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Low expectations are for losers. I want to win. We have one of the top QB's in the MAC, and the MAC is a QB-driven league. I don't know what to expect from the Zips in 2010, but I certainly expect a team with 16 returning starters to compete well. Ianello didn't take over a team bereft of talent, like Lee Owens did after Faust. Ianello is taking over a pretty decent group of players. The Zips should at least be 6-6 this season. New coach, new offensive and defensive schemes...3 BCS OOC's. I don't expect 10 - 2. But another 3 - 9 or 4 - 8 season is out of the question. Don't let any low-aimer fool you... we have more talent than that on-hand. That would be incorrect. Gerry's last team was loaded freshman and sophomores. And Lee has 14 returning starters for his first season, including a freshman QB with several games of experience. You can verify that if you have a game program from that season. You can verify your assessment... if you have a crack pipe. Gerry Faust left Lee Owens with a team that went 1 - 10. The lone win came in the last game of the season, against a likewise 0 - 10 Ohio University team, in the legendary Toilet Bowl. The Zips were an eyelash away from being the worst team is Division 1-A football. The Gerry Faust* era left Owens with horrific training facilities. The Gerry Faust* era left Owens with a decrepit Rubber Bowl. The Gerry Faust era left Owens with NO Quarterback. Lee Owens got nothing from The Gerry Faust era except a legacy of arrests.... and those players who didn't get arrested would not have made YSU's roster. Ianello has AWESOME facilities. An AWESOME stadium. A roster of legit MAC-level players. A REAL Quarterback. Ianello has so many advantages in year #1 vs. what Owens had to deal with in Year #1, it is absolutely unreal. Oh, BTW - You can verify my comments with reality. * If you read into my statements that I am blaming Faust for the Rubber Bowl or the crappy training facilities, you are an idiot. Save us all your wisdom, move away from the keyboard, and go back to cutting construction paper with your plastic, rounded-tip scissors. If being an idiot is pointing out that a statement made by a poster is factually incorrect, then I am an idiot. I did check it, and it is correct. You may return to resorting to ranting and name calling any time you like. The floor is yours -- Tell me who this great quarterback that Faust left Owens was? You can't do it. Because he doesn't exist. Why did Owens burn Gromek's (Fr. QB) redshirt with 4 games remaining in the season? Because the tripe Faust left him at QB had no business playing any football at Akron, aside from intramural. Tell me how the 1-10 team that Owens took over, with a 17% graduation rate, with commonplace player arrests, was better than what Brookhart left Owens. You can't do it. Because it isn't true. You say you checked things out. That's a hollow statement. Back it up with something. I laid out facts. That has substance. BTW - I didn't call you an idiot in my post. I only called people who can't read idiots. Just like the idiot who is thinking about posting "But Faust left Owens with Jason Taylor." So for that guy I say - Hey idiot...K.e.n.t. had James Harrison. If the other 23 guys suck, one NFL All Pro on defense ain't gonna help. If I read your statement to which I objected again, I see that you point out that we have a lot of returning starters this year, and that our current coach was left with a ton of talent, and Faust left Owens with nothing. In one case, 16 starters returned, and in the other case 14 starters returned. I guess you can try to split hairs all you want about what players were on those two teams. But seriously, it's absurd to claim that one situation was a ton of talent and the other was nothing, when they were quite similar....bad teams with a bunch of underclassman starters And that 1995 team did indeed have a future NFL defensive MVP, and a QB who I believe set a single game Akron passing record in his first game his freshman year, the previous year.

