GP1

Great question. We don't own it, because it takes more than new facilities to field a wide range of successful sports programs, let alone one or two. Success through facilities is a myth told to sports fans to get them to believe that a wide range of problems can be solved by building a structure(s) of some type.I just bought Wake Forest tickets for next year. They have a horrible stadium away from campus that only seats 31,000 + 5,000 on a little hill and no indoor practice facility; yet somehow they went to a BCS game two years ago and another bowl game last year. For at least two more years, they will go to bowl games. I've actually learned a lot about how a historically below average/really bad football team can become really good in a short period. I see what Akron could be in them, but on a smaller scale. In order to see it though, you have to look past the myth. It takes more than a new stadium and unfortunately, it will take more than a new coach going into the new stadium.

Akron is exactly where it should be right now. With the exception of soccer, the Zips would struggle in every other sport in the BE. We would do OK in basketball in C-USA, but we are really on the cusp of doing some great things in basketball now and going to just OK doesn't cut it for me.When I read that the Zips should get out of the MAC because it stinks, I always think to myself, "Ya, and we are one of the teams causing the stink along with the rest of the league." This argument is like people complaining about the government and forgetting we are the people who put those idiots in office.How has the "upgrade" to C-USA worked for Marshall? Last I checked, they were struggling mightily in C-USA. Moving to C-USA is not a stepping stone to anything. This line of thinking is the same line of thinking that results in MAC schools continually "building" for the future. With the exception of a nationally recognized soccer program, UofA is not on the radar with any other sport. Before we discuss a move "up", we need to do something in the horrible conference we are currently situated in. After we do something meaningful, then we can look to move.What the MAC should really be looking to do is move down to 1-AA for football if the NCAA is not willing to create a super conference with about four or five conferences. Would it hurt national recognition? I don't think so. Is App State more nationally recognized than UofA or any other MAC school? I would think so.The conference jumping debate is always a fun one to have and I go around and around about it in my head. In reality, we are where we should be until we accomplish something meaningful in a sport other than soccer.Have a good weekend everyone.

I think you are right on the money. In recent years, a team that goes 6-6 in the MAC is an elite MAC team and has a shot at the conference championship and a bowl (Miami did it last year). QB play makes an elite MAC school (Pennington, Limpwich, Roethlisberger, Gradkowski, can't think of the guy at CMU right now, etc.). With all the talent on the team, we will still not have an elite QB. They will go 5-7, JD will be let go, another Coach Smith will be brought in and the building can continue for another five years. Let the good times roll on that long bridge to China........ It could be done by now.

I don't think we will suck forever. In fact, I think there is enough talent on the team to win 6-7 games next year. For a MAC school to win 6-7 games almost guarantees a bowl game. Looking beyond Akron, the landscape of college football has changed to the point that a MAC school winning 6-7 games is a good season. I don't know all the records from last season, but I think only four MAC schools finished with 50% or better records. That's only around 30% of the teams. Last season, 6-6 put Miami in the MACC. As low aiming as it is, we need to shoot for 6 wins and see where that gets us.Some of you worry about the GPA and various other things that are secondary to winning. The truth is there is a lot of talent on the Zips. If they can get some good QB play and better play calling, they can win 6-7 and go to a bowl. I think JD kept the wrong people around after last year that will kill the good play calling part and he will pay for it this upcoming season. I don't wish the guy ill, but I do think changes were in order after last season and they were not made. I've said before that some really good coaches would rather be right than win and we are going to see that in action next season.Oh well, at least I don't have to watch it anymore. Reading about it will be bad enough.

I don't know what attendance will be, but I can predict with 100% certainty that the Athletic Department will continue the fine tradition of over reporting crowd size.

