GP1

Momma, on the one hand I agree that we are all speculating about what happened. It's a board forum, wherein people do that. On the other hand yours is the second post that infers that the new AD is up to no good, setting up an honorable coach in order to not only get rid of him but to supply the excuse for getting rid of the staff later on. I would suggest that you are speculating just as much on that point, and I would also argue that based on the Zips' performance on the field so far, the AD needs absolutely no "other" justification to let the entire staff go at the end of the season, beyond the simple fact that after 5+ years of JD and Co, the team is a disaster on the playing field. Why would Wistrcill need any more than that to remove any of the coaches at this point?STZFans sometimes think firing a coach is like firing a regular employee where it takes months of back-up paperwork to fire them. In reality, there are "outs" in the coaches contracts that are exercised when they are terminated. They can be fired at any time for any reason.I'd also like to clarify that my brilliant question raised on this thread. It's not that the new AD is up to no good, it may be that he is an overreacter. If that is the case, I worry about the guy being the AD. If this indeed turns out to be nothing, the new AD has made a huge mistake with Reno. Will his next big executive decision be to suspend KD for throwing an empty diet soda can in the trash instead of the recycling bin? Let's keep an eye on this guy. Something smells funny and it may be nothing, but let's be careful.

Don't you mean, "Other than Brett Biggs"?

Two things.....I trust the Captain on this one..... and I don't like the saying, "Ready, fire, aim".Is anyone going to ask whether or not the AD overreacted to this at the onset? If he did, what does it say about the new AD? Is the new AD level headed enough or does he make quick and poor decisions.The problem with a potential overreaction is he is potentially destroying the career of a good person in order to look good. Just like the KD story at CMU, this will unfortunately follow Ferri for the remainder of his career as long as there is an internet. Right now, the new AD doesn't deserve any slack because he hasn't earned any. We should be carefully watching for more of this in the future.

I think JD wanted to stay one more year regardless of the outcome because of the opening of the new stadium. Six years is a good number of years at a job for a football coach. Coaches live a very nomadic lifestyle. Ambition is the driving force. The comings and goings of a coach should not get fans upset.You're right, from what I have heard, JD has had offers in the past to be a position coach in the NFL and turned them down...if you have one offer, you can get others. Maybe I looked at a post wrong, but I think JD is the third lowest paid coach in the MAC....he can get third lowest paid coach money in the NFL as an assistant.After this season, JD's tombstone will be along side Faust's and LO's in the graveyard of coaches. There is no way he is going to get another D-1A head coaching job with his record at Akron, but he is a good position coach which makes him a good candidate for the NFL or BCS level college. I don't know JD, but I bet he knows he will never get another shot at coaching a D-1A team. The guy that was fired from Cincy a few years ago will never be the head coach of a D-1A team and he had a better career at UC than JD at UofA. A MAC football coach needs to have success early and leave ASAP if they want to move up the coaching ladder to a BCS school. JD didn't do that and he is where he is today.As far as taking medicine, the pile of crap a coach has to eat after getting fired really doesn't taste that bad. It usually involves a buy out and a new job around January.As far as leaving after one good year....that's all it takes. There are far more "builders" out there that would see the one good season as a sign that the guy stayed and "built" a great program against all odds, than people with common sense. Never underestimate the stupidity of hiring committees and people working in athletic departments.

+1

What I am most pissed off about this year is I thought there were going to be changes after last season in terms of the style of defense and creativity in the offense. My opinion was if he committed to make changes he should stay...If not, he should go. There really haven't been any.I'll throw this out there and maybe I'm completely wrong. I think JD went into this year thinking that regardless of how the season went down, 2009 was going to be his last year at Akron. He would have said anything to stay one more year. If we had a good year, JD was going to leave. If we had a bad year, he would get his buyout and be on his way. Either way he was going to do what he wanted to do when he came here regardless of the outcome.

Does anyone think Temple can win the MAC East? Good MAC schools pile up the points against their competition and Temple did that against at least the defending MAC Champion.Last year I thought Temple could be really good in time, but not this soon.

I love discussions of what makes great players great. Bird was all of the above plus two very important personality traits. The first was toughness...Bird played with injuries that most would not and teammates get picked up by that. Bird played with back pain that would land most people in the hospital.Secondly and most importantly, Bird was like all great players in that he hated to lose more than he liked to win. The down great players feel after losing is greater than the high they feel after winning. They expect to win and will break their back to win.

Who asked you a question? Oh wait, he's not pregnant is he? He might not be our only pregnant recruit. See my question on Erick Howard's weight gain......

Want to have some fun? This is a general invitation for anyone living in the Charlotte area or would like to attend. There is no cost for attending and you buy your own drinks/foot.This coming Thursday, October 8, 2009 at happy hour, there will be an All Ohio Alumni Night at Blackfinn Irish Pub at the Epicenter in downtown Charlotte. Parking is best located under the Epicenter. If you don't know where the Epicenter is, it is on College and Trade Streets across from the Omni Hotel on it's west side and the new Ritz on it's north side. It is where they have Alive at Five now. Dale Jr's bar is located in the Epicenter as well...everyone in Charlotte knows where that is.All Ohio Alumni Nights are when people from only Ohio universities and colleges gather somewhere in downtown Charlotte for drinks and fun. There is not public speaking or anything like that...just fun. Some schools are organized enough to have a local alumni table at the event and there are 2-3 a year. Typically, there may be anywhere from 100-200 people attending. The demographics range from young to old. I've never not had fun at one. You might be surprised at the high level bank executives/business leaders from Charlotte that went to Ohio schools and attend.

HOW DARE YOU CALL THE MAC MEDIOCRE!!!!!!!! It's pure crap and we all know it.

