hiroad1

This leads to another question... if Winters was hired to be the guy at UA, does his whole staff come with him or do one or more of his assistants stay at Wayne State to lead that program? If the latter is the case, then new coaches possibly with FBS experience and regional recruiting ties could also be on the new staff. This is a hugely important issue that nobody seems to want to think about. New head coaches hire people they have worked with in the past. People often accept assistant coaching jobs based on the relationship with that head coach more than the draw of the particular university. Who does Narduzzi know, who does Johnson know, who does Stoops know, who does Winters know? Who would each get to come with them? The head coach is important, but D1 FBS experience in the staff would be a real plus too. Maybe only one of the guys above is even willing to take the job, and that would make this a mute point. But if we are still interviewing people, the make-up of their staff is a question that the search committee should be factoring in to the decision.

Who was the only one to mention Narduzzi in the Wheel of Fortune thread? The idea that they would hire an only-recently-successful small college coach over a guy with Narduzzi's resume? That's laughable, and predictable. BINGO!! That's why I keep having a problem with the words "Safe Choice" coming from the Winters supporters. How can that possibly be defined as a "Safe Choice"? Skip. Although I am OK with any of the 4 finalists...but I am a Winters supporter. I have never used the words "safe choice". In fact...I can't remember reading those words except from you. Can you give me a list of a few of those using those words?? If not...please stop useing that accusation. I pretty much used those words a week ago to characterize a post by InTheZone.............. QUOTE(InTheZone @ Dec 9 2011, 01:23 AM) QUOTE(Zipsrifle @ Dec 8 2011, 11:33 PM) QUOTE(Dave in Green @ Dec 8 2011, 04:03 PM) I don't know as much about Winters as some of you. I've tried to research him as best I could. By all accounts he appears to be a good and decent man who has toiled long and hard to reach where he is this season. His connections to UA are undeniable. In many ways he makes an almost perfect candidate for those who have longed for a qualified head coach with strong UA ties. From all I'm able to gather, I believe that he would make a good head coach for UA in that he could probably make UA competitive in the MAC within a couple of years. My only concern is that I haven't seen anything to convince me that he would be likely to turn UA into a big winner in the MAC, or in a more competitive conference in the event that UA should ever make such a move. I guess I look at Winters as the comfortable choice -- the guy who is likely to draw the least criticism on ZN.o if he's selected, and someone who could probably navigate the MAC well enough to keep the Zips from being an embarassment. I just don't see the flash of potential greatness that I do in someone like Matt Campbell, who has risen quickly to prominence at a young age. If Winters ends up being the choice, I hope I'm wrong and that all of the optimism from others is well-founded. This is why Proenza had better put together a hell of a Search Committee to find the coach. F the opinion fans on ZNO, make the right hire and lets get this thing turned around. From InTheZone: Ummm..... no. This administration knows they have F'd the fans enough, and they are not going to make a hire such as Ianello again that may come out of a "process" but leaves everyone saying WTF and then places the blame squarely on them if and when he fails. If they all want to save their asses, they'll hire someone the fans and alumni are behind, which at this point can really only either be a big name or Paul Winters (Mike Johnson has alumni support too, but doesn't want the gig). If they go with a choice of the fans, everyone shares in the blame as a community when the guy fails. They go out on a limb, its squarely on their ass again, and they know they can't survive that. My response: Come on..... To make a decison because it is safe? Absolutely the wrong approach! Those in the "administration" are paid to LEAD and make strategic decisions for this university. Plus, I am not convinced it is anywhere near unanimous among alumni that they are insisting on an "Akron Man". I'm not. I want the best coach available. That might be Winters, but I think there might be better people available. I will be angry if I find UA did not make every effort to find the best person they can get. If a legitimate process leads to the hiring of Paul Winters, he will have my 100% support. Anything less, and they will have people waiting to say "I told you so" if Winters isn't successful. How would that even be a "safe" approach for the administration?

