TennZip

the main web page...features an article by the relatively new associate AD for Marketing. 47% increase in men's soccer attendance???? I have highlighted in bold.....the men's soccer words from Seth McFall. While his words are encouraging, I do not agree with his math. See my calculations...below. In coordination with our ticket office, our fall sport ad campaign was launched with the intent to create awareness of our home events, while executing engaging content that would entice the user to interact with our materials. Our coordinated attack with group sales and digital ads, Akron Athletics saw increases in all three of our Fall Olympic sports. Men's Soccer saw a 69% increase in group sales, as well as a 47% increase in game attendance. https://gozips.com/news/2024/1/24/general-message-from-the-ad-contributing-series-seth-mcfall Actual attendance from box scores...on schedules 2022 regular season home games VCU 1,488 wright st 1,418 mich st 1,411 ohio state 2.237 Duq 1,209 NIU 1,222 BGSU 1,129 cleve st 1,419 chicago st 938 west mich 1,477 attendance of 13,948 10 regular season home games average of 1,394.8 per home game 2023 regular season home games Niag 1,174 Vermont 1,618 S. Ind 1,198 long Island 1,691 FIU 1,302 Providence 2,042 Notre Dame 2,535 Seton H 1,831 N. KY 1,965 DePaul 1,743 Cleve St 855 Marquette 1,590 attendance of 19,544 for regular season home games 12 regular season home games average of 1,628.667 per home game 1,628.667 per game is better than 1,394.8 per game but it is a % increase of 16.767% per game where do Seth MCfall and Charles Guthrie get their 47% increase in game attendance at first, I thought that they might have done total attendance...even though that is unfair.......because 2023 is 12 home games and 2022 is 10 home games even if they are that unlogical, 19,544 total attendance for 12 games is a 40.1 % increase over 13,948 for 10 games I can't come up with a 47% increase even If I include the 2022 post season attendance....., I can't come up with their wonderful % increase figures the weather must have been awful for the 2022 post season games???? mac title game in 2022 ...they show attendance of only 942 in Akron 2nd round ncaa tournament game in 2022...they show attendace of only 586 in Akron for the game against Pitt if you add those 2 games to the 10 regular season games, you get 15,476 attendance for 12 games that is avg. attendance of 1,289.667 per game so 1,628.667 in 2023 is an increase of 26.29% per game 47% increase alleged by McFall and Guthrie.....does not agree with the facts and if you look close, the move from the MAC to the Big East.......was responsible for a large portion of the attendance increase rather than anything done by McFall and Guthrie MAC league games in 2022 NIU 1,222 BGSU 1,129 Chicago 938 WMU 1,477 attendance of 4,766 for league games...avg. attendance of 1,194.5 Big East League games in 2023 Prov 2,042 Seton Hall 1,831 DePaul 1,743 Marquette 1,590 attendance of 7,206 for league games...avg. attendance of 1,801.5 for big east games 51.2% increase in attendance for league games better competition....accounted for the better attendance. I am glad that the athletic department....is trying to do new informative articles.....but I feel like I am being misled by Guthrie and McFall "new math"

