Lee Adams

My only problem with Winters as a potential hire, and it is a small one...He isn't really there yet in the GLIAC and it's hard for me to say how much talent you need to be a successful coach at that level. If he was at a FCS school and he did the same turnaround, I would be a little more impressed. Other than that I would hope that if he was hired, he would go get Lee Owens to be his OC. I'm still pulling more for the miracle Big Fish hire... The GLIAC as is the Penna State Athletic Conference a pretty strong football conference. If you can take the talent in those types of coferences and be successful you probably deserve a look at a level like the MAC or even the Big East. The thing is to be experienced at being the head coach and having to do all the things that go along with that.

Leach is still involved in litigation with TTech because of his alleged treatment of the son of 1/2 of the Pony Express at SMU. He has got a good radio gig going on satellite. They let him do the show from his house in the Keys. He just broke a book. The higher profile programs won't touch him right now apparently because of the legal stuff. Mike Leach is toxic; forget him. I seriously doubt that Leach is considering,if he is considering anything, a program at the level of an Akron especially in a cold weather area. If he drops to this level it will likely be down south.

Leach is still involved in litigation with TTech because of his alleged treatment of the son of 1/2 of the Pony Express at SMU. He has got a good radio gig going on satellite. They let him do the show from his house in the Keys. He just broke a book. The higher profile programs won't touch him right now apparently because of the legal stuff.

You answered your own question. If there is a difference between spread players and pro style (outside of qb I doubt there is much) and you run a pro style offense, players more suited or accustomed to that style would be a talent improvement. Kind of like if your company is an electrical company you would want electricians more so than masonry workers. What happened? You're negativity ruined the team. We do have talent, but Fire-nello doesn't know how to use any of it. If I have that much influence maybe I should pick the next coach!

Depends on who initiated the alleged firing of Ianello. If it wasn't TW then he will be moving on at some point.

Love to have been a fly on the wall if that conversation actually took place. Be interesting to see if it happens if it came from Proenza or Wistrcill.

He was my choice.

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram has its BOB(thats bottom of the barrel) award. We are the winners. Tulane and New Mex were hot on our heels.

The throw he made at the end of the OU game,while maybe not smart was impressive. Off his back foot about to be layed out,all arm no body. He moved around in the pocket,found an open receiver and got it to him. Might be a little more athletic version of #7 in Pittsburgh who used to play in the MAC.

When TW came to town, he made a lot of really bad decisions early (see handling of Reno issue). At the time, I didn't feel comfortable with such a bad manager making a coaching decision (actually posted it on this board) and was concerned about him firing JD and hiring a new coach. Where are we today? The same place we were a couple of years ago only the conditions have gotten worse. Same bad manager, only we now have to live his mistake. If TW fires Coach I, we still have the same bad manager in a position to make another horrible mistake at a point when we need a good decision even more now than two years ago. TW isn't capable of making the decision and probably would fight his being taken out of the decision making process tooth and nail. It would create a horrible situation for the next coach. Before we make any coaching decisions, the first step has to be getting rid of the AD who made the conditions worse than a couple of years ago. If not, a worse problem can be created. Yes, it can always get worse. Dr. Proenza won't fire an AD and coach in the same year. However, if he does, he needs an absolute prick on the hiring committee who wouldn't be shy about asking difficult questions and questioning the conventional "wisdom" of college athletics babble. Secondly, anyone who sat on the last hiring panel shouldn't be back for this one as they are complicit in the current problem. There are people in the Athletic Department who know my number. I would make myself available. If anyone is shy about firing TW, I have experience in firing people (When I worked in corporate America, I was sent out sometimes to fire people who didn't even work for me) and I would be glad to put that experience to use. IF and thats a big IF,Dr. Proenza felt he wanted a change at HC,there would be an almost unworkable situation between Wistrcill and Proenza. When you are talking about administrators at that level its doubtful that Wistrcill would stay when he would essentially be getting the message that he is not making the decisions that an AD would normally make. I keep wondering if Wistrcill and Ianello may try to get rid of assistant coaches to at least buy some time and hope the team responds. They do have some justification for that given how the defense,offensive line special teams etc. performed. I am not saying thats the solution but they may try to get through one more by doing it.

You answered your own question. If there is a difference between spread players and pro style (outside of qb I doubt there is much) and you run a pro style offense, players more suited or accustomed to that style would be a talent improvement. Kind of like if your company is an electrical company you would want electricians more so than masonry workers. What happened?

