GP1

Find out if the kid wants to win or is just attracted to a new stadium and all the fluff associated with that. If so, we shouldn't be interested. If everyone else is selling stadiums and facilities, do something different. Sell a commitment to winning. A kid who buys winning wants to win. A kid who buys a new stadium wants the new stadium. Start a culture of winning.I too believe that a player's will to win can close a talent gap.I agree. Here is how I see it. I have made no bones about my belief we have enough talent on the team to win next year. A winning attitude in addition to talent makes for a very good team.I once worked as a sales manager for a Berkshire Hathaway company and we brought in a new Division Manager who wanted to do things differently. He was a tough guy who told all of us what he wanted to do and said we needed to "change the people or change the people". The sales force we had was good, but lazy and set in their ways because they were frankly older. Heck, I was 38 and the youngest of all the other five managers. The guy manager closest in age was 58. The seven sales reps who reported to me were all older than I was. Believe me, when they heard about what he said, they changed quickly. Only a few had to be shown the door and one of them was a fellow manager. People can change with the right leadership. The Zips can win next year.

SeeTeeZip is on fire with good posts today. We didn't build a new stadium to play PSU and tOSU on the road. Lets get some low end CUSA and Sun Belt teams to play us home and home.Play on freaking Saturday when the sun is up and people can enjoy a nice afternoon outside. Maybe someone like me who has to drive 7 hours might have more options as to when I go watch the Zips.Ignore when tOSU is playing.Right now, TW has to be thinking about how to get some of the BCS teams we have on our schedule for next year off of the schedule and get more I-AA teams. The same goes for the following year.

I love this comment and I've never thought of it that way. If winning isn't important, how come we just fired our coach? Winning is everything.

Good post. The key is making yourself different than everyone else. Everyone else is now selling facilities as more schools than just UofA have been improving their facilities. New stadium? Everyone else is selling stadium improvements.Board commitment to "growing" the program? Everyone else tells the same lie.Great point about the offensive and defensive schemes. That's what can separate one team from another and gather the attention of a recruit. This should be framed in a way that centers around how those schemes are going to make the team win.Academic support? Good point if we indeed do have good academic support compared to the other schools the kid is looking at.Honesty is the best selling tool I know. Be honest about the history of the program and the desire to turn it into a winner. Have a clear message to the recruits that losing is no longer going to be accepted at UofA. The hosts should be passing along the same message of winning and belief that the new coaches can get them there.Find out if the kid wants to win or is just attracted to a new stadium and all the fluff associated with that. If so, we shouldn't be interested. If everyone else is selling stadiums and facilities, do something different. Sell a commitment to winning. A kid who buys winning wants to win. A kid who buys a new stadium wants the new stadium. Start a culture of winning.

Dan LeFevourTry again......

No and no. However, even a kangaroo deserves a Christmas feast.

I like his list of MAC QBs that win. All of them are true except one. Anyone want to guess at which one never won anything?

Unless the waitress spills a beer in your lap... No ill wishes though, let's all enjoy this game and I hope to be watching the Zips on Sunday.I employed this exact logic last night. I drove the two hours to Raleigh, went to dinner at the Oyster Bar and went to Tobacco Road to watch the game on high def and have a few more beers. I'm actually going to try to go to the game tomorrow.

FB? Tight end? What are these?They are players that get teams first downs, but not touchdowns. They are the type of player that people from the suburbs are obsessed with because they typically look like them so we get threads like this. The real question should be, Who are the big play wide receivers going to be next year? WRs get touchdowns, TEs and FBs get first down. The MAC tends to be a high scoring league so we need to put up points and show some ability to play defense. Nicely has a HUGE arm and they need to use that arm to throw the ball downfield to playmakers. Anyone can dink and dunk, but I think Nicely has the potential to be an NFL player if he improves his accruacy. They need to use him like an NFL QB.Perfect example happend last weekend. Jason Witten (TE) of the Cowboys had a personal career day with 15 catches and 153 yards. I'm sure suburban fans around the country were swooning at what a great accomplishment it was. They were the two most overrated statistics of the day. What they missed is he scored ZERO points. Let me repeat that.....he scored ZERO points. One more time....he scored ZERO points. His team lost. Amazing? No because football games are won with big plays on offense.Every time I read one of your completely clueless posts, I think that was the dumbest one yet. However, you always prove me wrong and post something even more ridiculous. My post points out:1. The TE is an overrated position that people have mistakenly fallen in love with even though there is little evidence for it doing much more than getting first downs.2. We should worry about a position that really matters (WR) and can win games more effectively than the TE with a good QB. We now have the QB.3. A concrete and recent example of the failings of a team that throws to their TE too much.I understand how badly fans want to believe that a slow plodding player can win a game. Americans love the underdog. Some will even be able to provide the rare example for it happening. Most people are slow and plodding so they relate to it personally. I really do get it. Humans tend to relate to others similar to them. For example, many Catholics voted for JFK because he was Catholic. Others voted for George Bush because he was from Texas and so were they (presidential candidates almost always win their own state). Others may have voted for Obama because he is black and so are they. Fans are just part of society.In closing, get the ball to playmakers and score points...not first downs.