Low expectations are for losers. I want to win. We have one of the top QB's in the MAC, and the MAC is a QB-driven league. I don't know what to expect from the Zips in 2010, but I certainly expect a team with 16 returning starters to compete well. Ianello didn't take over a team bereft of talent, like Lee Owens did after Faust. Ianello is taking over a pretty decent group of players. The Zips should at least be 6-6 this season. New coach, new offensive and defensive schemes...3 BCS OOC's. I don't expect 10 - 2. But another 3 - 9 or 4 - 8 season is out of the question. Don't let any low-aimer fool you... we have more talent than that on-hand. That would be incorrect. Gerry's last team was loaded freshman and sophomores. And Lee has 14 returning starters for his first season, including a freshman QB with several games of experience. You can verify that if you have a game program from that season. You can verify your assessment... if you have a crack pipe. Gerry Faust left Lee Owens with a team that went 1 - 10. The lone win came in the last game of the season, against a likewise 0 - 10 Ohio University team, in the legendary Toilet Bowl. The Zips were an eyelash away from being the worst team is Division 1-A football. The Gerry Faust* era left Owens with horrific training facilities. The Gerry Faust* era left Owens with a decrepit Rubber Bowl. The Gerry Faust era left Owens with NO Quarterback. Lee Owens got nothing from The Gerry Faust era except a legacy of arrests.... and those players who didn't get arrested would not have made YSU's roster. Ianello has AWESOME facilities. An AWESOME stadium. A roster of legit MAC-level players. A REAL Quarterback. Ianello has so many advantages in year #1 vs. what Owens had to deal with in Year #1, it is absolutely unreal. Oh, BTW - You can verify my comments with reality. * If you read into my statements that I am blaming Faust for the Rubber Bowl or the crappy training facilities, you are an idiot. Save us all your wisdom, move away from the keyboard, and go back to cutting construction paper with your plastic, rounded-tip scissors. If being an idiot is pointing out that a statement made by a poster is factually incorrect, then I am an idiot. I did check it, and it is correct. You may return to resorting to ranting and name calling any time you like.

Yes, you've watched the same QB as the rest of us. I've gotten a lot of the same feedback from people who have watched him play for years also, which is why I've cautioned a few people on here who seem convinced that we have a star on our hands. His scoreless performance in their state playoff game didn't help me get overly excited about him coming here either. I've used the Derek Anderson comparison myself, and so have many of the other people around me who've seen him play. Derek "looked" like a good QB too, until he had to complete a pass. I'm afraid I am seeing a lot of the same characteristics with this kid, which looked to continue as recently as the Spring game. I just sure hope he corrects it, or Rodgers gets healthy, or we get a transfer in here.

Low expectations are for losers. I want to win. We have one of the top QB's in the MAC, and the MAC is a QB-driven league. I don't know what to expect from the Zips in 2010, but I certainly expect a team with 16 returning starters to compete well. Ianello didn't take over a team bereft of talent, like Lee Owens did after Faust. Ianello is taking over a pretty decent group of players. The Zips should at least be 6-6 this season. New coach, new offensive and defensive schemes...3 BCS OOC's. I don't expect 10 - 2. But another 3 - 9 or 4 - 8 season is out of the question. Don't let any low-aimer fool you... we have more talent than that on-hand. That would be incorrect. Gerry's last team was loaded freshman and sophomores. And Lee has 14 returning starters for his first season, including a freshman QB with several games of experience. You can verify that if you have a game program from that season. Let's just hope the 2-9 record doesn't repeat itself as well.

That's why I remain realistic in just hoping for more wins than last year. Or, at least equal last year and beat someone other than a I-AA and two of the worst teams in 1-A.

This caught so many people's attention that they played it on the morning news yesterday. I think I heard that this is a team from Iceland. What will they think of next?

I'm thinking Syracuse is the highest likelihood for a victory as well. But, even with the large home crowd, and the victory two years ago in mind, we all know that we caught the Cuse at a very low point two years ago. And we have first-hand experience of what it's like to play them with even a little sense of confidence after what they did to us last year. I have a good friend who lves in Syracuse. He thinks that they are definitely on the way "up" again. If that's the case, even winning this one is going to take an outstanding effort. So, as far as these 3 games are concerned, and the current state of our own team, I am going to hope for one win, and dream about 2. I think it being the first game of the season might play the biggest factor here. If it were JD's team yet again I might be more inclined to agree with your friend (that Syracuse wins this game). But in this case, no one has game film of the Zips under Ianello. So, I think we might have even more of an advantage at home for this game than we might otherwise (We're the freakin' wildcard here!). That's my best argument after the team we saw last year. My best explanation of last year's squad is that it was just a completely wretched outlier. But as I said before, I still remain optimistic. Go Zips! ... Let's make some orange juice... I just want to be clear about what my Syracuse connection is saying here. He hasn't made any game predictions, and he's actually an old Zips fan having lived in this area a long time. He's simply indicating that he believes the Orange should continue on their upswing from where they were two years ago. I think the difference between the 08 and 09 games might indicate that. In 08, I think a poor Akron team beat a really bad Syracuse team. In 09, I think a bad Akron team lost to a just-better-than-bad Syracuse team. The Syracuse situation does indeed appear to be changing, and the question will be: Are we suddenly ready to turn the corner as well? I do agree with you that the season opener, the large home crowd, and the unknown entity in our new coach will be the biggest factors in our favor.

