GP1

Record I'd like to add a different perspective. Paul has won 70% of his games the past three seasons (counting the three this season). If you have never been there, Wayne State is a dump and I can't believe he gets a decent player to go there, but he does. Wayne State was terrible before he walked in the door and he has done, what should be considered, wonders for the program. Would anyone here like to have a coach who has won 70% of his games the past 3 seasons? He is probably on the "too old" side for a lot of ADs to look at him, but he would be a good fit for Akron. Everyone wants a guy who cares about Akron...well? Everyone wants a guy who understands how to recruit at bottom feeders...well? Everyone wants a guy to put some points on the board....well? Everyone wants a guy who has proven himself at different levels....well? Everyone wants a guy who can bring in better athletic talent....well? I think his track record at Wayne State is good enough for where we need to go in the next few years and he would be a good fit. I don't care about his age. There needs to be an adult to step in and get the program going in the right direction. After that, we can get the Will Muschamp type who jumps into his players and all the other nonsense that is supposed to make up a "high energy coach". It's nauseating what passes for good coaching these days. Paul has done everything we need to do. Next time a new coach is needed....

Not as good as I did after watching a mediocre Miami beat tosu, but I get the point....

I saw a very below average Wake team beat NC St. I don't know if NC State plays Duke or not this year, but they may not win another game.

Call me crazy, but I think winning might do that. If there were no blow up things, kids play thing, beer tents, the band playing, etc., nobody would care if the the team was winning. It's more festive standing around a parking lot talking about who a team will play in a bowl or a conference championship game than watching the band play.

Akron will be in the MAC with all of the current MAC participants, with the exception of Temple...maybe. The reasoning is we are one of the least attractive teams in the MAC. Football is driving this change and we are a terrible football program that would only degrade the current national opinion of Big East football. Enjoy the MAC guys. It is right where we belong and we will be in it for a long time.

Like all things Big Ten, the past is greater than the present. The game is now an opening act for more important games.

Zips 34Other guys 17

Big Ten football is boring. When is the last time you looked at the schedule and said "oooo, I gotta see that b10 matchup?"The b10 out of conference schedule is more interesting. Michigan ND was interesting to me, although I didn't get to watch it.The osu vs michigan game is played at noon so ratings go down. With that said, the game is so unimportant that it starts at noon instead of at the earliest 3:30.

All that mob money and all you guys could build was that shed?

What if it is neither the process or personnel and all about philosophy? Can't the process of implementing a pro style offense and good personnel fall short if what you are asking people to do in 2011 won't work or at least isn't in the world of reality?

Looks like Oklahoma and Texas are backing off. Either waiting to see if the Big 12 can regroup or holding out to see what kind of offer they can get. Actually, this may make those two the big fishes in a small pond.Seems like the frenzy is slowing.

I get sick of talking about a losing team so I'll just add this important piece of information to this thread. Guernsey County (Cambridge), Ohio has some of the highest rated pot growers in the United States according to those in the know, such as High Times Magazine. Just goes to show, it's good to be known for something.

What if his philosophy is wrong or he simply doesn't know what to do? I actually think he knows exactly what to do with his pro style offense; however, his philosophy is wrong in believing a low level college program can win with it. Process can't be the only thing that is important or anyone can do something as long as they have a sound process in place. You actually have to know how to do something before you can do it to be successful.I worked for two extremely large Fortune 500 companies and had promotions at both. One was great. It had a management team in place that had been in the industry for 25-30 years. The guys knew exactly what to do and why to do it. If they were wrong, they were man enough to admit it and change directions quickly. I learned more from these guys than anyone I have ever worked for. We made money hand over fist. Everyday, I think about those guys and still stay in touch with them now that I own my own business. I get better advice from them than anyone.The second company was a Six Sigma company. Six Sigma is part of the reason this country is in such bad shape. You don't actually have to know anything about your industry in order to be a manager if you are at a Six Sigma company. Honeywell did it with their "fast track" program. All you have to be able to do is follow the process and the process can NEVER be wrong because it is the best process in the word. Everyone is stepping over each other to see who can become a bigger a-hole than the king of all a-holes, Jack Welch. Basically, if a guy can put together a Six Sigma study with "action plans" and has only been in the industry for two months, he is just as valuable as the guy in the industry for 25 years. If all you need to be able to do are action plans, cause and effect tables, etc. there is no value in the long term employee. That's why American companies can't find their asses with both hands. My old boss just got let go as the VP of Sales at Solyndra. He didn't know anything about the industry but could put together spreadsheets like nobodys business...a complete joke because he had no idea what the numbers meant. He knew even less about solar panels, but somehow got to be VP of Sales there because he was in the national sales manager club....he'll get another job as national sales manager, if he doesn't go to jail with the rest, because he was NSM at other companies. See how it works?This is a true story. When I started working for the Six Sigma company, I would sit on the phone (muted at my house) and laugh out loud during conference calls at how they all talked in Denver. Six Sigma uses a specific language and if you don't speak the language, you are not part of the "in" group and you are basically out. The language is pretty easy to learn though. One day during a conference call, they were all talking in their Six Sigma babble and I e-mailed a counterpart who had been in the industry 30 years (anyone who has sat on conference calls in corporate America understands the e-mailing that goes on during calls). I told him I felt a guy with a Masters Degree like I have should be pretty smart, but I didn't understand what everyone was saying. He responded very simply, "Don't worry, they don't understand what THEY are saying either." He had absolutely zero respect for the corporate people and didn't even pretend to have any when he was around them. It was really funny to watch.Getting back to the Zips and how this all applies...Coach I doesn't have the experience at a MAClike school to make it successful regardless of how good his process is. I'm sure he is a good guy and all, but he doesn't have the experience at our level necessary to succeed. I'm not saying we need a 55 year old coach, but someone who has coached at our level and understands the challenges AND has had success at our level is what is most important. Can anyone say Keith Dambrot? There are lots of guys like KD out there who never get a chance and would make great coaches at a mac school.