FB? Tight end? What are these?They are players that get teams first downs, but not touchdowns. They are the type of player that people from the suburbs are obsessed with because they typically look like them so we get threads like this. The real question should be, Who are the big play wide receivers going to be next year? WRs get touchdowns, TEs and FBs get first down. The MAC tends to be a high scoring league so we need to put up points and show some ability to play defense. Nicely has a HUGE arm and they need to use that arm to throw the ball downfield to playmakers. Anyone can dink and dunk, but I think Nicely has the potential to be an NFL player if he improves his accruacy. They need to use him like an NFL QB.Perfect example happend last weekend. Jason Witten (TE) of the Cowboys had a personal career day with 15 catches and 153 yards. I'm sure suburban fans around the country were swooning at what a great accomplishment it was. They were the two most overrated statistics of the day. What they missed is he scored ZERO points. Let me repeat that.....he scored ZERO points. One more time....he scored ZERO points. His team lost. Amazing? No because football games are won with big plays on offense.

Oh my, emotional college kids are swearing.....Amazing.Dennison would hand out 20 lashes for swearing, but he looked the other way while allowing rampant steroid abuse to take place and guys getting drunk the night before games. If that's winning the right way, I'd like to know what winning the wrong way is. The legend of Dennison is much greater than the reality.

The decision shouldn't be left up to him.If we have a schedule like Fresno St., we can suffer through five more years of losing seasons. If we schedule sanely, we can enjoy some winning.

The stadium cams don't seem to be working.Unfortunately, this thread still is......

If you really want to do something fun and you own a shotgun. This is a good gun club out by the Research Triangle.

Raleigh is actually close to Pinehurst. Lots of great golfing around Pinehurst besides the main club you see on television. Around Greensboro is a place called The Grandover that is very nice but a bit of a drive. Basically, you are surrounded by good golf courses there.

What has he done to earn your trust?1.) He actually interviewed the candidates, rather than only look at won/lost records on a school's web site, or idiotic comments on fan forums. 2.) He didn't look at Central Michigan and think "This is the only possible way to have success in the MAC."3.) He released a coaching staff that was still under contract for a year. In these economic times, he could easily have said "Hey, my hands are tied...we have to keep the guy." But he made the tough (monetarily) call. 4.) His own career advancement depends on it.Look - I have a long way to go before I buy into YouTube Tom part-and-parcel. The way he handled Reno's dismissal was absolutely wrong and he has a mile to go to make up for it. But he knows better than anyone on this board whether or not Ianello was the best candidate for the Akron HC job.Below is my rebuttal to your strained logic (number correspond to numbers above):1. Isn't it his job to interview the candidates. Why does that deserve respect?2. I guess you have a point there.3. Making obvious choices does not deserve respect. It's like saying Mike Thomas was brilliant for hiring Kelly when in fact it was the obvious choice.4. People in college athletics advance their careers in all sorts of ways. One of those is hiring their friends so incase they need another job they have their friends to fall back on. I think this is lazy management.Maybe it's my natural dislike for authority and honestly it is still early in his UofA career, but the guy makes me nervous in a way that Mack and Thomas didn't. I think he is a ready...fire...aim guy.

What has he done to earn your trust?What has he done to lose your's?Trust isn't given, it's earned.1. Reno raw deal.2. Taking the easy road and hiring a buddy.3. Giving away tickets to the final football game.Now go cry to the moderators and have them make you another sign, sign bitch.

What has he done to earn your trust?

You're right. I hate the "building" nonsense. You don't build a program....From day one, you improve a program. I expect this team, next year, to be improved over last year. Building implies..."Give us a couple of years". No thanks.

I'm a patient man, so I'll wait and see while eating the same pile of crap I have been for the past 20+ years. I have a feeling I know how this story is going to end.

My roommate played college football and is now a medical doctor. Another from my suite on Brown Street is a doctor. Another is a pharmacist. I have a masters degree. Another suitemate has a masters degree. I know guys who are MBAs, CPAs and lawyers. It can be done and there are plenty of examples. The kid just didn't want to come to UofA.

I'm disappointed too. However, this is what I expected. People in college athletics have almost zero creativity. Tom could have taken the difficult road and hired someone highly qualified. Instead he hired a buddy from a past job.......lazy. This is typical.....sad, but typical. Guys like Tom don't care because they always have their eyes on the next job.The only thing I disagree with is us having everything we need to go "big time". We have everything we need to win the MAC, but not even enough to win a second tier conference or even compete in one.

We had one already. His name was JD Brookhart. 2005 MAC Champions.

Smug as always...i hate UNC.and whiners. Seeing it first hand is amazing.

I have a customer who is an NC State graduate and has seen this soccer complex. He said it is awesome!