You are replying to a post that talked about players that did not win an NCAA tournament match during their eligibility. Your response should not include Sammy Tojaga. Sammy Tojaga started in 5 Zip NCAA tournament wins. In 2018, Sammy started in wins over Rider, #16 seed Syracuse (on the road), #1 seed Wake Forest (on the road), 3 time defending champion Stanford (on the road) and Michigan State (in the college cup semis). The Michigan State game was a blowout as the zips put up 5 goals. Coach Embick was able to utilize many bench players in the 2nd half. Sammy only had to play 67 minutes in the Spartan game. Sammy Tojaga was healthy in 2018 and Sammy played all 90 minutes in the first 4 NCAA tournament games. I would be remiss if I did not point out that the zips had a different coaching staff in 2018. Coach Embick, Coach Coppinger, Leo Chappel (for most of the year) and TJ Kolba. Our coaching staff from 2019 to 2023 has included Coach Embick , Coach Coppinger and Coach Nanchoff. Attila is not shown on the zips web site so I am not sure how many years that he has been on staff. Zips fans have been blessed to see many NCAA tournament wins in the Porter and Embick coaching eras. Coach Embick and the Stanford head coach were the only 2 coaches to guide their teams to 3 college cups in a 4 year span (2015-2018). None of us like it but the fact remains that the zips have not won an NCAA tournament game with this current coaching staff in the past 5 years. I am fully confident that this coaching staff is doing everything possible to make the changes needed for 2024. Dyson Clapier and Malik Henry coming back to school.....shows great confidence in the coaching staff and their teammates. Clearly, all teams deal with injuries and the zips have probably been more negatively impacted than most teams. Sammy Tojaga had a medical redshirt year in 2021. I truly believe that the zips (with a healthy Sammy Tojaga playing 90 minutes) would have beaten Santa Clara in the NCAA first round game. In 2023, the zips played all year without their #1 recruit , Caleb Borneo. I have never seen Caleb Borneo play in person but I do think that the zips would have made the 2023 NCAA tourney with a healthy Caleb Borneo. That being said, I think that the zips coaching staff has done an outstanding job of adding news players for spring 2024 and fall 2024. I think that the zips 2024 recruiting class is severely underrated by the "so-called recruiting experts". The 2024 recruiting class is being evaluated on James Buebendorf, Kamden Held and the 4 other domestic recruits. In reality, the 2024 domestic recruits should also include Josh Bartels (who as mentioned above....was considered a 23 recruit) and Outstanding 2023 recruits Caleb Borneo and 6'4 forward Nathan Ferguson(Borneo and Ferguson were 2023 recruits that were injured and could not play all year). Caleb Borneo was rated 4 stars by Top Drawer Soccer (TDS) and was one of the top 50 recruits in 2023(24 of the top 25 recruits in 2023 went pro and did not go to college). I am very excited about the 3 Canadian recruits that will join the team in the fall. Simon Guardiero at age 17 played in a 19 and under league and played 880 minutes in 11 games and his Sigma FC team won the under 19 league. Remi Agunbiade at age 17 played in a 19 and under league and led his Vaughn SC team in scoring with 7 goals in 11 games. Jamai Royer at age 17 played in a 19 and under league and played 811 minutes in 11 games. The zips are also adding in January a 20 year old defensive midfielder from Germany. TDS is evaluating the 2024 class primarily based on the 6 domestic recruits. In reality, the zips should be evaluated on the 6 domestic recruits and the 7 other players that I have mentioned above. In addition, the Zips have added some excellent transfers. The zips have added a player that had 9 assists for his Division 1 team and was selected first team all league in a league that had 3 teams rated in the top 25. The zips have also added a defensive center back that was rated as the #68 best recruit nationwide by TDS in the 2023 recruiting year. The defensive center back was also rated 4 stars by TDS in 2023. By my count, the Zips will add 7 new players to the roster in January 2024. I am hopeful that Caleb Borneo and Nathan Ferguson will be able to make their zip soccer debuts in Spring 2024. The zips highest rated 2024 recruit, James Buebendorf, is one of the 7 new players that will join the team in January. The German Holding midfielder will also join the team in January. That is 9 players making their zips debuts in Spring 2024.......5 more new domestic recruits coming in the fall. 3 Canadian recruits coming in the fall. I suspect that the coaches will probably add at least one more European recruit for the fall. By my count, that is 17 new players for the spring and fall....that none of us have seen. I am very excited to see how the new players do in the spring and I am also excited to see more of Daniel Firek, Dreas, Hardin, Herbert, etal.

DeA is one of 10 players on this very impressive list https://the18.com/en/soccer-entertainment/ncaa-soccer-players-in-europe-college-athletes-top-leagues/134026

Top Drawer Soccer is now reporting that the zips have added a 3rd fall recruit from Canada. Defender Jamai Royer from the same team as Forward Remi Agunbiade. Keep up the great work in recruiting, zips coaches!!! https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2024-mens-division-i-international-signees_aid52747

Richie Laryea will not be back with Vancouver next year https://theprovince.com/sports/whitecaps-the-richie-laryea-experiment-in-vancouver-is-over

@YipaZip great news about Malik and Dyson. Thank you for sharing.

Great find !!!.....Last year, the zips did not release their spring schedule until February 17th. Thanks much for sharing so that other zips fans can look forward to these matches.

https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/darlington-nagbe-midfield-dynamo-and-mls-legend/

Top Drawer reports that the zips are adding a freshman forward from Canada Remi Agunbiade from Vaughn SC https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2024-mens-division-i-international-signees_aid52747

