Doug Snyder

Actually....it is better to schedule a local D2 or D3 team. Here is why: 1. Build good will in local area 2. get a game where you can work on some issues without risk of losing 3. get new guys some minutes without risk of losing. This may be the first time some guys see the floor in a college game 4. and the # 1 reason... scheduling D2 or D3 team does not affect you RPI ranking. Scheduling a weak D1 team to accomplish 1 thru 3 above would mean you will lower your RPI ranking. Conclusion... Keep scheduling local D3 teams. Good for everybody involved. But let's keep it to one game per year.

Actually I think this could work for a game or 2. In the mid 80s Huggins got a game with nationally ranked Pittsburgh because Jerome Lane was the star on Pitt. It was played at the old Coliseum...but it was our game and not on their court. The game was close till the end. One thing working against this is most true “starts” stay only 1 or 2 years in college. That may make it unlikely that a school will risk scheduling a few years out when the star in question may not be there.

Hey... aren't you old and bitter now???

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words. You you don't even have to type!!!!

My wife and I took a cruise out of Miami a few years ago. When we arrived back in port the temps were around 65*. It was February and most of the locals working the docks were wearing parkas and complaining about the "bitter cold". I lived in Boca Raton for 13 years and was stunned when all the department stores sold winter coats and corduroy pants during the fall and winter. It seldom went below 70 in the winter. That is when I would put the top down on my Mustang I believe it was/is inevitable that the Sun Belt conference would move up. That is where the people are migrating. And they don't always mind stepping over the line down there....you won't see much criticism of Miami for breaking the rules down there. Check the new census and the change in # Congressman. The south picked up 8 in the last 10 years. Can we move Akron to the south??

Like DiG, I am an analytical type of guy. I have often been accused of being over analytical. It is in my DNA. Ianello was not my first choice as HC. But I did not have a chance to review all the candidates and meet and interview each. So...I will have to defer to the administration (more about them later). Now that we have Ianello, we must evaluate the situation differently. We can't just say "Bowden is available and we think he is better" because it would require starting over. And I understand that some coaches can turn things around quickly...but it usually takes a few years. So...at the end of year two I will ask this question... do we have a better chance of winning over the short term with Ianello or someone new and what might the ceiling be?? If the answer is close....I will have to consider the fact we will have to pay 1-2million to be able to take that new risk (and who knows if the new guy will be successful). And any prospective new coach may be a little gun shy because we showed no patience with this rebuild. So....for me, there is almost no way I would make a change before the end of year three. Then we can sit back and see where we are, how we got there and what the likely results will be for the near term. Each year the decision gets easier as Ianello has time to get his program in place and the cost to change declines dramatically. I have seen improvement with the team this year. But I am disappointed in the defense, the offensive line and the mental errors. I am disappointed Price has not shown more. I am disappointed the Suel has not been healthy enough to play...I think he is our 2nd best player. But we are very young….and all the key skill players will be here for 2-3 more years. Although I am getting a little frustrated by the pace of growth, I do have the patience to see it through until the end of next year. Count me a supporter of Ianello (still) Some have criticized the AD here and give him little to no credit. Before I started posting on this site I popped in and read what people were thinking. The first thing that struck me was that no AD was given any credit. Mack Rhoades was a bum (according to those here) and all his accomplishments were attributed to the previous AD or his staff. Now...we have some here crediting the same Mack Rhoades for accomplishments that are happening now. One thing I know for sure....someone is doing something right. Look at the accomplishments over the last 15 years. They did not just happen...committed and talented people made them happen. TW is given no credit for the soccer program. Well...they made the investments and kept Porter when everyone thought he would leave. Porter said after his signing that he "liked the direction of the sports programs" at Akron. Why should we assume that TW had NOTHING to do with that?? He found the 500k to spend on basketball upgrades. Speaking to Dambrot...he will tell you that the upgrades are very important in differentiating the Zips from the competition during recruiting. Where did he get the money?? Did ANYONE on ZNO pony up even a dime??? You may not like the fact that we publish 14k attendance when there is clearly not that many there. But he has been creative in getting paid attendance to meet the NCAA requirement while the football team is given a chance to grow and build real demand. For me...TW has done a very good job. But so did Rhoades and Thomas before him. But it really starts with Proenza. I have the utmost faith that he will do what is in the best interest for the University although his time horizon is a little longer than most on this site. Although I agree that TW will ultimately be judged by the success of the football program, I think most reasonable people will judge him on the whole job he does. Look at Laing Kennedy at Can't. He is respected by his peers and he could never turn around the football program. He tried many things including bringing back a famous coach…nothing worked. Turning around a football program is not easy. Count me a strong supporter of TW.

