zip81

I just have to disagree with your assessment of the coach's abilities and the adminsitration's action during the period that the University of Akron went to D-1A. First Muse was going to make a name for himself and drag Akron into the "Big Time" no matter who he ran over. The AD was nothing more than Muse's gopher. Look at the conference they put us in to get to D-1A status. No basketball, so Huggins left, it wasn't about money. Dennison was never given a chance try to bring the team into D-1A, Muse saw a chance to get a "BIG NAME" coach so he did. And speaking of the abilities of Gerry Faust, I grant you he could recruit, when did he ever win at the college level. He lost at Notre Dame (which is pretty hard to do) and he came to Akron and lost even with the gravy schedules and the cake teams they gave him to play against. I was there in the 60's with Gordon Larson, in the 70's with Dennison, and I was there when they hired Faust. Don't get me started :mad_flame: :mad_flame: I do agree that it was almost thirty years ago, and it is time to go on ...........I agree with some of what you have to say, but there are some inaccuracies.First of all, Muse didn't put us in ANY conference to go D I in football. If you remember, we were leaving the OVC to go DI in football and were going to be an independent. It is my honest belief that Gerry Faust wanted to take Akron to the Big-Time Division I indepdendent status, like Notre Dame or Penn State. The Rubber Bowl was a nice big stadium. I can even remember Faust saying the Rubber Bowl was one of the reasons he came here. In addition, I remember Coach Faust saying that he didn't want to join the MAC. He didn't consider the MAC big time enough. When we went DI in football and an independent, the basketball team lost it's automatic bid in the OVC. It is almost impossible for a mid-major program to get an at-large bid to the tournament. Huggins felt left out to dry. So...we joined the lame Northeat Conference consisting of teams that we, in no freaking way, could relate to. Marist? St. Francis? c'mon. I was at the news conference when they made the announcement. You should have seen Huggins. He had absolutely no enthusiasm...the wind was completely out of his sails. I knew he wasn't long for the Hilltop.If you remember, we never did join the Northeast Conference and had to pay a good sum of money to get out of the deal.Coach Dennison? Great guy. I personally believe he should have been given the opportunity to take Akron to the Divison IA level. He earned that right. However, as a previous poster said, Muse had the opportunity to put Akron on the football map with the hiring of Faust.I plead guilty to believing that Akron was now joining the big time and applauded Muse for what he did. However, unfortunately, Faust never got his act together and we had a bunch of mediocre seasons, never reaching the big time status that was envisioned.Finally, and thankfully, we joined the MAC, which is where we belonged in the first place.It's fun to talk about the old days, however, it is time to move on.I'm enthusiastic about the direction of the football and basketball programs now.However, we despirately need a new stadium. The Rubber Bowl is an embarrassment. How about a coat of paint until we move into the new place?I have always been disappointed in the JAR. I wish we could junk that thing too. It's a shame we couldn't build the 12,000 seat arena we originally had in mind. I've been in nicer high school gyms than that place.

J.D. is getting beat up on some MAC football forums.They say he did nothing with a team that had a lot of talent.IMHO, the schedule sucked...Knute Rockne couldn't have come out of those first 7 games with a winning record. Excuse? Maybe.I still have confidence in Coach Brookhart (and Dambrot for that matter) and think he's going to be a good one.

Despite attendance figures there is no way that 15,000 actually walked through the gates at any game this year. Now it's the day after Thanksgiving (big shopping day); the Zips are staring a losing season in the face; and the game is on ESPN U for those that don't want to put up with the Rubber Bowl hassles. They may announce an attendance figure of 15,000, but I'll bet a day old drumstick that 10,000 or less will actually be in the seats. The NCAA allows schools to use "paid" or "actual" attendance to meet the requirement.Obviously we use the "paid" number.The attendance requirement is a joke.Notice when they do that they don't have the nerve to announce the attendance at the Bowl...they would get laughed out of the stadium.I'll bet actual butts in the seats will be about 7 or 8 thousand...

As a Zip alum (1981 Mass Media: Communications) who worked in Cleveland radio and TV for almost 20 years, this forum strikes a nerve.First of all, Akron is in a very unique and unfortunate position when it comes to media markets. It is simply too close to Cleveland. WAKR-TV was an abc affiliate because back in the 50's when abc (the old NBC blue network) began, they were grabbing affiliates anywhere they could find them. Thus the overlap with Channel 5.To answer the one post, yes, Channl 23 covered the Zips rather well back in the day when they had anchors such as Dick Russ, Mark Williamson, Len Rome and Carl Dickens. Carl Dickens was news director, sports anchor and called Zips play by play on WAKR radio.Cleveland TV does not cover Akron, or Can't sports for that matter, because they feel the interest is not there. High school sports receive more coverage than the Zips or flushes. The only way to combat this is to have a winning program with bowl appearances and NCAA tourney runs year after year until some type of community buzz is created.What riles me is the coverage they give CSU basketball...still on the coat tails of Kevin Mackey and the run they had back in the late 80's.The news coverage received is a reflection of the attendance. I guarentee if the Bowl was filled every week,the news coverage would follow.You can't compare Akron with Youngstown when it comes to media markets.Youngstown is market number 103, Cleveland/Akron is 17.I've always said that if Akron were geographically located where Canton is, it would have it's own TV market...much like Dayton (which Akron is bigger than) in relation to Cincinnati.I personally used to preach Akron athletics to the sports guys at Channel 8...usually getting a in return.The only way we'll get more coverage is to win, win, win...and then we'll only get so much more coverage....unfortunately that's the way it is.Go Zips and

After reading the other posts on this topic, I have to say something that I've always felt:Despite being a Division I program, when it comes to marketing and paying attention to detail, our University is still, in many ways, Division II.

I understand what you are saying, however, it is not the responsibility of the newspaper. They are simply selling space.It is the responsibility of the customer to update their ads!!!!

I really thought this season was going to be great...especially after the NC State win.A disappointment.

Remember..Frenchy is an OU grad!!!

This is tough to watch.

Arthur drops another one.

At the end of 3OU 17Akron zip

Well Zip fans....just about time to turn out the lights.OU 17Akron 0

How did they get the ball back?

Here we go...C'mon Zippers!!!

I don't think J.D. can get this team motivated no matter what he says, and maybe the problem is he doesn't say anything. Too many players seem to be too lackadaisical. Stec looked like he was stolling in the park going back after that fumbled snap, for my money he gave up on that play and it cost us a TD. Getsy gets sacked on the last play before the half. If the offense can't score maybe we should give our piss poor special teams a chance to kick a field goal? Too many Akron players don't want to win this game, and that has been the problem with most of the team members all year. If you can't get motivated with this game, you deserve to lose.

I'm not ready to give up on Luke yet.OU has made their fair share of mistakes. But we don't capitalize on them.We have made mistakes, in addition to playing with our heads up our dupa.If we cut down on the mistakes we can still win this one.

So what does JD say in the locker room?

I hate to say it, but OU is looking like the better team tonight.We're lucky to be down by only 7.

Guess what, announcers haven't mentioned Ohio State once.

both teams moving the ball, but making stupid mistakes.Nice pass Akron.down to OU 35.

Zip Fans..anybody out there watching the game?