Amazing longevity in MLS for some all time great zips... I believe that the 2024 season will be Wil Trapp's 12th year in MLS. Wil's Minnesota United team mate, Zarek Valentin.....will begin his 14th year in professional soccer in 2024. I believe that Zarek played 3 years in a Norway professional league. I believe that this will be Zarek's 11th year in MLS. I think that Nashville's Teal Bunbury started his MLS career in 2010....so 2024 should be his 15th year in the league. The spectacular Darlington Nagbe will be starting his 14th year in MLS in the 2024 season. I believe that Evan Bush had to play a few years in either USL league one or the NASL before he debuted in MLS. I believe that he first signed with an MLS team in late 2011. Scott Caldwell joined MLS at the same time as Wil Trapp......so Goal scorer Scotty also had more than 10 years in MLS. The speedy Jonathan Lewis is only 26 years old but the 2024 season will be JLew's 8th year in MLS. The great Richmond Laryea (better known as Richie)......will start his 9th year in professional soccer in 2024. I believe that Perry Kitchen....played 11 years of pro soccer....8 in MLS....and 3 in Scottish or Danish Leagues. and of course, when you talk about the all time greats.....that have played in multiple leagues.....including.....the English Premier League, MLS and the highest level Turkish league....we must talk about DeAndre Yedlin DeAndre started his career in 2013...so 2024...will be his 12th year in the highest levels of professional soccer. Of course, DeAndre has also played in multiple world cups for USA. I believe that DeA has more than 80 caps with USMNT. Soccer is a tough, physical game.....great credit to so many former zips......for having careers.....lasting well past a decade in pro soccer. I don't hear much about Joao Moutinho since he moved to the Italian Leagues....but Joao has been playing in MLS or Italy since 2018. fknbuflobo.....will give me grief...if I don't mention Aodhan Quinn. Aodhan Quinn (in my humble opinion) has been good enough to play in MLS. 2024 will be Aodhan's 11th year of being a truly great, dominating player in USL.

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/news/porter-would-love-nothing-more-than-an-mls-cup-parade-in-boston

I hope that Joel Sangwa can catch on with an MLS team. There were 87 players drafted and Joel was not drafted. There are not 87 players that are better than Joel. Zips had 3 underclassmen drafted in the 2nd round. All of them have the option to come back to school.....or to pursue their pro teams.

so much for mock draft accuracy !!!....24 picks and no zips have been selected... Lipscomb University had the #1 overall pick and the #8 overall pick.

the mock draft has Joel Sangwa being drafted by the New England Revolution New England could soon have a new head coach https://sports.yahoo.com/reports-former-columbus-crew-coach-032224328.html

This article predicts that the zips will have 3 players drafted in the first round. Shooky at 6 Joel at 20 Malik at 27 https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/news/mls-mock-superdraft-2024-predicting-who-teams-pick-in-round-1 By my count, Indiana and Akron are the only schools with 3 players in the first round.

great finds on Miami GK and on Simon... 2 articles on Simon https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-sports/guelphs-simon-guardiero-has-eyes-set-on-the-world-soccer-stage-5948352 in the 2nd article, fall 2023 Zip Daniel Firek is mentioned in the article as well as Simon https://forgefc.canpl.ca/article/forge-fc-sign-three-canadians-to-development-contracts

https://myfox28columbus.com/sports/columbus-crew-sc/im-proud-to-be-a-part-of-this-team-nagbe-making-club-and-league-history-columbus-crew-lafc-mls-cup-champions-soccer-professional

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39079152/nagbe-morris-instrumental-columbus-crews-mls-cup-win There was admiration from opponents too. LAFC and former Italy international Chiellini, who knows a thing or two about quality attacking players, had nothing but positive things to say about Darlington Nagbe. "He's an example for everyone and every player that he played with," Chiellini said. "And watching the games of Columbus, you can understand how much he's important as a player, but as a good leader, and he has a good value. He's a hard worker, very generous, and then helps all the teammates close to him to play better. [He's] not in the shine many times but I think he is a really the heart of this team."

I am just copying a small portion of the glowing words that they write about the GOAT https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/darlington-nagbe-cucho-hernandez-columbus-crew-lafc-mls-cup/blt9698775b430b1e73 Name your all-time MLS greats: Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, Sebstian Giovinco, Diego Valeri, Jaime Moreno... whoever. No matter what generation you're from, what era of MLS made you fall in love with the game, you have to include Nagbe among any list discussing the best this league has ever seen.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/columbus-crew-player-ratings-cucho-nagbe-achieve-mls-cup-greatness player ratings.....an 8.5 rating for the incredible Darlington Nagbe Columbus' captain hardly put a foot wrong during his 84 minutes on the pitch, completing 52 of 54 passes and setting the tempo. One of MLS' greatest-ever orchestrators, Nagbe looked exceedingly comfortable with the ball at his feet and gave LAFC's midfield a miserable time.

another well deserved honor for Jason Shokalook First team All East Region tomorrow, they will announce the 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy

The MLS release is incorrect....as it lists Jason Shokalook as a senior. Shooky was not honored on senior night this past year. The UA news release is correct as Shooky is correctly listed as a junior. However, it definitely appears that Shooky is focused next on professional soccer. last weekend, a well respected Junior and college soccer expert reported that Shooky was in Sweden last weekend trying out (on trial) with a professional soccer team near Goteborg, Sweden Good Wishes to Joel and Shooky at the MLS College Showcase over the next 4 days. It is always good when zips are doing well in MLS. Thank you to both Joel and Shooky for your excellent play and effort during your time as zips.

Official news release from Akron soccer