Lee Adams

This is becoming nauseating. Repetition upon repetition. Fact is nobody knew if Ianello was/is going to be a successful head coach. Nobody knows if Fickell would be a successful head coach. They never did the job before. Maybe Fickell would have gone 12-0 if they had hired him. I doubt that many figured Ianello wouldn't have won at least 1 or 2 games by now. No matter your personal feeling,does anyone really think that the president and a.d. are going to fire Ianello after this year? No matter what decision is made about this coach and his staff(realistically I could see changes in assistant coaches) it is apparent now that it is going to be several more years before this program becomes competetive within the MAC.

I can't. I also don't remember who was looking for coaches last season. The real question is, "Who else was interested?" There are always discussion on this board about who we should hire. The more important question is, "Who is interested?" Hire Bowden?....What if he isn't interested? etc. Despite there being twenty-two FBS schools looking for a new coach after last season, only two were interested in Ianello: Akron and San Jose State. I didn't state the questions clearly enough. I should have said, "Who else was interested in Akron?" I know because of confidentiality reasons they can't say, I'd like to know who else was interested or even who else was contacted to see if they were interested. You can only hire someone who wants to be hired. Sorry. I misread that. According to Rivals' Tom Deinhart, "in addition to Rob Ianello, Akron interviewed Wayne State's Paul Winters; Elon's Pete Lembo; Kansas' Ed Warinner; Arizona's Mark Stoops." I would have taken any of those over Ianello. At least they have coordinator or head coach experience. We picked the one guy who had never been anything more than a position coach. No word on who else was interested but didn't get an interview, although Jim Tressel's protégé Luke Fickell was rumored to be interested but got rebuffed by the athletic director. IF this is accurate,I would like to know why those were the only guys interviewed. Seems like a pretty weak list with or without Fickell.

you mean the "cupcake teams" that OSU killed and we in turn got killed by? We essentially play OSU's cupcake schedule...difference is it's 9 out of our 12 games each year and not 4 or 5. Actually it's 12 out of our 12 games. Every single team Akron plays would be a cupcake to a top 20 team. Certain irrational fans don't see that. Tell that to Kentucky, who knocked off the #10 team in the country and nearly knocked off Auburn in the last few weeks. Or, Syracuse, NIU and Temple, who are all now in the Top-50 in RPI. Yes, many teams we play would be cupcakes to a Top 20 team, but to put every team we play into that category is just a huge exaggeration. Kentucky is the only one that even makes sense there. And even they got beat up quite a bit. Every team can play a good game or 2, but an entire season tells the story. Syracuse, NIU and Temple would be smashed by most of the top 20. The only chance they would have is if the other team was on a down week. Which does happen. Upsets happen. Guess WVU must have had a down week...

I've read this BS statement on this board umpteen times and have never commented on it once. After watching this year, this statement now brings my blood to a boil! I'd give my left pinky for another "lucky" year. Lucky. Hey, every team needs a little luck. Akron just got it in buckets that year. 6-5 regular season (barely bowl-eligible)...then a totally-miraculous and improbable endzone catch to win the MAC (anyone who says it wasn't miraculous didn't see it)...followed by a loss in the Motor City Bowl. We only made the MAC playoff because of some odd formula (losses in division, or something). Don't make it out to be more than it was. A fun time, certainly. But WAY lucky. JD hung his floppy hat on that season way too much and fooled a lot of people. He was never the guy for this job, either. But he's better than what we've got now. Even JD was willing to admit they got lucky before they got good. It was not about winning much this year. But it should be about seeing some improvement and competetiveness on the field.

This whole situation of players leaving the program really screws with the scholarship situation for years to come. Thanks to EA from the PD.

I think it was Goodrich who made the shoes. Then again, I could also be trying to drum up business for Google. Ya you may be right.

I think a curse has been placed on the program. Kinda like the curse of Rocky Colavito. I don't know if the Akron curse goes back to the time of Dennison or just back to JD. A nameless friend of mine who lives somewhere in a bayou in Louisiana suggested this. He said Jobu is PO'ed. He said the curse has to be removed but he is not exactly sure how. Apparently Jobu is a tough dude. He said it might take a sacrifice like burning a pair of rubber boots made by Goodyear at midfield of the Info. Fans, players and coaches would have to wander aimlessly around the field until the boots stopped burning and they were 'shown the way'. My friend said if that didn't work goodluck.

Lets contact Wistrcill!

The answer is "not that great". The talent level is not here to win against the good MAC teams. But, this team should be at least a little more competetive by now. You can't compare NIU,Temple etc to EMU,BG,Buffalo etc. Akron has enough talent to compete against the bottom of the MAC. They may not win but they should be competetive. And,teams should not be running up 'half a hundred' on them. Whats going on?

After watching Icoach on video, these clips seem appropriate. Has the coach ever said that at some level he and his coaching staff share the responsibility for this year's debacle? I have never seen/heard it. It ain't just the players at this point.

Don't blame it all on the players.

See Troy State.

