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zipsoutsider

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Posts posted by zipsoutsider

  1. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    I have to say it is a little shocking to see the completely lack of momentum or activity from Zips FB. I started following ULM Football on social media to see how Bowden changes his style and it has been a constant stream of activity, including replies and retweets from former Zips FB. 

     

    Bowden is active on Twitter. Rich Rod had TB on his podcast this week, and ULM coaches are on a Shreveport radio station every Wednesday AM. 

     

    By the way, Bowden mentioned recently that he has raised $350k since he arrived in Monroe. He sees fundraising as part of his role.

     

    Bowden and his staff aren't waiting for the ULM administration to do the heavy lifting.it makes me wonder what Arth is waiting for?

  2. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    5 hours ago, GP1 said:

    Thanks for your response.

     

    In terms of the base product, G5 schools are more entertaining now than they have ever been so I wouldn't use the word decline. Except for at the very top where there are 3-5 teams that win every week in lopsided blowouts, college football is more entertaining than it has ever been. G5 schools just don't have the resources and are never going to have the resources to keep up with the P5 schools.

     

    I'm not concerned about the lack of commitment. I think they are doing all they can do with the available money. My problem is their chronic bad decision making. You can have all of the resources in the world and when your decision making is as bad as ours the results are plainly and painfully visible. Mix all of this in with endless negative publicity they seem to generate on their own, it is a bad look.

     

    Arth? He seems like a nice enough guy and I hope he does well. He will be fine regardless of what happens at Akron. I neither like nor dislike his coaching. I would rather hate a coach than be this indifferent. Heck, I don't even watch much of the games because I just can't stand to watch football that is as bad as it is. At least you can hate someone who is actually doing something. The problem Arth has now is his dance with the Chargers. His lack of commitment to UofA was plainly on display and was the beginning of the end of his time at Akron. Arth is what guys like Larry Williams and average participants on boards of corporations/universities believe a coach/manager should look like. There was nothing in his resume that would suggest he would be successful at UTC, let alone Akron, but the geniuses at the top thought differently. You could make a case for every coach from Faust through Bowden (except for Coach I) was a decent hire at the time. Faust came from ND. Owens had some time at OSU and was a known guy around Ohio who might be able to get recruits to rebuild a program nobody wanted. JD was a nationally known, hot name in the coaching ranks when he was at Pitt. Bowden was a Bowden.  What was the case for Arth? Good looking?....So what?  Played in the NFL?....So what? From NE Ohio?...So what? Coached at JC and UTC?....So what? Went to St. I?....So what? I could do this all day. His hollow resume was obvious.

    Again, I mostly agree with this, especially the part about poor decision-making vs. commitment.

     

    Your points about the resume are notable. I quit paying for ESPN+ to watch Zips game and mostly ended up turning off the radio broadcasts because they were just not interesting any more.

     

    I think right-sizing expectations is a key to G5 success. What does it look like at the current budget? What does it look like with more money and support? What happens if support diminishes? It seems like the expectations are the same regardless of the level of support. It just doesn't work like that 

  3. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    On 4/5/2021 at 8:10 AM, GP1 said:

    This doesn't have to be the fate of Akron or G5 football. It can be better...much better.

     

    G5 schools can use football to have a positive impact on the athletes, students, alumni, fans and the greater communities where they exist. At some point they have to stop tilting at windmills and develop a reality based plan that allows the schools to be impactful in these areas.

     

    People will say that this line of thinking isn't "dreaming big".  Really? What have G5 schools gotten for dreaming big over the past 25 years? Stadiums they can't afford? Salaries they can't afford?  One incompetent AD after another delivering another broken "building process"? Weeknight games in front of empty stadiums? Dwindling community support? Apathetic alumni? Fans that can't even muster enough enthusiasm to at least show up at the stadium to tailgate, play some cornhole and get drunk with friends?

     

    When someone says, "Dream big", they normally mean they want what someone else has. It's called envy. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins and not something you want to base your decisions around. How is this envy working out for G5 schools?  Are G5 closer or further away from the P5 schools in football right now? G5 schools need to go on the pursuit of what is best for them in lieu of what someone else has. When we do that, schools can be more impactful to the athletes, students, alumni, fans and greater communities.

    100%

    I don't think decline has to be the fate of G5 schools. They are selling the wrong product to the communities.

    I am concerned about the lack of commitment the administration has to D1 football.

    I think Arth got promoted one level above his ability, but it is tough to give him a true fair assessment with the way the program has been handled by administration.

  4. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    Akron football has almost fallen off the radar. Arth, Williams, and U are all responsible for that. 

     

    I do believe the trajectory is FCS or D2 ball for the Zips.

     

    We went from beating Northwestern in 2018 to this? What a total disaster.

