GP1

Let's make sure we are all clear. Nicely is third on the depth chart. In any event, an interesting read. Not sure why this board has been so quiet about this topic.

The first sentence in the first paragraph uses the word "winning". That's all I need to see. To me, this is part of a winning process, not the nonsense called "building process".

Please try to attend if you can. Only $20.00 per person for everything. $99 a night at the Sheraton Suites is a great deal as well...it's a heck of a lot cheaper than a DUI. If the mods could make the whole note appear on my post, that would be great. Not sure how to do it or if it can be done. Thanks in advance.

I can't see why not. UofA could pass for any number of reasons, but unless we would be getting screwed in a contract with this league, I can't see why it would be a bad idea. People in NE Ohio love football. Give them some football with good players playing and they will go to games. If we passed, I'm sure Canton would take a swing at it, but that is probably too far from Cleveland and this league would want to draw from Cleveland. So far, this seems like a good idea, but there is a long way from an idea to execution of the idea. The fact that a COO from an NFL team left to start the league makes me feel good about the possiblities. The league would need a guy who understands how to run not only a team, but a league. He also would have a good understanding of the finances and could balance sports and business. Long way to go...

Article The USFL was a good league when it was in business until Donald Trump destroyed it. Now a chance for a successful spring football league with players having access to NFL teams. Perfect! As a bonus, possibly coming to a stadium near you. Enjoy the read.

Coaches don't pay the buyouts. The schools that hire them do. KD isn't going anywhere.

Please provide us with that long list of schools. If he is on their list, KD should take this as a chance to get himself a pay increase.

Prior to seeing this schedule, I thought winning one of the first two was critical to the season. I'm not sure about that now. The two games against Miami and BG will be key to a successful season. Both games can be won and if they are won, the Zips could be 3-3 worst case with six to go. With remaining games against umass, Can't and cmu, the Zips could go 6-6...A long shot, but not out of the question. We wouldn't be the first MAC school to go from 1-11 to a bowl. It happens all the time in this league and why not us?

It's 2012 Dave. Coaches use this new device called "video" and it helps them with their memory.

Ianello blew up the tunnel while the train was going through.

Well said. I could be wrong, but sometimes I feel like I believe in this team to do great things more than they do. We should all feel that way. They are an extremely talented group of players.

This is a very good article. Well done. Best quote: "D’Orazio caught everything thrown his way from several quarterbacks during the course of practice, making difficult catches, but more importantly, snagging the easy ones." Guys who make the easy catches and not the hard catches are third down guys...they never make a difference. Guys who make the spectacular catches and drop the easy ones are called bench warmers...they can't be trusted. When a player makes both routine and spectacular catches, there is potentially something special there. Doing the routine should be expected. The Zips need players they can count on all the time. George might have been the first witness to see the blossoming of a special player. Lucky for us he is able to attend practice and report to us what is happening.

Absolutely it is. Tebow was a great running QB in college. If the average fan was asked, "Was Tim Tebow an accurate passer in the spread offense?", many would say no because they see the sub 50% number from his time in Denver in a pro style offense. However, in his four years in college, he completed 66.7%, 66.9%, 64.4% and 70.1% of his passes in each of his four seasons at Florida. Is it the player or the offense? He made good decisions, understood the offense and was accurate enough to hit wide open guys. The offense can make a good passer great, just like it makes average teams good and good teams great. The spread is the best innovation in football since Paul Brown was coaching. Armani Edwards (the guy who beat Michigan now playing WR for the Panthers) rushed for 4,361 yards at App State and passed for 10,392. I like to use him as the best example of a dual threat and would love to have a talent like him at QB. I believe he is the only D1 QB to rush for over 4,000 and pass for over 10,000 yards in his career. He will never start a down in the pros. Is it the player or the offense? In my opinion, the a dual threat QB in a spread offense is the key to reaching a high level of success. For a MAC team, it can be the difference between 7-8 wins and 8-10 wins. I don't want to see the QB run all the time, but the threat needs to be there.

