Lee Adams

The emporer has no clothes.

Many of those 'people' U said U never heard from have been posting here for years. By the way basketball is another thread.

A number of posters on this site keep talking about the 'sacrifice games, the 'payday' games, 'guarantee' games as if they have been or will be the life preserver for football here. Akron and schools like Akron have been playing those games for years. Even all that money has never gotten football out of the deep hole its in. We are here because DI sports at Akron and schools like Akron have historically not attracted sufficient interest or money to stay afloat without huge inputs of 'institutional support'. Ah, thats fees from people who have little to no interest in athletics. DannyHoke unfortunately is correct in that regard. As far as Infocision,the elephant in the room, who wants it other than the University? Don't know. Again, this situation has not occurred just because of COVID 19. COVID 19 simply further exposed the flaws that have existed for years. Even if the University administration decides Akron must go elsewhere to have a viable athletic program I will purchase my football season tickets as I have done for decades. If the decision is made to conduct business as usual, I'm not so sure.

Too bad soccer doesn't draw 25,000.

Who said it was a 'distaste for the AD or present coach.?

What about DII?

There is at least part of the problem.Football has not GENERALLY been competitive. A number of folks on this site seem to think there is a 'silent majority' of Akron football fans out here in the community. Never has happened, not likely it ever will. So lets please stop imagining that there is going to be a groundswell of general public support that frankly has never been there for as long as I have been attending games. That goes back to the 1960's. Most folks here were not a gleem...you know the rest. Focus on what the University does best academically....please!

What about DII?

Based on what definitive knowledge? And those changes are...?

A number of people who post here have been talking for quite some time about the possibility or even the advisability of Akron and similar schools moving 'down' to other compete in other other athletic divisions. That part of the discussion is not new not even recent. Its been out there for a while. When Akron made the transition to DI in football and basketball I was frankly excited. I however had watched Akron compete VERY successfully in football and basketball at what would now be the DII level. Playoffs,winning seasons and being very competitive was 'normal'. One of the 3 most exciting Akron football games I ever saw was the overtime playoff game at the Rubber Bowl(I miss U) in I believe 1976. Didn't care if it was College Division,DII or D15. Even though the initial excitement of competing at DI was fine,it has unfortunately become obvious that a number of schools like Akron can not consistently compete at this level either on the field or financially. The best predictor of future behavior is usually past behavior. If and when football resumes try watching some Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference games on the cable. There are some fantastic rivalries there. IUP, Slippery Rock, Clarion etc.,etc. That happens week after week. And for the most part those schools are in proximity to each other. By the way way back when Akron used to play some of those teams. We could continue talking about what a nice facility Infocision is. We could also mention that it has become something of an albatross under the circumstances. Athletics at Akron has to shift gears. Can't continue to bleed money. Akron also has some world class academic programs. Scarce financial resources should go there first.Emphasize what you do best. Those programs attract more finances from out side the University. Athletics should remain,but not in the same form we have seen them for the last 30 or so years.

All schools at this level are hurting. You are correct about the kids now attending at the Stark State,Cuyahoga Commuity College levels. Shoot kids are taking college credit courses in high school. ITS CHEAPER. More going there fewer going to Akron,KSUUU etc. etc. No fees to support other activities.

Actually I love this discussion from all points of view. Admittedly when I attended U Of A, 1974 grad.I didn't think too much about 'student fees' supporting athletics. I went to football and B.ball games,showed my ID and got in 'free'. NOT REALLY. Even back then I and all other students were 'paying for' supporting athletic programs. Akron was competing at the College Division level back then I believe. Anyway,whatever it was called the football and basketball teams were quite successful. Over the years the University has decided to 'move up' in competition. With that has come more costs,more expenses. I wonder how much the REAL in flow of revenue generated only by the Athletic Dept.has increased over the years(in inflation adjusted dollars)? One problem is that the cost of education now seems to require a larger percentage of one's income than it did way back then. When fees that are paid by students go to significantly supporting sports that are nowhere near being self supporting some very difficult choices have to be made. Is attracting more students and educating them the highest priority. Or does the University continue to divert resources from the education component toward other endeavors? Eventually one has to be concerned that Akron and schools like Akron might price themselves out of the student market. We are seeing consistently declining student enrollment numbers which means fewer dollars from those 'fees' which help support athletics. The article sighted above from cleveland.com is enlightening. I saw numbers similar to those before. I would be very sad to see major changes in football,basketball,soccer etc.But as I said earlier,the current health crisis may have simply accelerated a process that was already in place.

I fear with what I just read coming from President Miller,recruiting at UofA will come to a screeching halt until all the details shake out.

