Lee Adams

You bet!

You are right. Thanks for the catch.The site I looked at started with Faust. Dennison coached when Akron was in the Mid Continent!!? 1978-1979-They went 12-10 under Dennison. From 1980-1985 they were in the OVC. During those 6 seasons Dennison went-3-7-1;5-5;6-5;8-3;4-7;8-4. They went to the tournament in 1985. Dennison was fired after the 1985 season. Imagine that!

I went back on a website not affiliated with Akron to get the historical win totals of the last 3 Akro HC's. They would be Bowden,Brookhart and Owens. Since Brookhart was here 6 seasons I took the final 6 season win totals for each coach Bowden-34(I left out Bowden's 1-11 record his first season. If I had started counting 6 seasons there he had I believe 31 wins); Brookhart-30 and Owens -32. Obviously Owens was the longest tenured of the 3. Shoot, Owens got fired after going 7-5 I believe. But,point is throw a blanket over those numbers! None of these coaches have put up significantly more wins than the others. Somebody mentioned this elsewhere,the program 'is what it is' now and what it has been for years. There have been all sorts of on and off the field factors for that. By the way,I didn't go back to check Jim Dennison's record when Akron was D2. But I would guess in 6 seasons it was better than these numbers. Always thought he should have gotten a shot to take the program at least to 1-AA but alas we will never know what might have been.

Isn't Zagorski the OC also? Was he calling plays too? Would like to know because there were a couple of critical situations where the calls seemed puzzling. But,some of that is due to the poor O-line play and apparent lack of a 'big' back who can grind out a couple of yards when needed. Oh where is Grice when you need him?

I guess we will find out in a couple of years won't we?

Maybe we should have brought back J.D. Brookhart. He was the only coach who won a MAC champeenship!? What say yee? I was at the game. After the first Akron drive I saw a CUSA team that had far better athletes pretty much across the board. UAB gets the kids that don't go to Alabama,Florida,Auburn etc. MAC schools for the most part don't get anywhere near that level of athlete across the board. Also,please remember that the vast majority of players on this team were recruited by the Bowden regime. So those guys couldn't compete with the UAB guys. Those guys were a 4-8 team last year. That said I saw some poor play and questionable decisions from the coaches today. It mystifies me how Akron could be playing a "Tampa Two' D and have UAB receivers running behind the safeties for 4 TD's. It mystified me when on 4th and 1 in UAB territory the play call was a run sweep with the smallest player on the field when the play hadn't worked before. What doesn't mystify me is that Akron still has no run game because they haven't had one to speak of for several years. It doesn't mystify me that Kato Nelson is still inconsistent to the point of frustration at times. By the way UAB played a lot of back ups in the second half. Bowden had how many yrears to produce one bowl win and one division win and a sub .500 record? Arth and his crew get some time to see if they can build on what was already here. I think some fans have the mistaken idea that this program is going to be much more at the D1 level than it has been historically. I would just ask them to look back at what this program has been since it went full D1. An'd start thinking about the alternatives.

Some of the media were speculating that because of all the different personnel Arth was playing he was kinda treating it like an NFL pre-season game. Who the hell knows. Maybe he has the same attitude as some of the rest that the 'sacrifice' games are only good for making money and not a whole lot else for MAC teams. Only have to look back to last season. Anyway, Nelson better improve quickly or the new regime will have him holding a clipboard in a few weeks. Arth and staff will try to develop its own players with an eye to the next couple of seasons. They will take advantage of the '4 game redshirt rule'.

Interesting. Not sure if that would have made a difference today unfortunately. Time to give the back-up QB some PT?

Guess we will see next Saturday.

This AM posted on the Three for Thursday thread that Akron had to do at least 3 if not 4 things or Illinois would win comfortably. Had to slow down the run;avoid turnovers and have Kato Nelson hit on at least 60% of his passes. First half was a whiff. Lets see if these guys can adjust and at least be competitive.

Not too many 'patsies' on the sched this year. UMass might be the only one in that category. UAB and Troy will be VERY difficult.

No I am not a 'troll'. Sorry I can't respond to the poll. But, think Illinois will win comfortably. Probably 10+ points. They do have a good run game. Even if their QB is questionable,they can still try to keep Akron's D on the field and wear them down. They still have Big 10 size. Akron stays in the game if Arth has been able to develop some sort of a run game and Kato can complete 60%+ of his passes. Can''t turn the ball over to a mediocre team. Have to make their O work. One advantage Akron might have is that apparently Lovie Smith still runs a lot of his 2-deep coverage in a zone. Arth has certainly seen that in his time in the NFL. Maybe some passes to TE's and RB's could get the O going. Will be interesting to see what difference there will be this season.

