GP1

Everyone dreaded getting selected for an interview because the team made fun of you for a week until the next victim went on air the following week. I wonder if Ch. 23 programing is any better these days.?.?

Hemp diapers...

Doesn't scare me. I have spent my career working in the construction industry. The mob is much more powerful than the good old boy network and that is something that isn't to be feared as long as you don't participate. Too many northerners in the south now to keep the good old boy network relevant.

On another note NewZipsFan (you seem to be in the know), will Greg Williams be coming with our new DC to be on the staff? Our DB coaching spots seem to be filled up, but room in other areas is available. Someone I know wants to know.

I totally get it as I live in the south. This is a complete non issue. What I think a lot of people in Akron won't understand is how things like this actually go down in the south. He was protected by the good old boy network as long as he coached at UNA. Could have probably gone forever without paying the fine as long as he was coach. The media is actually part of it in small towns. The best thing to do is to stay out of the good old boy network. All the good old boy network is, is a group of about 5-6 guys who decide to do business with only one another....Then they spend the rest of their lives trying to screw each other over. The key to doing business in the south is staying out of the good old boy network and do business with the other 60 people.

KD should interview his own players on this show. Does anyone remember the old Faust TV show on Ch. 23? It was a half hour show around 5:00 right before videos. I had friends who were on it with him and it was the most funny thing to watch. He would interview players and the interviews were funny in that Faust would both ask the questions and answer the questions before the player could get a word out. It went like this...really, it was this bad: Faust: "So, what position do you play?" Player: "I...." Faust: "You play safety don't you?" Player: "Yes." Faust: "What town are you from?" Player: "I..." Faust: "You're from Cincinnati aren't you?" Player: "Yes." Faust: "What's your major?" Player: "I'm..." Faust: "It's business isn't it?" Player: "Yes." It would go on like this for about five minutes. Am I the only one who remembers this?

This is awesome!

Cornell Brown? John Engelberger was also on that team...During his NFL career in Denver, he dated a former Zips WBB player.

Maybe it's neither. Maybe through some odd cosmic twist of fate, the ball has finally bounced our direction after years of it always bouncing up and breaking our nose.

Instant credibility. Less than a month ago, we couldn't get anyone to look at us for the head coach position. Today, we have a former BCS head coach as a coordinator. Amazing how quickly things have turned. Welcome Coach Amato. Well done TB.

Time will tell. He might get his chance sooner than you think. Jets are considering cutting him. Plus, he has better things to do. The Jets aren't going to cut him. Let them. See what they come up with...it would end up being a huge joke. I'll take Chad Pennington's opinion of him over Florio's all day long. What free agent QB would want to go to a team coached by the offspring of Buddy Ryan and his stupid ideas about offense? An offense coached by a Schottenheimer? As the old saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I don't know how anyone could look at those two names and not be able to figure out what is wrong with the Jets offense. Firing Ryan is the only way the Jets can save their team. He'll just hire another Schottenheimerlike coach if he is allowed to get rid of Schottenheimer and hire another OC. If not, the best thing Sanchez could ever do is leave NY.

Coming into this season, Sanchez had four playoff wins in two years. Lots of starting NFL QBs stink, he isn't one of them. He plays for a defensive oriented coach who doesn't value offense so he suffers. If the Jets would can their coach and hire someone who was willing to play football in the 21st Century, Sanchez could shine. Who cares if his head coach if defensive oriented. The philosophy of a coach dictates how he will use his players. Defensive coaches keep a tight hold on offense, which is why few should be allowed to be a head coach in 2012. Tomlin and the Steelers....This is coming from a huge Steelers fan....Their offense isn't worth much. Lots of yards....not many points (see NFL team scoring stats). The Steelers, and their entire division, played a lot of easy teams this year and it helped their records....How do I know this?...The Bengals made the playoffs in a season when both Baltimore and Pittsburgh made the playoffs. Only the Browns are pathetic enough not to win at least six against the schedule the AFC North had to play.

