akzipper

TW's draft board should look like this 1. Johnson 2. Narduzzi 3. unnamed candidate 4. Winters

Yeah CSU just pulled this one out of their a**...oh well 3-5

Other than Walt Harris, has any D1-A coach ever been fired 2 years into a 5-year contract? Turner Gill (Kansas); Larry Porter (Memphis) If you can only win 2 games in the WORST conference in FBS you deserve to get fired. Eric Mangini got fired after winning 10 games in two years

I agree. At least give him an interview. Hill would be a great hire!! 12 bowl games in 16 seasons 17 wins over BCS schools OL background Only drawback is he's from California so I doubt he'd want to move his family to Ohio and he looks like Paul Sr from American Chopper haha

I'd rather send Walsh back to Xavier. It's obvious why he left, he wasn't going to be anything other than a ball boy for them. Maybe their version of Kyle Peterson?

I hate to be brutally honest, but people around here aren't very smart. Every year you'll hear the same thing around here. They watch a few practices and are ready to crown a team national champions. I said we'd be .500 at best entering MAC play and everyone flipped out and told me to stop being negative. Well?

It's so frustrating hearing these games. All I hear is... (opponents name) drives down the court....and lays it in (zips player) drives down the court....and lost it out of bounds (opponents name) drives down the court....and lays it in (zips player) drives down the court....and walks (opponents name) drives down the court....and lays it in (zips player) drives down the court....and double dribble

Did you actually read what Foster said about Akron? "On Monday, Foster offered a glimpse into what sort of head coaching gig he’s looking for, openly discussing the vacancies at Memphis and Akron. Both fired their coaches after just two seasons and the Hokies defensive coordinator labeled the two schools as “coach killers” right now. “Their administration is crazy,” Foster said. “They’ve got false visions of grandeur.” Pretty much saying Akron sucks, and always will. He must think that the "Coach killers" should have given their coaches more time. In all honesty our coach was killed our program and not the other way around. He should check his facts....

I heard this also, I guess it would be safe to say that is a good sign for his future? We've seen players get suspended for far less, so maybe in all reality the situation isn't as bad as it initially seemed.

Yes. Two stages. First takes it to 45,000; second to 68,000. Don't fret. Hiring Paul Winters will cure any desire to expand. Yes it won't be expanded any time soon, but they have a "plan" in place IF it is ever needed. I've heard that the first would included seating above the grass hill on the south side, and moving the video screen and scoreboard up above that. Guess one of the original reasons they didn't want to put a lot of work and money into the scoreboard fixture. That would easily take it over 45,000, but I'm not sure what the second phase would include. It's interesting and fun to think about, but it's one of those "if only..." dreams that most likely will never happen. Any idea where the other 23,000 seats would be?

yeah and all of the 5-star recruits...

yeah, if true this is a very underwhelming hire. But I don't believe it...

I don't really think we are the ones saying we're not good enough. We don't win, we can't get people to come to the games, we can't get recruits to come here, and we don't have the money to pay a good coach. It's just the facts and the sad state of our football program...

Can't really judge D3. Even comparing FBS to D2 is a stretch, but D3 isn't even scholarship based. Mike Sherman anyone? Texas A&M and Green Bay Packers, give him the "tressel money"

To be fair there was no chance of Tressel ever coaching Akron. It was more of wishful thinking, and when I said that last week everyone flipped out and didn't believe me. Well... But LeCharles doesn't sit well with me. I was happy when the Browns picked him up, but there were plenty of things that have happened since I don't agree with.

Not that I disagree with your general point, but KD recently turned 53 and Winters was a SR RB at UA in 1979 (my 1st year at UA), so they have be very close in age. Good point...and after examining further, he has been coaching for nearly 30 years including about 8-10 years at the division 1 level. 8 seasons as head coach at DII Wayne State as well. Good resume. I hope he gets it. Ianello coached at the D1 level since 1988 Just saying

It worked out well for OU with Solich, but I'm not crazy about hiring a coach whose career is in a downward trajectory. I'd rather try to catch a guy on the way up. As long as they were successful at the BCS level I think they should be considered. Hell I'd even take Butch Davis, but that would never happen either... Sad part is I think a school like Memphis has a big advantage on the lower level of coaches. As in the coaches not good enough to be a BCS HC, but not bad enough for 1-AA, if that makes any sense.

I really don't get it... What is the fascination with this guy. If people want a former Zip so badly why not get Charlie Frye or Jason Taylor haha at least people actually remember them!! I'm not sure if Withers played for Akron.. Sorry with all the obsession around here about Winters, I read your post quickly and didn't realize it actually said Withers My bad! but who is Withers? Everett Withers from UNC??

I really don't get it... What is the fascination with this guy. If people want a former Zip so badly why not get Charlie Frye or Jason Taylor haha at least people actually remember them!!

Since it worked so well the first time.... I'm trying to get excited, but really so names really give me hope. When it comes to Winters, how many casual fans would you think even know about him? Unless they followed the Zips back when he was on the team, I don't think most fans today would take that as a selling point. Not to mention the jump from D2 to FBS is quite a jump. Even FCS to FBS makes me a little nervous, unless it was a guy who won multiple championships.

Mark Mangino anyone? The guy had problems at Kansas, along with some health concerns. But I wouldn't mind him and with our facilities he'd weigh 100lbs after a week in the gym. Just don't tell him about Swensons or Barberton chicken! hah

I'd take Getsy, but LeCharles is a HUGE buckeye homer. I followed him on twitter for a little but on Saturdays it was unbearable. But he was on ESPN Cleveland so being obnoxious about OSU is something they're known for sadly. But I think our OL coach, WR coach, and DC are the most important hires we will have. The key to rebuilding this team is to focus on defense and the OL. Just give the QB, whoever that may be, time to throw and our RB's space to run. Defense keeps the opponents off the board and everything else will fall into place. I know it's harder than it looks, but hopefully we can bring in a head coach with some connections and can bring in some "steals" for assistants. Since I don't think the HC will be anyone to get excited about...

We never had a shot a Leach anyway. Plenty of BCS schools were going to give the guy a second chance. In reality there aren't any coaches I can imagine us having a chance to get that will bring excitement to the community. Of course I'd like to see Stoops, but he just left Arizona so I don't see that happening. Winters is okay, but I doubt any casual fans would even know who he is. Bowden isn't coming here Honestly a DC from a BCS school would give me a little confidence. Reason being I think a successful program begins with defense. You can air it out and score 30+ points every game, but if your defense sucks you're not going anywhere.

I'm sorry you don't take pride in the success of our soccer and basketball programs. I'm also sorry you don't think a MAC Championship for our football team means anything. I could care less about what idiots from OSUcks think of us because I have a lot of fun going to Akron soccer and basketball games. We have great atmospheres for both, and when football was winning, there's weren't bad at the Rubber Bowl either. I understand you hate seeing others get all the national attention and it makes you feel our program is insignificant. But why worry what others think? There's a lot to be proud of here in Akron and I'm sorry you don't share the same feelings. It's just depressing. I'm sorry for bashing our school, but the feeling of going to football games and seeing 100 people there makes me sick to my stomach. It's like a slap in the face to every dedicated fan, and what makes it worse is that our administration seems perfectly okay with that.

As long as he's a Zip I'll stick behind him. Everyone makes mistakes... He's a young kid, and hopefully he learns his lesson and doesn't let it happen again. Most importantly let's hope it doesn't hurt his future.