A 20% reduction in The Athletic Dept. budget is going to come from where? The Department is already nowhere close to be 'self supporting', never has been. 20% is a big chunk of change particularly when there is an over reliance on student fees to stay in business. Obviously a lot of that support will go away because it appears a lot of student fee revenue will go away. To me the most telling part of the statement was when Miller said 'there is considerable uncertainty about the future of mid-major Division I athletics'. That shows his attitude toward what all athletics will look like at UofA in the future. I fear that this health crisis simply accelerated what may have occurred further on down the road.

No doubt even the big schools lose ticket revenue. But my guess is that the money from TV, merchandise, big donor money will allow the Alabamas, OSU's etc. etc. will be just fine in the end. People will still watch OSU/Michigan, Alabama/LSU etc. And TV networks will still pay for those games. The Akron's of the world who get little from tickets or merchandise or big donors will suffer much more because their TV money isn't close to what the big schools attract. And, fan interest which is minimal to begin with may decline even more if if fewer or no games are played. Also, if the big schools cut out what would normally be 'money' games for programs like Akron,I wonder how that would affect payouts to those smaller schools?

The 'big' schools can play w/o fans because they have overwhelming TV revenue. I am sure OSU,Texas,Alabama etc. can live off of TV. Schools at the MAC level can not. We already know that all sports at Akron survive only because of student fees on top of income from the sport itself. TV still doesn't get them anywhere close to break even. I am afraid that a lot of student non-athletes may decide to forego college for a while. No students,no fees, no support for athletics. The next couple of years will be critical.

Well with those enlightening words, I who have not chimed in for months got bored so here I am. I am bummed. I fear there may not be any season as we know it. It will be very tough for the schools of the world like Akron to make any progress for a couple of reasons. A number of assistant coaches went elsewhere I understand.Much of the new staff will be unknown to the players and vice versa. When you are trying to rebuild from an 0-12 you need reps,reps and more reps. No practice, no reps. If there is a season in any form the experienced teams will have an advantage. And, I was actually planning on going to the New Mexico State game in Las Cruces! Have a relative in the area and my wife and I were going to visit and go to the game. And, thats not to mention going to the widely famous New Mexico Hatch Chile Festival. Oh well, hope this doesn't more adversely affect the program in the future. I was hoping maybe 3 wins in this schedule.

Go out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and run up and own the sled riding hills at Pine Hollow.!

Coming back to NE Ohio. Hopefully the hamstring is healthy because he is not only a difference maker he is a warrior!

Don't count on beating either YSU or NMSU. YSU will be sky high and the Zips won't know what they have in that first game. Making the trip to Las Cruces will be difficult.Actually may go. Have relatives out that way. They recruit from a better talent pool than the Zips. They get some Texas kids the big schools don't want. IF they could 'upset' YSU(ha ha) and beat Umass at home lets take it.

Yep! I hope Arth was watching the KSUU QB. You can not have a QB who is not MOBILE no matter how big the arm. Not sure if that guy is on the roster right now. If not another long season in 2020. I hope Arth was watching the KSUU O-line. Yep,those guys were TOUGH!. They could pass block and run block. I hope Arth was watching the KSUU RB. Big! Could run straight ahead behind a big line. Their receivers were actually getting open AND catching the ball. Their QB looked ACCURATE. We have not seen any of this around here in 2-3 years. The KSUU defense kind of got exposed. But, that team has a toughness that Akron has lacked. A culture in a program doesn't happen 'overnight'. When KSUU does what they did this season,it should hit home hard in Akron!

Gotta have a big back who can run behind a competent O-line. I am still old enough to believe that a team in the MAC still needs a running game capable of getting 100 yards week in and week out. Used to drive me crazy how much they ran the ball in the 70's under Dennison. BUT,while I know this is not the '70's teams still have to be able to have a credible run threat no matter the QB. Makes life much easier for any O-line. Don't know if they have a RB on this roster but they need to get one.

Ya. Chain link fence,all the electrical poles,the little shed in the right hand corner. Like someone said looks more like pre-fab stuff. Anyway,interesting stuff.

Oh, the'ad hominem' attacks start again. I normally do not adress the posters on this site directly. I'ts a waste of time. And since somebody was DETA,I am 68 years old. What the hell is with the 'Ashland friend' stupid comment'? I have no connection to Ashland, Ohio or that college. Please enlighten all of us, since some of you are back to the personal attacks again. If you can tell me my connection to Ashland,Ohio I might want to visit some long lost relatives or friends. I await.

Don't know how old this Z. Bush is but he looks like my grandson might look in 17 years. My grandson is 9 months old. Sorry Sack, u have NO cred with the REAL fans.