Lee Adams

Absolutely correct. Maybe Bowden is trying to stockpile recruits in hopes of having a breakout season 'next year' or the year after. But,I know the prior administration,meaning the Prez was expecting more in year 2 or 3. It didn't happen. At some point Bowden has to go all in in. He has to play recruits not just transfers and win. In this day and age freshman to some extent HAVE to contribute. And,if redshirt frosh aren't getting on the field there is a problem with recruiting. August beckons.

Given what has been observed the last few years and the schedule and the uncertainties at key positions like QB,can't see any reason to expect anything much beyond a .500 overall season. Its going to take AT LEAST 5-3 but most likely 6-2 in the MAC to win the division. That would be acceptable given what has occurred the last few years. But, unless it ends up with a division title,don't see most fans getting interested in this program. The coach lost his name cache last year. Now it has to be done on the field.

When Bowden was hired I had a faculty adviser to the program,who was in the School of Law at the time tell me that the admin felt Bowden needed to do 'something' of note within his first two years as coach or the cache of the Bowden name would essentially lose its influence with the fans. After reading the article in the BJ have to think that even the coach see it as 'put up or shut up' time.

Good plan. Don't know how many people on this board have actually seen a significant number of these recruits play in person,but I doubt its a significant number. So its really hard to make an intelligent assessment of how these recruits will perform at even the lowest BCS level. I note that 3 transfers from bigger schools were prominently noted. Recruiting at the MAC level in football is exceedingly difficult. You are recruiting against the high level BCS teams as well as the FCS(1-AA) teams. But at some point the coach has to go 'all in' and play the 'best' people on the team. Hopefully,2015 is that year. No reason it should not be at this point.

Too bad for the program. He has been the only receiver who could get open and catch the ball consistently over the past couple of years. He was never 'targeted' enough in my estimation. Whether that was by design or because the QB's would not throw to him is open to conjecture. Having to rely on unproven WR's when there are no WR's who have actually proven consistently reliable targets is not good for whomever the QB might be this season. Gotta think if D'Orazio thought something special was going to happen in 2015 he might have stuck around.

Hopefully Bivins didn't lose too much with the two knee injuries. And,hopefully, he doesn't do it again. If Means speed number is accurate and he can catch even a little he can at least help stretch a defense and open up the passing game TB wants to run. Now,who gets the ball to him?

Thats kind of a 'duh' isn't it"? As was stated previously Bowden/Milwee and separately Pohl have not been on the same page for a while. If you have watched the sidelines and the games and observed what Bowden has done and said it seems pretty clear. Even though Bowden should publicly accept responsibility for the performance of the offense the past two seasons at least at this point he has not publicly commited to keeping Milwee or Pohl. Make a decision that is commensurate with the head coaching position. If you think the QB is the problem,tell him and let him move on. If it is Bowden's own OC,tell him and let him move on. The program continues to suffer. How long will the new U of A prez give him?

When did Pohl first enter the football program?

Don't normally comment on Bball for several reasons. But this is not just a Bball related matter. This was and is about how taxpayers and the University administration have chosen to spend AVAILABLE $$$$ over the years. The University never previously chose to spend $$$$ on a new or upgraded Bball facility. That is even though one has been needed for at least 10 years. The Administration DID choose to spend AVAILABLE money on a football facility. Thats a choice the University Administration made correctly or not. The local community saw through the scam Plusquellic and the rest of the county officials were trying to foist and rejected an income tax hike even after the arena commitment was supposedly removed. Thats a shame because I think the proposal was poisoned once it was originally connected with an arena that would have been built for Plusquellic and Akron correctly or not. Voters could not or would not make the separation even though safety forces really did need the tax. Frankly,as we all know Bball has been far more successful here than Fball. Its just not as 'glamorous'. Ha Ha. Right now with Akron athletics, its take whatever money you can get and run with it.

Williams was better suited to run the offense Bowden wanted/wants to run. Quick reads,accurate short and medium. Not a big arm though. I would dread having to 'start over' with an inexperienced QB in 2015 after the record posted this season. Its tough to throw anybody in to the mix who has never played a MAC game and expect a lot of success. Yet it doesn't seem Bowden/Milwee and Pohl are on the same page. IF,Bowden were to tell Pohl that the QB job was not his going in to next season the writing would be on the wall for him. What would his transfer options be? He will be a senior. Could he even transfer to another D-1 school? Would he have to drop a division or two? I am sure he would need to make a decision soon if he would be thinking about leaving. Anybody know if Matt Hoyer is still on the roster? Name is intriguing if nothing else. New QB,new season. As Swiper would say...'Ohhh Maaan'.

Doubt if a position coach at Akron has a whole lot to do with recruiting receivers. But,the receivers except for D'Orazio haven't shown much ability in the last three seasons. Doubt that they can get some 'high profile' wide receivers coach in here who is by himself going to attract WR talent.

