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Zach, I am not sure what you'd call "Good Attendance" at this point. Can you give us a number? Honestly, I've bought into the idea that the Weekday nights certainly hurt us a bit last year. But, I don't see that Buffalo and OU in football will draw significantly different than Miami and BG. I might even be inclined to say that the latter two would surely collectively have more alums living in the area. Obviously, having the Ken+ game at home is always going to help the yearly total a bit.

As fans, I think some of us will get a little excited about the "Z" for awhile, because it's something new. But, those of you who are trying to come to grips with the idea of the school's identifying symbol being the Initial of their Nickname are correct. Even though it may be unique, I think you see the challenge when you imagine even the most prominent athletic programs suddenly trying to identify with non-committed fans with a Letter representation that won't instantly associate itself with the school. I can certainly see a lot of "What school is a Z" coming out of this. It's a challenge, at the very least...but more likely, it's a very long learning curve. People are not disassociated with Akron Athletics because they don't like the "A Roo" logo. And a change to a different ID is not going to solve that problem either.

Hilarious. I'll tell you what. There's plenty of people getting publicity for nothing. I've often wondered all along if this is just a big publicity stunt. I love how the article quotes the owner of the facility, indicating that they might be ready to operate next spring or summer. And the saga continues.

Not sure if anyone on this board would be happy with our new nickname.....The Golden Zips? I have to admit, a 72,000 student, two-campus University, that can overpower anyone in the State or the Country does sound interesting. Assuming that this would also double our funding, double our fundraising, and double our athletic support, I wonder where we could be from an athletic competition standpoint? I guess we'd get our new basketball arena, and an expansion to the Info.

Read the description of the event in the Link that Dave provides in his post. It looks like it was written by an elementary school student. This is just hilarious. I'm glad I don't live anywhere near that part of town.

Listen Folks. I turned on the news at 5:30 this morning, and they had a REPORTER standing outside the Rubber Bowl doing this story. They kept going back to them several times. I couldn't believe it !! According to this report this morning: No Electric - They will use Generators No Water - They will have portable washing stations No Bathroom Access - Portable bathrooms, of course. You can't allow public access to ANY business without a certified occupancy permit, for safety reasons, of course. I can't see any way that this will actually happen. But, then I read that they say that they can't really stop it? Can't use any City Owned parking? That pretty much eliminates any parking near the facility. I feel sorry for all of the people living in those nearby neighborhoods. This is likely to be a disaster. This just gets more bizarre by the day.

Spin. I have family members who went through the Nursing School at the U of A, and they feel the same way as you right now. You could become a nurse by going online, or to many of these job training technical schools. They chose Akron because they wanted a major university on that degree. I don't want the U of A to approach being perceived as anything close to that kind of "technical" or "career training" school. That's my biggest concern.

Now if someone would just grow some nuts and start lowering the boom on some NCAA basketball and football programs, like they should, programs like Akron might have a chance again. I keep hearing that the NFL cares too much about money, just like the NCAA, but obviously this was not a money decision. Kudos. Don't get me wrong. I think Brady conducts himself better than most athletes, and I don't think the evidence really approaches undoubtable evidence, but I like seeing people who aren't afraid to take action to make sure there's equality among teams.

True, LeBron was never a "choke", but he was referred to as such when the delusional Cleveland sports fans ran out of negative things to say about him while he was playing in the Finals every year in another city.

Dave...our resident master of research. I guess it's not a stretch to say that this origin information on the word "Polytechnic" may need to be included in future student recruitment marketing material. And all of those times my mommy sent me to those damn Arts and Craft classes when I was a kid, none of those lame instructors ever taught me about the link to greek mythology. Although, I doubt it would have made a difference in my interest level.

Mark, That's well said. I keep saying this, and I will repeat it. Maybe (as Dave suggests) being a "polytechnic" university, by definition and in reality, doesn't take away from the diverse level of education that Akron has provided...and will provide...for years to come. I can't answer that question. But, my bigger concern is that the LABEL itself may change the perception of the University and those "non-technical" degree programs. All it takes is for future students to get the impression that "Akron is not the place to go for an English/psych/history degree", even if it's a misconception in the terminology, and you could possibly see the level of value in those programs start to plummet. I have to be honest. Until these definition and explanations started to pop up, and I read them carefully, I saw the word "TECH" to mean exactly what most people think it would mean. And that would not be a good thing.

Wow....Zippy5. It looks like we just keep adding more and more interesting elements to this discussion. I think that most of us surely went to college for the purpose of elevating our careers. It probably took me many years to also realize that having degrees, being college educated, and developing life skills and higher levels of general knowledge had tremendous value as well. I'm sure one could also argue that there's a reason why people seek degrees from Harvard, and Yale and Columbia, etc. If the only thing anyone is after is some "job training", nobody would be seeking high levels of education, and the status that goes along with holding degrees from prestigious institutions.

