Lee Adams
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Posts posted by Lee Adams
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Think a lot of folks who take personal affronts to other posters here are trying to convince themselves that things may not change materially with athletics. You may post 'ad hominem' attacks to make yourselves feel better,that has been going on here for years by those who won't wrap their heads around change. Those are the folks who talk around the opinions they don't like. Most of us hope that the University can come up with a solution that doesn't decimate Akron athletics. Raise your hand now if you know the definitive answer and please name your sources.
Me..I am hoping to watch Akron play NMSTU in Las Cruces and attend the Hatch Chile Festival. Look us up if you make it.
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On 5/1/2020 at 8:26 AM, kreed5120 said:
For the most part the people who I've seen posting that they wanted the football program to drop to a lower level are the ones who are very anti-football. The football fans for the most part are the ones who want to stay in the MAC. Akron wasn't competing for national championships before they joined FBS. Why would they start competing for them now if they dropped down? In fact, they never even won a I-AA playoff game. Personally, I don't see what's wrong with playing 2 buy games per year. If Akron can't go 6-4 in the remaining 10 games while playing in what is by far the worst division in all of FBS, they don't deserve to make the postseason.
Slightly off topic, I'm not sure MAC soccer will survive this. Akron may prioritize its soccer program, but it's not nearly the same priority at the other schools. We may need to look for a new home for the soccer program regardless if we want to or not.
Respectfully disagree with your comment about about those who talk about football 'dropping down' are 'anti-football'. Speaking for myself I will hazard a guess that I have been attending Akron football games longer than some posting here have been alive. As for purchasing season tickets for decades...nuff said. Many of the comments I have seen here come from people who want to adjust the focus of University spending. Support the educational process and students who participate in that process first. Athletics can support the University and be supported at a level that does not detract from the primary objective of any university,preparing students to contribute in society by applying what they have gained through a college education. That can be the polymer scientist,the teacher,the lawyer or the cornerback on the football team.
Guess we will find out soon.
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On 4/22/2020 at 1:19 PM, Zipmeister said:
If the big schools cut out what would normally be 'money' games for programs like Akron it will decrease the payouts to those smaller schools to zero.
With the FBS playoff system what it is and what it may become,the BIG schools may be better off not scheduling cupcakes like Akron,KSUU, etc. Level of competition is becoming more of a factor as to which teams get into the FBS playoffs than actual 'wins'. You could still lose to an FBS team and get into the mix if you took care of business otherwise. Thats the way it should be. Its evolving. A win against an Akron early may not be as meaningful as a close loss to a Texas,Oklahoma,USC etc. Play real competition if you are OSU. Play in your lane if you are Akron.
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The emporer has no clothes.
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7 hours ago, NWAkron said:
Never heard from a few of these guys when the basketball team was winning big this year. Consider the source.
Many of those 'people' U said U never heard from have been posting here for years. By the way basketball is another thread.
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18 hours ago, DannyHoke said:
Some thoughts from above....
The goal every year should be to win the MAC... Ya think? Do you feel this is not the goal now. Gimme a break.
Just playing a few buy games every year is not going to solve this riddle sportsfans. Akron is cutting 20% of the athletics budget on top of an earlier announced cut, which may or may not be, wholly or in part of this 20%. Even then, Akron is in for change.
This is not solely based on COVID 19... It's the fact that Akron Athletics is irrelevant to the current students, and the alumni do not support the athletics program through attendance or donations at a level commensurate with the current spending.
Akron wants to be D1, and if you think that being able to play a buy game and get destroyed by Clemson this fall is going to help increase the value of our Akron diploma, you are high. Getting beat by 50+ points makes you a joke. Clemson is paying you to come get beat. It's called a GUARANTEE GAME because 99% of the time these are WINS. Smart people do not base their business plans on the hope of the 1% occurrence.
Ohio has too many schools in the higher ed system and would be best served by unloading 1/2 of the schools into the private sector. Akron, Kent, Cleveland State and Youngstown State, all in one geographical quadrant of NE OHIO is overkill. Fewer people are going to 4-year colleges and Cuyahoga Community College is $70 per credit hour and has as good, if not better job placement than Akron. That's a fact. Akron's campus has exploded with a lot of unneeded stuff that jacks costs up and thus the enrollment is down. Non athletes are not coming to Akron because of some pole vaulter on the track team was in the olympics or because a decade ago we won a NCAA title in men's soccer.
The only people that care about Zips athletics are those of us who played, and even then, along with the die hard fans, there are not 2,000 season ticket holders for football and we do not average more than 3,000 fans per game for men's basketball. (2703 announced).
Akron would be best served by selling/trading off Infocision Stadium to the City of Akron, allowing that venue to be operated by the City, and getting the debt off the books. Pay rent to play football games in the stadium and be done with the overhead.
Move to D2 and call it a day. No way that this program is worth what is put into it and taking away from the educational mission of the institution.
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.
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On 4/26/2020 at 6:19 PM, Zipmeister said:
In 1974 men's soccer was in D1, all other sports were in D2.
Too bad soccer doesn't draw 25,000.
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6 hours ago, NWAkron said:
Considering this is an athletic message board, I'm stunned that some on here are ok with dropping to D2, leaving the MAC, and crushing the athletic program all because of their distaste for Williams, Arth, the stadium or whatever else. No other program can bring in $4mill by playing 3 road games like the football program can. There will be big changes but I'm with the Captain. Flushing our basketball and soccer teams down the toilet by downgrading would be a huge mistake by Miller and the board. All the MAC schools are in same situation. Hopefully, they are all working together on a solution instead of a suicide pact. If Akron has too many sports, the cut them and work on that waiver from the NCAA.
