Lee Adams

Looks like a spelling error at Sporting News.Luke Fickell is linebacker coach and assistant defensive coordinator at Columbus State. There was an interesting PD story about him earlier this year.PD LinkFickell played under Cooper at OSU. Never the biggest or fastest but always in on the plays. I like him. Coached akrons d-line 2000-01And about Wagner and Nicely leaving... I don't know how someone has a better source than me. When I asked, the kid laughed and said no way. We do not need to start fear mongering.these kids will wait to see who the new coach is before making a commitment...nicely could go to a better program right now if he chooses...wagner is a different player...might not be a linebacker in a conventional 4-3 or even 3-4...he had a real problem covering the emu tight end...lets wait...

didn't lee owens come from osu?

sorry we don't need a roundballer picking the next f.ball coach...james has made some VERY questionable decisions about some of the people he has/had around him...one of them was in prison more than once...believe me i know...that guy was on parole...you can't have a lot loose money tossed around a college program...eventually somebody outside will drop a dime...if bowden has too much baggage leave him...why would he come to akron again anyway?...he appaers to have bigger fish to fry...there are a number of more solid coaches with less baggage out there...one would assume the new AD has someone or 2 in mind as fast as these last guys were shown the door...

looks like go-zips.com has already removed the names of the staff for this year..do you suppose the new AD already has someone in mind?...

lets try not to personalize this again..its not about JD Brookhart the person...or Jim Fleming the person etc etc...so how about we not get into the stuff about how to sell the house and the personal nastiness...whomever is making the final decision will look at the entire football program...where it was and where it is...i see somebody is already saying the decision has been made as of this AM...lot of frustration out there...hope we can keep it civil no matter what our opinion is...

a lot of us said that 3 years ago...

i wonder if coach brookhart ever wonders what could have been if he had dumped the DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR a few years ago..obviously he would never admit it publicly...what i thought was interesting was that coach brrokhart made a point of saying in the papers that he had had other offers and turned them down prior to this year...must have been overwhelming offers....

i was there...actual bodies no more than 5grand...where were all these 'student fans' who could fall out of bed and get to the game?...nobody missed much though

Even when the coach was Gerry Faust, and Akron was losing, the team was known for playing physical football -- especially on the offensive line. That hasn't been the case in many years. Akron is now known as a lightweight. I don't know how to change that, but it can be done -- no, it MUST be done! We keep getting beat like this season is eerily like faust's last...he was able to charm the admins and alums to keep him longer than was appropriate...

why play a I-AA school?...its not like we are going to go out and win 8 other games...play a D-I school that you can compete with...sunbelt...low level cusa...how many of you go to the morgan state game if its in october and not the Info. opener?

looks more like some alumn's wish list than anything real...y.town isn't the I-AA plum it used to be...

$$$$$$$

rain and snow...temps in the LOW 40's...how many of those intrepid students will show?

i just got 4 free GA tickets in the mail(as a season ticket holder) for the EMU game...apparently not expecting much of a crowd eh?...bad weather...7,000 tops...any guesses?...interesting with all the prior action regarding ticket prices and attendance...

The PSAC is not a very good conference at all, I grew up in Pennsylvania and have seen those schools play. I would be very disappointed if we got a coach from there. Especially "Boro", Edinboro is def a ghetto and is worse than Can't state haha. I think we need either a FCS HC or someone from FBS.get real...a ghetto!!!??? who made you god? i have followed IUP football and the PSAC for years...Frank Cignetti... 182-50?i don't know..i may have more relatives in western pa. than most...oh...esu won their first playoff game...i think california got a first round bye?...esu,cal and stroud are still in....where are you from?a no no...replying to my own post.... Cignetti is a coord at...gasp Pitt was at Cal......check his record as head coach at Indiana,Pa...my want to consider this one...