Another article about Winters. I have to admit, I like his "old-school" approach to developing his young players. http://www.detnews.com/article/20111212/OP...onal-title-game

SIAP Paul Winters and Wayne State getting some NY Times love......... http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/1...la-wayne-state/

Most newly hired head coaches seem to hire people they have worked with previously. Can any of you advodating for Paul Winters speculate on who he might hire, at least as OC and DC? Would he be bringing his current staff?

Amen. A no-brainer, Charlie. Reunite "the Irish team" in Kansas...and do it yesterday. Better snatch up your protoge` before he gets put to work in a non-recruiting role at UA's Wayne Co. branch. Those recruiting skills of his are off the charts, and he's the man you need. Charlie "getting the band back together". Most coaches hire people they've worked with before. That makes me wonder, who is Paul Winters likely to bring in as his OC and DC?

I agree with this assessment, and I've been one of the people calling for a thorough search. Not making a decision until UA can interview Winters does not, necessarily, mean they are just waiting to give him the job. If he is on our short list, we should wait - unless UA would be at risk of losing a highly desirable candidate by waiting. Therefore, it almost certaily means that TW/UA will not be pulling a rabbit out of the hat with a bigger name coaching surprise. Not that anyone expects that, but if they had somebody they thought was a "home run" they would not risk losing that person by waiting to interview Winters. Stoops seems like a guy UA might hire without interviewing Winters. That might be a sign that he is not really a candidate. I haven't seen anybody prove, or even suggest, they have solid sources for the info in their posts. We're all just anxious speculators guessing what might happen with the team we ALL truly care about.

Exactly. As much as I love MJ's résumé, if he doesn't want to be here, I don't want him here. We need an Akron guy. Is that Winters? Maybe. We don't need an Akron guy. No Akron guy has been a winner here. We need "THE GUY" to turn around the program. I don't care where he is from. "THE GUY" is an Akron guy. An Akron guy doesn't have to be an alum or anything. But someone with some ties to the Midwest and a desire to be here would help. The program isn't in good enough shape to be a stepping stone right now. He has to believe in the program/area, not just the opportunity. You don't need to believe in the area to be successful here, you just need to understand it. I completely agree that a UA coach does not need Akron connections. How does that help him make coaching decisions? Do people really think that a good coach wouldn't be smart enough to figure out the history or local recruiting? Why would a coach be any more committed to winning if he was from Akron? 1. Are successful CEO's from the cities where their companies are located? 2. How many succcessful college football (or basketball) coaches are from the cities where they coach successful teams? To make being from Akron a prerequisite is VERY LIMITING. Why, why, why would we want to limit our choices? IMO, that is a crazy approach that is not too much different than TW going with Ianello because he was part of the circle of people he had known previously. As stated above, it matters if someone wants to be here. If they are a qualified coach, want to be here at this time (not necessarily for ten years), and really want to win (even if motivated by selfish career ambitions), then they can accomplish the goal of a winning Akron football program. Heck, Paul Winters would never have gotten his job in Michigan if they had a "hometown guy" prerequisite.

So, you have the only valid opinion in these forums? You use a stupid post from one person as an argument to shut down the coaching search, and to select the guy you like best. A bit arrogant, don't you think? I happen to disagree with you. I would be angry if UA did not conduct a thorough search to find the best coach to lead this program.

Like to shuffle this just a bit. 1. unnamed candidate -- if he is who I think he is. Most of you will be very pleased. 2. Narduzzi -- excellent choice. 3. Johnson -- long shot, a really long shot 4. Winters -- now revealing why I place excellent coach Winters here. MODERATOR EDITED I'm Paul Winters eldest daughter and I'm a student at OSU. I had wanted to stay out of this whole rumor mill and process but I refuse to let anyone say something like this about my father. My parents separated while he was still at Akron. It's deplorable that you would attack his character like this. Maybe you don't like him, you might think he's the wrong person for the job. So be it. Slinging mud like this doesn't change who he is as a person or a coach. Also just to clear things up, he has always been in our lives and the distance did nothing to change that. (This will be my only post on the site) Monica, please don't take these forums personally. You know the man that your father is, regardless of the outcome of this coaching selection, or the comments of UA fans in these forums. Try not to take the comments of the fans to heart. The man you know as your father is the man that he is, regardless of his professional life or the opinions of fans or critics. I went to school at UA when he was at Akron, and he seemed like a classy guy to me. He certainly was a talented football player, and I enjoyed watching him play. Treasure your family life. Paul will always be your father regardless of where he is coaching. Value your relationship with him. I'm glad you love and respect him. Best regards to you and your family!

