GP1

To say he hasn't done anything isn't really fair. To say he hasn't produced more winning is right on the money. I also wouldn't use the word adulation to describe how fans are reacting to him. I think fans see the improvement in the team and are sick of complaining endlessly about everything under the sun about their football team. If they want to complain endlessly, they can go on a Browns site. Is 3 wins enough? No. There is enough change in the MAC going in to next season that we should be able to take advantage of some of that. If I was a betting person, I would bet on the MAC being in decline next year with the Zips being on the ascent so I expect more than 3 wins. Where are the recruits? We'll find out. The recruiting forum is sort of quite, but that could be for more reasons than just no recruits. TB didn't have much time to recruit last year so anyone who expected him to have a great class last season would have been foolish. I expect/demand a much better class this year.

This is the part that I wonder about. The Zips product is excellent right now and people aren't buying. The fact that they are good is no secret. It doesn't take much effort besides clicking on a few websites to find out about when the Zips are playing and who they are playing. The rest of this post will be directed to the general readers. In order to market even a good product that has been good for a long time, something exciting has to catch the customer or they think it is the same old product. What have fans heard about the Zips thus far? 1. Two players suspended because the babysitters who run the athletic department can't get simple NCAA paperwork filled out. 2. Loss to an easily beatable CCU. 3. Loss to a big time team in OK State in PR. 4. Wins over UNCA, PSU, JCU and Malone..... 5. Win against a good, yet not well known, MTSU on an NFL Sunday. Please be honest and someone/everyone tell me how to generate interest around these points thus far. Ever watch a really good movie with an exciting ending? The next time you watch it, you skip to the exciting end and not the good middle/beginning. This is where the program is. I mentioned this earlier this season. The program is a little stale for a lot of fans. They know it is good, but there isn't that "something" catching their attention. The part that will capture their attention comes at the end of the season in the MAC Tournament/NIT/NCAA/Whatever. Something different has to happen at the end of the year to capture attention for next year. Until then, it is the same old story.

This AD sounds like a real stand up guy.....NOT. Why is it the responsibility of the coach to get people interested in the program? The coaches job is to get good players and win games. If this guy wants to fire a multiple 20 win season after on 15-16 record, I guess there is some small justification for that. Do I have to do another "When ADs Strike" post?

Further expansion on my horse analogy. FSU has "West Virginia Derby" horses. If you go to the WV Derby each year, there will be a horse or two who ran in the Kentucky Derby. Typically, they came in middle of the back to bottom of the pack in then Kentucky Derby. Better than the future glue factory participants in the WV Derby, but not quite up to snuff against the best of the best. I just described the ACC and by extension FSU. NIU could finish in the money in the WV Derby if they were a horse. Some things would have to go right for them to win, but they could win.

How about a PhD dissertation on the Paul Brown coaching tree and his influence on the game? Coaching tree found near the middle of the information.

Article I think this is a well reasoned article. Why should some Athlete-Students have to pretend about their reasoning for being in college? The point I think this author does not touch on, as probably the readership of the Chronicle of Higher Education already understands, is the discussion of what a science is? A science is a body of knowledge about a particular issue. Engineering is a science. Electrical Engineer is a discipline within Engineering so it becomes a part of the Engineering College where they study those sciences and understand that body of knowledge. Theology is also a science, or body of knowledge, about religion. It may not use many calculators, but a science none the less. Why couldn't football or basketball be a science? Both have probably millions of hours of their sport recorded for review and study. When someone writes a dissertation, the main purpose of that document is to provide an understanding of something new in that science. Does anyone think a person like Paul Brown didn't introduce ideas and concepts that changed an existing body of knowledge? On many levels, aren't coaches sitting around in their offices for countless hours watching video and trying to gather a better understanding in order to explain it to a player scientists on some level?

It's an ongoing mystery. I scratch my bald head when I think about it. One could say there was a Browns game, but there wasn't until 4 PM. After years of trying to figure it out, I've given up. It won't just be last afternoon, but we will see this throughout December. Probably throughout the season as well. Maybe I'm the stupid one, but I think the Zips provide great entertainment for not much money. This goes beyond the students to the alumni and general public. Are the seats uncomfortable? Yes, but there aren't 2,000 more people who would be uncomfortable for two house a couple times a year for great entertainment? It's bad, but not that bad. K E N T is a wildly uncomfortable place to go watch a game, but they get great crowds in a much smaller community. The Zips have been good enough for long enough now that the team is no secret. It can't be a marketing problem at this point. In fact, going to a Zips game should be "the thing to do" around Akron and it isn't. Maybe it is, but people can't get off their lazy asses long enough to make it to a game. Last month, I drove three hours to watch the Zips play in Myrtle Beach. For most people, it can't take more than 30 minutes to get to the arena. Shame on people for not going.

Interesting Reading

I dont care who was coaching Cincy. When you lose that bad, you don't have the horses to compete. NIU will be ready to play. FSU's horses aren't that great. Good, but not great.

Certainly a Hell of a lot better than having a football for a nose.....