I'm thinking Syracuse is the highest likelihood for a victory as well. But, even with the large home crowd, and the victory two years ago in mind, we all know that we caught the Cuse at a very low point two years ago. And we have first-hand experience of what it's like to play them with even a little sense of confidence after what they did to us last year. I have a good friend who lves in Syracuse. He thinks that they are definitely on the way "up" again. If that's the case, even winning this one is going to take an outstanding effort. So, as far as these 3 games are concerned, and the current state of our own team, I am going to hope for one win, and dream about 2.

You list 31 examples (and Barry Alvarez twice). 26 of those (Miles, Saban, Peterson, Walker, Alvarez, Smith, Petrino, Tiller, Leach, Mangino, Bob Stoops, Friedgen, Pinckel, Pelini, Tuberville, Jones, Schiano, Dantonio, Golden, Mike Stoops, Erickson, Tedford, Richt, Hill, Davis, Edsall) were at least offensive or defensive coordinators before becoming a HC. Something Ianello has never done. 9 of them (Miles, Saban, Petrino, Friedgen, Pelini, Schiano, Hill, Davis, Edsall) coached something in the NFL along with having coordinator experience. 2 of them (Barnett at Fort Lewis College, Davis at Tulsa Rodgers High School) coached as a HC at a lower level first. Out of your list, only Shembechler, Fry, and Neuheisel started off going from a college position coach to a FBS head coach. If you go back and look at the threads that were around during the coaching search, you would find that I was not opposed to hiring someone with coordinator experience but believed that head coaching experience would be the preferred option. At least coordinators deal with half of roster (40 or more players) and call plays in game situations instead of just coaching 8 or 9 guys as a position coach. Ianello has never been more than a position coach. He can recruit for easy-to-recruit schools and he can sort of coach WRs. What he can't do is call plays or recruit for a school that doesn't sell itself. I agree with you. This has to at least concern people that, not only has he not been a head coach, but also has not been a coordinator. But the thing that really bothers me is that Akron, one of only 120 or so D-1A schools, SHOULD be able to get a guy with HC experience, if they wanted one. And someone else tried to make the "well...everyone needs to start somewhere" point. And that's fine, IF they are "starting somewhere" much earlier in their career. With the length of time he has been in coaching, you have to at least wonder why he has not at least been a OC or DC by this point. If he's been offered such jobs, and just has not taken them, then that would explain it for me. But, it just seems odd that he has not reached at least coordinator level with his lengthy tenure in coaching.

1. Zone and Dime can take care of spread offenses. Worked very well against the Zips last year. 2. You would be surprised how sometimes a weakness can turn into a strength when a scheme changes. Pressure on the QB will help our secondary this year. 3. There is nothing outdated about stopping the run on D. That is defensive football 101 my friend, and I haven't seen much of it in Akron since I have been around. If this were true, wouldn't every team in the country just line up and rush the QB, and leave their secondary exposed? Our new DC didn't make some prophetic statement here. After the ball is snapped, it still comes down to 11 guys trying to beat 11 guys. You can get hurt just as badly by not having receivers covered as you can by not getting to the QB. Putting more guys in the box just leaves less guys somewhere else. There must be a balance between the two.

The "new stadium" thrill is over. And even with the little bit of hope that comes with hiring a new coach, I think the lack of enthusiasm in the community has a lot to do with the lack of expectations. I don't think that should surprise anyone. We already bear the cross of being a MAC school. So, being a bad MAC football program is going to dampen things even further. We have a long way to go to even get the community back to the "decent" excitement level that we had during and first few years of the JD era. As far as the coaching decision, I have mixed feelings. I like that he was involved with a major program. I like his recruiting success since I feel that talent means everything....but i'm not convinced how ND recruiting success equates to UA recruiting success. I don't like his lack of experience running a program, and I have some bad vibes about some things that have happened so far. I may have leaned towards a lower-level head coach, but I am hoping to be wrong about that. Low expectations aren't always a bad thing. I think that situation will make many of us hardcore fans happy if we can win more than a few games. But for the fans on the outer fringes, it's going to be a lot longer before they catch on again.