+1 The answer to this question will help give us better insight as to who the starting QB may be.

Makes me think of a line from Platoon..."We need every swinging dick in the field." If he can play and can contribute to winning, I don't care where he plays. I trust this coaching staff to make those decisions wisely.

I like that logo as well. Great idea. I saw the same thing with the QBs. Inaccuracy is a killer and both #7 and #8 looked inaccurate and both threw an int (UofA needs to be smarter about what they put on video for public consumption). When they did complete passes, they were inaccurate. Accuracy is the key to everything a QB does. The margin of error is too small in major college football to be inaccurate. With all that said, I am encouraged that he said the offense moved the ball well. That shouldn't be happening at this point and it is. Proof of how well the spread offense works. Remember guys, it's the MAC....Score lots of points and wait for the other team to poop their pants trying to keep up.

This guy assumes the girl you meet five minutes before close is going to be bad in the sack. I would say that is rarely the case. Booze brings out the best in all of us.

I don't even think they would claim that, even at their drunkest.

The AD should be immediately shown the door and the President of Duquesne should go crawling on his hands and knees to the former coach and ask him back. It's amazing the number of fools working in college athletics. Duquesne Basketball The coach at Duquesne had a few winning seasons at a school that only had a few winning seasons in the last 40 years. They only won 3 games the year before he was hired. If athletic directors weren't so short sighted, they would look to hire a guy like him.

It may not be a great hire, but it is a good enough hire. Groce knows one thing about modern day sports. Find a star and live/die with him. He rode Cooper as long as he could and probably could have done it for another successful year. Time to cash in though. If he can find a star in IL somewhere, he'll do fine....Cooper was a star IL basketball star. Find another star and he could be there 7 years from now. There were other names mentioned...all of them would have been making a mistake to take this job and should wait for a higher profile job if possible. For now, Groce is the best Thomas can do so he isn't really in over his head as much as he is doing the best he can with what he has to work with...he did a good job of this at Akron.

The champion should be The University of Akron. I'm just a guy with a computer who is willing to serve the University if asked. They know I'm interested. It can be more than just watching games together. The guy who did OSU programs had 50/50 drawings and all profits went to their Foundation. They had donation forms OSU supplied him with laid out at all events. They have a contract with the bowling alley uptown Charlotte for football games...The establishment agrees to pay a donation of 10% of revenues generated during the game including 30 minutes pre and post game to the OSU Foundation. They get around 250 to go. 10% of people drinking and eating for four hours can generate a lot of income. It seems like a lot of work, but it isn't. The restaurant has people who get paid to figure out what to do with these events.

Do you think any of the schools you mentioned are looking for a coach who has never won an NCAA Tournament game?

Tomorrow, the President of Duquesne should fire the AD. Then, he should call up the fired coach and beg him to come back. Three kids left the team after their AD turned down an invitation to that lame non-NIT tournament (CIA...whatever) among other reasons. Mark Madden blog This is a case where the President of the University should have told the AD, "He is more important than you. I'd fire you before I'd let you fire him. Turn in your resignation if you don't like it." I actally told a sales manager who reported to me that one time. He was one of those guys who wanted to hire "his guys" and I told him I would fie him before I let him fire seasoned successful sales reps in order to hire his friends.

It was the beginning of the end for JD. Jacq had the accuracy to deliever the ball to him after Getsy. He would have been an NFL player all the way. Oh well, life goes on....

I know the guy who was President of the OSU AA in Charlotte. Every summer, he had an event at a Charlotte Knights game (White Sox AAA). All it takes is one phone call to the team and they basically set it up. All he had to do was contact everyone on his list by e-mail. It hardly takes any time. I'd love to captain a Charlotte UofA alumni group. I know four families from my little town who are UofA grads. With a little assistance from the University in the form of e-mail lists, I bet I could have 20-30 UofA alumni at an event at a Knights game this summer.