Por que?

I listened to most of the first half. As much of a 'homer' as French is you can tell that even he has been having a hard time biting his lip this year. When Steve French is no longer in your corner you're done.

Take it for what you will. I spoke with a faculty member who has been close to the f.ball program for years. Asked about the Ianello situation. That person's opinion is that not only will Ianello be back next year but likely at least the year after that. They can't afford the $$$$$$ for a buyout and pay another HC at this point. Interesting popular sentiment among the circles I converse with say they doubt that certain people at high positions involved in the discussions we have been having would be back. For cost, he makes $350,000 a year. Next year we play at Tennessee, I would say that is a wash for buying him out of 2 years. Not to mention at $20 a ticket average we would need two sell outs to cover the cost of him. We are losing the money by keeping him after two 1-11 seasons. Cost isn't an issue on him staying or going. Its whether he shows progress in APR, attendance, class room performance, and on field performance. So too early on the first, faked on the second, positive on the third, and negative on the forth. It just depends on where the priorities are. Also is now the time to go coach hunting? Nutter, Stoops, Tressel, Rodriquez, half the Penn State staff, there will be a lot of coaches, but is there potential. If you take 350 x 2 or 3 grand out of the Akron sports budget you affect every program at the school. So it is significant. They really can't do that unless they come up with some spare change somewhere. He will be back next year. After that who knows? My point is, an empty stadium is the same as taking the hit on his salary. He coaches again and we average 5000 fans all season and then have problems selling the (suite, loge and club seats) that is just as damaging as paying him off right now. Let's not forget that the Suite, loge, and club seats only had a 3 year commitment to them. At 10 grand a pop for suites that's $120 grand off the table right there. You account for all the seats up there its about half a million a year that we will struggle to sell. If you pick the right coach, a name coach (a Fickell, or Tressel, or a winning lower division coach) you create a sense of hope and can put some butts in the seats that will eat up the cost of paying off Rob's contract. Not disagreeing that attendance has and will continue to take a hit. Still puzzles me how they came up with an avg. of 15,000 this year. Wonder how much it would take to get a higher profile guy in here if this thing contniues to go south?

Take it for what you will. I spoke with a faculty member who has been close to the f.ball program for years. Asked about the Ianello situation. That person's opinion is that not only will Ianello be back next year but likely at least the year after that. They can't afford the $$$$$$ for a buyout and pay another HC at this point. Interesting popular sentiment among the circles I converse with say they doubt that certain people at high positions involved in the discussions we have been having would be back. For cost, he makes $350,000 a year. Next year we play at Tennessee, I would say that is a wash for buying him out of 2 years. Not to mention at $20 a ticket average we would need two sell outs to cover the cost of him. We are losing the money by keeping him after two 1-11 seasons. Cost isn't an issue on him staying or going. Its whether he shows progress in APR, attendance, class room performance, and on field performance. So too early on the first, faked on the second, positive on the third, and negative on the forth. It just depends on where the priorities are. Also is now the time to go coach hunting? Nutter, Stoops, Tressel, Rodriquez, half the Penn State staff, there will be a lot of coaches, but is there potential. If you take 350 x 2 or 3 grand out of the Akron sports budget you affect every program at the school. So it is significant. They really can't do that unless they come up with some spare change somewhere. He will be back next year. After that who knows?

Troy beat up on Ohio in New Orleans a couple of years ago and Solich remarked that the thing that hurt them most was the disparity in the number of plays for each team. He typically has a pretty high scoring offense and decided that Ohio needed to up its average play total from 65 to 75 or 80 to better leverage that advantage. Troy's controlled "no-huddle" accomplishes that. He and his coaching staff approached Troy's and traded information - Ohio providing information on defensive schemes, Troy sharing concepts behind their no-huddle. Ohio has taken it slow this year - it's not a hurry up offense by any stretch, but they've boosted the number of plays to well over 70 per game as a result. Yep. That is what good coaches do. Continue to learn and change if necessary.

Watched OU win the MAC East again last night. For what,the third time? It was interesting that the announcers pointed out that Solich did a changeover on his offense after conferring with the coaches at Troy in the off season. His teams aren't spectacular but they are consistent. They had a lot of injuries this year as I recall someone saying. The old dog learned some new tricks.