Wow, this is a glib post. Right on the money though.Although, I sure hope the Zips will be competitive in the MAC before you kick the bucket. If not, that will be a lot of wasted Saturdays. 23 of 27 is just depressing. I have a close friend here in Charlotte who is a K-ent grad. He says the same things we do. He badly wants their football team to be good and is at the point now where he just doesn't care. I'm almost to that point. If they don't care, why should I care? Why would I donate money if they don't care?...It's flushing good money down the drain. If they don't care, why would I go watch a game?...It's almost an insult to sit there and watch such a bad team.See everyone later. I have some things to do.

Is anyone shocked to see Tressel's name in the same sentence with two known crime family names?

It will be good for both with a few exceptions such as WVU and TCU not getting in a Super Duper Conference (SDC). You're too smart of a guy DiG not to realize it never ends. It will just become something else and then the "else" will change.

You may not be going to games after the next five years and it won't be anything the University has done right or wrong. In fact, when you go to MAC games, you aren't seeing the highest level of competition as that level is reserved for BCS teams. Nobody likes to hear it, but that is the truth.It is hard to project the past on the future as the future is quickly becoming much different than the past. I don't even see it as the University or MAC dropping down...I see it as more of them being left behind with the changes. We'll still get mostly MAC level players, but the general landscape of college football will be different. Other than a couple "rent-a-win" games we play in early against BCS teams (those may go away), the competition will be the same as well. We may just be in our own level of football that includes a national championship playoff in addition to our league championship game. The big changes going on right now are at the BCS level and don't include conferences like the MAC.If everyone would open their mind to it, these changes happening in college football could really make things more exciting for Zips fans down the road.

I'm OK with the conference shake-ups, but this is terrible for college football. WVU is one of the great places in America to go watch a college football game. Great stadium and great fans. They have a huge home field advantage in Morgantown. I hear that UCONN and Rutgers are maybe going to the ACC (ESPN had a report about it).

Nice!!!

I would agree that I have serious problems with the coach and I don't see it getting better...ever. However, how many different ways can someone express their dislike for the coach? It's sort of run its course at this point.I find it almost impossible to believe that on some level, TW doesn't think he may have made a huge mistake. I don't think what is said on this board will change his mind so spending hours asking to fire the coach is a waste of time for many.Firing someone also means a new guy has to be hired. It takes me back to JD's last year when everyone wanted him fired. I told everyone at the time that something seemed wrong with how TW look at the world and him hiring a new coach might not work out well even though I agree it was time for a change. Let's say TW fires the coach at the end of the season...Does anyone trust him to hire another coach? Most ADs at Akron last around four years. Next year will be TW's fourth year and he will be gone one way or another. A huge part of me thinks we should wait for that process to run its course or we get another bad hire and a new AD that is saddled with TW's bad hire for a few years after he is gone. Before the coach goes, the AD has to go or we are in the same position as we are in now. Does anyone think DrP will fire TW?...I don't. Knowing that, why would anyone want TW to fire the coach?

I'd like to ask anyone who is a lawyer....Is this a form of child abuse?Seriously, it should be a fun time for the kids. Perfect game to take them to as the Zips will win.

Last year when everyone said we would go 0-12, I said it was almost impossible to go 0-12 in the MAC. Granted, we waited until the last week for it to happen, but it happened. Point being, it's the MAC and there is always hope for winning.

I'm a big believer in confidence and momentum. Will winning Saturday provide some confidence? Of course. More than anything, it will provide a sense of relief. I don't believe that equals confidence, but they need a break from losing.The real confidence booster would have been defeating Temple. Since that didn't happen, what the Zips really need to boost their confidence is a win against a MAC team.

50-0I work in the construction industry. It would cost more than it took to build the Big Dialer to covert it into an indoor arena.

They won't care when it comes to athletics. Again, NC State, Illinois, Clemson, Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland (WVU and Maryland played yesterday and nobody seemed to care about schooling)...I could go on. I think it would be a shame if WVU was left out of the mega conferences.