GP1

This is why the Zips can't run. Football isn't rocket science. Why would a defense worry about us passing if our receivers can't catch? Force the other team to respect our passing and we will be able to run the ball because there will be fewer defenders near the line. There, I just split the atom.....As far as the wildcat, ditch it. Most teams don't run it well. Those teams that don't run it well and continue to run it are wasting downs. I think the wildcat is a fad like the run & shoot was a fad years ago.

The what?

I think you captured what others may think, but aren't willing to say. As usual, the Great GP1 has to say it and then take the heat. Here we go.....The Zips are not a dominate mid-major team right now. KD doesn't say his team is Top 25 or even a dominate mid-major, he says he wants to get there. He knows where his team is right now and is living in the world of reality. Whether people want to admit it or not, the Zips were pretty harshly shown the door last year in the NCAA Tournament by a team that wasn't even that good. I think it is unlikely that a team goes from being harshly shown the door to winning a game the following season. When the Zips return to the NCAA Tournament again this season, they did nothing the previous season to earn a higher seed and the potential for winning is decreased.Most of the way I view sports is from being a Steelers fan. The Steelers are first and foremost built to win the AFC North or come in second. By doing that, they make the playoffs frequently and then see what happens once they get in. Winning Super Bowls is the benefit of winning on a regular basis during the regular season. If you put yourself in a position where good things can happen, good things will happen eventually. That's my point with the Zips. Keep winning the MAC, dominate the regular season so winning kids want to come to your school and let the chips fall where they may in the NCAA tournament.Was the MAC Championship last year more about a team putting themselves in a position to be successful, or was it part of the strange "building" conspiracy we read about so much on this board? I think it was more of a case where the Zips have put themselves in a position to win over the past few years and eventually were going to win one. There is nothing to be ashamed about because they lost their first round NCAA game.The Winthrop analogy is interesting because I live just a few miles from their campus. KD talks about the window of opportunity for the Zips. I think that is the wrong way to look at it. It assumes when the window closes, success ends because everything has to have a beginning, middle and end. This type of linear thinking is destroying our society and destroys teams. This happened to Winthrop in a conference that is better than the MAC. They basically had a class of kids that came in an won four straight conference titles, won some NCAA games and are gone. Now that they are gone (along with the coach that brought them in), they are back to not being a very good team. You guys saw what was left at Winthrop last season at the JAR and it isn't very pretty. I want to hear KD talk about the Zips dominating the MAC for the near and far future with him being part of that success. Take one game at a time and the success will follow. Worry about what happens at the end of the season when it gets here.I agree. Start with dominating the MAC and build from there.Don't "build", just dominate and good things will happen.

I depends on the type of kid you think you can realistically recruit. At the time Zeke decided to come to UofA, we had not even won the MAC Tournament yet or made the NCAA tournament. My guess is Zeke came to UofA for a lot of reasons and very near the top he saw the Zips were winning a lot and wanted to be part of the winning. I want kids that want to be part of a winning program. Kids that are focused on the end of the season are not focused on games in January and February. I worry about bringing in kids like that.