I wonder if so many of you would be as hard on JK if she was a he. In business, hard charging men are often called "tough leaders" and "no nonsense". If a woman is hard charging in business, she is often called a bitch.Another analogy. In the movie Hoosiers, Gene Hackman plays a tough coach who kicks kids off the team for not doing exactly what he wants. During their first game, he plays only four players to make a point to a malcontent and the rest of the team. At the end of the game, he tells the team they need to do exactly what he wants them to do or basically leave the team. In the end, his type of leadership attracts the best player in the school to go out for the team because he believes in how the coach is handling the team and the school wins the state championship. At this point in the WBB program, they need a coach like that character because everything is so broken there is little room for compromise. When you guys who say bad things about Coach K watch the movie Hoosiers, do you relate to what the coach in Hoosiers does or do you say he is being too hard on the players and should have just put the malcontent back in the game because they needed five? Or do you think he should listen to the town's people who want to tell him how to run his program? I bet not.Lastly, I would like to take a minute to praise the young ladies who have stayed on the team and I would like to encourage them to have an even stronger committment to the team next season. Keep a positive attitude. The malcontents would have only destroyed your spirit. Those of us on this board know it can't be easy winning only 7-8 games a year. In lieu of worrying about players leaving, we should be praising those staying.Keep the hard line JK.

Don't the cop and Coach Kest function under different rules? The cop is forced to follow due process according to the Constitution. Coach Kest functions largely as a dictator constrained only by the NCAA and the Athletic Director. She can do whatever she wants to do until the NCAA or the AD stop her and she does not have to ask permission to do so.For those of you who think she needs to solve the problem, what is the solution? I think getting rid of malcontents is a pretty good solution to a potential problem. Malcontents are very difficult to make happy because they are always upset about something. In the end, JK will spend all of her time trying to make the malcontents happy and does not pay attention to those who have bought into what she is trying to do. At that point, the malcontents spread their cancer into those who buy in because they have shown the only way to get what you want is to whine and cry about the problem. Keeping six players who have bought in to what she is trying to do is more important than losing six players who want to have their cake and eat it too.I wonder how Pat Summitt dealt with malcontents when she started at Tennessee? My guess is she did not give a crap about her players feelings. How many national championships does she have now? Keep doing what you are doing Coach Kest. Don't get distracted.

Good for Coach K! The culture of any organization is the hardest thing to change. Keeping malcontents around is not good for the program.This cleansing could be the best thing Coach K has done while at Akron.

I really worry about the loss of this Lowery kid. From the article CK posted, it appears as if he was a star special teams player for the Zips. Our special teams were vastly improved last year and losing a player like him could really hurt. Let's just hope our special teams recover from his loss.

Isn't this like saying, "nice bathroom stall...but no door"?

Don't be surprised if you get a letter from Green Peace.

I hope you've learned an important lesson here. Parking discussions are a tradition on this Zips board though.....unfortunately.

For the love of God HOLLYWOODZIPPY, don't bring up parking!!!!!! There are few topics on this board that will throw the members in to histrionics faster than the thought of paying more than $5.00 to park at a D-1A football game.

Good idea. I would like to add to it.They could name the dirigible the Hindenburg, float it with hydorgen in lieu of helium and after Zips wins they could have a post game bonfire over Kathryn Place by setting it on fire (Everything else has been set on fire on Kathryn Place, why not a blimp?). Talk about something that would bring nostalgia and connect the alumni to their days at UofA!A contest could happen each time awarding $500 to the best rendition of the phrase, "Oh the humanity".Just some random thoughts....feel free to add your own.

Actually, we are filling in the blanks with her own words from a local newspaper.

She shouldn't settle for less. She was here to get a nursing degree (BTW, UofA has a GREAT nursing program) AND play basketball. When she saw she could not do both or maybe perform at the level she wanted to in her school work, she bolted. If you guys could drop your insanity for a minute, you will see in my original post that I say good luck to her. I still say good luck to her, but I also wish she would not blame JK for her inability to manage both a demanding degree and basketball. You guys like to use the word "classy" a lot on this board...Let's just say her comments to the local paper were "not classy".Another option could have been her not playing basketball, finishing her degree at UofA and getting a good job in an area of the county with a lot of growth in the hospital business. Where is she going to get a job in West Virginia or Marietta? In reality, this young lady has made a very short sighted and immature decision. Don't want to play BB? Fine, finish the degree at a good nursing school.

