akzipper

Look at BG's arena. It is pathetic and looks like it deserves to be for a D2, D3, or even a high school. Do we really want to make the same mistake as them? Do we want to build a 5k-6k arena and show the rest of the country we are content being mediocre team in the MAC. Unlike the rest of the conference, we strive to be competitive nationally, not just in the MAC. We have a coach, we have a foundation to be competitive, we have reputation, we have fans, and all we need is a great place to play. Building Infocision showed the country we are serious about football. When we build 60 million+ stadiums, other schools in the MAC (Can't State) are spending a few million to put in a scoreboard. The difference between football stadiums and basketball arenas is that stadiums can be expanded, but arenas are built and stuck at that attendance. Building a 9k-10k arena shows that we have a plan. We want to be great, and we are better than these rinky dink schools in the MAC. Big arenas bring in recruits, they bring in concerts and other shows, they bring in minor league teams. And people who don't think Akron can support a minor league hockey team. The Lake Erie Monsters were 2nd in the AHL attendance last year. Now the question is why would a bigger arena fill, when we can't even fill a 6k one. Break it down like this. Why don't people attend now? The Jar is old. No surprise people don't want to go to games. The seating is uncomfortable, there are only 1 set of bathrooms, 1 concession area, 1 lounge, and 1 team shop. Its tough to watch games from the upper level with people walking in front of you. The student seating is small and split into two sections. There is no club level or suites. No press level or pressbox for camera crews, etc so they are forced to set up on the track. Jumbotron above center court is old, has bad picture, and scoreboards behind students are old and not even full color. As a result of the small arena we also can't get big opponents to visit for OOC schedule. How do we fix it? Build a new arena. Have seats throughout the arena and no bleachers! The only place bleachers could be acceptable would be in the student sections, hopefully forcing them to stand. Now add restrooms, concessions, a walk-in team shop like at Infocision, and even possibly a game day restaurant. All in concourses BEHIND the seating areas. Create a club level that provides catered food and alcohol, with lounges to socialize with other fans pregame and during halftime. Now for students, take half of the lower bowl and designate it for them and the band. Keeping them together would create a larger united student section similar to First Energy Stadium. Give them Rowdy Rags for every game! Put in a HD videoboard at center court, and ribbon boards around the arena to show scores and ads. Probably not suggestions that haven't been made already, just giving my input

I've never really had any need to park in any of the close lots. But I think I'd rather see them give first priority to those that have bought season tickets before. Say for the first season you have to park at a normal lot, then the next year you move up. Would help give motivation to buy tickets the following year. I prefer perks based on loyalty as opposed to $$. It would give the best parking to the most loyal fans and prevent the fair weathers from just buying season tickets one year and ending it. Also hope they have a gift, like the have done with bobble heads and scarfs. I was thinking maybe mini helmets, or like I suggested for basketball, replica jerseys. Need something that would be considered a "hot" item because the Bowden name won't sell tickets alone.

I wish gozips.com could post clips of some of these interviews. I've seen articles about them but haven't had the chance to tune in.

I would like to see him start sometime this season, just to see how it works out. We seem to be having trouble starting games strong. It's a bit frustrating to see them starting a game down 12-3 to a weak BG team like today.

So that's why they built a high school gym...

I noticed there was a bit of a jump after Ianello was fired, and Tressel dreams. Regularly I've seen over 100+ people online in the evenings. Guess it can't be bad, right?

Not a good first impression of our basketball team for Bobby. Hopefully he knows they are a much better team than they played tonight!

Still think T-Bow is too close to Tebow. I know different pronunciation, but online you really can't emphasize that. Unless you want to add a (\ˈbau̇\) after every time you type that haha. Maybe just "T-Bowd"?? TB doesn't work, all I think of is tuberculosis. Not a good thing Just simply "bowden" could work but 95% of America would get him confused with his dad or brother Tommy. Since I think they are two of the more famous Bowdens.

Bobby Bowden gave the bball team a nice shout out on facebook/twitter:

The announcers wanted Calhoun to "Shove it down Zekes grill", I still don't know what that means or what he did to anger them so badly. But they felt the need to make a ignorant remark every time he was on the bench. I guess I'm glad at the end of the day "Harney shoved it down BG's grill"

"I've never seen a team complain to much to the refs as akron does" How did the game end? BG complaining to the refs.... Irony is quite funny!!