I think you captured what others may think, but aren't willing to say. As usual, the Great GP1 has to say it and then take the heat. Here we go.....The Zips are not a dominate mid-major team right now. KD doesn't say his team is Top 25 or even a dominate mid-major, he says he wants to get there. He knows where his team is right now and is living in the world of reality. Whether people want to admit it or not, the Zips were pretty harshly shown the door last year in the NCAA Tournament by a team that wasn't even that good. I think it is unlikely that a team goes from being harshly shown the door to winning a game the following season. When the Zips return to the NCAA Tournament again this season, they did nothing the previous season to earn a higher seed and the potential for winning is decreased.Most of the way I view sports is from being a Steelers fan. The Steelers are first and foremost built to win the AFC North or come in second. By doing that, they make the playoffs frequently and then see what happens once they get in. Winning Super Bowls is the benefit of winning on a regular basis during the regular season. If you put yourself in a position where good things can happen, good things will happen eventually. That's my point with the Zips. Keep winning the MAC, dominate the regular season so winning kids want to come to your school and let the chips fall where they may in the NCAA tournament.Was the MAC Championship last year more about a team putting themselves in a position to be successful, or was it part of the strange "building" conspiracy we read about so much on this board? I think it was more of a case where the Zips have put themselves in a position to win over the past few years and eventually were going to win one. There is nothing to be ashamed about because they lost their first round NCAA game.The Winthrop analogy is interesting because I live just a few miles from their campus. KD talks about the window of opportunity for the Zips. I think that is the wrong way to look at it. It assumes when the window closes, success ends because everything has to have a beginning, middle and end. This type of linear thinking is destroying our society and destroys teams. This happened to Winthrop in a conference that is better than the MAC. They basically had a class of kids that came in an won four straight conference titles, won some NCAA games and are gone. Now that they are gone (along with the coach that brought them in), they are back to not being a very good team. You guys saw what was left at Winthrop last season at the JAR and it isn't very pretty. I want to hear KD talk about the Zips dominating the MAC for the near and far future with him being part of that success. Take one game at a time and the success will follow. Worry about what happens at the end of the season when it gets here.

How much development does he really need to compete against the centers in the MAC? Let's be serious, he could hop around on one leg and be better than half the MAC centers.

Get ready to be ecstatic. The kid is a HS All-American. At a minimum, he should produce those numbers next year.It's not enough to just count on an extra year of maturity to move the team forward. I also don't understand why winning an NCAA game is the definition of moving forward. IMHO, what a team does during the regular season better defines how a team is progressing than one week at the end of the year. BB is a strange game where a really good team can have one bad day and lose a conference tournament game....that doesn't really define a team. I'd take going undefeated in the MAC as a strong step forward. Going undefeated or only 1 or 2 MAC loses would be a sign of a consistently good team. That's the step forward I'm looking for.Going beyond the 1st round in the NCAA tourney is absolutely HUGE. I don't get how anyone can blow that off as no big deal?Say the Zips make it to Round #2. The Zips are plastered all over the local and national media. They play on CBS, not ESPNU. The local bars are packed with Akron fans getting excited about their team. Dambrot no longer needs to talk about the potential his team has when he recruits against upper-echelon programs...he can point to himself actually cutting down a net after beating a Wake Forest.Keith Dambrot's Zips have been to the NCAA tourney. Now it is time to win a game (or two).Regarding going undefeated in the MAC -- Sure, that would be HUGE. However, if the Zips were to run the table in the MAC, then bow out in round #1 of the NCAA tourney, it would then be a HUGE letdown. Running the table in the MAC probably equates to no worse than a #11 tourney seed. That's a game an undefeated MAC team should win.Why are Zips fans so afraid of success? Everyone wants to pitter-patter around having high expectations for Zeke...of winning an NCAA tourney game? I don't get it. People SHOULD have high expectations for this team. The SHOULD have high expectations for the highest rated HS recruit ever to play for a MAC school. Side note: It absolutely amazes me how just about every Zips fans has gone from giddy over Zeke, to "I don't expect anything from him the first season." A couple Elton Alexander "buzz kill" quotes and everyone busts out their best let-down coping mechanisms? That's the power of the media.Great MAC teams win NCAA tourney games. Miami has won. Western Michigan has won. K.e.n.t. has won. Central Michigan has won. Throw in Cleveland State too.Zips fans need to appreciate winning the MAC. It's damn difficult to do. But the top mid-majors don't stop at winning their conference. They want more. I want more. Keith Dambrot and the Zips are capable of more. Thus I expect more in 2010.I don't think anyone would disagree that winning an NCAA game would be huge. Getting blown out would also be a let down. My point is there are a lot of ways to look at how the program is progressing (actually, I hate the word progressing because it makes me look like a "grower". I wold be better to say look at the current state of the Zips.). Going undefeated in the MAC woudl be a great way to measure the current state of the program.I also agree that the hedging of Zeke bets is crazy. This kid needs to be on the floor in Game 1 jumping center to start the game. The Zips only get Zeke for four years. He has to be taken advantage of while he wears a Zips uniform. Not playing him is like not running your fastest car in a race because it might get a dent in it. Let's fire up Zeke's motor and see what he can do.Lastly, I think the MAC has changed quite a bit in the past 4-5 years. By changed, I mean it has gotten worse.....a lot worse. Expectations need to start with the fact that we are in a really bad league. All I want right now is for this team to dominate the league this season and win the MAC. Those are the things the Zips can control. NCAA seeding is out of the control of the Zips. The NCAA likes to send MAC teams out west for an early round feast for a higher seeded team. I expect the Zips to dominate the MAC...I want a win in the NCAA tournament, but I don't expect it and I think a domination of the MAC would not be destroyed by losing in the first round.