There were more positives today. The Earth didn't blow up. An asteroid didn't land in Akron. Godzilla didn't attack. Come on now, there were lots of positives today. Who is going to start the initiative to mail the tickets back to the ticket off and our AD? We havent got crap for recruits, the current team is terrible, there is very little young talent. I wonder how many kids leave the program after this year. I know I will not be renewing my tickets, not when I can get them for free and sit in a comparable seat. I will be looking into soccer tickets however. I just wish the mens bball team would actually schedule somebody, that may lure me in one day if they ever play a decent schedule. Flood Wistrcill's office with letters/e-mail. Fans who pay to go to every game have a right to complain about the product on the field. That includes coaches.

The thing that everyone needs to look at with this team is that there has been NO improvement in competetiveness on the field 8 weeks into the season. Even if the team is not winning it should have become more competetive on the field no matter who the opponent. The players are familiar with the system and the coaches. The coaches are familiar with the players. No knowledgable fan expected this team to win more than a couple games this year. But what was rightly expected was for the coach to get the talent available to play at its highest level possible. The team is not bereft of some talent. This coach has so far failed. Hell even JD won what, 6 games with Owens' players his first year. It does appear that a number of players,NOT ALL have indeed cashed it in on this coach. IF this coach is indeed as portrayed above it would explain some of what we see on the field. Most of us have no knowledge of that. But, we are in for at least 2 more years of this regime. Plan accordingly. Why weren't the Rowdies there yesterday??

I think it would be a great idea to start a QB who has played little,has a bad wheel,for a team that is beaten down has no running game to speak of and for a coaching staff that hasn't figured out how to help the team improve 7 games in to the season. Go for it.

I know,Coach Ianello is really Belicheck in disguise!

I agree. Alleman's comments were very insightful. I like how he noted that "Coaches often fall in love with potential as opposed to production." I had never heard that before, but it makes a lot of sense. I also liked hearing his opinion on Rogers, "I think Matt Rogers can be a successful MAC quarterback." He doesn't think Rogers is the next coming of Joe Montana, but he believes Rogers can offer consistency, and that is really what the team needs right now. He was also very gracious with Nicely, reminding listeners that in a stronger program, Nicely would merely be a redshirt freshman QB still learning from the sideline. I really like the job he's doing. You can tell he can't be as blunt as he would probably like, but he's still honest and you can tell he has a passion for the Zips. Good stuff. Agree. How long do you think Steve and Joe will put up with him though?

i think golden went out of his way to start his freshmen over the upper class men. this seems to be the way Ianello is leaning now. take a look at the depth chart the past few weeks and there's tons of frosh there. i agree bowers looked like the best of the lot but i am encouraged by what i've seen out of the freshman class. Ianello finally got smart and is allegedly going to play more underclassmen. Sorry that some of the SRS and JRS may not like it but they have been here under two different coaches and it hasn't happened. I am not sold on Ianello by any stretch. But, the program needs to figure out what it needs for the next 2-3 years,NOW. It can't gonna get any worse. Look out 0-12.

Since EMU won is Akron officially the worst team in the MAC?

Way off the mark. I have been buying season tickets for years. I mean years. I did not have to. I could have paid general admission price for every game and gotten a good seat. And I would not have had to pay for all the games. I bought season tickets to support the program not just have tickets. The program has over the long haul been a loser but I still bought season tickets. When I see cheap tickets flying around because the athletic department badly miscalculated support for the team, I feel almost like I am being punished for continually supporting a bad program. They got my money,too bad for me. I want to see what the cost of season tickets will be next year. Lets at least throw a bone to the real 'true fans' who spend the money and go to all the games,

Maybe he is posting that crap so he can continue to gain whatever access he has.

A shame that this coach drove off a student/athlete like that

If we sit our seniors we'll get absolutely killed (Yes, it can get worse than it already is). The seniors have earned the right to play. Sitting AA, or Ward, or Thomas or whomever would leave a huge vacuum in leadership and ability. Yep it might get worse than having NIU hang 'half a hundred' on em. It might get worse than losing to Gardner-Webb etc. I am not saying Alex Allen or some of those other upper classmen are not playing hard. Right now the results are not there and the longer term benefit to the program has to be considered. I have seen people on this site criticize a previous coach for staying with the seniors or starters too long. Not an easy decision but sometimes coaches have to earn their money.

All of this has been hashed and rehashed. Of course the AD had a very short list. The hire was made fairly quickly after the firing. The new guy isn't going anywhere for a while. Whether thats good or bad,lets move on. As far as Winters,there were as good or better candidates than him out there. Did The AD talk to them? Will we ever know? Ianello will get at least 2 more years after this year. But,since he has not benn able to 'coach up' this group to any degree,we will find out next year if the guy can actually coach...or not.

As a season ticket holder I agree that we are in essence being punished for supporting a bad team. I could buy GA tickets on the east side for individual games and have a comparable view of the game. And I am only paying for the games I want to go to. I sent an e-mail to the AD about season ticket prices,the performance of the team etc. His response,give it time. He said nothing specifically about season ticket prices. A shout out to the Band. They are now the best part of going to the games.