ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net

Not that you're biased by your personal relationship with the guy or anything.......

The MAC has been a low budget conference. Bad facilities, meager support from the member universities and conference administrators, poorly paid coaching staffs, difficulty recruiting top-notch players on a consistent basis. There are more issues with the MAC, but all of these factors go hand in hand. I can't speak to the other universities in the conference but UA has clearly decided to change many (hopefully more with time) of these factors to improve athletic programs. Regarding the football program specifically, UA has decided to take a tremendously expensive path through high-quality capital improvements. The facilities that were built with this money are much better than other MAC equivalents, and it would appear that UA is inching closer to realizing plans to build a new arena/stadium for basketball. The next step has to be to improve, drastically, the quality of coaching and leadership within this football program. MAC universities have traditionally gone the low-budget route, which very occasionally produces great results but only over a very short term. I would bet that the much more common outcome realized in the low budget MAC hiring cycle approximates what we saw with JDB. UA can no longer afford to take flyers on head football coaches. Would you like to bet on a new head coach if you're Luis, being forced to hope that this new unknown produces and can bring in fans and generate revenue? It's nonsensical to think that is a rational approach. This is NOT the time in UA's history to gamble on a coordinator, or even a small division "coach on the rise".Remember, anyone who will still bother to read the Gaffney story when the new coach comes in will immediately tune out if there isn't some buzz surrounding the guy. Do you want to be Tom Wistrcill trying to sell tickets to apathetic Akronites in February when Jimmy Coordinator from Nowhere State U has been named head coach? When is that next debt payment due again?UA has to decide what it wants to be. MAC meaty middle? They've already wasted a large fortune if they will settle for that. Do they want to be the best of the MAC, but still happy to stay in the MAC long term? Well then, Temple and Toledo have set the salary mark in the MAC at 575K and 450K. And again, PLEASE PLEASE before accusing me of wanting to blow an insane wad on the next head coach, educate yourself by looking at D-1 2009 coaching salaries. If you think that 250K, 350, even the 575K that Al Golden is making at Temple, are anything other than embarassingly low compared to AVERAGE D-1 coaching salaries, you are wrong. I want to see UA make a statement about their intentions to grow this program by hiring an impact head coach and staff and by paying them a salary that would at least be considered average in any D-1 conference OTHER THAN THE MAC.You find that unreasonable? I'll give you unreasonable: building a beautiful 62 million dollar stadium to compete in the doormat MAC long term, now THAT'S unreasonable.

It surely is disheartening to read in several places that UA is looking at a sub-400K salary for this hire. If MACtacular Craptacular football is where we are and where we are going to be, what exactly was the point of a 30,000 seat, 62 million dollar stadium? How much would it have cost to build a truly MACtacular stadium ala the Can't State Dicks Stadium? The entirety of the athletic facilities, as they exist right now (minus the crappy JAR and soccer field, which are being addressed) at Akron are wasted on the MAC. After ALL of the investment that has been thrown into making Akron a "destination" on the D-1 college athletics map, the university is NOW going to decide to go MAC-level? As a fan and an alum, I have a couple of thoughts right now: First, I don't like any signals of any kind that lead to any conclusion other than we are heading toward being better in all athletic dimensions than the rest of the MAC. Spending the middling MAC amount on the next staff does not buttress my ongoing belief (delusion?) that the facilities have been built to grow these programs beyond the MAC. Second, if in fact Luis and the board simply want modern facilities and competent programs that compete happily in the MAC, THAT SUCKS, and they could have spent a hell of a lot less money on these facilities if that has truly been their goal.

Remind me not to have STZ negotiate for me, or the University. He's way too anxious to give away the farm! Why say ahead of time that you are going to pay more than anyone else ever has, when you are hiring someone comparable to the best the league already has to offer? I believe Golden makes <400k (at least his base salary), and Temple is frankly the highest profile athletic school in the MAC -- which is why they only belong in one sport. That fact might establish an exclusion for trying to compete with their $$. The salary cited in the article is reasonable, or frankly -- ridiculous, compared to what people make in the "real world". Sorry ZIP, but Al Golden makes (as I posted several times earlier in the last couple days) 575K, and that's his published salary. I would assume his contract includes bonus riders as well. So, my numbers were right on the mark. Take a look at what college head coaches made in 2009. You have to pay in the 500-900 range to NOT be at the bottom of the heap in D-1. Just because the rest of the craptacular MAC schools pay 300-ish (generalization) for their craptacular head coaches, who will bolt the first second they have any success at all, doesn't mean UA has to play that losing game. Let's elevate, let's be where Temple is, or better. Let's make this a real plum within the lower tier of D-1 football, so that we can ascend from that tier.Also, what people make in the real world has no connection whatsoever to college or pro football. You want to make as much as these guys do? Become a head college football coach. Ask JD how well that's worked out for him this year...