Get ready to be ecstatic. The kid is a HS All-American. At a minimum, he should produce those numbers next year.It's not enough to just count on an extra year of maturity to move the team forward. I also don't understand why winning an NCAA game is the definition of moving forward. IMHO, what a team does during the regular season better defines how a team is progressing than one week at the end of the year. BB is a strange game where a really good team can have one bad day and lose a conference tournament game....that doesn't really define a team. I'd take going undefeated in the MAC as a strong step forward. Going undefeated or only 1 or 2 MAC loses would be a sign of a consistently good team. That's the step forward I'm looking for.

GP1 hates them out of jealousy. They get to live tax free (which is his libertarian desire). Also he knows that they are vastly superior wood craftsmen.They are running a tax free scam I would love to run.Actually, if you are ever in Amish country, look at how many trucks have North Carolina plates on them. The furniture they sell is made in NC and trucked up there unfinished. They sand the wood, finish it ONLY and they call it Amish made. It's an awesome scam.

I know this is not apples to apples, but it's close. Here is how a SB coach is handling a similar situation, this is from Sunday's post game conference: Question: Do Rashard’s fumbles make you reconsider him starting? Mike Tomlin: Not at this point no. Not at all.Good point. However, did you notice who was NOT on the field late in the game Sunday?Teams live and die with their playmakers.

Not to get too religious, but don't callings come from God. And if God calls us to a job, why is one more important than another?You shouldn't so smugly look down your nose at other people. Not everyone can spend their career documenting pay stubs of criminals.

I think they will as well. There is a good chance he could go to the NFL as a position coach and make more money than at UofA.....his last NFL offer was for more than what UofA was paying. He will also get a nice plump buy-out in the process.

I'd like to clarify. I don't think I have ever said Charlie is a terrible QB. He was a good college QB, but fell well behind the QB kings of the MAC which were Pennington, Leftwich and Roethlisberger. He just isn't a winner.Being the best QB in school history really isn't saying much. If the Browns today were the Browns in the late 1980s, Mike Johnson could have had the same career as Charlie. Just an opinion because we will never really know. The Browns back then knew what they were doing and the Browns today......even as a Steelers fan, I have to say they are just sad to watch. Charlie getting drafted by the Browns is one of the many examples of how bad that franchise is.I still think that in a league full of horrible QBs, Charlie has 3-4 years remaining in his career. His short time starting really means something. That would make a 8-9 year career which is around 3 times the average.ZipsWin! describes him best:1. Weak arm2. Struggles to read defenses........... (stupid)3. Like to run around........... (panics)

