Lee Adams

I give Harris and Montgomery a small pass. They had QB problems. You won't be successful on offense without a solid QB. That position didn't sure up until the middle of the season. That will not be a problem next year. PN16 should be solid. Now if this staff can mix in a solid running game with PN16...sky is the limit IMO. I'm hoping our bread and butter running play is not a hand off in the shotgun with PN16 running next to the RB!?!here,here..don't think so though..ianello i don't think will be wedded to the spread...he needs to find a solid rb and tight end in the spring/summer... hopefully the t.e. will be more a part of the offense..i hope some of these hires who have 'recruiter' after their names can actually 'coach 'em up, on the field..unlike the last regime...the defense still worries..vince o would be a good keep...

i did during the initial rush...got 2 fairly quick replies...good for the ad...doubt that it does much to influence however...

most of us thought that hiring Harris/Montgomery last year would push the offense over the top...lots of these lower level coaches either look good or not on paper...ianello is short on hc experience but is bringing in assts with some good looking backgrounds..who knows?...whats on the field is what counts...

heard jones had a look from a big 10 school or two...he might have had some question marks around test scores...too bad he didn't come here...i believe he was at the spring game...

agree...even watching the cmu/troy game it appeared troy had better athletes across the board especially on defense... cmu had Lefevour and enough experience to hold on...scary to think that even sunbelt teams are that far ahead of the mac

Well hopefully the coaching talent can win over some players.I'd rather they win games than players. Every press release about our new coaches has a quote from Ianello about how the position coach or the coordinator is a great recruiter, but I don't see mentions of them being good coaches.When you win games, you don't need to be an amazing recruiter because the talent will be drawn to you. We have enough talent to win the MAC already. That should be the main focus.hopefully ianello is recognizing that with his own lack of hc experience as an hc he needs to surround himself with assts who can compensate...it will be interesting to see if ianello is a coach who is comfortable with pointing the direction and then allowing assts. to do their jobs or if he is compulsive and has to put his stamp on everything...

its called the 'good ol boys network'...sometimes it works...often it doesn't...its like working anywhere...including a govt. job...if you know somebody you will get hired whether you deserve it or not...BUT...this guy gets his chance like everybody else...judge him after the season is over...

if i recall,if you bought a season ticket for last year you will be able to 're-up' on the season ticket this year for the same price...that may have changed though...

Just in thinking about the logical candidates for Big TelEveN membership, based on size & location of the institution, I'd come up with the following, no particular order:ND (never happen)Pitt (natural rival for PSU .. competitive pretty much across the board?)LouisvilleCincyMissouriOther Big East (Syracuse or Rutgers?)I'm sure there's many more that folks will speculate about .. but it seems to me that the move that would have the LEAST impact on the MAC and potentially UA's situation would be if Missouri jumped to the Big TelEveN. Big XII could back fill easily from within the WAC / C-USA / MTN West .. and the dominoes would probably stop there.If however, the new member comes from the Big East, the dominoes and implications for UA could be MUCH more interesting. Some Big East coaches are already clamoring for a ninth team since they now have to schedule 5 OOC games (only 7 conference games). If one of the teams jumps out, the league will be FORCED to take action to at least replace that team. Perhaps it would trigger the re-structuring / growth of the Big East than many have been predicting since the last go around .. maybe it won't.My comment that chaos brings opportunity relates to UA and its options. If the move is Missouri .. nothing's going to really change with BigEast, C-USA, MAC .. etc. However, if a member of the Big East jumps, then UA will be presented with potential options to re-evaluate it's conference affiliation.The strategy around UA has been to think bigger .. a big dustup within FBS conference alignments will give Luis & Co. the opportunity to explore more options than they have available to them right now.I'd like to see the Big East forced into some action, needing at least 1, maybe 2 or 5 teams. B) Go Zips!to the big east..navy...army? east coast teams with a big following

the sunbelt is the conference mac schools match up with best...schedule home/home with that conference..at least it is competetive and its not a I-AA joke...