@GP1 What to watch for on offense: More from the running game. It’s been years since Miami ran the ball effectively, and it certainly wasn’t anything to write home about last year finishing second-to-last in the nation averaging 70 yards per game (only Duke was worse). Haywood is a running backs coach by trade and wants to get the ground attack rolling led by a more physical line. Thomas Merriweather and Danny Green has fast, talented backs who’ll get their chances, while QB Zac Dysert http://cfn.scout.com/2/981972.html#start What you need to know: New offensive coordinator Peter Vaas, after coaching David Cutcliffe's attack at Duke, has his work cut out for him, but he has some good pieces to work with from an attack that was 12th in the MAC in total offense, last in scoring, and 101st in the nation in rushing and 101st in pass efficiency. Last year's attack was a mega-disappointment, and for good and bad all the key skill players are back. Vaas wants to push the ball down the field more with a vertical passing attack, and he has the speedsters to do it led by Chris Givens and Jamal Rogers. Three good backs will rotate to help out last year's poor running game, but they need room to move. The line wasn't bad last year, but it has to do some major revamping. And then there's the quarterback situation. Daniel Raudabaugh is back as his third year as the starter, but he has struggled to put points on the board. He'll be pushed by Zac Dysert http://cfn.scout.com/2/866748.html I guess any successful offense can be considered "Spread". And...I think the strongest piece of evidense against your claim is....He HIRED John Latina to be his OC at Pittsburgh. John Latina...OC at Akron running the pro set offense. Done.

Both wrong. Miami uses a pro-style (or did) and OU runs a variation of the Veer/Option. They RUN the ball. Look up Solich's history. You are starting to post like Zach.

If you want to talk facts, let's talk facts.Joe Novak was an old guy who never won a MAC Championship with all of that great talent he had because of his offense. I remember a little 6-6 Zips team spreading it out against his team and winning the league. I also remember his offense not being able to move the ball effectively against an average Zips team late in the game. They had an NFL running back and were so predictable we were able to stop them.Miami runs a type of spread offense. They ran one last season as well. Miami wasn't overflowing with talent last year. They had some talent and used it wisely. There is a fine line between good and average in the MAC. Miami is finding themselves on the average side this season.Al Golden...Please use this site and tell me the number of conference championships he won. Golden used his pro offense to lay an egg in the final two games last season against OU and Miami (both of whom run a type of spread). Maybe we can get this offense to take us 5-3 in the MAC and not win the league. I'm interested in being the best team in the worst league in the country. It can be done. Getting good in the MAC isn't the hardest thing in the world to do. The Zips make it hard and almost everyone else finds it pretty easy to have some good years.One would have to go all the way back to 2003 to find a league champion that didn't run some form of spread offense.One would have to be a complete idiot to ignore facts to say you can win the MAC with a pro style base offense. "Haywood's offense is run-first and features considerable play-action looks in the passing game. Defensively, the idea is to stop the run first."http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5924001....Did not know they ran a play-action in the spread....well they say you learn something new every day. I have this day covered!!!So....you can go all the way back to 2010 to find a team that won the MAC with a pro-offenseI am a Miami grad so I keep up a liitle on the Redhawks. He ran the same offense as Charlie Weis."Through Haywood's four seasons as the offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Notre Dame (2005-08), the Fighting Irish have averaged nearly 27 points per game. He took over the majority of Notre Dame's offensive play calling in 2008 and the result was an additional 103 yards per game over the previous season."http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?Is this another one of your "trust me" moments?? In case you have not noticed....I seldom do. Who was that wise old man that said "trust....but verify"??

It is about one on one, but it takes more studs to be good at the offense than it does with the spread. Schools like Alabama have a line of studs waiting to get in their school and on the field...They can run a pro offense because they have 11 studs...they have 11 more studs as back-up players. MAC schools don't get that volume of good players on any team so they have to be more creative and utilize what talent they have as best as they can. That is why the spread is so valuable at the MAC level. That's what made coaches like Urban Meyer and Brian Kelly so good in the MAC.And what concerns me most about iCoach is that both Meyer and Kelly showed immediate progress in improving the program without first instating the Sherman's March to the Sea approach to handling the current roster. They didn't slash and burn. Why did iCoach feel the need? This policy was the first indication I had that iCoach was a disaster.There are 2 types of coaches. One is like Shula and will mold a style of play around the type of talent he has. The other is like Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells and they totally tear things down and rebuild. I think we would all prefer someone like Shula....but that is not what we have. Many of the "spread" guys will make sure they have a good QB available to run the spread before they take a position. And I do believe you can turn a program around quicker with the spread (if you have a QB). But it works better at lower levels because you exploit weaknesses in the defense...and there are more at lower levels. It is not a great offense inside the 20 as many of the options start to disappear. My preference is for a quick strike pro style with a mobile QB (think Jim Zorn at Seattle).