Well, I for one will be at every home game as usual. I will likely make at least one road game as usual. I will be eagerly awaiting the results to see if things are getting better as you say.

Unless Bowden decides on the QB situation,soon, this team is going nowhere. He has thus far given little indication that he is willing to adjust his offense to the personnel he has available. Maybe he assumes that one of the 'inactive' QB's will be able to step in next season. This is a QB intensive offense that he runs. The defense has enough talent to make a respectable showing in the MAC. Either adjust his game planning to the personnel,or plug in different personnel to the game plan. Unfortunately,none of us know if there is a QB on this roster who can do what Bowden wants his offense to do because nobody other than Pohl or Wodson has played.

As in the past,I can not figure why a conference that plays football at a significantly higher level than Akron would want a team like Akron. We are not talking basketball here. Its not just about numbers. And,say what you will about the 'Cleveland' TV market it hasn't been and isn't that attractive to that conference. If Akron had been a consistent winner over the past 5-6 years there might be some passing interest. But,Akron does nothing to raise the profile of the conference at any level,on the field or off. At least not at this time. And, we would be looking at a lot more seasons of bad records in a better conference.

Guess you better make plans on going to the Oklahoma game next season. Best one I had was at Syracuse when JD was still on board.

See that Cody Grice and Jatavis Brown are first team All MAC. Capi and Paul also got recognition. Each as you know is on the defensive side. That coming from a team under .500 in the MAC. Thought maybe March might have gotten some recognition but,no. Nobody on the offensive side. Thankfully Grice,Brown and Paul can return. Hopefully they can replace Capi and a couple other losses on that side of the ball. As most people pointed out,there has at least been a physical talent upgrade on the defensive side the last couple of years. Too bad they were not able to turn that in to a couple more wins this year. In the offseason time to work on the offensive side. Make a decision on the QB situation. Thats job #1. Find a WR in addition to Zach D'Orazio who can get open and catch. Plug in some speed at RB. Someone who can share carries with Hundley and who can make defenses respect speed.

Don't stop posting. But,you are correct in saying that there are other valuable ways to better support the University than giving money to the AD.

You are trying to say???

This article was referred to earlier under the Kyle Pohl thread. It was very fair for Alexander to say what he said. He like all of us have no idea what the hell is going to happen next season. And, it doesn't matter what we or the media think anyway! Why doesn't he talk to Bowden? Somebody else addressed that earlier. I believe that person said something to the effect that you wouldn't get a straight answer from Bowden anyway. He is a lawyer.

Anybody read the Plain Dealer on Sunday. Elton Alexander,(I know not a favorite on this site) really pointed the finger at Bowden and the offensive side of the ball for the poor showing of the team this year. He pointed to the apparent unwillingness to utilize the run game more effectively and consistently in an effort to take some heat off the passing game and the QB's. He also pointed out has was mentioned here,that the level of MAC competition that Akron had to face this year was pretty poor. Whatever we think about the opinion,somebody outside of the school is paying attention to what is going on with this program. The point being that maybe with a little more versatility in the offense and not relying as much on the QB's, it may have been more productive.

Again,I do not know anything about the current President. But it would be hard to believe that he has not by now scrutinized what has been going on in the Athletic Department in general and with the football program specifically. Football is still generally the most 'visible'(if not very successful) sports program at this this level. There is a good deal of national TV exposure even if it is on weeknights. Here football has the most expensive and visible of all facilities.It is the most expensive program to operate. Does a university president want a consistently losing program to be representing the school he is running for very long? GP,I tend to agree with you regarding the AD. He inherited great football facilities. He inherited successful basketball and soccer programs. Those are the two other most visible sports at Akron. Maybe Wistrcil has assumed that what he inherited would mean the football program would eventually raise its level of competitiveness. Thus far it hasn't happened. I will say it APPEARED when he hired Bowden that Wistrcil tacitly admitted he screwed up with the Ianello hire. Maybe Bowden has started to turn the corner. This season however,didn't do anything to indicate that the corner has been successfully turned. I still maintain as I have before that 2015 is a very crucial season for this coaching staff. It is even more so now in light of the poor performance of the team on the field and on the sidelines this year. I would be surprised that if this program doesn't get over the hump,at least in the MAC next season(to me that means at least 5-3) the powers that be outside the AD are going to start shining a brighter light at what is going on at Infocision.

Please expand on that.

What was unexpected about losses to Marshall,PSU,BGSU? Nothing. The Howard game was meaningless. Did you expect more from the Marshall game just because you didn't realize that Marshall had significantly upgraded its program since the last time we saw them at the Rubber Bowl? If you expected different outcomes against OU,Ball State,Buffalo,BGSU and Can't State then you were drinking the kool-aid that some others were trying to sell.