Brian Wagner ran the ball pretty well in HS. Not break away speed but 4.5-6 is pretty nice @ 225 pds.He will be too small for the middle linebacker spot in a 4-3 defense and we do have alot of OLB talent. It might make sense.Why on earth would we move Wagner who was are best defensive player to FB. Your talking about a guy who will most likely be a frosh all american and who led the MAC in tackles and was also 6th in the nation overall in tackels. If anything we move him to OLB and move one of the current OLB to fullback.he may be a safety in a 4-3..imagine him 'headhunting' from back there...

what about the D?

FB? Tight end? What are these?ianello will have to find a legitimate tight end who can block and at least pose some threat in the passing game...too bad tuzze isn't back at fb...

He seems like a middle linebacker to me, but I bet he can be successful at both.I think he is too skinny. I am going to send the athletic department a few vats of peanut butter to his attention.thank you..watched him closely in the emu game..he had problems covering their tight end,working in space...might be a big safety in a 4-3 IF he can roam the field..

Dear Mr. Wistrcill: as you are hopefully becoming aware there is a small but passionate number of fans who do and have followed akron football for years...certainly the numbers are not that of osu and nd etc. etc...but we are just as passionate about this program...we have watched for years while the program has lacked consistency on the field and on the sideline...we realize you have no prior connections with this area...however, please realize that many of us are as passionate about football as fans at schools with greater 'visibility'...if you visit this site you will find that there are those who agree and disagree with the hiring of mr. ianello...many of us have purchased season tickets and contributed to the athletic department for years...we are not expecting this program to compete consistently with the osu's,psu's'wisconsins,etc,etc...what we do expect is that the program CONSISTENTLY competes with the BEST programs in the mac and legitimately contends for the mac championshionship or bowl game year in and year out...the new coach gets his opportunity starting today to do so..we will support him as long as progress is being made...with the wonderful facilities here at akron there is no reason that you and coach ianello should not put a consistently competetive team on the field year in and year out...best of luck...

it appears one of the things wistrcill wants to try to do with this hire is upgrade the level of talent consistently attracted to akron...if the new coach is the recruiting whizz it appears he is,hopefully he will be able to pick off a few recruits who would have gone to the big ten,big east etc...who knows,with whats going on at ol'nd he might be able to persuade 1 or 2 of those guys to come this way this year...as long as the new coach recognizes his own strengths and weaknesses and builds his staff accordingly he'll have a chance...the change that many wanted before has been made...the new guy gets his chance...

no hc experience at the college level???...we just watched 6 years of someone who had no head coaching experience anywhere..there are too many good candidates with experience out there to settle for this...

that might be the level (coach)fleming could succeed at...too bad akron will likely lose the son...physically he had a lot of upside...

correct

cool

Frank Cignetti. if wistrcill does not have a short list in his head he won't last long...

Also worth mentioning...Glen Mason was the HC at Minnesota and where did the new AD come from? Is there a prior relationship that exists there?somebody already put this out there...

i sent the guy an e-mail a couple of weeks ago...just prior to the Can't game...he or someone in his office was at least nice enough to respond...even at that point he made no commitment to the then head coach...this can't hurt

somebody on another site suggested Glen Mason...might be a good guess...mr. wistrcill comes from minnesota...he obviously made the decision to dimiss the previous regime weeks ago,he stated he doesn't want a 'rebuilding' process,enough talent is there now...it at least appears he already had some people in mind he thought he could get fairly quickly so that recruiting doesn't take too much of a hit...

that nc state game still haunts me...seems that season and the rest turned after that one...by far the best mem IS the MAC Champeenship game...i was there...my gf,who hates football was jumping around like her son just had a baby(his wife of course)...never got back there again...the '06 season was the beginning of the end...WISTRCILL better not screw this up