I realize that this topic was originally about Bowden's next job or whatever. It was not originally about the University considering options to its current sports affiliations. But, with Bowden still apparently being paid by the University and the Interim Prez here talking about having to make cuts while trying to increase revenues from athletics,any significant amounts of money being paid to anyone who is not providing direct services to the University is significant. This is not about Bowden personally. The Interim Prez did not specifically mention changing affiliations,true. But,when he says we need to make cuts while increasing athletic revenues very significantly,one wonders specifically,where the increased revenues will come from when it has been an issue for years. And,where to the cuts come from. The University is trying to reduce the amount of 'student fees'which go to directly supporting athletics. The burden is being placed on academics. I would posit that the majority of students at the University have limited or know interest in varsity sports. We see that from attendance among other things. So how does the University support athletics at current levels?

According to reports, Akron may be contemplating ways to reduce the athletic department budget. Apparently want to finally stop milking student fees to pay for non-profitable sports programs. HERE,HERE if that is true! Problem is there will not be any significant bump in ticket sales revenue. That horse left the barn years and years ago. What do they do? Maybe its what some of us have been suggesting for years. Drop to I-AA or D-II if you want to keep varsity sports. But,No more MAC: all of your current coaches will leave. Read carefully what IP Green said. See how you interpret. As an aside,Bowden is insignificant here now. He is a milker who doesn't need this money at this point. Please move on Mr. Bowden.

Some things stood out in the 2 hours I was there. Arth has a hell of a lot of energy! Is in the middle of everything and not just standing around watching. The players or at least most of them pick up on that energy. I love to see a coach especially under the circumstances here who is doing that. The practice is fast paced. Not a bunch of guys standing around watching a lot of 11/11 scrimmage. Arth is going to weed out the guys who don't want to do the conditioning now not later. Obviously they are still working on basics and the coaches want to get reps in on basics now. Noticed there are a lot of O-linemen on the current roster. Significant number are redshirt Frosh and Sophs. There will be more in August. Like that. O-line will make everybody better in the long run. The WR's looked 'fast'. DB's were doing a lot of grabbing in drills and scrimmage. Nelson looks a little thicker arm looks strong. Want to see if Arth can coach him up to make better and quicker decisions. Liked the regular use of the TE and wing back. Arth has a nice assortment of QB's to work with. Shields caught my eye for some reason. Obviously a couple of them won't be in the mix. Hard to tell a lot from the scrimmages. The Offense looked good but they were up against what may be right now a suspect front 7. Looks like the D was 3 down and moving a stand up from side to side depending on the field position and circumstances. Lako did stand out. Just liked the energy and pace this coaching staff is trying to instill.

Is Nelson 6'3"?

We should NEVER assume anything. But, with Arth's background as a QB at the highest level,the QB play hopefully will be significantly improved this year,no matter who the Q

Nelson the O MVP,interesting. He may very well be the starter. Not completely convinced of that with a new sheriff in town. Lets see.

The best FBS coaches. Glad you limited it to FBS because those are not the best coaches who have been at Akron. Not gonna numerically rank 'em. But, Owens RECRUITED some really good talent. Hixon,Blackburn, Fry,Smith and more. Couldn't turn it in to a MAC Championship. Brookhart,took that talent,added some of his and won a MAC Championship. Actually I think the weakness in those 2006 and 2007 teams was defense. AND,Brookhart admitted it himself that he brought in some kids,David Harvey just one who were not college students but self centered athletes. Don't have a lot of love for Faust. Always thought Dennison should have at least been given a shot. But,the AD at the time thought he was smarter than everyone else. IMHO,that set this program back far more than fans realize. Thank goodness thats over now.

The OC or the QB?

UR correct! Can't tell anything from an early workout with a new coach and staff at the helm. Lets see what happens at the spring game and end of August.

Was it? OK. But, we know who the folks are who will begin the negative posts if the first few games don't go the way they think they should have.If it was a 'fun' exercise that's fine. Don't show up later and tell us I told U so,please. Nobody is more tired of the mediocrity in this program than I am. Lets see who is still standing in August,please.

Wasn't he a DB? Thats what he is.

Obviously we know U R not serious. If they can win 6 games in the MAC they might very well get to the MAC Championship game. They only have to win one OOC game to get legit bowl eligible. Everybody who is an over the top optimistic needs to take a step back. Always hiccups when a new regime comes in. Shoot we don't even know if Arth wants Nelson as his starting QB do we? Roster won't be set until August. Relax!

Would hope the offense will be more consistently productive than in the past few seasons. I was briefly looking at some Tenn-Chatt game highlights. Noticed some things about that offense. Arth runs a with wing back consistently. One back set from the shotgun. But also noticed used an actual tight end frequently in the highlights I saw. He also had the QB under center at times and ran from a one back AND I-formation from that set. Looks like a little more 'power' running than we have seen recently. I wonder then if Arth is going to go with Kato at the QB? I just wonder if he is going to take a long look at Ramart or somebody else he brings in. I didn't notice their QB doing too much running. Could have just been the game I was watching.