Who said it was a 'distaste for the AD or present coach.?
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4 hours ago, zippy5 said:
I'll ask again - what cost savings do we see by dropping to 1-AA?
What about DII?
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7 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:
I think we all need to realize that we're not exactly a strong cross section of the University of Akron consumer here. We are strong and informed fans of the athletic program. That's what brings us here. The average UA consumer is aware of athletics at the school but little else. They could care less whether the teams competed in the Big10 or CYO and wouldn't lose a second of sleep over any cuts.
For me, as long as the teams are competitive and the games are entertaining and not unduly expensive, I will show up and support the teams of my alma mater, whether they're playing Concord or Louisville. I'd also venture a guess that the average UA consumer (not us) could not distinguish between a game between two good high school teams and two MAC teams.
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!
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3 hours ago, zippy5 said:
I'll ask again - what cost savings do we see by dropping to 1-AA?
What about DII?
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5 hours ago, kreed5120 said:
There are 350+ D1 schools. There are much smaller schools with much smaller enrollments and endowments than MAC schools in D1. If MAC schools are saying they can't keep up with the NCAA D1 requirements, conferences like the MEAC, Southland, Northeastern etc. are probably even facing worse problems. The NCAA isn't going to let 100 or so schools drop from D1. I expect to see system wide changes.
Based on what definitive knowledge? And those changes are...?
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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.
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19 minutes ago, Spin said:
Competition has hurt too. Having a community college “right next door” (and in Barberton) has done a number on enrollment. Both for the two year programs, and for four year students looking at a more cost conscious first two years (I went to Wayne and Medina to save money).
These students who go to Stark don’t feel a bond with Akron like Wayne/Medina/Polsky students. KSU and CSU are just as much in their decision making as Akron.
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.
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25 minutes ago, DannyHoke said:
I push no narrative, I give you facts.
The University of Akron paid for its $34.9 million sports program last year in large part with a $24.3 million university contribution from non-athletic sources, the school reported in its financial filing with the NCAA for the 2017-2018 school year.
The subsidy was reported as “direct institutional support.” This includes, according to NCAA reporting requirements, any support the school provided to the athletic department from state money, tuition, tuition discounts, federal work study programs and more.
The subsidy amounted to 70 percent of Akron’s sports budget.
Based on Akron’s total enrollment, the $24.3 million subsidy amounted to $1,359 per student. Ohio State is the only public university in Ohio that operates its athletic program without a subsidy from non-athletic sources.
No matter how you spin this Akron Athletics is losing money, has been losing money since the move to Division I, and without this ATHLETICS TAX on the students there would not be enough money to fund the program at the current levels. If you cannot see this, you are blind and cannot add and subtract. Low ticket sales and low donations = low interest. Truth hurts.
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.
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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.
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On 4/23/2020 at 7:02 PM, clarkwgriswold said:
"We will have a much leaner and smaller athletic program."
"I have directed the athletic director to provide a plan for a 20% reduction in athletic expenditures for FY 21. There is considerable uncertainty about the future of mid-major division 1 athletics. Additional reorganization and reduction may be necessary in the future as we learn more about the future of athletics."
Translation- Ouch, this is going to hurt. Much pain ahead.
In today's climate, the athletic department needs to become much more focused. Focus on proven success and substantially cut or eliminate programs whose costs outweigh their benefit to the University. This focus is something that should have been pursued years ago rather than a scattershot approach to being all things to all people. Unfortunately, a crisis had to bring us here. Some difficult value judgments are in the very near future.
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.
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2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:
Those big schools actually fill their stadium though. An Alabama or Michigan likely generates more ticket revenue from 1 home football game than a school like Akron generates in ticket ticket revenue for all sports combined. It would certainly be a big blow to them.
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?
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6 hours ago, Spin said:
The NFL is looking at games without fans. MLB is looking at a miniseason played at spring training facilities with no fans. Even the NBA has tossed it around.
But everything I’ve heard Is college football can’t afford to play without ticket revenue. The other sports can survive on their network deals.
According to that Akron is screwed both ways...
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.
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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.
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Go out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and run up and own the sled riding hills at Pine Hollow.!
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Coming back to NE Ohio. Hopefully the hamstring is healthy because he is not only a difference maker he is a warrior!
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On 12/20/2019 at 7:49 AM, kreed5120 said:
Akron always has at least 1 game they have no chance of winning of the schedule. New Mexico State and UMass are FBS bottom feeders and YSU is an FCS school. If we were just mediocre MAC, we'd have no trouble going 3-1 with that schedule.
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.
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11 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:
I hope our entire staff watched Kent tonight. They looked really damn good and rose to the occasion and were completely fearless. Those boys are nasty. Do everything you can to get to that level, I can't stomach Kent looking this much better than Akron. I hate 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!
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Back when cutting sports seemed like the abyss...
in Akron Zips Football
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Appears Miller is at least hinting at another 'shoe is going to drop'. I would suggest going back and looking at some of his previous statements. He is telling the department heads on the academic and athletic side to come up with additional cost saving measures. If those are adequate in his mind OK. If not there will be further austerity measures. They 'reorganized' the academic side. Then Miller made the statement that the heads of the 'new' colleges would be responsible for coming up with more cost cutting suggestions. This isn't over on either side yet.