Somebody touched on it. Ianello and Wistrcill keep referring to the 'process' of 'building' a program. Not that bringing these guys in would ever happen,but what does that say about the value of allegedly trying to build a program when you resort to a desparation heave like this? Thats not what building a program is about. Seems it would be saying we were wrong now we are going to spend resources and take one shot to see if that works. Kind of contradictory to what Ianello has been preaching.

I don't have to look it up skip, I started on that team, I know who we beat. My point is, we were competitive with every team we played and we played our asses off no matter what. We were not a joke of a team, we were a team who would go out and play with anyone. I look on the field now and I see a bunch of guys who just don't give a shit. It's heartbreaking and appalling to those of us who wore the uniform, and those also who have sat in the stands year after year supporting this team with everything they have. The lack of competitiveness and "don't give a damn" attitude falls squarely on the head coach. I'm not saying we should go out and rehire Owens. I'm just saying look at what we used to complain about compared to what we have now. My how the standards have fallen. In my years under Owens, we weren't all that talented, but Owens and Winters were both guys who inspired you to play your ass off. They were the kind of coaches that made you want to run through a wall for them. Was Owens a great coach on the field? No he wasn't. He made some questionable decisions that I feel like cost us some games throughout my career and especially in 2003, where I feel like we legitimately could've had a 10 win season. Owens had two big problems as a coach: He always gambled at the wrong time, and he did not distribute the talent he brought in properly between the offense and the defense. As an offensive coach, his first priority was always stacking the offense with talent. There were a lot of very talented guys that came into the program during my career that could've played either way. Those guys always went to the offense. I can remember during strength and speed testing during the spring, the discrepency between the offense and the defense was always astounding. Owens didn't place a high priority on defense, and as a result we had defenses who could stop no one. That led to never being able to get over the hump and become a dominant MAC team. To this day however, I believe that Paul Winters is an offensive genius. We had talent on offense, but he took that talent and brought excellence from it. In '03, Wisconsin's defense was bigger, faster, and stronger than us, but we hung 500 yards on them and were a blown call away from sticking it to them at their house. We need a coach here at Akron that: 1. Cares about the program beyond advancing his own career 2. Can squeeze the most out of the talent he's given to beat more talented teams 3. Inspires his players to play their ass off and want to win for him Paul Winters meets all 3 criteria. Rob Ianello meets none. Paul Winters gives us the best of the Lee Owens era in terms of unstoppable offenses and inspired play, and I believe would be a much better decision maker and steward of the talent brought in. The 2003 team would be a god-send right now, as was my original point, but Paul Winters could take us back there and beyond. Good stuff! The word 'competitive' keeps comong up. I think that was the maddening thing about Owens and to an extent JD. Throwing out the sacrifice games,we usually had an idea that the team could be competetitive if for no other reason they could usually score. For some reason in the recent past defenses here have never consistently been able to control games to give the offense a chance. Now,there is no competetiveness. The defense can't stop anyone and the offense can't score. Whatever Ianello is selling,these guys aren't buying. Whenever the next guy comes in,I hope he has experience as a head coach at the D-I,I-AA or D-II. I thought thats what would happen this time. Oh well.

We all know Proenza has other fish to fry in addition to the football program. He is first and foremost going to listen to the AD HE hired. Unless we remind him of the investment he made in the football program via Infocision and the fieldhouse and how that investment is being wasted he is going to do what most admins. do. He is going to go with what the people he hired are doing. He is going to see one side of the issue because thats what he will get from Wistrcill. Like most people in that position Proenza will respond to money and media.

If you really like hops,try Stone Ruination IPA and Southern Tier 2x IPA. Brew Kettle Old 21 is a good one in that vein also.

Hell I'll take 6-6 at this point!

So if I am reading correctly,they could sell a bunch of tickets for only 1/3 of the established price of regular admission tickets? So 2 for one(1/2 of regular admission) would legitimately count as 2 PAID attendances? How often have they done something like that?

They all have e-mail. If you haven't sent one its hard to believe. Do it now if you want a change. Need to get more media writing about this. Ridenour started the ball rolling. E-mail Gaffney,e-mail Alexander. It most likely won't do any good this year,but it sets the stage if next season goes south again.

This team is worse right now than it was at the beginning of the season. A lot of people look at the results from year to year. I like to look to see if a coach can make a team better during the course of a single season and this coach is falling well short of expectations.