Oregon and OCan't State are good examples of how the modern spread offense raises a team a notch if executed properly. Both are good teams elevated to BCS status because of the offense. Neither team is dripping with offensive talent, but they do have talent in all the right places. They then take that talent and are CREATIVE about getting the ball to the key players. It doesn't take 22 great players. Only about 6 in the right places and a team can turn around quickly. That can be us. The Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl were two of the best college football games I saw all season. Very exciting and fun to watch. Zips fans sure do need some fun at the games next season and I think it will happen.

2012 Modern Era HOF Nominees When the time comes for JT to get voted into the HOF, many of these same players will be on the list. Other than Tomlinson, I can't think of anyone other player who might retire this year to add to the list five years from now. There are also some players who have retired in the last four years who cannot be on the list yet. Given the list and then high number of player the NFL puts in the HOF every year, I think there is a VERY good chance JT is a first ballot HOFer. Maybe interesting to talk about.

Bingo! Mack did take a better job.

Can someone clear up exactly who is on the staff? I read a lot on this board, but after a few days, I'm still unsure as to what is true and what is rumor.

Mack was a solid AD at Akron. I'm glad things are going well for him.

Coming into this season, Sanchez had four playoff wins in two years. Lots of starting NFL QBs stink, he isn't one of them. He plays for a defensive oriented coach who doesn't value offense so he suffers. If the Jets would can their coach and hire someone who was willing to play football in the 21st Century, Sanchez could shine.

There are lots of reasons why the SEC is good and the article points them out. It's a disservice only if the player is at the school for the education that particular school has to offer. Most aren't. We can question whether or not the players and their families understand the contract they sign with the school when they sign (I think most aren't capable of understanding a complex legal document and it wouldn't matter if they did because you can't negotiate the deal.), but it is in writing that the scholarships are not for four or five years and only one year deals. How the player gets cut is where the question of ethics comes into play. Lots of assistant coaches at SEC schools know coaches at lower level schools and will notify them they are about the cut a player. I would bet our new coach got lots of calls like that during his time in DII. Once the word is out, the player can have a soft landing somewhere his talents can get him on the field. I happen to think that most kids just want to play in games. Keeping a kid on scholarship who isn't going to do anything on the field is just as unethical as keeping an employee employed who isn't helping the company. Letting the kid go is the best thing they can do for most if the goal is to play in games. Oversigning is exactly the type of foresightful move that has put the SEC at the top. Instead of limiting it, the other conferences should embrace it. In the long run, it is better for everyone involved.

The city, the university, and... who? [edit]: Let me answer my own question. Summit County? If this is the case, there will be three different groups of government employees who want the arena. That worries me to no end. UofA should wait until they can do it on their own.

Reasons: 1. The taxpayers of Ohio won't want to pay for another empty arena. 2. We aren't filling our current arena 3. Our society is broke. 4. Don Plusquellic 5. Don Plusquellic 6. Don't let a scumbag like Don Plusquellic close enough to do any damage.

Nice hire. Mike was one of the very good young coaches on Faust's initial staff. Good experience including time in the NFL.

