Lee Adams

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.

Now we need to get Tom Gaffney on board!

I think you can somewhat fairly compare what has happened at Akron the past 2 years with what has happened at Can't in just less than 1 season. Hazell has 4 wins in his first year. That team is 3-3 in the MAC. It has played better as the season has progressed. Hazell also is playing with players he inherited from the previous coach. Ianello has had almost 2 seasons to install whatever program/system and players he wanted to install. Ianello has 1 MAC win,2 total wins,only one win is over a D-I opponent. There appears to have been little if any progress in the competitiveness of the team in the MAC. Not wins,just competitiveness. The players are buying what Ianello and his coaches are selling. We can piss and moan all we want on this site. But until lots of fans start rattling the cages of the Administrators,who we hope are embarrassed by this, nothing is going to happen.

Was at the game. I was trying to detect some extra jump from our guys because it was the Can't game. I was hoping against hope that Ianello and his staff had done a better job of preparing the the team..just once,I was hoping that the defense would actually figure out how to cover in the secondary and stop the run,I was hoping that Chisholm would stop tripping over his heavy feet,I was hoping that Moore would suddenly learn how to move in the pocket and become accurate,I was hoping they would win. Alas, disappaointed again. BUT,this is progress.

I have been to all the home games. There is no way the ACTUAL attendance,people who actually showed, for any of them except for possibly for today is accurate. It is possible that tickets are distributed but never used. Whether they are paid for or what price is charged,who knows. Look,if they couldn't 'expand' the numbers,they would get sanctioned back to I-AA by the NCAA.

Was it the current AD or coach or both who said that when Inello took over the cupboard was not bare? By the way JD said sometime back around '06 that the Zips got lucky before they got good. Not defending Brookhart, I thought he needed to go. But,I think most fans expected to see more tangible improvement this season than has been exhibited. Ianello will be back next year so he will have even more of his recruits on board and playing. Its not going to get any easier for anyone for a while.

We are grasping at straws folks. Given the play of the 2 teams this year and particularly recently,there seem to be few if any objective reasons the Zips are suddnely going to change character on offense or defense. Only way Zpis win is if Can't turns the ball over multiple times and the Zips hit some big plays.

How about the tragedy in (UN)Happy Valley? Having some first hand knowledge about sex offenders,bet that a number of people knew about Sandusky's perversion but did nothing. Say goodbye Joe Pa. You deserve it.

I think we need to resolve the "should we count overtime points" issue right away. This cannot wait til the end of the season. It will just fester if left unsettled.LOL

So, back to the topic. What are the realistic chances that the Zips win Saturday whomever may be at QB?

Regardless of what some of us want, there will be no coaching change next year.I'd take any of the three in a second. All three of those guys won at places nobody said anyone could win. We need a guy like that here.Yep. Ianello is back next year.

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.

I have been trying to come up with some OBJECTIVE reasons pointing to a Zips win on Saturday. Now the fact that its a rivalry game and anything can happen is not objective.Offensively both teams are lets say,challenged. Which offense can move against the other defense w/o making mistakes? Can the Zips run against Can't when Can't is going to stop the run first. Can the Zips play their 'game of the season' on defense and keep Can't from running the ball?Defensively Can't appears significantly better front to back. If they force Moore or whoever into throwing a lot its going to be a huge problem. This is a better defense than CMU. If the Zips can't stop the run which has been a problem this season well....Special teams don't hold much hope for the Zips either. Coverage and returns have not been good this season.Anything can happen but,help!

Odd...I was told Clayton Moore's passer rating is much better than what we had in 2010? How can we be scoring fewer points? We even have a better running game in 2011?Kinda tells you the value of some of those stats doesn't it? Given that the defense stinks,is that the only reason the season has gone the way it has? They have given up over 300 points already I believe. Is it that the defense can't get the ball to the offense often enough or in better field position? When its across the board like it is with this team there are multiple problems.

What makes us think that Ianello won't be back next season?

No tricks up that sleeve but maybe down the front of his pants where the plays come from. How fitting'Careful with that axe Eugene'.

No problem. We were all 'blinded by the light ' last week. ol' Brokenheart doesn't seem so bad right now, does he Lee? Just messin' with ya LOL. I still think given what was going on JD needed to go. BUT,I assumed obviously incorrectly that Wistrcil would actually try to bring in a coach with some sort of track record for winning football games at some level. Hell,my 8th grade coach at least went 3-2 against Bolich. JD was a better representative for the program too. Oh well,maybe Louie Pro will tire of this and order a change.

What return were you expecting? It's an ongoing building process where results aren't necessary.

I've seen PN7 win games against D-1A teams. I've seem Moore lose every one he's started.I want a chance to win against K.e.n.t. PN7 is our best chance.The hyperbolic clowns on this site will spin that statement to infer I think Nicely is the second coming of Luke Getsy. But, that's why said people are hyperbolic clowns.Start PN7 against K.e.n.t. And if he wins, Buffalo too (he's beaten both teams in the past). Give me a shot at seeing a win in 2011. Not a 4th quarter field goal to close the gap to -32.It may be too late for a change at QB to make much of a difference now,unfortunately. I was one of the folks who said early that Nicely at least deserved a chance to start at the beginning of the season. A year in the new system and all that. If there wasn't any improvement then Moore gets in. Once again,Nicley played pretty well as a freshman when he got thrown in unexpectedly. They beat Can't with him at QB. Problem now is that it took Ianello almost 2 seasons to realize that neither Nicley nor Moore were suited for the offensive system he wanted to run. So in the middle of season 2 he decides to make changes that probably should have been made during the summer. The players are the ones taking the hit for all of this.Then there is the issue of the bucket of slop that is the defense. Nothing new there.After watching last night the fear is that the some of the players may decide the season has been over for a while and its really time to cash it in. When you go from what we saw in the second half of the CMU game to what we saw last night, we really have to wonder where the leadership is on this team.