.. snips..Agreed on the need for some extended patience here. Hipsher & Owens got 9 years. Kest should have lots of rope. This however, I think is garbage. I'll drop the BS card on you here.It has less to do with smarts, and everything to do with effort, motivation and efficient use of your time. There's required aptitude for nursing, sure .. but it's not mutually exclusive with talent on the basketball court. You sell today's students way short to have this opinion, especially as it pertains to a sport where the "next level" aka playing professionally is not a likely possibility.One of the great things about UA and the conference in which it currently resides is the recognition that it is the UNIVERSITY of Akron, and that the athletes are STUDENT athletes. To have some idea that we're going to have a varsity sport and bring in students just to do time, play the sport and walk away with a more easily obtained degree in {put your opinion here} is foolish. My experience tutoring and TA'ng classes at a BCS school with high level athletes studying engineering successfully tells me your argument / suggestion doesn't hold water.Go Zips.I think if you reread my original post, you will see I use the word "most". I did not use the word all. I stand by what I said.

Here is the cold hard truth of the WBB program at Akron (I don't think this is big news here). The program is absolutely terrible. JK should be given more slack than any other coach at the school. I say allow her ten years (8 more years) to straighten the program out (yes, it is really that bad). She has won at other places and I find it hard to believe that she may have already forgotten how to win BB games. If this team is not winning after 8 more years (some would accept just signs of life), then she should be fired and the program should be closed for good.I don't know what this hick girl from WV thought when she was signing a letter of intent to a D-1A school, but the reality of the matter is that most kids are not smart enough to play D-1A sports and pursue a difficult degree like nursing. Is JK too focused on sports and not academics? I don't know, but she will not get fired for her players graduating. I say good luck to this young lady and her desire to become a nurse, but she shouldn't blame Coach K. for her lack of ability to pursue the degree and play major college sports as well. She is just a good example of our society today. It is always someone elses fault when a person can't do what they want to do.

They stuck their nose into "the steroids issue" in MLB, didn't they?Anti-trust issues are more in the court of congress then some social cause.It is nothing more than grandstanding.

ECU is in the running. That place is a dump. The only interesting thing about ECU is their fan base. It is an combination of beach bums and red necks. I hear the tailgating is pretty good because of that.

I agree. More power to them. Nothing wrong with people making the best of any situation they are in.Eminent Domain is an interesting issue depending on who is going to benefit from it. Personally, I am a strong proponent of personal property rights. UofA could make this guys life miserable to the point that he had to sell. There is no need yet to go down the eminent domain road.Rasor had an interesting point about eminent domain in his blog. Interesting that it took him only one semester of law school to turn into a RINO.

I can't believe they have nothing better to do than look into this.

No, they were both invited to an open tryout for area players that the Browns usually conduct as a PR move right after the draft. Not to belittle those guys, but they aren't getting one of the Browns 30 draft workouts lol. Some guys have taken this opportunity and made good with it though, and its been a positive experience for many former Zips in the past.Chase Blackburn comes to mind. He was in some sort of a spring camp with the Browns, got cut and then picked up by the Giants. The rest of the story ends with him getting Super Bowl ring and being a solid contributor to the team. Nice work Browns.

It was the worst QB play since 1987. That year was far worse than last year.

Just a sidenote...... Believe it or not, asbestos is still used today. The EPA tried to ban it twenty years ago or so and the building materials companies sued and the courts decided that they couldn't stop them from using it. Fortunately most American manufacturers don't use it anymore but if you buy drywall or tile from Canada or Mexico it could be asbestos containing, so beware.You can still buy asbestos containing roof cements in the US. The asbestos is completely harmless as long as it is contained in the asphaltic products. They are much better products than the plastic reinforced cements.There is little difference between asbestos and sacarine. If you limit your exposure to asbestos to small amounts you will be fine. If you drink 1,000 cans of Tab a day with sacarine in it, you will probably get cancer. Thank your local trial lawyer.