BG wins it now. Diggs missed a crucial FT, BG will score here...

Well this is a loss...terrible what are they shooting 10% wow simply pathetic

Looks like a glorified high school to be honest, really terrible. Guess UA has to use it as an example of what not to do! These announcers are by far the biggest joke I've ever heard. There's been a lot of homers this season announcing the away games, but these guys are talking trash about our players. Calling Serb a crybaby, saying he wanted their players to dunk right in Zekes grill, and swearing. Not to mention they talk like this team is the second coming of the 90s Bulls. Real classy, and def giving me extra incentive to hate BG.

Down 12-3 to BG? really...looks like the poor play has carried over from last game

...probably the same 2 people that post on Ohio.com, pretty sad they couldn't even find a blog reporter for that "school"

I understand why the posts about all players we are going after. But I'm with you, mainly because it gets pretty depressing seeing someone posted here just to say that other schools are out recruiting us. Hopefully Bowden can help us get some, but who knows...

KFC Yum! Center....take away 5,000 or so seats and it's the perfect example of what Akron (both UA and city) needs. If Louisville, Memphis, and other big schools can share arenas, there's no reason we can't!!

Ask Colt McCoy if an O-Line is important. Ask Dick-J if a D-Line is important, especially when he watched his defense give up 200yards rushing a game.

I thought about tire marks too. Doesn't have to be "in your face" but could be just a subtle pattern on the helmet and sleeves.

I came across this company HGI. They did the chrome Oregon helmets, Metallic gold Notre Dame, TCU etc. I think we should seriously talk to them to see if there are any unique things they could do for us. I really like Notre Dame's new metallic gold helmets and I think that would look pretty good as replacement for our current ones. Then adding a matte blue one to wear for some of the big games. It could also be interesting to see a metallic gold facemask with the blue helmet.

I think people should stop bring up that dang golf outing...

Yeah I agree about the money. The way I see it, the bigger a program gets you'll be getting a pay raise. I'm sure Caleb Porter is making more now than he did his first season. But yeah, most don't want to wait...just shows they never really cared about the school in the end. I hope Bowden can see that Akron is a school worth sticking with.

Yes, and let's hope he doesn't screw over our program like Todd Graham did to Pitt. I lose a lot of respect for the Brian Kellys, Todd Grahams, and Kevin Sumlins of the world. But at least Sumlin had enough dignity to coach Houston in their bowl game, while Kelly and Graham deserted their teams. No coach should use a school as a stepping stone. It's one thing to go from D2 to D1 or FCS to FBS. But we're seeing coaches jump from small FBS schools on the rise to awful big FBS schools. Did Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Frank Beamer, Gary Patterson, and Chris Petersen use their schools as stepping stones? Bowden, Paterno, and Beamer will go down as legends because their took mediocre schools and rose them to new heights. Patterson and Petersen have led TCU and Boise to BCS bowl games and BCS conferences in a few years. I see them as the next generation of legendary coaches. Will Brian Kelly get a statue in front of Notre Dame Stadium? Not likely. The stepping stone coaches will be forgotten in a decade. The coaches that stay at a program to build dynasties become legends. Hopefully the Zips can be successful, but we will really see then how much Terry cares about the school if that happens.

I think we have seen bad football for way too long. We finally have a coach to rally around, which we really haven't had since the beginning of the Faust years. Because of that I think that most people have unrealistic expectations. Talk of MAC championships and even bowl games may be a stretch. I try not to think those things are possible, since usually unrealistic expectations lead to major disappointments. We need to realize that Ianello destroyed our program. I may be a bit harsh on him, but in reality that is what happened. He was never fit to run a football team so just as much blame falls to those who hired him. Thankfully our fans are excited. But really how does the general public feel? Will we see any sellouts next year at InfoCision? Highly doubt it. Will we see an attendance increase? hopefully, but after a few big losses at the beginning of the season we'll see a drop back to numbers of last season. It's the NE Ohio way to be overly optimistic about teams leading up to next season. But I just hope our fans, students, and the rest of NE Ohio give it time and support this team as much as they can.