akzipper

Most times the court is designed to look best during basketball games, since the volleyball lines are just temporary. My guess is that mockup was created to present the new logo system and UA wanted something much simpler for the court. Usually designs are simplified to cut down on costs, but they already needed to paint gold for the wordmarks. I don't think a few extra gold stripes would break the bank.

New JAR floor is officially done. Could use some gold like the original renderings, but still looks nice. Also looks like Akron Children's Hospital replaced FirstEnergy as the sponsor.

Looks like the design is tweaked a bit from the rendering. I liked the two tone wood, but this still looks nice. Wonder what's still covered up above and below the A logo? FirstEnergy logos?

When I think about improving the JAR, my mind automatically thinks of new seats, paint, removing the track, renovating entrances, etc. I just don't see UA doing what it takes to make it a legitimate D1/big-time arena. In my opinion the only way to make the JAR legit would involve removing the track, demolishing everything behind the baskets on the north and south sides and corners to create a 360 seating bowl, blowing out then creating concourses behind the seats and adding suites above the top level. Something like that would be in the $40-50 million range for sure, but could be done in phases. Naming rights could probably take care of $10 million. Still not ideal for a school that's not in a great place financially. Especially since that pricetag might be on par with some new 5-8k seat arenas being built.

The AAC is spread out over half the country, while 75% of the MAC is in Ohio and Michigan. It's a glorified D2 conference and most schools don't generate much excitement with casual fans. I doubt we'll ever leave, but I definitely think more people care about Memphis, Navy, USF, Tulsa, ECU, Wichita State, Temple, etc.

Agree completely. I also love the consistently between the new turf and new court design. Both have the same blue A, blue endzones/baselines with gold type and name of facility on the sidelines.

The wood outside the 3pt line will be a bit darker, but still nice. Some schools try too hard to get noticed and do crazy stuff with their floors and fields. NIU's dark floor with the weird eyes, Kent State's giant lighting bolts and Eastern Michigan's gray field are all terrible. I really wasn't really even a fan of our most recent court with the kangaroo heads in the key. Follow the KISS theory. Keep It Simple Stupid. We have a nice new logo. Let it shine.

I bought that same Zips shirt and a Swensons one from Homage. Easily my two favorite shirts. There was a "jumping" Zippy logo from the 80s so it would have to be before that. I've seen it on other old school apparel from different companies so my guess was used pre-70s too.

We finally have a legit coaching staff and lots of talent coming in. If the Zips show signs of improvement, there's no more excuses to not show up.

Very true. It's much more difficult to build a cinderella football team than a basketball team. A school like Akron would need sustained success over multiple seasons to even get to the same talent level as even the mediocre BigTen schools. But at the same time how many teams from the MAC/AAC/MW beat the Mizzou, Syracuse, Kentucky, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesotas of the world? Seems like it happens every season. Those schools have one decent season every 10 years and still manage to stay in the SEC or BigTen. Part of me feels like the big guys like Alabama, Georgia and OSU like to have those easy games sprinkled throughout their season. Would they want a super league where every games is basically against a Top 25 team?

Just about every season there's a school from a smaller conference that has a great record. Cincy, UCF, Coastal Carolina, NIU, Boise, etc. There's always a debate over if they should be allowed in the CFP. As I stands right now, with 4 teams, probably not. It's probably not fair to let them jump a BigTen runner-up or two loss SEC team. But I think they should at least get a chance to prove it. They beat a WC team and they absolutely deserve a shot at the big dogs. That's part of what makes the college basketball tournament so exciting. Small schools make a run every season and technically everyone has a shot, even if it's a very slim chance. People love an underdog story and I doubt many fans of the "big" schools would be against playing a MAC school if it meant they had an extra shot at the CFP.

I've always felt like every conference deserves at least an automatic bid and then throw in a few Wild Cards. 14 teams would work out just fine. Top two seeds get a bye and while it would be a tough road for a MAC school to make a run at least they would have a chance. It would add some higher stakes to some of the bowl games too if some of the bigger ones got to host each playoff game.

This is exactly how I feel and you nailed it perfectly. Of course I want to see the us win games. But more importantly I want people to care about Akron football. I'm so sick of seeing empty bleachers and people acting like Zips football is a joke. We have a Division 1 FBS program, with a legit head coach, stacked staff and an AD that's committed to winning. Even if we don't see a .500 season, we will most likely see a team headed in the right direction and some fun football.

It's definitely frustrating, but understandable. There are still supply chain issues and manufacturing delays. It took the Guardians a LONG time to get gear out, same with the Cavs new rebrand. When major sports franchises are slow to roll out gear, I fully expect a MAC school to have the same issues if not more. I'm sure they'll have everything ready before football season.

I wonder what happens to the PAC 6 after all this. Do the remaining schools jump to Mountain West or do 6 or so schools jump from the MW? Seems like the MAC and Mountain West Conference have remained relatively the same through all the conference shuffling the past decade. But if the important people at UA aren't doing everything they can to get us into the AAC, the Zips are going to be left behind.

I'd like to think it becomes a selling point if he's drafted high and makes an impact in the NBA. Showing that you can choose the MAC and still have a nice path to the NBA.

I'm actually very relieved they didn't go with navy or gold colored turf. Ever since Boise decided to go blue, dozens of schools have followed in their footsteps just to draw attention. I've seen purple, gray, red, teal, orange etc. It's an eyesore and brutal during games. Props to UA for doing it right and keeping the field traditional.

I think a lot of the people strongly opposed to the new logo will come to love it. It looks awesome on the field and gear I've seen athletes wearing this summer. Nice, clean, modern and professional.

This is very cool. Hopefully eventually Blitzer's group takes over controlling interest in the team and is actually willing to put up enough money to turn the Guardians into consistent winners. Not just a team that falls backwards into a playoff run every 5 years by accident. God only knows how much wasted money Kaulig has been pouring into the Zips football team. He deserves to see one of his team's win.

Looks just about done. I'm sure we'll get some better shots of the finished field soon.

The blue definitely looks brighter than I expected. I wonder if they overcompensate with the colors to account for fading/wear and the black rubber that's added to the turf?

The logo is bit skewed because of the camera angle. Aside from the serifs and both letters being A's, there aren't as many similarities as it would seem. Regardless, Anderson High School switched their mascot from Redskins to Raptors in 2020 and along with it came a new logo. I'm assuming they just haven't switched the turf yet or that's an old video. Funny thing is it actually looks like they used old Akron font for the "A" or something very similar.