I think right there is the root of the issue. There isn't any "rivalry" between Akron and Cleveland. It's not that at all. I think for most of us, it's just the problem of Akron being associated with Cleveland. Besides the pro sports teams, I just wonder what value Cleveland has to those of us who live in Akron. For the record, I've probably spent an equal amount of time in both the Cleveland and Akron areas in my lifetime. So, I'm on pretty equal footing as far as my knowledge of both places. But most recently, I've lived in Akron, and I believe it hurts Akron dearly to be looked at as "a part of Cleveland". When does akron get associated with cleveland outside the state (with the few extraneous exceptions). I have told people from outside the state that I was from Akron, and more often then not, been asked where (near Toledo, Columbus, in BFE?) that was. Actually, most of them have heard the mention of the name of the city of Akron often enough for it to slightly register in their subconscious that the later wasn't true, and that Akron is not some 18K intersection of two interstates, yet they can't seem to place it on a map. I am NOT advocating the absorption of the Akron area into the Cleveland persona as if Cleveland were the Borg. We all know that Cleveland couldn't take Chicago to the prom, let alone look in the direction of New York. However, it might not hurt Akron to reverse engineer Borg's parasitic mindset and hijack Cleveland's media a little bit more sympathetically. Who knows, in 30 years, they may be building a "northcoast arena" in richfield and tearing down the Q to make space for a UA polymer conglomerate research facility Northcoast Arena? I like that idea!! And I think the property might still be available. I actually thought the Richfield Coliseum was a brilliant idea to give the entire region easy access to pro basketball. It bascially put Cleveland, Akron, Massillon, Canton, and Youngstown within an hours drive of the arena. I still think that building that arena in downtown Cleveland was not a good idea. I know they made a big deal about the arena being accessible to public transportation. But was that worth making it less accessible to the other cities in the region? Especially when you look back now, and see the decline of Cleveland's city population.

I think right there is the root of the issue. There isn't any "rivalry" between Akron and Cleveland. It's not that at all. I think for most of us, it's just the problem of Akron being associated with Cleveland. Besides the pro sports teams, I just wonder what value Cleveland has to those of us who live in Akron. For the record, I've probably spent an equal amount of time in both the Cleveland and Akron areas in my lifetime. So, I'm on pretty equal footing as far as my knowledge of both places. But most recently, I've lived in Akron, and I believe it hurts Akron dearly to be looked at as "a part of Cleveland".

Oooohhhh!!!

Two of you point out what I believe is the only things that really link Akron and Cleveland together. We are covered on Cleveland's news stations, and Cleveland has the closest pro sports teams. Other than that, as I've said many times, I wish we could separate ourselves from that place, and form our own identity.

Sorry. I had to stop reading after I got to this line I highlighted above. Looks like we have another Zips fan who needs to be reminded about the addition of names like Getsy and Biggs. And the transition of a guy named Hixon to WR...a move that would eventually help land him in the NFL.

and hopefully some Zippers fans as well That would be a true statement

If I'm not mistaken it was in Columbus a few years ago. But NC was nice as well (even though the weather didn't cooperate)! If that's the case, I'm impressed that they'd choose a cold weather site.