It is about one on one, but it takes more studs to be good at the offense than it does with the spread. Schools like Alabama have a line of studs waiting to get in their school and on the field...They can run a pro offense because they have 11 studs...they have 11 more studs as back-up players. MAC schools don't get that volume of good players on any team so they have to be more creative and utilize what talent they have as best as they can. That is why the spread is so valuable at the MAC level. That's what made coaches like Urban Meyer and Brian Kelly so good in the MAC.Pray tell....why was Al Golden so good in the MAC and what offense did he run???What offense did Joe Novak run at Northern Illinois when they dominated the league?? What offense did Haywood use at Miami to win the league title last year (after a 1-11 record the previous year…so it could not be that he had superior talent at each postion).One would have to be a complete idiot and ignore facts to say that you can't win the MAC with a pro style base offense.

@ You and I It is every fans right to be negative. But there are some who are nagative, vocal and have tried to create a movement to oust the coach prior to last year and this year. Every attempt was made to poison the debate. They "hovered" around the program looking for an opportuinty to pounce. I don't know...I think the anology fits.

+1 But for me....this last loss was disheartening. There was improvement but other areas regressed. Right now...it seems like that kids game where a ground hog head keeps popping up to be wacked down. I really thought the D-Line was better than it showed Saturday and was a strength of the team. And the mental mistakes were too numerous to overcome. This was a game where we could gauge our improvement as they were close to us in talent. Well...we now know we are are not as far along as some would have hoped and we have a ways to go...but we are young. The good thing is that we did not quit. Can we get there with ICoach?? It is looking more doubtful. I will continue to support the team and coach through this year. But I will no longer defend him from the negative hyenas on this forum.

Same here. One guy sounds like "Vinnie" on Orange County Choppers. My guess is...that you learn to describe game action with humility when working for schools like EMU and Akron.

My guess is that if we lost our D1 status because we did not find clever ways to keep the attendance numbers high enough to meet D1 requirements...many here would crucify the administration....not just look the other way. I can understand your frustration because it is impossible to make cross sport comparisons. But...keep in mind that does not even make the priority list for the administration. Keeping D1 status does. Ask Keith Dambrot...I am sure he will tell you the marketing department is so focused on this mission that the basketball program is overlooked or the marketing department are a little burned out by the time they get to basketball. Luckily...soccer does not need to be marketed. That is the real shame in all of this....the amount of effort and focus that it required of the administration to assure we keep D1 status. You will have to settle for the fact that almost anybody on the soccer team could beat the kickers we have on the football team.

8*12,500*6= $600,000. I have an MBA in Finance and can't figure out your math. Help me out. My example is 8.00 (Cost of ticket) /3 (Mininimum required by NCAA) * 6 (# of home games in season ticket) * 6,250 = $100,000 Or am I fabricating too?? 100,000 / 8 =12,500 you assumed the most expensive ticket was $8, I assumed the most expensive ticket was $24. you showed tickets per game, I showed tickets for the season. You may have showed tickets for a season but you wrote "12,500 season tickets". You may be correct that you are required to use the highest ticket price in the stadium. That would be $25.00 if you exclude the mandatory Z-fund fee. The way I read it is that you must use the highest regular established ticket price for a seat…they can’t be discounted or specially priced for a specific game. I don’t have the answer…and I really don’t care. The point is still the same. Rational/intelligent people will use this approach to increase attendance (totally legal and within the NCAA rules) rather than to blatantly lie and make things up with no documentation to support the fraud. http://www.gozips.com/UAtickets/2011fbtickets/index

3 FGs?? lol We certainly do see things differently. My prediction is Zero FGs but Akron finds a way to win. (or are you predicting a missed extra point?? That I must say...is ballsy) Ballsy....but correct. Pretty impressive

35-13 in the 4th at home...for shame, Temple! Wasn't Toledo terrible just two years ago? I wish we rebuilt like that. Toledo must not be in the Cleveland footprint. Yea..wish we could rebiuld...or build like that. At least we did not choose the Pitt model.

