akzipper

To be fair though. None of the Akron coaches have been either. I'm always shocked at how many times NFL coordinators keep getting hired without seeing much success.

It's probably a long shot. But if Moorhead doesn't work out I'd love to see if Getsy would be willing to coach the Zips.

I came here to post the same thing. All I can say is....it's about time!

I would say the "field sponsor" rule is not new, just evolved. Technically we have had sponsorships on the field since InfoCision opened. It used to be that as long as the sponsor was involved in the naming of the stadium/field it could be shown. Now any brand is allowed. I don't think any school is switching out the main logo at midfield for a sponsor. It says it can be at the 50 yard line, but that most likely means below or above the current midfield logo.

Yeah as long as a school has a beautiful football stadium, I think they should completely ignore the team on the field. That doesn't matter right?

We can't emphasize this enough. The schools you mentioned do nothing for the conference and fans don't care when they come to town. My completely unrealistic pipe dream would be to merge the MAC and SunBelt while cutting some dead weight to make a new conference with a north and south division.

For most of us it would be a donation. Fans and boosters really don't see any returns if they give money. Maybe a few perks and a social media post. But for Groce it's more of an investment. Any money he puts into the program is going to make it better, the team will win and he will be paid accordingly. It's a great gesture and very smart of them to give back. Hopefully this means he's here to stay for a long time.

I used to always start out with a Sun Belt school, then move on to Akron, then take over a big school like ND or Michigan. Only to return back to Akron and keep that Dynasty going. It's unfortunate now that most Sun Belt schools are now considered superior to anything in the MAC. Doesn't sound like PC is planned at all and they claimed that the market isn't there to justify the cost. Not sure I buy that. Eventually you should be able to play using Xbox Game Pass using the cloud at some point. They tend to add a lot of EA games on there and most of the popular titles from other developers. Right now I play Madden constantly on my iMac through a browser and on my tablet using the Xbox app. As well as NHL24, EA PGA Tour, The Show, NBA 2K, etc.

The developers made a point to pay attention to details of every team, or so they say. Surprisingly there are a lot of people on Reddit that are excited to play as MAC teams and seem convinced that the stadiums will all be included. I sure hope so! My favorite part of NCAA 14 playing at InfoCision and being able to see the surrounding campus. Even the buildings along Exchange St, including Taco Bell 😂.

Selfishly I wish the Erie Bayhawks still existed. They were the Cavs affiliate before the Charge existed and folded a few years back. After all their NBA teams decided to have their G-League teams closer. I'd love to see Enrique play in my own town.

I want the Cavs to draft Freeman so bad. Even if it means tearing up the G-League with Bates until they are both ready to make the jump.

The Cavs tried to build with bigs who can rebound and finish around the rim. It works fine in the regular season, but come playoffs they will never make it past the second round. When the other team is draining 3's, you can't compete.

Those ugly blue seats have been around for what 20-30 years at least? It's time for an upgrade regardless all student sections should be bleachers anyway.

I really miss the seats behind the baskets. I know that it was pointless to have 4 rows or whatever, but if they could find a way to pack the ends or an entire sideline that would really go a long way. Another bonus is that it could be converted to bleachers because students will be standing most of the game anyway. Then fill the rest of the arena with chairbacks.

True. I'm sure in like 50 years the arena will collapse in on itself forcing UA to actually do something to fix it.

My point was that a new arena will never happen. So fans need to create an atmosphere that transcends an outdated, small facility. That's the only way to improve the gameday experience for players and want them to be part of the Zips basketball program.

That's the current state of college sports regardless of where a player calls home. It's getting rarer and rarer for athletes to stick around for 4 years at the same school. If they succeed in year 1, they'll jump to a bigger school. If they struggle they might jump for more playing time. We just have to take it one season at a time and hope for the best. I think fans need to understand how important we are to building a culture as well. To say the crowds at the JAR have been disappointing is an understatement. Nobody wants to join a program that draws a few thousand a game. The arena problem is the elephant in the room, but that's not getting fixed. Improving the gameday atmosphere starts with fans and students showing up, being loud and giving this team a real home court advantage. It shouldn't matter who the visiting opponent is. People need to pack the JAR regardless.

...and all the WVU transfers coming in. It's too late for them to back out right? right?

Stacked?

So in a rebuilding year the Zips added two transfers from WVU, one from NC, one from OSU and another from Cornell. While also bringing in the top high school basketball player in the state of West Virginia? I'm so ready for this.

A lot of times a school's athletic logos become so iconic that the academic side takes it over and uses it as well. Texas, Miami (FL), Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Ohio State are all good examples. George Mason feels like the complete opposite. An academic logo that's being used by sports teams. It's not a bad logo, but it's a bad sports logo. Having said that, their pre-2004 logo was even worse and their 2004-2024 logo wasn't anything special either. So chances are their fanbase won't really care.

I have no problem with schools switching to simplistic monogram logos. Most of the biggest schools in the country are known for their iconic logos. Michigan, NotreDame, Ohio State, etc. The real problem is in the execution. Vanderbilt and UA did a great job. Western is blah and George Mason is terrible.

Bingo. I also worked two jobs while I was at UA and both were internships that paid practically nothing. I got some course credits and great experience, but everything I did was basically helping UA for free. I still had a full slate of classes and graduated with over $100,000 worth of debt that I am still paying off almost 15 years later. Not only do athletes get all the perks you mentioned. But I know the UA football and basketball players got their pick of just about any girl on campus. They are celebrities and lived like it.

Using the moneyball approach in college sports is even more proof that it's no different than Major League Baseball. The only difference is that every athlete is on a one-year contract and is free to jump onto the Yankees or Dodgers whenever they want. Our only hope is that we can gather enough 7-9 hitters, back of the rotation or AAA guys from those teams to compete. I was against paying players for this exact reason. I always felt like getting a full ride, 6-figure scholarship should be enough payment. If athletes wanted to get paid they should have given them those funds in cash and let them use it as they'd like. But now we have a free-for-all with no "salary" cap.

I'd love to see more photos and/or videos of this. Aside from a few progress updates of the practice court, I feel like it hasn't been publicized very much. Does anyone know if work isn't completed yet?