Let's hope the coaching situation doesn't scare him and others away from Akron.Sounded to me like he was coming for the facilities and school anyway. (oh wait, facilities don't matter on where a player goes)Partly, he could also be coming to UofA to play close to home. Maybe he would have come to UofA even if they were still playing in the RB.What I am most impressed about is his discussion of winning. The kid wants to win first and foremost. It looks to me like he wants to win more than playing in a new stadium. That is the kind of kid we need. I don't want kids who are coming to UofA to play in a new stadium. I want kids who are driven to win and will dedicate themselves to winning. We might have one here. Time will tell.

Bissinger's first chapter is attached. Not about the movie, but interesting read and sort of ties into this thread. For those of us not living in Akron any longer (I actually lived in the city) the visual is real. Bissinger is a bitter old guy now, but he is a great writer. This book should be a good read.

We have seen some senior leadership. It consisted of a kid that was reared on the mean steets of Mentor stealing from his team.

I'm not concerned about making this list. It is not a secret that MAC schools tend to dominate this Bottom 10 list. I'm more concerned about another losing record.

I could talk Hogan's Heroes all day long. There is a huge historical error in the show and it is that Col. Hogan is said to be in the Air Force. In reality, the Air Force was not created until after WWII and Hogan would have been a pilot in the Army. Other than that, the show is both culturally and historically accurate.

Everything I have learned in my life about the German people/culture and WWII comes from watching Hogan's Heroes. I know for a fact the Geneva Convention was in effect prior to 1949.

Stop making sense.It's not like we are even asking for that much winning. The most frustrating thing about the Zips right now is they will not even go 6-2 in a horrible conference (for a lot of reasons). 6-2 gets them to seven wins. They probably won't even go 5-3 in the MAC. 5-3 would give them six wins and at least a shot at a bowl.When the new coach gets here, I don't think it is unreasonable to demand seven wins out of the guy next season. There will be enough talent and the next coach needs to win with the existing talent.

All good points. I would like to know what our money situation is in comparison to other MAC schools. Does anyone know?Everyone fully understands we are not going to generate as much revenue as BCS schools. If we are generating relatively the same revenue as other MAC schools, then there is a problem beyond money.

In the next 50 years, Akron will not be competing for the national championship. The MAC has been around since 1940whatever and nobody has won the national championship. Just like the NFL, all 12 games do not matter. If you are concerned about defining excellence as winning the MAC, the games that do matter are the MAC games and they consist of 8 games a year. The goal of UofA should be to win the MAC East and get to the Championship game. Once there, anything can happen. 7-5 can get a team to the MAC Championship game....8-4 almost guarantees it. Our biggest problem right now is we are not even good enough to win seven games with the schedule we play.If the goal is to win 9-10 games a year, scheduling needs to be addressed.

I respectfully submit that I do not fully buy into this Marxist idea of college athletics. It's not that money isn't important, but is it the only reason for making programs better? I would submit that winning and winning players make teams better. I would bet that over the past ten years, the football program has generated more money YOY in each year. Why do we still suck? There is more money, but we still only have one MAC Championship under our belts.I'll continue to use our MBB program as an example again. From what I read on this board, crowd numbers are up but not as much as one might think given the success of the program. Sell-outs are few and far between. There is no way the MBB team turns a profit. They play in a horrible arena. Yet, they win. Is it money or the winners on the team?

To which I began the thread after the Indiana game, "Akron to Missouri Valley Conference". Seems it drew little interest except from the YSU lurker. Since Akron does not have the resources to "compete with the big diogs" (diogs apparently meaning BCS conference schools?) should we therefore abandon all intent on competing? Excellent point. There was a time in college football when there were not divisions in place to separate the schools. If you look back, tOSU used to play teams like Muskingum and other now D-III schools. Most of the time that did not happen because people knew where they belonged without formal divisions.Mt. Union is by all standards the best team in D-III over the past 15-20 years. They couldn't win a game against any D-I team and college athletics are set up so they can never get to that point.Some fan logic would have us believe the end result of striving for excellence is going 12-0. Could not the end result of striving for excellene also be going 7-5, making the MAC Championship game and then winning it? I just want to be the best team in a bad conference. 7-5 can get you there. The team that won the Super Bowl last year went 12-4 in the regular season. What if they go 10-6, limp in to a Wild Card spot and they go on to win the Super Bowl again somehow? Is that still excellence or "is their program going in the wrong direction" because they didn't win as many games as the year before? In the end, they just want to get to the playoffs and let the chips fall where they may. Doesn't 7-5 get a MAC team close to the division championship with a chance to let the chips fall where they may in December?

Just do it for crying out loud. I never post on one of these threads, but they are always funny to look at.

Thanks. We can't gain momentum with the schedule we play. I used to think our MBB scheduling was weak....and it is on some level, but it does what KD wants it to do. It creates a winning record and winners want to play for winners. Below is our upcoming MBB ooc schedule. Keep in mind that only 15% of those games are played against what in football would be BCS level teams. Our football team currently plays 75% of their ooc games against BCS level teams.Austin PNC StateDrakeHowardAR Pine BluffNiagraTX A&MMalone (this game is an absolute joke)UNCGUICValpoWyomingRhode IslandWhat if we changed the games so that the team played 75% of their games against BCS level teams? It might look like this:North CarolinaNC StateDrakeGeorgetownAR Pine BluffBoston CollegeTX A&MOklahomaIllinoisUICVillanovaUCLARhode IslandInstead of starting out the season 10-3, they might start out the season at best 4-9. How does that establish a winning program? It doesn't. KD is absolutely scheduling properly and the football team....sorry, the AD needs to take note (unless they really need the money).

Why would I work for you, I already work for myself?