relatively incompetent may have the advantage over the absolute incompetents. Let's see which category we filter into. Z.I.P. you crack me up. I've never heard our hopes described quite like you have done. Now I find myself cheering for us to gain the status of 'relatively incompetent" so we can win against the "absolute incompetents". The worst part of it is that it all makes perfect sense to anyone who has seen us play this year. Oh, and BTW, thanks for bringing home the championship in Santa Barbara. You did your job well. Mihalo

Thanks Dr. Z. It was a nice Christmas present to get some positive news on Zip football. Vinnie you seem like a great guy. Welcome to the Zip family. Everyone on this board has high aspirations for our athletic teams and football is in need of the talent infusion you can provide. Good luck in earning your degree. One major thing you will learn very soon is that and we will be ,hopefully soon

Our women's soccer program will benefit from the success of the men. We fund the ladies at a respectable level. Enough that we should dominate the MAC. Having watched the ladies many, many times I'm not sure we are playing the type of game that best utilizes our ladies' talent. It is a direct, through-ball dominant attach that is frustrating and boring. The girls are questioning the philosphy. They want to win as badly as any team on campus. Before we sink more dogh into the ladies the administration needs to see greater productivity = wins. That's not an unreasonable expectation. If it doesn't change next year expect to see a change at the top. This team has the talent to win.

Well let's see. It's nearly Christmas. The player in question is a starter and second leading scorer. Secondary charges are pending. Everything about this wreaks of no accountability, no responsibility and abuse of others i.e. I'm a D1 athlete so I'm entitled to do whatever I can get away with. Yep. Welcome to K.E.N.T. State University and reformatory. They disgust me. P.S. You are damn right he'll be back in time for league play.

Please take him. I saw nothing out of him last season that showed any glimmer of creativity. Good luck at Pitt. Bye Bye.

Moore looks like a good find. Is there any concern that all his video shows him playing out of the shotgun. I'm sure coach I has discussed being under center with him, but i am curious. While not being a fan of coach I, he deserves credit for the recruiting class he's building. We may be better than 3 wins next year. Five would be fantastic, that's how low our standard is now.

Akronnnnnnn ... Thanks for posting the link so we could all listen to the interview. It was great.

He also has a hot girlfriend who is an expert auto mechanic. She traveled with him down to Mississippi. I believe her name was Miss Vito.

Do they archive these shows? I'd like to listen to the program you liked so much. Any ideas?

Let's hope he grows 4 inches and adds 35 lbs.

Like many of you who attended the Akron-Cal soccer match, I couldn't understand why the AR (Assistant Referee) was escorted out of the game. I checked with a few people and here's what I got. After Akron scored to knot the game at 1-1 the AR called the referee over and said Caleb had been riding him constantly after Cal scored its first goal, which Caleb contended the Cal player was offsides. The AT said either He (Caleb) goes or I go. The referee said he was not going to throw out a head caoch in the quarterfinals of the NCAA championships. The AR then said "I quit". The fourth official took his place and Akron found a sufficiently certified referee in the stands to be the fourth ref. I've never seen this in decades of watching soccer. Caleb was asked about the incident in his press conference and he wisely pleaded ignorance. My bet is this AR will spend years getting back to having any highly respected game assignments. Other thoughts: 1) Meves was below par during the game and way above in the shootout. He came up big when needed. 2) The Cal goalie was the best to play on L.J. Field in years. He will be in MLS or Europe. 3) Cal was the best team to visit us in the last two years. They were flat out good and better that Michigan. They were very well coached. 4) Cal was a class act. After the game their captain came back out onto the field to congratulate Akron and wish them well. 5) 6 scouts were there from MLS. I saw Jeff Agoos, former USMNT captain scouting again. The first time I saw him was at the OSU game but he may have been to many more games. 6) Ampai was ineffective this game. He played predictably and never was a threat. He never penetrated and Cal was content to let him play laterally. They funneled him into the central D where he lost space and opportunity to shoot. 7) the weather slowed Akron's possession game and gave Cal's bigger and more physical forwards a chance to bang around in the box. 8) In my opinion the crowd was a disappointment. I know the weather was bad but how often do you have a chance to see the last game before the final four on our campus. Thank God the Rowdies didn't fail us. They have been loyal and steady all year. They are worth a goal a game. The rest of the Akron following let us down. We should have set a record for attendence. 9) We present matchup problems for Michigan that haven't been solved since we last played (7-1) despite their vast improvement. We also are in their heads and Caleb will masterfully exploit that. We will go on to the finals. 10) A final between us and Louisville is a toss-up. They are that good. But I believe we will find a way to win. Go Zips!