It's a simple game isn't it? Get your best player the ball and put him in a position to win the game. Coaches can dream up plays all day long, but crunch time comes down to how the best players do at that moment. I too like AA taking a last second shot all year. He is the one guy who is comfortable with the ball in his hands and can be creative with it. It takes me back to the Dallas Cowboys in the Aikman years. Third and one, what were the Cowboys going to do? It was simple. Two tight ends...I formation with Johnson blocking and Smith running....tightend motion left and then back to the right and they ran off tackle right. Getting the first down became clockwork for them and they did it for years. Best running back, behind Pro Bowl fullback running behind pro bowl right tackle. They knew they were going to run the play. The other team knew they were going to run the play. The fans knew they were going to run the play. It doesn't get any more simple than that. Same for the Zips. Best player with the ball to win the game should be the strategy. Nothing wrong with AA having the ball in his hands all season long. They need to execute the play better. I like the Zips chances in any overtime game this season. In a tie game, the play ran yesterday is their best option to either win or extend the game without a turnover that leads to a last second shot for the other team.

Maybe the acceptance of reality is important in looking at this situation. There are some things every team is good at and some things every team may not be good at. Maybe the reality is we are a great team on defense and we use that to score points. Maybe a half court offense isn't our best suit. Further, maybe the reality is we are not good at last second plays because of our player make-up. In this situation, I have no problem with giving the ball to one player in a tie game with a chance to win it. We just need to make sure we get it to the right player. I'd rather give the ball to one guy, let him run down the clock to the point the team would never get a chance of breaking the tie before halftime if he misses and take our chances in overtime. This strategy seemed to work yesterday.

I agree with everything. What I don't understand is why everyone in the media seems to think NIU is going to go the Orange Bowl and get rolled by FSU? I went to the ACC Championship Saturday and was not all that impressed with FSU. Sort of how I'm not impressed with the ACC in general. It's not that hard to win that league. I'm not arguing NIU is going to win, I'm just saying I think they will put up a good fight against FSU and could win the game. The last time a team really got rolled in a BCS game was Cincy getting destroyed by an SEC team in Florida. Anyone who couldn't see that one coming from a mile away has vision similar to Mr. Magoo. Cincy was DOA because they simply didn't have the horses. Florida could have scored 70 on them if they wanted. It will not be a match up like that. In fact, it is a match up similar to the Oklahoma vs. Boise State game. If NIU hangs around, they can win the game.

It will be interesting. If I was the coach at IUP and my team was running for 5.5 yards per carry, I'd have trouble passing the ball as well. They get around 15 yards per completion and over 8 yards per attempt. I think they only had three interceptions last year. Luke needs to parlay his ability to coach a kid into a low interception rate and high yards per attempt and catch into another job at a bigger school. The one thing Luke always had going for him was a good head on his shoulders. He had a very good grade point, in a real degree, at UofA. He just needs to show other schools he knows the game and can coach kids up at this point in his career. He is still very young. He needs to move from IUP asap though.

Let's Try Again Sorry about that. Still trying to get used to using an IPad to post on ZNO. Used that link the day before and I don't know why it reappeared.

You guys are doing a great job. Isn't this better than bitching about the video feed?

Thanks

If everyone isn't too busy bitching about the video, wold it be too much to ask to get some scores.

President needs to Take a more wholistic approach to hiring an AD. We seem to hire people because they do one thing or another well, but we never hear about how they do the other parts of their job. TW was a marketing guy. Little did we know he wasterribleat everything else. Provenza needs to establish 4-5 aspects within the athletic department he wants to be good at. Everything else is secondary. Hire good people (not buddies), retain good staff (not replace people with buddies), keep players on the field in a way that when the do something minor the whole team isn't punished with losing, win, etc.

IUP Schedule & Results Luke Getsy having nice career going. Offense scoring lots of points. IUP wins conference championship and just lost in third round of playoffs to W-S State. It will be interesting to follow his career.

That's one of the issues as it relates to turnover. I would argue that even worse than head coach turnover is assistant coach turnover. Think about JD's first staff. There were some really quality coaches who moved on to better jobs and weren't replaced by better coaches. The same thing happened with Faust. I would argue the best assistants in the history of UofA football were early in the Faust era. Owens also had guys like Fickell early and was not able to replace them with other than high school coaches. The key to success isn't to try to stop the turnover. Few people really want to coach in the MAC and it is a stepping stone for other jobs. We will also never be able to pay what BCS level schools can offer. There is nothing wrong with facing and embracing that reality. Once the reality is faced, then school can adapt by having guiding principles from the high up leadership on how to handle the situation.

They are in the real world, they just view the world through immature eyes.

Nonsense. We are talking about big time college football. This guy has 2-3 years to win or he is out on his butt. He doesn't have a recruiting class to lose and needs to get to work right away. He needs to not only recruit, but he also needs assistants, etc. to get started. College football is a business and even the players understand that.

http://eatatpinkys.com/ Pinky's Westside

The Mac is having a good year. More than anything, the quality of play is better. History shows this season is more likely to be followed by a bad season than a good season. I would caution everyone about getting too excited about the future of the Mac.