Spin

I don't think it's necessarily they're writing the negative ABOUT UA, it's more this guy comes in from out of town and doesn't understand how important these things are that he's taking away. They don't understand (or don't care, pandering to public perception and trying to sell papers/hits) that the board is making, or at least helping decide on these cuts. Or that it was the beloved Luis who got the univ into this mess. Or that the beloved Tress was a VP at the time, charged with increasing contributions, and seemingly failing.

I was good at that sport back in the day...

I liked its Facebook page. Along with 750 other people at the moment. This shit storm is going to get worse before it gets better. If the Prez wanted to garner more attention to the University, he accomplished that.

So now we're back to the tired argument that a college team HAS to draw fans and HAS to make money. While only 6 of the 18 sports even sells tickets and none break even. How many of those 18 sports draw as many fans as baseball? Or club hockey for that matter? Why isn't golf or rifle or swimming or track or the rest held to the same standard? If tennis or cross country were cut, how much opposition would that create, besides the affected student athletes?

I'm facing that decision already with the ball team. Dumping or downgrading football would certainly be the last straw...

http://www.savezipsbaseball.com/ http://www.gofundme.com/zfte69s https://twitter.com/hashtag/savezipsbaseball https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Akron-baseball-program-since-1879/1450842635221049?fref=ts

Antiquated yes, but still the best source of local high school, college, and (maybe to a lesser degree) pro sports news and talk. They also stream, but if you're at the game the delay will drive you nuts. They don't podcast, I've brought that up several times. The audio quality isn't on par with satelite radio or streaming, or even FM radio (although unlike FM you can still follow a weak signal, which is why aviation still uses AM). But you're not going to get the local content or news from the Cleveland or satelite stations.

Under Wistercill's watch the Zips would have been outside the Top 25 in the FCS (according to Jeff Sagarin), and the attendance was just about FCS average. This season will go a long way to climb out of that funk. Personally I trust Phil Steele and used his guides exclusively when I was covering the MAC for sports websites. He has Akron listed #2 on his list of most improved programs in all of FBS, and predicts the Zips will play in a bowl game and the BG game will determine the East Div champion. The OT is about Spin worrying about the state coming down on all money losing FBS programs forcing them to go FCS. Others brought up good points on why that will never happen, and Scar himself has said he sees the value of a competitive FBS football program in the image of the university, including prospective students. Nobody here is advocating dropping down, especially me, I was just concerned the choice might not be ours. BTW what's the dig with AM radio? Do we have a broadcaster on FM radio? I do like Joe's radio show, nobody else covers the MAC or the Suburban League. I just don't buy into the FCS thing, we have too much potential with TB and a real AD.

OK so what big name acts were there that played in that time period? I got the shirts, the schedules, saw the ads plastered everywhere, and don't remember any big names on the order of those the place hosted 20-30 years ago. You don't have to go to the JAR to see there was nobody there to see. Now I did see a lot of classmates wearing concert tees from the Q, Blossom, Jacobs Pavilion, Hard Rock, HOB, etc. What the hell does baseball have to do with a concert venue/playhouse? If you want to compare apples to apples, let me know.

Just out of curiosity, those who talk about the big shows that students couldn't get tickets for, when was that? because I attended main campus between 2010-12 and never witnessed that. They were giving away T-shirts and crap to try to get people to show up for whatever was there. Five years at the U full time, and I would have never been within a quarter mile of that building if my wife hadn't talked me into attending graduation.

So, because Akron has a AA baseball team, the college can't have baseball too? But but but, Cleveland State has basketball. And the Cavs are a few blocks away!!!! The Buckeyes have hockey and soccer, even while Cbus has the Blue Jackets and the Crew. Akron has a bowling alley or two, and a bunch of theaters. Guess we gotta tear down the Union...

IIRC they listed both.