Thanks for that link. There are some positive points in there that could work in DI and are needed at UA, such as: Winters built a base by "building it the right way." He tore down a wall of doom by changing the mind-set of players, their friends and people in the administration. Wayne was viewed as a losing program. Winters did not want people around who felt that way. He convinced recruits that the school was a hidden gem and wanted players willing to redshirt and wait their turn. The one glaring negative in the story was this: Now he's a hot commodity and is rumored to be a finalist for the University of Akron job. Winters says he has no intention of leaving Wayne State for that job. Now you might expect any coach to say they aren't interested in leaving a school while they're in the middle of chasing a national championship. But you never really know what personal reasons someone might have for not wanting to take an opportunity that everyone else thinks they'd jump at. Anyway, the mystery should be solved within the next few weeks. Regarding the "no intention of leaving"....... It is a pretty benign comment, and, as you point out, is pretty much what you'd expect of someone in the midst of a championship run with his current team. Could also be that his agent has advised him to use those words to give him some leverage for negotiating salary during discussions with Akron.

This is why Proenza had better put together a hell of a Search Committee to find the coach. F the opinion fans on ZNO, make the right hire and lets get this thing turned around. Ummm..... no. This administration knows they have F'd the fans enough, and they are not going to make a hire such as Ianello again that may come out of a "process" but leaves everyone saying WTF and then places the blame squarely on them if and when he fails. If they all want to save their asses, they'll hire someone the fans and alumni are behind, which at this point can really only either be a big name or Paul Winters (Mike Johnson has alumni support too, but doesn't want the gig). If they go with a choice of the fans, everyone shares in the blame as a community when the guy fails. They go out on a limb, its squarely on their ass again, and they know they can't survive that. Come on..... To make a decison because it is safe? Absolutely the wrong approach! Those in the "administration" are paid to LEAD and make strategic decisions for this university. Plus, I am not convinced it is anywhere near unanimous among alumni that they are insisting on an "Akron Man". I'm not. I want the best coach available. That might be Winters, but I think there might be better people available. I will be angry if I find UA did not make every effort to find the best person they can get. If a legitimate process leads to the hiring of Paul Winters, he will have my 100% support. Anything less, and they will have people waiting to say "I told you so" if Winters isn't successful. How would that even be a "safe" approach for the administration?

+1

Yeah. We could be the only 30,000 enrollment school in D3. We could kick butt on those sissy liberal arts schools. Ha ha.

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.” It does,give more balance to what the actual perception of the Akron job is outside of Akron. It also reinforces the view that for a coach to take this job he will be looking at more than just the facility. He will be looking at who he has to work for(we have all been there),the quality of life in the area(he may have a wife and kids who will be uprooted),the weather(oops) as well as money. Kind of brings one back to earth. Many people here still refuse to be realistic. They think people trying to interject reality are "thinking small". Heck, why not hire Les Miles, Nick Saban or Mike Gundy? I exaggerate, but Akron is almost certainly not going to give a coach a $1,000,000/year contract either. Where would the money come from? If UA can double from what we paid Ianello, that would get us to $700,000. Even at that we would not be able to land a "big name". However, IF we went to $700,000 our coach would be making almost 50% more than what the next closest MAC coach makes. Would I be against UA paying a coach that much? Heck no. But I find it hard to imagine UA is going to set a new standard for pay in the MAC. Again, where is the money going to come from, and could Dr. Proenza take the heat from the greater Akron community if he did that. Not all of the taxpayers supporting the university are ardent Zip football fans. Many would be screaming for his head, unless it was funded from football operations, which it can't. If we really talked to Tressel about the coaching position, the impact he could have made for the entire university would have been truly unique. Nobody else brings anything close in terms of total impact. In that case, there may have been a couple of wealthy benefactors who said they would have been willing to put up some serious money for Tressel only. My point is that simple math suggests UA (or any other MAC school) simply cannot fund a large coaching salary from football operations. Too few tickets sold, no rich league television contract, and limited donor money. If I set my goal to get Gisele Bundchen to marry me, I'm not being realistic and I am going to be disappointed. But, guess what. I can still marry a hot, smart, and sincere non-celebrity and have a really great life. Akron is not going to move into the upper echelon of college football with this hire, but we can find a coach who can make us one of the top teams in the MAC. That's a necessary start, and we can then build from there. Is that small thinking, or being realistic? I think we got drunk on that Tressel talk last week. We need to think as if we were still trying to get the AD to fire Ianello. Who did we think we could get as a coach two weeks ago?

