1981 grad

I was at that game. But it was a great season getting there. You just listed all of the negatives in 10 years. In 2 years with Groce we had one event that tops all of the above and is now in litigation. When you are looking at all the empty seats at the Jar you will see that you are clearly in the minority when you think that this program is getting better after KD left. Groce has better athletes, better defense, and a much physically stronger squad. However, last year this team could not shoot the 3 ball and the offense was horrific. Last year we had 4 centers that had no offense. I wish somebody could tell me why so many athletes have transferred out of Groce's program. I hope you are right in that Groce will have a breakout season. Maybe I am gun shy after watching football. Go Zips!!

Thanks for showing it but it just makes me mad. I look at the roster and I see players that played 4 years for Akron and we might have had one transfer. I wish our Athletic Director had watched this video before he allowed KD to take his talents elsewhere. I just don't know if you can build a program based on other programs transfers. Groce has had close to 10 guys transfer out of our program in 10 years. I was not at the Malone game but if we cannot control the boards and have inside scoring against Malone i am not optimistic for tomorrow night. I hope I am wrong. This team needs better shooting then last year. Go Zips!

I have followed Akron sports for 40 years including their football, basketball and soccer programs. This year it has been a challenge to watch this team and each week they seem to get worse. But the question I had after turning the game off in the third quarter is whether Akron has truly had a successful football coach that was so good that other schools wanted to hire them. In basketball, we had coach Huggins who was so successful he was hired by another program. Kd was so successful he was hired by another program. (Still think our AD screwed the pooch on that one). In soccer, Coach Lolli and coach Porter were hired away to other programs. Has every Akron football coach been fired never again to coach in a division one program. Have we ever had a coach move on to a bigger or better program? Coach I, Coach Faust, Coach Brookhart, Coach Bowden were all fired and have never been hired again as a head football coach. Are we the graveyard for division one head coaches?

Forget about scoring a touchdown this game. Can we get a first down. Each week this team gets worse. An Akron fan can only watch so much of this "team."

Akron finally had a positive play for 8 yards and one of our players head butts another player and gets a 15 yard penalty. Another 3 and out. How much can an Akron fan take?

Last 5 possessions, three and out and two interceptions. How inept is this offense. Why throw across the field when it is this windy. Of course the second interception was in the middle of the field and way behind the receiver. Can't run, Can't throw. What can they do?

When you team has not won a game, is routinely getting blown out, and has not scored a touchdown since September, what bonus can he possibly obtain?

Each week I watch to see if there is any improvement. Each week we get worse. Besides being bad now we are committing penalties, delay of game, illegal procedure, illegal formation, hands to the face. Arth made a big deal in that we practice in bad weather because we play football in bad weather. Well, this quarterback cannot throw the ball in the rain. Everything is high. I wonder if there is some record for futility. How long has it been since we scored a touchdown? I wonder if this team will even score a touchdown the rest of the season. I thought the end of last season was bad. This is worse!

Can't they wipe off the lens during the time out.

The team sucks. But the play calling should not make things worse. Third and one and you need to keep the ball. Get the one yard with a run or quick throw instead of throwing the ball 30 yards down field to a receiver surrounded by 5 defensive backs.

Thanks for clearing that up. I started this topic when somebody told me that Nance Sr. wanted Kd to offer Larry and he did not offer. I did not know if this was true and indicated in my post. My point being that you never know who is going to excel in college. Coming out of high school Tree and Harney were great recruits for Kd.

I may be wrong but I think Wyoming might have been his only division one offer and that came from a Nance Sr. connection. I do not believe Larry was highly recruited and Kd went for Harney and Tree who probably had better high school careers.

I disagree! My point was that it is difficult to determine who will excel in college. Larry had some type of fatigue problem that was finally diagnosed when he was in college and after he got better his career took off. Tree and Harney were great recruits who had their issues at Akron. Tree is playing great ball in Israel. Not sure what Harney is doing. Glad to see Little Larry playing so well for the Cavs. I also agree that the Nance family is first rate.

