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Sportsjunkie.....that's why I am asking. What other great accomplishment do we use to sell the success of our program to recruits....TODAY?

I'll put myself among those who want much, much more from this basketball program. But for those who think that the consecutive 20 win seasons is not a big deal, I'll ask you to come up with something more significant that epitomizes our program right now, and can be used to sell recruits on the idea that Akron is a special place.

Well, at least one Cleveland TV news station might be jumping on the "anything to slam the University of Akron" bandwagon. Early this morning, one of them reported about us paying stipends to athletes when we are millions in the hole, and cutting jobs. They waited until the VERY END of the report to state very briefly that other schools are also paying the stipends. Yes....go figure...maybe they should have dug a little further and found out that most or ALL of the big schools will be paying a stipend this year?

That's true Dave. You should go out and sell your program with things that set you apart from the rest. For now, the consecutive 20 win seasons is the hallmark of our program. I wish we could slap other, more prominent labels on ourselves. We all do. But this is what we have for now, and it's obviously not easy to achieve.

Hilltopper, it's leased from the city. I know nothing about the details. And I know this is all hypothetical, but if the RubberDucks could save money by having two entities leasing the ballpark, could it not be a win/win? Even if the RubberDucks could sublease a couple dozen times a year, it still seems like a great deal for them. Does anyone know what we do now when we use Canal Park for games? Completely eliminating the cost of maintaining our own ballpark on campus altogether would seem to have great potential benefit.

I just thought that "full stipend" was the same max amount, across the board. If the amounts are going to vary that much, I think it clearly could signal to recruits that their "extra spending money" is more at certain places.

I guess my first thought is that when you see the campus from Exchange, it's actually a good, panoramic view of the entire strip of buildings. So, it might make sense from that standpoint, if they have enough room there for suitable visitor parking. As far as the baseball field is concerned, we don't need it if it's not coming back. And if it does come back, I wonder if it's practical to cut a deal with Canal Park to use that facility a couple dozen more times a year when RubberDucks games are not being played, rather than maintaining our own field. It might be a win/win for everyone. The city could have two "tenants" using Canal Park.

That puts an interesting spin on all of this. So, when we are out there recruiting, OU can say that their payments are higher than Akron? I can see that OU possibly has higher COA than Akron, but in the mind of a recruit, are they just seeing that one school is able to pay more than another? I didn't know this variable existed.

When we gave the job to the former coach's assistant, I felt like we blew a rare opportunity as a school like Akron. We had a program that could have probably lured just about anyone in the country. We may never have a chance to utilize that type of leverage again, in any sport. I felt like we should have gone elsewhere, and I have been a bit disappointed with what we've accomplished since that time. The contract extension surprised me.

According to the story, there are different amounts being paid by different schools? I thought it was all the same when the NCAA put this into place. If not, I think it has the potential to be able to turn into a competitive advantage if you are one who pays more.

Just a note about the advertising. Most everyone knows that Akron has a University, and a stadium, and a football team. Announcing that there is a college football game between Akron and an opponent in September is not creating any new awareness, no matter how many times you beat it into the brains of NE Ohioans. And we had fireworks at the Rubber Bowl too. The only question is.....will the PITTSBURGH PANTHERS as the opponent draw in any additional NE Ohio college football fans?

Being "Big Winners" = Showing that you can compete on a NATIONAL level, rather than a MAC level. At a minimum, I think this means Top 100 wins (although I often doubt whether that's good enough for the "fringe" fans). And the fewer you have on your schedule, the fewer chances you have to make that kind of impression on your fans.

I'm absolutely THRILLED that we get 3 in a row at home to close the season. I can pick that schedule apart all I want, but it gets trumped, big time, by those 3 games. When the end of February comes along, and we are all sitting here thinking about our maximum position with the often-lofty and hypothetical "What If We Win Out" proposition......this year.....it will be a very realistic possibility.

MDZip...I could have sworn we'll owe Pitt another road game. If not, you're right. That is pretty amazing.

Dr. Z....I'm with you and Dave. Zippy5....I would take the Suckeyes at the Q also, and I don't have any problem with getting a game against higher ranked teams that costs us more games in exchange at their place. We just did this with Syracuse and Pitt in football. Why does anyone have a problem with this? It's getting us some recognizable road opponents (and opportunities for high profile wins), and a power conference home game. Works for me.

Without any regard to who might be the better Quarterback, I think our situation with the lack of playmakers might eventually dictate that Chapman could simply be the better option to move the football because of his multi-dimensional skills. With that said, I'm still hoping that I will be pleasantly surprised with our RBs and WRs. But I'm not holding my breath.

There's two ways to look at this. 1) If we are going to continue to schedule very poor teams at home to pad our "W" total, at least we got some good road games this year, and a chance to grab some attention if we perform well in those games. Villanova or Arkansas could potentially be "National Attention" wins. I'm happy for that chance. 2) Overall, maybe not an improvement. We'll see how good (or bad) the rest of those teams are as the season progresses.

Ok, I love relishing in our victory in Pittsburgh last year. That capped off a great weekend road trip for me. Maybe the most fun I have ever had on a Zips road trip (the win helped). But please, lets return to a little bit of reality. Making any kind of conclusion because Hundley rushed for more yard than Conner in last year's game is just ridiculous.

Yes, it was reported that they could stay and keep their scholarships.

I love the opportunity with the NIT road games. Nice move for us. Beyond that I am highly disappointed. Expect several of those home games to have tons of no-shows from the season ticket holders.

No Balsy, not at all. Nothing wrong with disagreeing.

I'm just mad we didn't have this opportunity to play CSU at the Q before they chickened out and ended the yearly games with us.

You're right, Balsy. It could depend on whether other occupants can be found. But otherwise, the landlord could take a huge loss. Owning a property (business) and not having enough tenants to make money, and being fine with that, is not a requirement to be a decent human being. The landlord is in a very tough spot here. You're also right that the problem was created by someone else. But, those players didn't HAVE to leave and go to another school. And I do feel badly for their predicament.

Can I guess that the Western Michigan and WVU coaches voted for themselves? This would make it darn near a unanimous vote for the Zips.

I know it sucks for the players, but what are the people who own those place, and pay for them, supposed to do? They are out a lot of money if someone has the place reserved via contract, and it's too late to find other people to get in there.