LZip....please just make sure you separate the idea of becoming well rounded by choice, or being in a program that just requires it. It's been a long, long time. But, I do remember that some majors are required to take foreign language, and others are not., etc. Those people become well-rounded by the nature of the program's requirements. On the other hand, being a Dance Major doesn't necessarily prevent you from becoming well rounded. In addition to all of the general requirements, there's tons of hours of electives that are available to you to diversify your education, whether your program required it or not. For instance, I was a Liberal Arts major, but I took 20 hours of business courses in accounting, marketing, business law, etc., in order to enhance a possible future business career. Thank God I did.

Interesting discussion. I have to admit, I have often been faced with the dilemma of having bright, well-educated candidates that lacked the training in college to be instantly productive in the workforce. And honestly, it has frustrated me, and I've pushed the burden back to their educators to change some of the skills they are taught before they start to enter the work force. On the surface, I think this can be accomplished without depriving someone of their desire to be highly educated and well-rounded as an individual, as part of their college experience. Maybe I'm asking for too much. I don't know.

I see the benefits there. Thanks. LZip mentioned this as well.

OU walk-on, and now leaving a D-II school? Unless I am missing something, can someone give me something to get excited about that he's coming here? He wouldn't have to sit out.

I think new "leaders" often make the mistake of moving on new ideas without sufficient information. This may have been the case here. I think he at least had an obligation to get some kind of "pulse" of what the reaction would be from students and alums before he ventured into these waters. The students are your tuition payers, and the alums are your donors. These are your customers in this line of work. You have to know your customers. We all have seen this, and complained about it many times in regards to our athletic administration making changes to parking priority, etc. The same thing should apply here. It's a frequent mistake made by people who enter a new environment in a decision-making position without learning enough about the culture of the entity that they are attempting to change.

Dave, I don't want to attack you here, but do you think that within the context of what he is doing here, that he would say that he DOES intend to diminish the Arts and Humanities? But the reason I brought it up is because I think that those who will never understand the terminology, and all of it's meaning, will perceive us as a Tech School, and perception is reality for most people.

I keep wondering if students are booing him at Graduation Ceremonies today?

Dave, Thanks for the info. Just based on this description, it seems to alienate so many great programs at U of A that fall outside of this "STEM" category, which is my greatest complaint. I don't even want to guess at how many bachelor's degree programs, some of them very renowned, are BA (Arts) in nature. That's why my feeling is that we have taken a comprehensive University and narrowed it's areas of focus dramatically, to the displeasure of everyone who has/will obtain a BA degree from this institution, including myself.

Some of us might be missing something, including myself. I'm pretty sure I am reading this "Ohio's Polytech University" as a descriptive phrase, and NOT something that will become part of the official registered name. Also, in regards to the idea of combining with other NE Ohio universities...... Bull Crap. How about if we rise to the top and let the others worry about their own survival. Conquer them athletically and academically, and let us be THE university. Stop the #TeamOhio crap and work on getting everyone behind the U of A. There's no reason why we can't someday emerge at the Cincinnati of NE Ohio.

LONG overdue.

I just didn't want a "Name Change". So, I think I can live with this. Although, I still think that the general population will never understand "polytechnic", and I believe that devalues many of our fine programs that will be perceived to be outside of this category. I see one error in the report...... Virginia Tech and Texas Tech are examples of branded universities in major URBAN areas? They are in the middle of nowhere. However, I'm sure this will be pleasing information to people who live in Blacksburg, VA and Lubbock, TX.

And the Hokie nickname and the "Gobble..Gobble" sound you have to hear from their loudspeakers every time there's a good play is annoying. Trust me....we had to hear it about 100 times during that ass whoopin they gave us down there in 1995

I have no feelings, either way, regarding the Patriots, Brady, Belichick or the organization. But I do have two thoughts. 1) I agree with those who think it's ridiculous to even mention any connection between an underinflated football, and any effect on the outcome of the Indianapolis game. 2) With nothing more than a report that says that "there was a better chance than not" that Brady was aware of this, what can you really do? He didn't commit the act, and may have just possibly.....possibly...been aware of it? These are the findings that they will use to issue a penalty against him? That's really, really weak in my book. Whoever you can prove was involved, it's cheating, so penalize them. Whoever you can't prove was involved, you take no action. It sounds like they may have been hell-bent on making a Brady connection instead of focusing on an objective search for the events that took place.