Damn it, that's not enough. This has to be a statement hire, and the amount should be at least where Temple went with Al Golden. I'm hoping for 500-600K minimum. The MAC is terrible and they don't pay attractive salaries, except for coaches "on the rise". That's a self-defeating way to play the game. You want to make this an attractive place to coach? You want to ensure that one whiff of success won't immediately lead to departure? You have to pay 500-900K. You have to pay enough so that some slightly-less-crappy program (like SDSU in the case of Brady Hoke, for example) can't come in and whisk away the head coach you got so lucky with.Damn it Tom and Luis, find a serious and respectable coach and PAY THEM THAT WAY. This is not only not the time to cheap out, it's the time to go the complete opposite and make some eyes pop out there in the world of college and high school coaching. Send the message: UA football is becoming the real deal. Now deal with it.

I like it that he sent out the video. I tried to respond but received an error that my message was too long! I should have bottom-lined it by saying that UA needs to pay a serious and respectable football coach a serious and respectable salary to expect serious and respectable results.

As the JDB era has come to a close, I have noticed several posters who repeatedly insist that this is a talented group. Some believe that this group of players is talented enough to win right away with the right coaching. While I'm not a talent evaluator, like most of us, I'm a little more skeptical that we have that much talent on the roster. So, I'd like to see a discussion with some specifics about where this group is talented and where we have needs. I'll start by taking away the obvious ones, the guys who have received strong praise here all year, Wagner and Nicely. Wagner is a ball hawk and appears to be in on every play. It's almost as if by magic to see how often he's in the scrum. Nicely looks pretty good too, especially for a true freshman who JD clearly wanted NOT to see the field this year. Now, where are the rest of the talented players we expect to spark UA's resurgence next year? Until I see some discussion of the talent on this roster, generic assertions that this is a very talented roster mean nothing to me.

In examining head coaching salaries for 2009 for an earlier post I was less-than-stunned to see that those salaries follow (or precede, depending on your perspective), almost exactly, program quality and conference prestige. The worst conferences, and more specifically the worst programs, pay the least. If you are in the coaching profession, what does it tell you that the head coach at Can't State earns substantially less than 200,000 dollars and earns the very least of 120 head coaches in D-1 football? It tells you that the MAC, and specifically Can't State, don't care about football. They maintain the program, just barely. Several other MAC programs, including UA, pay marginally better and are bottom-of-the-barrel. We're talking 120 programs here, and several MAC programs are at the absolute bottom of that salary list, and we should expect better than crappy football here? If UA is going to follow through on the investments already made in the football program here, they MUST signal that they mean business by making an impact hire and PAYING that person something in the 500-900K range. That is the range that starts to inch into college football head coaching salary respectability. Paying a salary in those figures sends out a crystal-clear signal that UA means it when it says that quality football is going to be a trademark of the future UA image. Coaches AND PLAYERS all around the country will take immediate notice. Prospective students will start to take notice. Word will quickly get out that UA is really committed to growing this program. It also will mean that if we hire the next Brady Hoke, he won't BOLT the first time a crappy SDSU comes sniffing. It will tell high-quality recruits that they are coming to a place where higher horizons have been set. Most importantly it will tell the MAC that we are serious. Recruits will come to know UA as the best of the MAC programs, with the potential for much much better. Other programs and conferences will take note. The program's next steps start with that setting of the right tone. Or, we can go the old tried and untrue route. Find some "hungry" kiddie coach and pay him the normal craptacular MAC 250-300K. He make suck, he may be great. It's an utter crapshoot. The very first year he recruits well and has a decent record we immediately begin preparing to lose the guy. And on and on we go. Small crowds, unspectacular coaching, middling play, the vicious cycle continues. What a crappy low-brow way to go. That's not good enough anymore, not if Luis and Tom want PAYING customers in those seats in the cold.Come on Luis and Tom, you're up. It's time. Get it right fellas.

Been there, done that. It sucks and men's basketball sucked for 14 years all the while football did nothing. Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.Getting a good football HC, does not have to be done at the expense of basketball and soccer (meaning the football HC's salary cannot be double that, or more, of the basketball HC). You just don't treat the folks who are doing well for you that way.Sorry, but the math is simple. UA will need to pay a 550-800K head football coach salary, which will be commensurate with where the program needs to get, and if that is double what KD and/or Caleb earn, then so be it. Would you rather have blown the money already spent on new facilities for the football program? If KD continues to grow the BB program he will get his, in the form of a new stadium and higher salary. Caleb already has a commitment from UA for a new stadium, and I doubt that NCAA soccer coaches will ever make anywhere near as much as 'merican football coaches. If I wanted to earn as much as an attorney, I would become an attorney.