    • Haha 1

  5. Larry Williams Gone - Replaced by UW-Green Bay's Charles Guthrie

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

     

    Yes, it is early.  However, there's a reason Sean Lewis's name is in the discussion for big school jobs, including Kansas.  That program is going in the right direction.  We should be so lucky.  We'd be erecting a Tom Arth statue if he made that type of progress and won seven games and took the team to a bowl in his second year.  Also, the first of your two win seasons wasn't Lewis's.

    A Tom Arth statue for going 5-3 and 3-1? 

     

    Your points don't actually rebutt the more wins and fewer injuries points. 

  6. Larry Williams Gone - Replaced by UW-Green Bay's Charles Guthrie

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

    How about you just fill us in on what he said?

    He and LW disagreed about using money games as the primary way to fund the program. It adds L's to your record, not W's, and leaves the kids beat up. Look at his last season with the Zips. Really rough OOC schedule: Nebraska (canceled), a good Iowa State Team, Northwestern, and South Carolina. Com0are that with the 2015 schedule. 

     

    The best teams in the SBC have one money game, at the most.

     

    His point was that the AD can help the program out, alot, with scheduling.

  14. Transfer Portal

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    Not surprised by those numbers. A lot of xoaches are holding off signing portal kids until after spring football when they have a better handle on what they need.

     

    Lyons seemed to do a decent job of long snapping. It's an important role to fill. Maybe they borught in a bigger, more athletic kid. Time will tell. 

  16. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    16 hours ago, ZIPFAN21 said:

    Building a team from the absolute bottom requires time and patience.  Unfortunately, you're not guaranteed success only hope.  This team will begin to blossom in 2022.  2019 was a disaster, absolute dumpster fire.  2020 was more competitive and the kids got better.  Now just need to keep them around and have them grow together.   One more year of learning and growing pains.  I think Nelson and Gibson will be at the top of the depth chart coming out of the spring.   Then Irons will get some looks in fall camp.   The bottomline is that the QB position is now a position of strength with the depth being built.  

    It wasn't the absolute bottom. The absolute bottom was the way Ianello left it.

    • Like 1

  17. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    23 hours ago, Spin said:

    sar·casm | \ ˈsär-ˌka-zəm  \

     

    1: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain

     

    2a: a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual

    b: the use or language of sarcasm

    Sarcasm isn't an excuse for ignoranxe.

    • Haha 1

  18. Class of '21 Verbal Commits

    in Akron Zips Football Recruiting

    Posted

    13 hours ago, LZIp said:

    Scholarship may have been the original intent, but I'd say its either 1) we found a better player to use it on or 2) there was some issue with Cook (former OT coach) leaving for the NFL. I think its more likely the former. Suppose we'll have to wait and see.

    A lot of these kids in the Pioneer league have different aspirations are getting scholarships, just not athletic. Sometimes those schools are just better fits for player as a person.

  19. 2021 Schedule

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Spin said:


    All those women’s sports aren’t going to pay for themselves (or attend football games for that matter).

    Wow, thanks for the enlightening comment.

    Some still fighting the Title IX battle, probably waiting for the south to rise again, too?

  22. Class of '21 Verbal Commits

    in Akron Zips Football Recruiting

    Posted

    10 hours ago, John Ward said:

    Fellows, if a young man is 6’9 330lbs and can move a little,P5 schools line up. Doesn’t look like this is happening here so keep that in mind.

    Ladies, who recruited this kid? If he couldn't move, that should have been identified during the recruiting process or is the strength and conditioning program so deficient, that they couldn't make a dent?

     

    The Browns got rid of Zach Bammer because he was overweight. Mike Tomlin gave Banner another chance, but told him he had to lose weight and he did. He has become an impact player on their "jumbo" package. Looking forward to seeing him come back from his injury next season. 

  25. Who should we hire to replace Arth?

    in Akron Zips Football

    Posted

    12 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

    I don't think you need to be some great talent evaluator to see that the players on the teams the Zips were playing the past two years were bigger, faster and more athletic.  There were also instances where there was obvious bad technique by Zips players and play calls that were head scratchers and that bad technique and playcalling lies at the feet of the coaching staff.  Here's hoping the players gaining experience helps things from a talent perspective and that experience in the coaching staff helps that side of things.

     

    1 win in two years is a combination of factors that can't be traced to the single source many of you wish to foist blame upon.  You don't get this bad from one from one thing. 

     

    The tone of some of the posts on here seems to be that there's a hope that Arth continues to fail so that an "I told you so" can be exclaimed.  Am I happy with Arth?  Hell no, but there's no other opportunity available right now, he's not getting canned and the school's finances won't allow anything else, so I have to hope he succeeds.

    I like how people make assertions is about improved talent with zero results to back it up. I don't accept the premise that the kids are bigger and faster. But if I did, you would have enough think Arth was such a bad coach he couldn't win with better talent? 

     

    For me, I just don't see the pathway for success. I don't see how we get to 3 wins, let alone 5 next year. As has been stated, there was not a lot, if any notable improvement in 2020.

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