K92

Thanks Tom Jr.

I have always gotten a kick out of southern coaches. They have the uncanny ability to really connect with the fan base. Pat Dye, Danny Ford, Terry's daddy Bobby, Steve Spurrier, Bum Phillips (just to name a few off the top of my head) all had that way of presenting themselves in interviews and press conferences that could put a big ol grin on yer faice. I love it and y'all can mock me down as excited to see what Terry can do with the progrum.

I'm not sure I have ever seen "provincial ignorance" used in a post before. Nice one JZ84!

Pardon my ignorance, but was the SEC as prominent in the 90's as they are today? Tennessee, Florida and Alabama won national titles in the 90s and Auburn went undefeated but was on probation. Not bad, I guess.

@BigZip You are so right about the night and day difference in first impressions. The 30 second spot with the fight song playing made me want to suit up and hit somebody.

How many Portage County fans had a real "Oh Shit!" moment when they heard who the Zips hired?

Prior to reading your response I had just called him T-Bow in another post! I think it's a cool nickname even though it sounds just like Tebow. T-Bow, rhymes with wow. I like it.

Nice article. Seeing those old pictures of Coach Bowden on the sidelines makes me wish for the return of the old school football jersey.

Brian Wagner is class through and through. He hasn't "abandoned" Akron at all. He came here to play for the Zips and get his degree. He accomplished that goal. He lived through a terrible 2 years under Ianello and gave everything he had. Even changed his major for the team. It is probably no surprise to any of you that I think the world of Brian and his family. I would give a lot to see him come back for his last year at Akron. But let me tell you all this much...the only person who has said anything about Brian transferring to another school to enhance his chances in the NFL is Rasor.

You said it. I can't stop smiling.

Ar you crazy? This is the most action this place has seen ever. Action can't be kind and gentle? (Hint: last line of my previous post was a little joke.) No, Sorry. You are right. You can't even let one small comment go by without making a contradictory comment about it. Carry on!

You must have also stayed away from the scrambled eggs at breakfast.

Like B&G, I too said some pretty uncomplimentary things during this ordeal and pissed some people off in the process. Sorry 'bout that. I was thinking about it last night in bed, about how frustrating this whole process was, and came to the conclusion that I had earlier said anything was better than keeping Ianello for another year. "Anything" was what we all were living through during this search and although it seemed like the most absolutely dark and dismal days we had ever seen, Ianello still had to go. I felt a little more at ease when I thought about it in those terms. I had gotten on ZN.O for the first time today to kinda state these feelings I had last night only to see 6 pages talking about the Bowden hire. Wow. What an emotion swing. Hopefully the football board will return to its kinder and gentler nature now. Prolly not.

Just to pile on... With supporters like Zach, who needs detractors?

The longer this goes, the more desperate. A coach must be named in short order or things might spiral right down the shitter. The whole idea of getting "the right guy" this time certainly looks like a long shot. Someone needs to be named that can bring some instant stability and build a framework of some kind of normalcy to the program. Although he wouldn't be at the top of my list under normal circumstances, I think Mark Mangino needs to be contacted to see if he has any desire to come back to coaching. That is one guy I can think of that may be up for the challenge just to get back into the game and a guy who no other schools probably want. Before you berate Mark and point out all the reasons why not, think again about the dire straits we are in. I know it's going out on a limb, but wow...are we in trouble.

If he has spare time to read, he should be studying Athletic Directing for Dummies.

And Paul Winters is an Akron alum. I thought about that when I realised how many FCS coaches are also either alums, or native to the area. Ambrose (Towson alum), Miles (ISU alum), Watson Brown (Tenn Tech alum)........ I readily admit that it would have been premature to hire Paul 2 years ago. But who would know that his parents would both pass away during this time? I really think that was a huge factor for him. His dream of leading the Zips with them watching was never going to happen. @ Keener - His wiki doesn't seem to point to them being related. Sheesh the guy even grew up in Terre Haute. They could never really get Larry Bird to leave, so it could be an uphill battle with Trent. Damn. I was hoping he had the "turn your back on your alma mater" gene.

Is Trent related to Lesticles? He's a UM alum.

I am still waiting on Keener to show up for a basketball game. The next game is wednesday, a day you said you would be available to attend. Believe it or not, I actually planned on coming tonight, but then I heard the news about PW and my head almost exploded, ending my plans.

You're right B&G. Perhaps the only thing I can say that Rob Ianello did impressively was to grow that 5 o'clock shadow of his.

I'm not trying to be negatively sarcastic with this question. I really enjoy the new facilities and they are a source of pride for an alum, but that is not why they were built. I think we all bought into the notion that poor facilities was what was holding the program back. It is a real rude awakening that such a massive investment hasn't translated into better things happening for Akron football.

...that facilities are EXTREMELY overrated? Having the best facilities: Doesn't get anyone to attend games. Hasn't positively impacted recruiting. Isn't getting us a coach in a timely manner. Perhaps if everything else is equal, facilities can make the difference but they don't seem to be helping the Zips much so far.

This has been on my mind for a while now. I am primarily a football fan. I don't really want to see the Zips go FCS. Especially since they would probably be a sub-.500 team in the lower division right now. Moving down to suck would kill any interest that was left in the program. On the other hand, if moving down in football could get basketball and soccer into better conferences, perhaps the administration should really start investigating the strategy. That's how disheartened I am right now.

Yes. You Tube has to go. The only question is when his firing can be timed best.