I find it offputting the worry here about recruits who committed under JD. Where have JD's recruits gotten us in the last several years? A couple have panned out well but I'm really not that worried about losing any of JD/Ferri's recruits at this point. This team is bad, and count me skeptical about the talent level here under JD. JD and his staff proved to be terrible recruiters, at least if the measure of recruiting is actual talent on the field that can impact games in positive ways. I know some of you talk up the talent-level on this team, but let's remember that we're talking about a team that in an entire year beat a couple of D-1 teams, teams that happened to be the only worse D-1 teams in the country than the Zips were. My great hope is that Luis and Tom see this as the next step in the building process. They plan to make an impact HC hire, and they plan to pay him and his staff a salary that will elevate this program. It IS about money folks, and UA cannot afford for this program to be a laughing stock anymore. Quality football teams spend a ton of money to make a ton of money. Once that impact hire is made, the real question will be whether our "prized" recruits are good enough anymore for this program. I say this to any JD recruit: if you were excited about playing for a terrible program under JD, that got worse every year he was here, and now you're not excited as the university looks to make the program BETTER, then go, because your desires and heart aren't where they need to be for you to impact this program positively. You should be excited to be coming to a program that not only offers first-rate facilities and education but that is now committing itself for the first time in decades to true excellence on the gridiron. If you aren't excited right now then you are not good enough to play here.

Unless Tom and Luis hire Attila the Hun as the next coach these kids would be fools not to stay at UA. Look at the facilities, look at the commitment that UA is making to the program, look at the opportunities to play right away. JD recruited these kids but he also proved to be a not-very-good, losing head football coach. Is a recruit MORE likely to stay committed to come to UA when the program can't beat D-1 opponents, can't even punt more than 30 yards? Nicely and Wagner should prove to incoming recruits that if they play for Akron and they're good players they will see the field right away. The best signal we can get next will be a HC hire that inspires cheers and a huge bump in salary for that HC and his staff. Make that statement. It says the old bad UA days are being put behind us. We're paying, we're committed, we're going to win. Hell, if we go in the right direction quickly enough the problem for these precious recruits will be whether they are good enough for this program, not the other way around. Go ahead and go to another soon-to-be-lesser program, kids, and we'll roll over you as this program ascends.

/RantI also love (read hate) the ego stroking and manipulation of these kids that goes on in the recruiting game. That kid's high school coach talking openly about some recruiter/snake-oil-salesman describing this impressionable high school kid as an "all Big-Ten linebacker" as the kid walks down the hall? Ridiculous. My impression is that he somehow believes that Akron is small time, not really so hot for his superstar player/prospect.Hey coach, you think that kind of talk does anything good for that kid? You also have to love local yocal high school football coaches talking about their "prospects" (who are high school kids with teenage brains) the way they do. I surely love watching football but man do I hate the "making of the sausage." /Rant off

Regarding the incoming recruits, what's worse, trying to recruit kids to come play for a program that is in the absolute crapper and can't win for losing, or a program that has a new coaching staff in place with all of the uncertainty that comes with it? I was more worried about recruiting prospects as the season slid into the abyss, especially after Ferri went away, than I am now that Luis and Tom are dealing with the coaching staff issues.

Regarding the making of programmatic choices, the university has already made the decision that it can walk and chew gum at the same time. The Info was built and needs rear ends in the seats. There has already been substantial discussion of a new UA/City of Akron stadium for the basketball team, has there not? Also, isn't a new soccer stadium already planned and budgeted for? The current step in the growth of the athletic department is the hiring of a new head football coach and I hope that UA plans to go the way of Temple and pays a coach and staff salaries that will lead to better times PLUS some stability. There is no reason that UA should spend so much on such a beautiful stadium and subject itself to the coaching carousel garbage that MAC teams deal with year in and year out. Pay a head coach at least 550-600K. I'd actually love to see the top three or four MAC teams (assuming Akron can ascend from the crapper and be one of those top teams) paying in the 700-900K range, which is where the bottom Big Ten programs and the MWC seem to be. You want quality football, and most importantly FANS who will pay to watch your product? You have to spend money to make money. Those top three MAC programs will then be positioning themselves for something better down the road, whether that be a shot at a better conference or just ongoing dominance of the MAC and meaningful rivalries amongst themselves. Locals have known for decades that Akron football was small time and moribund. Now is the time to change that by showing a commitment to the program, and in the real world commitment comes down to cold, hard cash.

KUDOS TO THE BAND again! Also, I share your excitement for next year Meister, but only because JD is outta here baby! Does this mean we can say goodbye to soft 3-3-5 defense and tiny little d-backs at UA? Oh please, please, please.....