The PSAC is not a very good conference at all, I grew up in Pennsylvania and have seen those schools play. I would be very disappointed if we got a coach from there. Especially "Boro", Edinboro is def a ghetto and is worse than Can't state haha. I think we need either a FCS HC or someone from FBS.get real...a ghetto!!!??? who made you god? i have followed IUP football and the PSAC for years...Frank Cignetti... 182-50?i don't know..i may have more relatives in western pa. than most...oh...esu won their first playoff game...i think california got a first round bye?...esu,cal and stroud are still in....where are you from?

this season reminds me of faust's last year...the players finally realized the coach was gone and eventually played 'not to get hurt'..i remeber the Eastren Michigan game...when they were the hurons...just knocked the crap out of jerry's kids...

since everyone is throwing out names...John Lockhardt...California,Pennsylvania and Scott Browning Edinboro State...y'all can check their records they are more than solid...these guys recruit areas that need to be recruited by the Zips...they have and are running winning successful programs and make the DII playoffs, both again this year...Browning has ohio connections also...these guys look like stability which this program hasn't had...look a little closer to home and look for someone who has been a head coach

this guy is a graduate assistant?...is that right!?

Buckzip I like and respect your posts here, but let me challenge you and the other posters who talk about the talent we have on this team. Who exactly are you talking about? Go beyond Wagner, Lemon, Nicely and a couple other frequently-heard names. I'll tell you what I see: slow, soft, small, unathletic, unintelligent players who don't match up well with solid teams and get beat play after play.I see LaFrance signaling "field goal" when the Temple kicker puts it through the Akron uprights on a kick off from the 45 after a terrible face mask penalty by the Zips on the previous play, a Temple touchdown.I see Bowser having a blast on the sideline, as the score is sliding up into the 40s and 50s for Temple, yucking it up with other offensive players as the Info now has about 1,000 people (maybe) left in the stands. Bowser is racing around as if he has no injury, Mr. Prankster and his merry bunch (including the aforementioned LaFrance) while I'm contemplating a brown bag on my head for the next game.I see an entire secondary of tiny little players. I would guess that JD'd intention is that they are small but fast and will cover well down the field. Except that they don't! They don't chuck, they don't cover and they get killed when actual football contact occurs upon their little selves. I'm waiting for one of them to literally be "smote" on contact with larger opposing players one of these weeks, and I don't even really know what "smote" means. I see an undersized D-line (all three of them at a time!) and a well-sized but sluggish and oafish O-line. They both get beat, play after play.I will pass on even commenting on the kickers and the special teams players. I'm not a former college football player or coach, but I see what I see. I see players that don't fit. I see some players who are OK with getting demolished. I see a supposed NFL-type talent playing around with other players who are supposed to be prepping for their next possession. The whole thing has become painful. So, someone please provide specifics regarding the "talent" that is supposedly on this team. Who will magically turn into players when JD disappears?hard to really assess what a new coach will do with what is left when he shows up...we gotta hope Nicely a nd a very few others do not transfer...i think many of us have believed for several years that a different scheme on defense might help some...problem there is the players recruited were for the current system...might not translate well to a more conventional defense where you need size on the line and at least one BIG backer who can control the middle...same with safeties...the upside next year may actually be on offense...if key players stay..i still find it difficult to believe that an o-line that was good last year all of a sudden got that bad losing one senior...there was more going on with coaching decisions there...quarterback issues,running back issues,no tight end in the offense etc etc..

the temple game is another harsh example of the gap between the overall talent level of the zips and the BEST teams in the mac year in and year out...after the middle of the second quarter this looked like a DI team playing a high school team...temple is faster and stronger overall and just bulldozed akron...this happened with cmu and niu also...akron simply does not have enough talent on the field or on the sideline right now to compete with the best mac teams...problem is the affects of that will last for several more years... fortunately there are a few kids to build around but becoming really competetive may take a while...sad...