I predicted last week’s score at 35-13 ...expected VMI to get 2 FGs. And the Zips left 2 points on the field. The score should have been 38-14 with decent kickers in the game. Hard to predict this game. I think the Zips will score 28+ points but if their kickoffs don't improve... that will not nearly be enough. Even bad teams can score some points with a short filed on every possession. Even though the Zips don't have a good kicking game right now...I can't predict anyone will miss an extra point. That is a relatively simple play for even bad kickers.

8*12,500*6= $600,000. I have an MBA in Finance and can't figure out your math. Help me out. My example is 8.00 (Cost of ticket) /3 (Mininimum required by NCAA) * 6 (# of home games in season ticket) * 6,250 = $100,000 Or am I fabricating too??

Let me understand this. A University can go to someone who wants to donate $100,000 (or have part of some marketing campaign recorded as such) and have it recorded as a sale of 6,250 $8.00 season tickets and everything will be completely legal and OK with the NCAA. But you think they would rather lie about student attendance for which there would be no supporting documents. So instead of assuming college administrations are conniving, you prefer to assume they are corrupt and stupid. I probably have as little respect for government and the public sector as anyone and even I would not assume that. It seems that you are more concerned about proving someone wrong than providing a convincing argument. Like you, I don't think the IRS issue is that important for non-profit organization right now. But if you have ever dealt with the IRS or SEC you will know for sure that you want to avoid them. As you were referring too...IRS and SEC are public sector bureaucrats and like to use/abuse their authority. The IRS just cleared and issue with my company where they tried to collect 120K in civil penalties and interest. No apology...just a letter saying that we did not owe the money. That was a 2006 issue. So...they may not be important now....they ARE people to avoid. Ask any CFO.

3 FGs?? lol We certainly do see things differently. My prediction is Zero FGs but Akron finds a way to win. (or are you predicting a missed extra point?? That I must say...is ballsy)

It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. Thank you for finally admitting that your reason why Universities couldn't possibly fudge their football attendance numbers up was a fabrication. Are you suggesting DIG lied to make his point?? Don't you think that is a bit strong?? fab·ri·ca·tion   /ˌfæbrɪˈkeɪʃən/ Show Spelled[fab-ri-key-shuhn] Show IPA noun 1. the act or process of fabricating; manufacture. 2. something fabricated, especially an untruthful statement

DefenseFront......Yes Secondary..........Some Receivers............Yes RB......................Yes QB.....................Some and growing Kicking................None Kick offs may kill us. I am hoping that they can minimize the problem and we win a close one.

I'm struck by a few things in this thread. #1 - It seems like people are almost looking for something to complain about. Check the attendance, over 5K at the game, and multiple reports that over 2k were students? That's TREMENDOUS. It's awesome .. it's something that every student should be proud of. #2 - Can we find a way to get those students to go to the JAR, 1/2 of the time? I know things are different with the layout .. but surely there's a way to build on this in the fall and carry it to the winter to get 700-1000 students in the JAR for a game or 2. The impact that even 500 Rowdies could have on a hoops game is potentially big .. I'd sure like to witness it. Better yet, come to a basketball game, and ACT like you're at the soccer games. That'd be cool .. and unique in the landscape of hoops. There have been games at the Q where the Rowdies really shined with those activities .. enough that people around me (I sit in MAC pack seats, not the UA section @ the Q) have remarked about it. #3 - Crabbing about who did or didn't do the right thing during the game, and creating a class system within the Rowdies is a sure fire way to cut that number in half or more before the next big game. You want to make sure the next national TV game doesn't have a filled hill? Then keep it up and drive a wedge between the seasoned Rowdies and the new ones you're trying to attract. Your challenge is to make sure some of the chants / activities are reasonable for the fans who aren't there every game. Get them going on the basics .. they'll jump in on the newer more specific things. Frankly, this all sounds to me like the old lady in church who complains about the groups of teenagers who are there every weekend, but dressed a bit too casually for her taste. THEY'RE IN THE BUILDING. Embrace them all and make them feel welcome, so that they WANT to come back every time. Some of them are the future of the Rowdies. I gotta figure headaviatorrowdie knows this. B) B) Go Zips! Well written. We need everyone. Let's get them showing up casually and then win them over. Embrace everyone. And let's not complain about the little old lady in the church either ;-) + 1