Yeah no kidding. I had predicted that Temple would destroy their MAC opponents the rest of the way, but I guess Solich and those Appalachian hillbillies from Athens had it going on. Still though I'd prefer to see Temple represent the MAC in any "important" bowl game with their size and speed. I would also like to see the MAC force their hand regarding full conference membership. Temple BB being in the MAC could be very very good for UA.

They'll all land on their feet. No gnashing of teeth here please. These gentlemen (and I mean that) all chose a VERY public and brutally competitive profession. This staff produced terrible results, they had to go. I wish for each that they learned from UA and will have success wherever they go. Now GO fellas, and let's start the excitement of a new era in Zippers football!

I don't think Bowden is the least bit realistic for UA but hell yes I would love to see him here. You all know that if he were hired it would be BIG news, ESPN material splashing around in college football for a while. UA would also garner much more national press coverage simply by virtue of name recognition with the guy. Such a hiring would constitute a gigantic middle finger to the rest of the disgusting, derelict MAC. It would say "We are about to rocket past all of you pathetic Rust Belt losers. Eat our dust and our dung, we are way too good for the likes of Miami and Can't State." I'm getting excited already at the thought of a new regime, new systems, a NORMAL defense. I can dream.....

Looks like a spelling error at Sporting News.Luke Fickell is linebacker coach and assistant defensive coordinator at Columbus State. There was an interesting PD story about him earlier this year.PD LinkFickell played under Cooper at OSU. Never the biggest or fastest but always in on the plays. I like him. Coached akrons d-line 2000-01And about Wagner and Nicely leaving... I don't know how someone has a better source than me. When I asked, the kid laughed and said no way. We do not need to start fear mongering.these kids will wait to see who the new coach is before making a commitment...nicely could go to a better program right now if he chooses...wagner is a different player...might not be a linebacker in a conventional 4-3 or even 3-4...he had a real problem covering the emu tight end...lets wait...Unless the head coach hire has two heads Nicely would be crazy to leave UA. The fans love the kid, he's got a year in the program now, he knows his way around and he's the king of the heap here. Why would a kid leave that situation to go into The Great Unknown? You leave the program, you are thrown right back into the meat grinder at another program where now you're the new kid with much to prove. It makes no sense to think that Nicely will be going anywhere.

Yeah, you gotta love that about small-time, front-running, apathetic Akron residents, and I can get away with saying that because I live in the city!

AND that "one big donor" you cite is a program supporter, not a JD athletic supporter. Do we want to have a situation wherein ONE supporter becomes the lynch pin with the leverage to force UA to keep a coach who can't get it done? If that supporter loves JD so much more than the overall program then maybe he/she should hire JD after UA cans him. Besides, there will be donors who fall in love with the next coach too, and how many of us will love the program if they start to win some games? Bye bye JD and please remember neutral colors and a tidy yard make that best first impression!

More like 3,000, with fans numbering in the hundreds after the half.

I really don't care if he had offers. I guess he blew it if he had great offers and passed them up, only to fail here. Either way, we're the fans who have had to watch this program descend into such a state that we had to hope for a recovered onside kick to beat EMU to day. Ridiculous. JD is going to be just fine, but it had better not be here. I'm not inside the program so I don't know exactly why he failed, but there can be no dispute that he failed, hard core. Now it's time to move down the road to success without this staff.Right now I hope Tom is sitting in Luis' suite high above the field, the fireplace roaring, as they discuss the plan to find and hire their next head coach.What I want for X-mas is a new coaching staff.

It's a new era with the Info, one that JD almost ruined, but there's a new staff and scheme to look forward to for next year. I'm glad you mentioned the band because in the last three games I thought the band was pretty much the only big-time positive-energy generator in the stadium. To any bandsters who read these boards, great job this year. You guys have been great. I was especially impressed today as the pathetic cheerleaders were bundled from head to toe and did basically nothing out there while the band rocked, including the baton twirler, who was wearing her normal glitter outfit in the cold wind. Good for her, good for us, thanks to the band for all you did this year!

I AM GOING TO VOMIT if I read any more posts that are in any way positive about retaining JD. How many years does a head coach need to perform? My GAWD he squeaked out a victory over the worst D-1 team in the entire country this afternoon. That's TWO wins over D-1 teams in over a year, and those are two of the bottom 10 teams in the entire country. There were maybe 3000 fans there. This program is TERRIBLE with him running the show. How can any fan think it'll be better with him here another year? I will be practically despondent (not in a real-life sense, but certainly from my Zips fan perspective) if UA retains JD and this staff. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me read in the next few days that JD and his staff have been let go. I wish all of them well if life, I really do. Just not here. And to think that Wagner and Nicely are going anywhere, when they collectively own this program now, is nuts. Either of them would be crazy to leave UA at this point. What they really need is to become leaders in a resurgent program in 2010, you know, the one with a NEW COACHING STAFF on the sidelines.