I would like to see Paul hired too but I am total agreement with Hiroad1. We need to do our homework. But given the situationa and our financial resources...I think Paul is our best option. But you really can't say that unless you go through the process. +1 Get the best guy we can for the money we have. Isn't that what every hire at every company is about??? Absolutely. But we have people on here saying we have to spend "whatever it takes" and the money issue is not our problem and has ruined sports because we focus on what something costs rather than demanding that we get the best talent (the “accounts” ruined it..as I recall). The UofA has not proved it can, or will, support any sport. We have successful sports in bball and soccer but students have not supported either to a great extent. Granted...soccer has good support but without a National Championship driving it...attendance was greatly reduced. Look at the last 4-5 games this year compared to last year. So...we should get a good coach that matches the situation that we have. The big East?? Show me first that we have any chance of getting a bid. It never ceases to amaze me how easy people spend other people’s money....or expect them to spend for their benefit. Agree. Talk of the Big East at this time is nonsense. I see more than a dozen teams across C-USA, WAC, Sunbelt, Mountain West, Independents, AND the MAC that instantly would be selected by a bigger/better conference before Akron. Of those remaining after that, Akron wouldn't necessarily be first choice either. Right now, this is all about becoming competitive in the MAC. If we accomplish that, then we have a chance to remain viable and find a home when future conference realignment causes the consolodation that will result in some D1-A schools being forced to drop to D1-AA as not being viable or able to make the necessary financial commitments to stay with the big boys. So, this current search has to be realistic about budget managed against the BEST coach we can get to make us compettive in the MAC. That will move us up in the pecking order for future conference realignment. If that works out, we should achieve larger crowds, get better recruits, have more national exposure, and THEN be able to ask the alumni and donor base to dig deep go after a bigger name coach and move to the next level.

I will be very disappointed if they hire Paul Winters without bringing in at least two other viable, desirable candidates for interviews (Tressel was never "viable"). I'm not against Paul, but to not conduct a real search will make this hire comparable to TW making a singular decision last time. That would be bad for the university as a missed opportunity, but it would actually be bad for Paul Winters too. If he failed to show dramitic improvement in two years, there will then be many unhappy fans saying "See, I told you so." Paul doesn't need that kind of pressure, and the university and fans deserve a thorough search before an offer is made.

He was paid $2,200,000 per year at A&M. If we doubled what we paid our last coach we could offer him one-third as much money as he was making there. (and he would still be making 50% more than the next closest MAC coach) How could he refuse? Ha ha.

Paul Winters clearly has recruited well for his D2 school. That probably means he can recruit well for a MAC school. However.... 1) I think the idea that he has "contacts" with the recruits likely to go to the MAC is overstating it. A kid set on deciding between Purdue, Indiana, Western Michigan, Toledo, or Can't is not likely to have establsihed a serious relationship with a D2 school. 2) Touting Paul's Akron ties for recruiting is valid for NE Ohio. But Akron (any D1) has to recruit outside of this state to be competitive. Recruiting in NE Ohio not going to get us where we need to be. Like I said, Paul can probably recruit in the MAC. I'm just feeling like you guys are blowing smoke at me by trying to convince me his D2 situation is the recruiting equivalent of an FBS D1 school, or that his ties to the area will result a recruiting windfall. No matter how you slice it, if I am honest with myself and lay out the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate as an Strong, Undecided or Weak, I can't comfortably give him a solid Strong regarding the recruiting in the MAC. Given his success in D2, I'd probably say Undecided but leaning toward Strong. Frankly, given a likely list of finalists, I'm not sure we'll find anyone who is a slam dunk on recruiting. For instance, Gill has a D1 head coaching track record, but can he get kids from Georgia, New York, Illinois, etc. to come to Akron? Who knows?