I'm usually just fine with people having their own opinions, but for some reason you just make me sick. I know I shouldn't have this reaction to a forum poster, but I can't help feeling that you have a real problem with being fair and reasonable.I don't think myself or anyone else here who hopes Charlie does well is expecting him to become Peyton Manning.But just isn't a winner?In particular seem to remember a game against Marshall where Frye displayed amazing heart. He was magic and seemed to will a win in a very hard fought game. And of course, winning MVP of the senior bowl was a fluke too, since he "just isn't a winner"I know those things are anecdotal, but I watched him play and I saw a winner.And....10-2 record his senior year of high school.7 wins and 5 loses his junior year of college.6 wins and 5 loses his senior year of college.If not for the Michigan State / Hawaii debacle, he would have led us to our first-ever D-1A bowl game.Won the MVP in leading the North to victory with an outstanding 2nd half as starter....against many soon-to-be NFL players.Sure looks like a loser to me I hate to get into the old Charlie Frye debate, but you are really grasping at straws.High school record...any kid that goes to a D-1A college should have a winning HS record. It's about what he did at UofA. 19 D-1A wins in four years is not impressive....especially in the MAC.His junior year, two of those seven wins were against 1-AA teams. Don't tell me he could have beaten another OOC D-1A team because it just didn't happen. He never beat a BCS level school and both Jacq and Getsy beat them.6-5 his senior year could have easily been 4-8 if Brett Biggs was not placed in the starting line-up.Thanks to Charlie for that bowl game he didn't get us to.MVP of an exhibition game......That's like being MVP of a pre-season football game.The list of things Charlie almost did is much longer than the list of things he did do.

There are two Amish women out digging potatoes (assume they are speaking in that Swedish accent they talk in). One of them bends over and picks up two potatoes and looks at the other and says, "Ohhh, look Anna. These potatoes look just like Eli's balls."Surprised, Anna says (in her Swedish accent), "Really, are dey dat big."The first woman responds, "No, der dat dirty."

I agree with Captain Kangaroo. All we need to do with our current schedule and being in the MAC is win 7 games a year. This isn't even asking for much. People will excuse away the BCS losing every year if they would just win the darn MAC. Going to bowl games on a regular basis would be enough to gain interest. Win the MAC every 3 years, compete for the championship every year and the town would produce good crowds. 20,000 average is not unreasonable.If we want to expect more wins than 7 every year, dump the BCS teams and beat up on some I-AA teams.Don't feel bad about the Vikings CK. I've seen many of undefeated teams come to the Steel City around the end of October only to go home with their first loss. The truth is, the Steelers needed that game much more than the Vikings did. 5-2 in all practical terms in the NFL is significantly better than 4-3. That game had one of the strangest vibes I have ever watched. Very strange game.

He also holds the record for being the only opening day QB traded the following day after opening day.Anybody can complete a lot of passes in the NFL to guys out of the backfield. The key is completing passes downfield. With a weak arm, he can't complete passes downfield. The bottom line is Charlie is not a winning QB. He didn't win in the worst conference in D-1A and he didn't win with the Browns. That's why Charlie doesn't get on the field...he just isn't a winner.

It isn't about coaches gelling, it's about players playing. Coaches come and go at our level. We need a coach and coaching staff that can take a group of talented players and turn them into winners.

You must not like Charlie very much. The last thing Charlie needs at this point in his career is to get on the field again.He is a bad NFL QB. However, his game experience, while a joke, is important in the NFL. Most third string QBs have zero playing experience. As long as he doesn't get in another game, the smaller of a chance he has of getting run out of another town. If he shows up to work every day and contributes in a back-up role, I think he could last another 3-4 years in the league. The key though is not letting anyone see how bad he is in a regular season game.I have nothing against Charlie making a great living in the NFL. It's just too bad he uses it to support Ashland University.

Aren't the chants of Charlie-Charlie-Charlie how he started his illustrious career in Cleveland? Like I always say, everything Cleveland fans want ends up blowing up in their faces. Charlie was just another example of that.

No, 40 years of hate is hard to turn off with one trip to a casino. And no, no move to Lancaster Co.....or Sugarcreek.....or Charm......or Wooster.

I've never said anything on the board about it, but I have a strange dislike for Amish people. Last week, my wife and I were in Atlantic City gambling at the Borgata and the Amish Outlaws played to a packed following at the casio bar. They were awesome. Check out the web page.