To be fair, I think a lot of those schools are schools HE'S looking at. Not necessarily that are looking at him. Often times these kids will go take "visits" to schools that haven't expressed much if any interest in them, hoping to convince the coach to offer them. He might claim they are "showing interest", but more than likely his idea of showing interest goes something like this: Willie: "Hey <insert coaches name>, this is Willie Moore" Coach: "Who?" Willie: "I play basketball for Cincinnati Aiken High School, Class of 2012" Coach: "Ohh, yeah, Willie Moore, right..." hold hand over the phone, whisper to assistant coach "Did we offer a kid named Willie Moore from Cincinnati?" Willie: "Yeah, well coach, I really wanted to come down and check out your program some time, ya know, take a look around, talk to ya some." Coach: "Hey, great, well...let me know when your gonna be in town and we'll see if we can arrange some time for ya, and if you want to send us some game film, feel free, we'll try and take a look at it." Willie: "GREAT!" To be fair though, it does appear that Xavier has offered him. I'd love to see a 6'3" PG on the Zips. Quick....a very good description of how many high school kids like to refer to the schools that are "interested" in them. We'll see how this situation really shakes out over time. I'll add one other typical line to your scenario above: Coach: "Let me see if (insert name of lowest ranking grad. assistant coach) might be available to spend some time with you that day, and I'll get back to you".

I posted back last year that CSU beat Akron in a basketball scrimmage and I got the same response. Although it does not mean much, it is a good idea how each team's offense's and defense's look against the back's, tight end's, and wide receivers and vice versa. Ever hear "Games are won/lost in the trenches.?" Neither line participates in 7-on-7. If it makes you feel good, go withit. Thanks for the accurate description. There's a reason they call these "drills". Essentially, it's a practice session without much of anything similar to a game expect that someone is throwing the ball, and receivers are running routes....without a bunch of 300 lb. guys running at you. It's closest resemblance might be football at a picnic where one guy has the football and tells everyone else to go out for a pass. I don't think equins was rubbing anything in our faces. But, if anyone thinks this tells us anything about how YSU stacks up against us, I think that's a REAL stretch.

This is always a hard statement for me to swallow. I would always be surprised if a coach actually really sacrificed quality of play to play his "favorites". Every college coach wants to win....and HAS to win. Could a coach be sticking with his older players because he believes that experience matters? And how do we know that our new coach won't at some point stick with his older players for the same reason as they age in their careers? It's just hard for me to buy into the the idea that, with the fragile nature of college coaching jobs, a coach would put guys on the field that can't help us win...only because they like them.

Well...could be better, could be worse.....as far as being able to get our own fans there. I don't think we could ever get a closer location for us than N. Carolina, like we had last year. Unless it's in a dome, like where we played in the 1987 title game.

I'm not sure what you might be thinking I agreed with here. I know I stated earlier that, if fan support was going to be significant, it would seem like a no-brainer that a pro soccer franchise would have emerged again here. All I've ever heard is that one person was considering doing such a thing. And I remember this happening, but why was he trying to do it on his own? Maybe the fact that it was getting no public backing was an indication of the risk? You'd probably know more of the facts of that situation than me, but with a presumed large contingency of fan interest, municipalities and investers would likely be fighting over a chance to be a part of such a project, I would guess. As far as the Zips are concerned, I guess it all goes back to what I thought originally. If, as you said, there are a lot of soccer fans in this area "just waiting for a team to get behind", I would think that the Zips soccer squad would be the ideal fit at the moment....one of the top teams in the nation, with the closest pro soccer franchise of any note being 150 miles away. Yet, I see that the fans who have a high level of interest, and are the most likely to run out and buy a season ticket immediately, numbered only 400 people. It's just hard for me to buy into the thought that this area is full of "soccer fans just waiting for a team to get behind" when I see these types of things.

g-mann....I think you took the words right out of my mouth.

You're confusing me a bit here. But, I just wanted to point out that my opinions about fan interest were coming from a pretty objective source, and not someone who's on either side of the spectrum. I'm probably neither a soccer fan or a soccer hater. I'm a sports fan, I have an understanding of the game, and I have watched it occassionally. And as my post pointed out, I like watching the Zips play soccer, and enjoyed watching games in which the USA was playing in the World Cup. I'm just telling it like I see it. My negative opinions about fan interest in the sport are not due to me being one of those people who hates the sport and enjoys bashing it. And as I've pointed out before, I admire people who have a passion for their sports. And you, any many other soccer fans seem to have that trait. As far as my point about the 400 number is concerned, a little history of sales might be in order here. First, let me say that I hope every seat in that stadium sells out. But fans with a high level of interest tend to buy their season tickets immediately. So, in terms of you somehow equating this to local fan interest in soccer in your post, I'm really questioning why someone might be touting a number like 400 as some type of proof that there is "a lot" of soccer fans in the area.