I can personally attest to the low 4 year graduation rate, as it took my five years to complete my four year degree because there was no Into to Statistics class available. At Wayne, main, Polsky, Medina, nowhere. That cost me a lot. And this is a course that lends itself to web-based learning, as most/all work is done in Excel. Of course in my career I have used Statistics exactly 0 times. Basic Algebra would be a lot more beneficial to the 99.9999% of BSN's who never go into nursing research during their career. But this is the kind of stupid shit that leads to longer graduation times, transfers to other schools to avoid the extra $thousands and a year (or more) of career time spent in the classroom. Indifferent advisors don't help.

The difference being is the Info was built to replace an old decrepit facility used by student-athletes and student-fans as a recreational activity. Like the Rec or the theater. The EJT is an old decrepit facility used primarily by the community as a playhouse and (to a much lesser extent than in the past) concert venue. A vast majority of college students don't use it as such in today's world. Until graduation day. SS also sees the value of the football program in marketing and garnering attention of prospective students. The EJT must have been a major money loser, judging by the lack of renovations, and it being an early cut.

Very touchy subject. But judging by the feedback, a very relevant Zips topic IMO.

The community is going batshit crazy over the closing. My question is, why haven't they been paying for it? Why is it the college student's job to subsidize a venue for the community that only a handful ever use (until graduation)? And when was the last time they were in it? I hear stories of concerts and shows from the 70's and 80's, well, have they been there in the last 30 years? And if you haven't been there in 30 years, why cry because it's gone? Again, college students paying for a museum that these people don't visit. I guess they should pay for street cars too, because some nostalgic old farts miss them. They're never going to pay to ride them, but we must keep them there!!! It's the same with the Rubber Blow. And if it's that important to the community, why doesn't the community get off its ass and save it? Maybe because half of them live in Arizona or Florida now?

That's what I thought about the baseball program. When Cleveland State dropped wrestling, the program was given a chance to continue if they funded themselves. Well, with the help of the local wrestling community, it did just that. I still think "cold weather" college baseball needs to be restructured to cut down on travel in March and all the other expenses in hopes of a first round superregional thrashing. But who cares, Akron won't be part of it. The best we can hope for is a successful club team http://zipshockey.weebly.com/

Someone listed the University of Akron on Craigslist Of course it got pulled.

I'm hearing his shoulder issues are not going to completely resolve.

Coach Rembielak has placed almost all of his players with other programs as he himself is on his way out. Great guy. Most Zips fans will never know what they missed.

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2015/07/23/scott-scarborough-you-cant-be-all-things-to-all-people-you-have-to-make-tough-decisions/ Podcast is available

Casual fans are more familiar with winners in those conferences (heck all conferences) than they are the cellar dwellers and would be more inclined to go see a team they saw in the highlights. Name recognition goes a long way when deciding to attend a game. I brought up the idea a couple years ago to schedule home games against schools that had familiar names in football that we could be competitive with in basketball. Auburn. Nebraska. V Tech. USC. I don't think playing cupcakes after the first or second game of the season does anything good for your team, and makes you look bad when you lose the dang game.

I don't think the Infocision Stadium itself was a mistake. With the renovation and foundation repair costs of the Rubber Bowl, the naming rights (five different organizations) of the stadium and the field, and the other advertisers who came on board, a new stadium of similar size made sense. And still does today. Now the seven story monstrosity with sections that sit empty most of the time, that's a different story.

I thought the state making the decision for us (and everyone else) was a different topic, but you're right. It'll just be the same chest thumping and rhetoric.

I know a lot of guys are going to get their shorts in a bunch whenever someone mentions dropping down, but it may not be a choice. What if the governor decides to force all non-(actual) revenue producing football programs (everybody but tOSU) to Division FCS? Akron. Bowling Green. Ken+. Miami. Ohio. Toledo. That's half of the MAC... If most or all non-tOSU programs are downgraded, there goes the travel cost argument. One might argue that would help with travel expenses by saving the state university in Youngstown piles of money by not travelling to North and South Dakota for league games. Dayton isn't s atate school but they travel to Florida and California for conference games... Sound far fetched? Our attendance was just 1k above the FCS average http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2014.pdf It would be interesting to compare attendance of Zips football during the College Division and Division I-AA eras to the FBS era.