Will it happen? No, look at how the fans on this board look at the program as being "out of control" because our QB gets thrown off the team and a third string scout team player gets in a bar fight. Akron fans are stuck in the 1950s and think "we need a program we can all be proud of". College football is cleaner now than it has ever been (that's not saying much), but there is a segment of sports fans who believe the 1950s were a clean and just time in college sports. We need to get focused on winning and those things we need to do to win.

Not so dirty secret indeed. Everyone should read the book, "The Blind Side". It will be out in movie soon and is about Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens and his growing up in Memphis.The lengths to which Mississippi went to in order to keep this kid on the field is mind blowing. There are SEC schools out there that have a tutor attend every class with the player and then meet with the player at night to reinforce the lessons learned that day. A player may have a different tutor for each class. These tutors do not come cheap either. All are earning income from the Athletic Department for these tasks. I wish we had that kind of money.If you guys really want to get the program to the point where they are winning 9-10 games a year, these are the things they need to do. If they don't, 6-7 wins should be normal. I'd love a six win season at this point.

That's where I draw the distinction regarding the merits of JD's alleged loyalty. In my mind, loyalty to the program and the university, from the head football coach, equals a burning desire to do whatever it takes to win on the field. The best coaches aren't particularly loyal to individual players or to other coaches on their staffs. They always put the team, and team success, ahead of everything else. For all of the twisted love of "the sweater vest" in Ohio, I have absolutely no doubt that his deal with players and coaches is that he is going to play the best players every week, the players and the schemes that give that team its best chance to win are the ones who are going to see the field. Players who were all-world in high school but don't produce or don't fit the scheme don't see the field, period. So, if the implication is that JD plays certain kids, who aren't right for the scheme, or aren't as good as others kids on the roster, I call that utterly misplaced loyalty and in the context of D-1 coaching, complete nonsense. Same goes for coaches on his staff.If your allusions to loyalty by JD are about his hard-workingness, hours spent in the team offices (which UA actually has now) and general boosterism for the program, I would again argue that those hours have simply been wasted. Hopefully for him personally, he has learned enough to catch a position on a college or professional staff after this year and earn a living, but he is a failure as a head college football coach. I actually don't care how hard working a head college football coach is. If he wins games and recruits good players, I'm happy. JD may even be a complete workaholic, but we've all known workaholics who weren't particularly productive. I'm convinced that JD could sell ice to eskimos, but he is a bad college head football coach.It's time for UA to decide what it wants. After they fire JD and this entire staff, it'll be time for Proenza to do a little soul searching. If the board wants to build a real football program, and decide that there exists the potential for success (some would doubt the potential for an upstart program in the veritable cradle of football, where there are already so many high-quality programs for kids to choose from) they will have to put more money into the program. They will have to pay (for the first time) for a high-quality head coach and staff, who will have to redouble their efforts to recruit high quality players. UA has gone part of the way with capital improvements, but that money will have been wasted if there is not a strong commitment made to the human beings who will build the program, basically from the ground up.STZLet's say the worst case scenario occurs and the Zips finish 1-10. Even in that situation, that certainly doesn't mean that the next coach will have to build "from the ground up". It's not like JD's teams of recent years have been involved in games like the Kansas State 65-0 debacle or the one where Miami's QB took a knee in scoring position JUST BEFORE HALFTIME. Things are bad, but in NO way is this program one that should be characterized as having to start over. The right coach can turn it around quickly. I'm fully convinced of that. The key will be having a smooth transition, one in which key players and recruits are retained.Well said. There is plenty of talent. We have spent too many years "building" at UofA. It's time to start winning.When people say "high quality recruits", the first thing that comes to my mind is a high quality recruit is a difference maker on the field. Sometimes difference makers struggle in the classroom. UofA needs to make a committment to bring in high quality players and support them academically. That's how really good teams get good. I'm not saying bring in a bad element, but let's keep the marginal players in school, help them get some cake degree and win some games.