The MAC Championship Game was the best coached game in the D-1A era. Huge come from behind win. Defense adjusted to what NIU was doing and held them to field goals instead of TDs. Zips score seven instead of six and win by one. Many of the games the Zips won under Brookhart had decent coaching. The problem is there are too few of the well coached games and too many of the poorly coached games.With good coaching, the team can do much better next year. After suffering through MAC games this week on TV, I am convinced we can beat any team that has been on TV with the exception of CMU. The players proved to me last week they have talent and can execute a game plan even when they are not put in the best position to win. I was very proud of the players last week and I remain very bullish about the near future of this team.OU is terrible. Too bad it was Nicely's 1st game and not his 4th. Hell...if Nicely plays the entire game we probably beat them.Buffalo is terrible. The INT at game's end hurt us...but a true Fr QB will do that stuff on occasion. Certainly a winnable game.NIU is mediocre. Miller catches the Nicely bomb in the 4th quarter and it is a dramatically different outcome. 17-6 would really have put the heat on NIU.K.e.n.t. is terrible.EMU is terrible.BG is terrible.Temple is a good benchmark for JD and the Zips. Nicely now has his feet wet. The D has held opponents under 29 points in 5 consecutive games (no small feat considering our 26-yard rugby punts, pop up kick-offs and penchant for offensive 3-and-outs). The O-line is coming off their best performance of the season. We're at home.I say - if Tuzze has over 50 yards rushing, we win.Nicely, Tuzze,.... hoo hoo. Hoo Hoo HOO HOOIs there an Owl in here? Nope, the only Owl I'll be seein' tonight is the one Temple Owl RB (#3? something) draggin' his sorry butt back to the huddle after meeting up with Mr. Monster Crushing Amondo Sewell, aka The Bird Catcher! GO ZIPS!!! lets see... we lost to buffalo and niu...beat Can't...haven't played bg or emu..point?

Wow, beating Navy is the sign of greatness? Here is their 2009 schedule and results. Navy hasn't beaten anybody good! Notre Dame is horrible and wouldn't come in third in a second tier conference like the Big 10. So your advice seems to be to allow Temple to get their yards on the ground (losing strategey) while keeping them from getting yards on the ground by having the front read their keys (winning strategy)....brilliant.Ladies and gentlemen, the Great GP1 is about to split the atom on this web board. Are you ready? A football game is won by running a balanced offense (near equal number of runs and passes) and forcing the other team to run an unbalanced by preventing their running game from doing anything. Get a big lead early with big plays (throw down field JD), run the ball late to kill the clock and force them to throw. How about mixing some man-to-man with zone when rushing only 3? If we are going to run blitz on first and second down, blitz from the outside and not up the middle....I think Wagner and our DLine could fight it out in the middle if they did a better job of forcing the action into the middle.....Our DBs do not tackle well enough to have the action forced out to them. One more DLineman would help to support the middle if they blitzed from the outside.Pass on first down and run on second down. Run straight at them like the Steelers did to the fraud that is the Denver Broncos Monday. >Let us pause briefly for a Great GP1 prediction.....The NFL has figured out Denver and IF Denver makes the playoffs, they will be the last team in. Cincinnati could win the AFC North and the Steelers would get a Wild Card (they now have a tie-breaker over Denver with the win Monday). Lots of other teams could buck the Broncos right out of the playoffs.<Enough predictions....................... An old rule in football is blitz early and cover late. If they have the lead and are getting pressure on the QB with their base defense, then they can win with this strategy. The only real unknown is if the Zips can actually play tight man-to-man defense. We never see them play tight man-to-man so we don't know how they will do at it. Our secondary is more concerned with not giving up big plays than making a play.If they have the lead late, run, run and run some more. Don't listen to the idiots who say that is playing not to lose.....I've watched the Steelers do it for 40 years and it seems to work for them. Teams that "play not to lose" always seem to end up losing. It isn't exciting and makes everyone nervous, but it works.only you used the word 'great' not me...you certainly don't have to be great to beat the zips now do you?

in the mac you can do that...especially if you can run and play D

fleming's defense can't stop a running team..period...