Somebody told me that the year he recruited Tree and Harney was the year that Larry Nance went to KD and wanted Little Larry to go to Akron but KD had recruited Tree and Harney and did not have a scholarship for Nance and wanted him to walk on. I have no idea if this is true but if it is true it just support his theory that you never know what combinations will work out.

Kent goes for it on 4th and one on their own 35. Did anyone think it was going to be a quarterback sneak? Not Akron. We had our safeties playing pass defense. The decision to punt on our 4th and 2 on the Kent 40 just sums up this season. We cannot win a game, the defense sucks, and we net 23 on the punt. We play to lose. As soon as I saw that decision I knew the half time score was going to be 17-3. We rushed 3 and dropped 8. Kent just ran the ball and made completed some easy passes. How many times are they going to complete the outside screen pass for 7-10 yards before our coaches figure out how to defend that play.

I have season tickets and I always ask whether there are better seats. The group in front of me did not buy all their seats. I have spoken to at least 10 people that have given up their season tickets after KD left. Considering the last 2 seasons, I think there will me more blue (empty seats) in the lower level than in previous years. I hope we have a great season to get some of those people back. There has always been apathy for Akron sports and then you combine it with losing it makes it difficult to regain those fans.

We are probably the worst football team in division one and it is costing Akron $370, 000 to Tennessee Chatanooga to buy our Arth's contract, $630, 000 to pay Bowden's salary over the next 2 years and $500,000 to pay Arth's salary. Does anyone want to extend the contract of our Athletic director, Larry Williams?

After seeing our football team struggle on offense, it made me think how bad our offense was in basketball. We had no offense from the center position. We were terrible from the 3 line. And we now have lost 2 of our 3 top scorers, Utomi and Ivey. Does anyone thin that Sayles and Riak are going to improve dramatically on the offensive end. I can dream but I just do not see it. I know that Big Dog really improved his last 2 years so there is hope. I just think that we are going to struggle on offense the same as last year. I hope I am wrong!

I turned the game off after the 85 yard touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter. I have heard of 2 deep safeties and one deep safety but having nobody deep. Our safety was 15 yards from the line of scrimmage looking at the quarter back while the receivers were completing passes behind him in the deep middle of the field. ( one touchdown pass was dropped) Did anybody else notice the separation between the receivers and the defensive back on the touchdown passes. No pass rush and a wide open deep middle of the field may not be a recipe for success. I thought the run defense was the highlight of the game. The linebackers made some nice plays. Our rushing game looked the same as last year. Pathetic. I thought when they put Kato under center on 4th and a foot they would have a quartback sneak. Kato is a good runner and could gain a half a yard. I was wrong. The extra point and missed field goal were not even close. I have never seen a five yard punt before. I was hoping for a better prepared team but this does look like a long season.

Has Akron ever landed a player that had similar offers? The only name that comes to mind is Zeke Marshall. I thought he had some decent offers when he came to Akron. Any other highly recruited players that came to Akron. (not transfers from another school)

or the 2nd year transfer or the 3rd year transfer or the 4th year transfer who sits a year and plays a year.

I am glad to see him playing basketball again. I was afraid that he had given it up. There is always room on a team for a shot blocker who can intimidate guards going to the basket. He needs to be a step quicker and a little more fluid on offense. I hope he keeps playing. I miss having 4 year players and watching them develop.

Sayles athletic front court guy? His first year he showed some flashes of being good but rarely showed any athleticism and last year he was very passive when he played before he got injured. I really hope his third year will be better and injury free but he is a big question mark. One person on this board has him as transferring which makes no sense this late in the process. I like your optimism and I hope that you are right but essentially this is the 3rd year under Groce with a substantially new roster. I would still like to know who will be our 13 scholarship players.

Another transfer? If he transfers in this year that is another scholarship spot for next year and I thought we already are one over our scholarship limit. Can someone explain how we have room for another transfer?

Time will tell if he is a division one player. If he dominates at Walsh and leads the league in scoring and rebounding, we will know that he was a division 1 player that needed time to blossom. If he does not dominate at Walsh, we will know that he is a great guy who was a division 2 player. My feeling is that he will be a good division 2 player. He just did not have the athleticism, quickness, or instincts to play division one. I wish him the best success.