Spin

It's a sad pathetic time when we look at collegiate sports only as a way to draw attention to the college. This is the kind of bs that is slowly turning me off college sports. We can pretend the Big Three sports hemorrhage money by the truck load in order to bring notoriety to the school, while complaining that (in reality) they're ridiculously under-marketed and do get few eyes on the school. It works for tOSU, not so much here. So let's hatchet the crap out of intercollegiate sports that the students pay for that we don't think serve our vision of what the programs are suppose to do. What other student activities should we take away from them without asking? Who are we (or the AD) to tell those hundreds of student athletes they can't play here anymore? Because we have delusions of grandeur of other student athletes?

So he sees the value of the big three sports as a marketing tool, but you can bet the cuts will include marketing for those programs. So he's happy with status quo, a football program barely meeting NCAA BCS requirements and struggling to contend in the MAC, the basketball program that seems satisfied to contend in the MAC tourney, and the highly successful and popular soccer program that no doubt brings some attention among higher demographics. Not what I wanted to hear. You know my thoughts, "go hard or go home". If you're not going to put a serious effort into BCS football, back out. I'd rather contend at a lower level than strive to be a mediocre MAC team. This past week it was announced Wadsworth was dropping from Division I to Division II in football, and the response has been almost completely positive. We can't compete against the heavy recruiter$. We barely met the requirements for D1 and it was impossible to build with our size and budget. We're going to have a L O T of fun in D2!!! So what does get cut? Sadly, following CSU's lead, baseball is the first to go. It's TItle IX friendly, and our facilities are shitty anyway. It has a heavy travel budget in March. And there's little hope for growth with zero marketing and pulling all but one game out of Canal Park. And it's not a sport a cold weather program has any hope of sniffing a long tournament run. What else? Men's golf, cross country, rifle, track. Women's cross country, golf, rifle, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track, volleyball. On a side note, Cleveland State defunded wrestling to add lacrosse, but then changed their mind by funding it though higher student fees. Anyway it's all moot here as the only sports taken seriously by the majority of posters are the big three. They won't get funding cut, but don't look for funding increases (growth) or any type of serious marketing under Scarborough Fair.

Downsized???

SP JT Brubaker was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 6th round of the MLB Draft and OF Joey Havrilak was drafted in the 18th round by Detroit. JT will be playing for Pitt's short A team in Morgantown WV and Joey will probably see time with Connecticut of the NYPenn League (home of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers).

A simple look at attendance, or noting the size of the student section would work.

They've been messing with the helmets, uniforms, colors, phasing in the new Zoro logo, all in hopes of attracting the younger sports fan/student. Wake me up if/when any of this crap moves the needle.

Hell of a run. We'll be back

Ohio Polytech 8 Ball St 5 in the bottom of the 7th. The game is on ESPN3 for anyone who wants to join the party.

Tied in the bottom of the 9th, the Zips Rembielak scorea on a wild throw by the Toledo pitcher to send the Rockets home. The 1, 2, and 4 seeds are now gone. I may have to take vacation next year and go watch this tournament!!!

Another back-and-forth game, but this time the Zips lose 9-6 to David Letterman U. Now we play Toledo in the loser's bracket for a chance to play Ball St. again Saturday.

POLL: Do you like the University of Akron's rebranding strategy? http://www.ohio.com/blogs/digital-desk/the-digital-desk-1.481514/poll-do-you-like-the-university-of-akron-s-rebranding-strategy-1.592193 More news http://www.ohio.com/news/local/university-of-akron-refuses-to-release-marketing-studies-on-rebranding-1.593568

It only took 16 innings, but the second seeded Golden Flushes finally got on the scoreboard. It wasn't enough as Bowling Green eliminated them from the tournament 6-3 in the "losers bracket".

This forum and social media are perfect examples that most people (general public, prospective students, prospective benefactors, prospective sponsors, not to mention $$ALUMNI$$) do not understand the complete definition of "polytechnic". That is why the rebranding is a very bad idea. And a PR nightmare. Not to mention the constantly backpedalling Scarborough, or his son making an ass out of both of them.

I thought they would be insulted. I was right. On your next message, all just more backpedaling. I'm almost done. I owe the U nothing. I'm an active alum because I liked being a part of it. I had pride in it. That can change.

Ohio Polytechnic 5 Eastern Michigan 4 That was exciting, back and forth all evening. Next up Toledo or Ball St. tomorrow night at 8:00.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/05/university_presidents_say_university_of_akron_president_was_wrong_to_question_the_future_of_their_schools.html#incart_m-rpt-1 This is embarrassing.

Western Michigan smoked the Flushes, Ohio beats BG. The winner of our game gets Toledo or Ball St (tonight's game).

Zips play Eastern Michigan tomorrow at 4:30. Tickets are $15.00 at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon. And all the games will be on MAC-Sports.com. The bracket: http://www.mac-sports.com/documents/2015/4/21/2015MACBaseballBracket.pdf Tough slate playing the 8 seed. Hopefully they play like they did the first half of the conference season.,

The perception of the general public is what I'm worried about.

That'll work. Trendy but not overly obnoxious.

I'd rather do that than "rebranding" as a technical institute.

Man, streaming (or attempting to) is just a huge waste of money. I don't think I have ever gone 20 minutes without it dropping out, and tonight it's completely worthless.

I had a choice when I went back to school, to build on my AD in Electronics and my medical experience by going into the Biomedical Engineering, or going into Nursing. Both are in demand. I went into Nursing (despite how competitive it was to get in, and how demanding the program is) because there simply wasn't many (any?) positions in Ohio for Biomed. I would have to move far away. Is changing the name of a major university going to change that? Will that generate tech jobs in the Midwest? Will it spawn innovation in the Rust Belt? I chose Akron's program despite being accepted into several other programs because it was part of a major university. And I paid a high price for that name on my degree, compared to other programs. And I graduated from the College of Nursing just in time as the program was "merged" into a bunch of others into the "College of Health Professions". Now, the University is rebranding itself as "polytechnic". You have to understand how nurses are viewed by where they went to school. Especially in the interview. As I said this is a field with great demand. Local demand. Most of us were working within a week of licensure. I doubled my income on that day. Not to brag, but to illustrate the University is filling a great local need with professionals that are not in the tech field. And a lot of prospective students will choose to go elsewhere. There's a lot to be said for going to a College of Nursing at a major university. And a ot to be said by going to "health professionals" college at a technical school. While spending multiples of what you would pay at XYZ Community College or Bryant and Stratton. It shows employers and co-workers that you do not have the critical thinking and cultural background you get at a university. Or that you couldn't get into a university's program. Ironically, Akron Institute renamed itself Herzig University. The University of Akron is going in the other direction.

I didn't see it posted here