I think it is a stretch, or at least an overly broad genegralization to to say any D2 school is recruiting the same players as a D1 conference, even the MAC. That would be like saying Akron recruits the same players as the Big 10. Well, maybe Akron coaches look at all of them and gather stats and rank them. Maybe they even send them letters or attempt to contact them. But our coaches don't sit in the living rooms of, or secure campus visits from very many kids that are considering the Big 10. Those that do give Akron a serious look are usually marginal for the Big 10. That does not equate to Akron being in the same league as the Big 10 when it comes to recruting Big 10-level prospects. I am not saying Winters can't recruit in the MAC if he comes here. It is only speculative to say he can or can't. But to say he is already doing it at a D2 school seems like too much of an exaggeration.

If a mid level Sun Belt team can get a guy like that, with Ohio roots, he should have been on our radar too. Yet, some folks on here are hanging their hopes on a D-II coach with barely a .500 record? Come on folks. Talk about lowering the bar. But I know, it really wasn't that bad if you eliminate the years where he had a bad record I have to get this off my chest. I'm finding it frustrating that people discussing Paul Winters are saying "Oh, he is an Akron man." Or "Oh, he will never want to leave and he'll stay here forever" So what to both! If he is a great coaching talent who can get this program winning quickly, then that is all that matters to me. We should evaluate Paul against ALL other qualified candidates on only those two issues. Then get the BEST guy for Akron.

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 Ianello had never even been a coordinator, right? Wasn't his highest coaching experience with DB's or something? They guy had no experience making game day calls on either offense or defense, and it showed.

If we could get another Solich-like coach I would be really excited. Though we might have a lot of fans with some reservations on the day of the announcment. Who? Why? I could also get behind Paul Winters if the process proves he's the best avaialbe guy. I'm not trying to be a downer on enthusiasm. It just seems we need to accept the realities of being a lower rung MAC school right now. Our odds of landing a big name coach that most would be excited about are pretty low. Finding the upcoming hot shot I fantisize about is a risk too, but I don't want settle for good enough. I desperately want to see Akron in the FB limelight.

Guess you missed the speculation that this was part of a grander plan to bring in a big-name coach at a bigger-than-MAC salary to elevate the program in preparation for a move to a bigger-name conference. Personally, I'd rather be associated with big thinkers who fail while shooting for the big time than small thinkers who succeed in perpetuating themselves in the small time. Is UA willing to spend the money? Does anybody really know, or are we just wishing it to be so? It could be disappointing if the fans have champagne taste but the athletic department has a beer budget. We may have to settle for beer, but hope the selection committee finds a really good beer for our money. That might be from a little known micro-brewery, and not a big name from Anheuser. But it might be a really great beer. They are out there.

Sure, we should pay as much as we are able - measured against the return we get. This jumps out at me though. 70 of the 120 of the FBS division school already pay over $1,000,000, and nobody in the MAC pays even $500,000. There has to be a reason. The ROI just doesn't seem to be there for MAC schools. With stadiums of 30,000 (and even smaller actual crowds), limited television revenue, low donor revenue, it must tough to justify a $1,000,000 coach for a MAC school. They are public universities and the financial info is probably available if we wanted to really get into it, but the high level view seems to suggest that MAC schools can't generate enough money from their football operations to pay million dollar salaries. Hey, I'm a big advocate of capitalism and free agency. If we could afford it and if it would make us successful, I'd be all for shelling out some serious money for a serious coach. How did Boise get to the point where they generated enough revenue to do what they have done? They seem to be a rare case though. These are reasons I've said I don't care if we get hot young caoch willing to make $400,000 here until the can earn their million dollar salary elsewhere. I'd rather have a hot coach for a few years than have a decent coach for ten if we can only pay $400,000.