clarkwgriswold

...and yet you came back to share your misery. You just can't quite let go...

He has been a pleasant surprise. Aggressive with the ball in his hands. I hadn't even thought of him as a rotational player coming into the season.

After a break for exams, the Zips face the Thundering Herd at the JAR on December 15th. The fast paced and entertaining Herd are led by All Conference USA 6-3 senior guard Jon Elmore who scores 21.4 ppg, leads the team in assists and is second in rebounding. It seems like he's been on that team for 10 years. They are coached by Mike D'Antoni's brother, Dan D'Antonio and play a very fast paced offense averaging 87 ppg. They are 5-3, having lost to Maryland, OU and Duquesne.

Good point Kreed. I think Banks and Jackson are decent from 3 but no one else is better than average. Cheese had a little streak going there, but his shot is wildly inconsistent.

Frustrating night. One that should have been in the win column. This team appears to be a streaky one with periods it can't get a bucket and they got bogged down and periods where they move the ball and score in bunches. Hopefully, that will even out a little.

One positive from that article is that Arth fired someone with the last name of Harbaugh.

I'm everywhere....

Tom Arth on the UA campus today. Hmmmmm.

Given who's occupied that position, it would be a shame if he hadn't.

I suspect that a lot of the rumor mill of what coaches are front runners for certain jobs is driven in large part by agents for the "hot" candidates.

Akron born and raised. Played at St. V in the early/mid 70's then was on successful UA teams in the late 70's. As I recall, he was on the UA staff twice and was at also at Wisconsin at some point. He has been Head Coach at Wayne State for 10 or 15 years. I think he's a great guy and a good coach, but he has to be 60 at this point. Edit: I just read his Wikipedia and it says he declined the UA job in 2011. I don't recall anything other than his name being mentioned then.

Right next to the one Bill Cowher is buying.

I think we're waaaaaay behind in making the obligatory reference to Wayne State's Paul Winters as a candidate. He's been mentioned in every other Zips football coaching search for the last 20 years. I'd hate to see him left out now. LOL.

Polian was 23-27 at Nevada. That's downright....well....Terry Bowden-like.

There were some real "personalities" on that team. I think the highlight of the Mastodons recent history (other than playing in the JAR Of course) was their win over Indiana 3 or 4 years ago when Indiana was in the top 5.

GT Article with potential candidates- https://www.ohio.com/sports/20181203/university-of-akron-football-head-coaching-job-could-be-desirable-landing-spot-for-some Candidates referenced in article- • Luke Getsy: Offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach at Mississippi State. • Ryan Held: Running backs coach at Nebraska. • Mike Jacobs: Head coach at Notre Dame College. • Michael Johnson: Wide receivers coach at Oregon. • Vince Kehres. Head coach at Mount Union. • Brian Polian. Recruiting/special teams coordinator at Notre Dame. • Ed Warinner. Offensive line coach at Michigan. I think we can now eliminate these as strong possibilities. LOL.

The Mastodons gave us quite a game last year. It was a game that gave us a little bit of an inflated view of our young Zips.

Regardless of what you believe the talent level to be in NEO, I am pretty confident it is superior to upstate New York, SE Ohio, NW Ohio, eastern Michigan, western Michigan, northern Illinois, or central Indiana.

Infocision may be a financial albatross but it's also the primary draw (with the other facilities) right now. Can you imagine the hole the Zips would be in with the coaching search without it? I don't expect every kid to want to stay home. For some, getting away is part of the college experience. That being said, local kids can't be ignored like some of those on Kreed's list were, only to strengthen other MAC programs.

If the top talent is here, the next level MAC type talent is here. With that talent and the facilities, becoming bowl eligible shouldn't be the highlight of a UA season.

I get that, and I guess it is a worthwhile service in today's day and age. My hope would be that a university with an athletic staff, law enforcement agency and staff attorneys could do some or much of this. Here's an interesting article on search firms- https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-coach-search-firms-are-they-worth-the-money/

I realize I'm increasingly an "old fashioned guy", but I am not a fan of the whole search firm trend. Old Larry is making in the area of $300K, has a staff, and many qualified folks would volunteer to help. He should also be pretty well connected.

They were here last year for an early season entertaining game where the Zips pulled out a close one, so I assume it is.

The Zips head into Fort Wayne Wednesday night to face the 5-5 Mastodons. The Mastodons squeaked by a pretty awful Cleveland State team last week by only 3 points. They average 83.2 ppg and give up 78.1. 6-5 senior guard John Konchar leads the Mastodons at 16.4 ppg. According to Wikipedia- The Mastodons are led by fifth-year head coach Jon Coffman and split their home games at the Gates Sports Center and the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum as members of the Summit League. The season marks the first for the school representing the new Purdue University Fort Wayne. The team previously represented the now defunct Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne. On July 1, 2018, IPFW split into two separate institutions,[1]with IU taking responsibility for IPFW's degree programs in health sciences and Purdue retaining all other academic programs. The Mastodons now represent Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Top notch facilities in the number 5 state for top notch high school talent. That should be enough to attract some very worthwhile candidates. It's the very same reason that being average in the MAC shouldn't be the Zips high point.