Spot on article. Thanks for posting JZ84. Watching the old Peach Bowl last night was a good example of the differences in conferences. Virginia is a well coached, good team, but they were overwhelmed by an average 4th place SEC West team in Auburn playing with their #2 QB. Specifically, the author doesn't point out where on defense SEC schools are better, but the answer is on the defensive line. It isn't as apparent during a conference game, but when the SEC plays out of conference, it is obvious how much better their defensive lines are than the offensive lines they play against. Their lines are both big AND fast. The same thing happened to Wake against both Vandy and Miss. State more recently. Look at how bad second place SEC East South Carolina kicked ACC Champion Clemson's butt the last game of the season. Another thing the author doesn't point out is the toughness SEC kids play with. The toughest of the tough go play and start in the SEC. It's the ultimate proving ground. The others go to hide in other conferences where they can listen to people blather on about "winning on and off the field". SEC players are there to play football. The competition created through oversigning enhances the toughness because it is a kill or be killed environment. Mississippi and now LSU have QBs from Big Ten country because these kids want to test their ability against the best of the best. They want to play against good teams almost every week, not 2-3 times a year with 8-9 guaranteed wins in between. Will they be tough enough is the question now. I'm interested to see how the existing Zips and future Zips respond to this type of mentality. TB isn't going to change for the kids at Akron. He sees the world as an SEC coach and I think that is great. I worked for a Berkshire Hathaway company once and the guy who ran our division came in and said, "We are going to change the people, or we are going to change the people." Things are going to change quickly at Akron. Will the existing players be ready for the change? Will the fans be ready for the change? Will the local media be ready for an adult approach to Akron football? How will the media handle a media savvy coach? We are about to learn a lot here in the next 1-2 years. What are we willing to do as fans, players and media to have real success at Akron? Do we have the will to be successful or are we going to be another NE Ohio sports team/fan base more comfortable with the endless cycle of bitching about losing than winning? It's a big boys and girls world now with Zips football and I am excited about the future. Sorry to go on, but this article should have sparked some thought about Zips football and not just the SEC with all of us. Go Zips!

I think we all know that JAR isn't the best place to watch a game, but given our inability to fill it and fill a new football stadium, it's all we are going to have for a while. The state probably can't afford one right now and we shouldn't get in bed with the Mayor. Private money?...InfoCision and Summa are in the football stadium...Goodyear would be hesitant because they keep a close relationship with the Mayor and wouldn't want to hurt that relationship if they help UofA with an arena and not the City. The question is then, how to make it nice (which we have talked about a lot) and how to bring in extra money with anything they do to it (which we never talk about because sports fans think money falls out of the sky) with limited funding? More comfortable seats at the risk of losing capacity...done. We always talk about that. We're not filling the place anyhow. How do they generate more money? College sports aren't about the number of people as much as the amount of money generated (it should be anyhow). Ticket sales are extremely important, but a school has to sell big ticket items in addition. Luxury suites are designed to do that. Where to put them is the real question?... Suspend the baskets from the ceiling and get rid of the seats behind the baskets. That's easy to do. Whatever junk is located in the rooms under the upper seating area behind the baskets gets moved somewhere. If that means portable concession stands for each game, then do it...the food is crap anyhow so they would be doing fans a favor by making it difficult for them to buy some. Make the Tommy Evans lounge an area to go buy food....Let's not kid ourselves, it's not that great of a lounge anyhow and people wouldn't have to go to the first floor to get food if they so dare to do so. I don't know how many suites could be put behind each basket, but I would guess a max. of three with seating, right on the floor, for 10 ea. Sort of like Pitt has with their arena. With the baskets relocated, it would create a better view for those seats and open the area up. Gouge the owners for food and beer like they do at big stadiums. Make Akron basketball a place at least six companies a game want to take clients/visitors. Sell the suites as a package deal with current football suite owners. ZW is right. They need to do something for the basketball program beyond making a playroom for the players. They can't affort a new arena, so they have to do something on the cheap. I believe they could get good bang for the buck out of this...we will call this a "building" project, because something actually is completed when finished. The space is there, it is just a matter of how to use it. How many other MAC schools can claim floor level luxury suites in their arena? Let's work with what we have.

Allow me to translate this quote. "Defense used to win championships and most fans still think it does so I'll break out this tired cliche in this presser. It doesn't. I would hope we would be relentless on defense, but it really won't matter because we will be scoring so many points the other team won't be able to keep up. See what Toledo did this season? I was smart enough to earn a law degree so I don't like hanging around stupid people. I won't be spending a lot of time on the defense." I'm really looking forward to watching this team play. We are finally pulling this school into the modern world of football. Great job TB!!!!!! I'm going to the beach. Happy New Year everyone!!!!!