Well done Zip Watcher! Thanks.

Z.I.P. I won't be going out. My wife is very sick and this is not the time to leave. Wish I could join you and I'm holding you responsible for bringing home the Cup to Akron. You can do it pal! Put a Hawaian war chant on our opponents and the Zips will take care of the rest.

I would court UMass as hard and strong as possible, but only with the stipulation that they join in all sports. Bringing UCF in for Football only was a mistake. Bringing Temple in for football only was a mistake. Umass in for football only is also a mistake. The football only schools are basically saying wei'll play until we can go somewhere else. I can't believe some of the comments on this thread that rip K.e.n.t. and other schools while seemingly believing we bring so much more to the Mid "Atlantic" Conference. Geez folks, get real. we are 1-11. We suck and outside of Summit county the rest of Ohio thinks we are a joke. Let's actually accomplish something on a sustained basis before we go placing ourselves above the rest of the conference. Unfortunately, that includes K.e.n.t.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I apologize for assuming the university chose the questions you ask. Maybe it's just my cynicism showing through. You do a good job most of the time. I don't think Coach I comes through as being as... animated as most of our other coaches. It's just frustrating for us to watch this team struggle like this, while the one guy with the ability to come out and soothe our rage with something as simple as an honest heart-felt statement does his best to avoid contact with fans. Maybe he is as frustrated as us or even more, but how can it show through when nobody ever sees the guy? That creates the appearance of him not caring, and I feel it's part of his duties as the head coach to come out in front of the fans and work to build up the image of the team. Being head coach is more than recruiting and coaching; it's about being the most visible promoter and being the face of the team, especially at a school that can't afford to spend tens of millions on marketing like certain other schools. Well said Zach. The destruction of the program this year on top of its decline in the three previous years is heartbreaking. Fans want someone who understand how they feel and gives them credible hope through performance, not unfulfilled promises.

Bill, Welcome to the board. I appreciate your first post and the class way you made your points. Your work requires you to be optimistic and to project that to your listeners. We do have tremendous things going on in our athletic programs at UA. Unfortunately football will never be part of that until we hire a coach. A recruiter can't do it. That is being proven on the field every week. Please post some more.

Will he stay beyond two years? Under what circumstances will he stay for more than two? Is he getting any pressure from Thomas Rongen, the USMNT U20 coach, to leave and play with a pro organization, whether in MLS or Europe? Hope he stays and leads us to several

First , that's money well spent. Second, it appears the only way Ianello can win a game. He sure as hell has proven he can't coach 'em to a win.

Thanks Zach. Do you think he's still coming?

In the media conference held today Keith mentions he expected to announce the signing of two recruits. Blake Justice was one. Does anyone know who else Keith expected to ink?

This season will be a disappointment w/o a true PG. We will be hamstrung with McClanahan at the 3. We can do better with what we have. Bardo is Bardo. Under the stress of competition he will not be much better than last year. For his inate ability he is under-achieving. If this starting five stays the same, we are in for a very long, tough season.

You can never have too many people thanking you for what you have created. Add my thanks to the others who have applauded the efforts of all who created and manage ZNO. With all due sincerity, this is my favorite place to be.

I'm sure he loves his mother. She probably loves him too .... until she finds out what his record is.