GP1

GP1, Mack is not likely to hike out of Zippyland until he pulls off the really big deal.With the Big East due to realign after the 2010 football season and Akron and a few other schoolsworking to position themselves to gain one of the new conference memberships about to be offered,do not look for Mack Rhoades to skedaddle until he gets the Zips into the Big East or C-USA.C-USA will have at least one open membership when Memphis jumps to the Big East. C-USA is aback up for Akron if they do not get admitted to the Big East.At any rate, a jump up in conference affiliation along with building a stadium looks really good on one's resume.All good points. In the end, jumping a conference is not a relevant job skill for the next job Mack will be looking for unless he wants to limit his job search to only a handful of schools looking to jump conference or another MAC type school. He will not want to limit his possibilities.Mack came to Akron with a reputation for generating revenue. Schools want money more than anything. The kind of school Mack will be looking at next have almost all the facilities they need and will want a guy who can bring in cash.....and lots of it. He can manipulate the conditions at Akron to show a jump in revenue. Building a stadium takes a lot more than just one person and it is hard to dupe even the people who sit in university hiring boards into believing he did it all by himself.

You're forgetting the real money-maker that was designed into the stadium plans: luxury suites. There of 15 of them, all sold out for at least the next three years, at $20,000 a piece. That's $300,000 a year, plus the hundreds of open-air loges that are available for inflated prices.I was surprised to see that people payed what they did for those seats, but if people are willing to pay then why not take advantage of that?They sold really quick. Hence I think they were sold too cheaply.You shouldn't "think" they were sold too cheaply, you should "know" they were sold too cheaply. Unless, "Sold 100% of all luxury suites in (fill in the blank) months" is a new line on a resume for a young and ambitious AD with his eye on the next rung. Starting the construction of a new sports facility is a good way to pad your resume. I look for Mack to move on after this football season or next. Moving on after this season would make sense.

You're forgetting the real money-maker that was designed into the stadium plans: luxury suites. Are you sure?

This has always been my understanding of the cost of the football program. It is 25% of the Athletic Department costs. I understand it takes around $13 million to run the A. Dept., so 25% of that is $3.25 million. A 25,000 seat stadium x 6 home games x $20 ASP for a ticket = $3 million. With parking, food/drinks/merchandise and suite fees, they should be able to cover the $3.25 million if they can sell out all of their games. That's best case. Whatever the case is, they will be better off than the Rubber Bowl. The problem is, rightly or wrongly, football needs to fund the other programs because many do not charge for attending a game and others are not attended enough to fund themselves with the tickets they sell. This goes on at every school. If football does not fund them, then the tax payers do and are doing right now. I really hope they can bring in the money they expect to.

Insert Fred Sanford voice here....

Here is the question I would ask about coaching to decide their grades. Is the available talent getting better or worse as the season progresses (don't punish for injuries)? If the answer is yes, then give them something in the B range. If the same, a C is in order. If worse, something in the D range is in order.

I'm OK with this game as long as UofA schedules a I-AA team to open the new stadium the week before the PSU game. Everyone else has a cupcake the first game, we should too. That stadium is going to be up for 100 years so who we play the first game ever really isn't important.

Hello everyone from sunny Florida. Yes, there are good teams in the MAC East, and one of them is The University of Akron.Like you said, just win the east. Six wins could do it for us. We are at three and we need three more.Quite possibly the most light hearted, optimistic post I've ever seen from GP1. What's the occasion? Sunny Florida I would guess.Partly the sun. Partly the evidence of the quality of plastic surgeons in FL. Feeling even better since last night after watching Big Ben win another late last night in person.While I get disgusted at the Zips sometimes, I think my posts have been caked in a positive outlook about this team. I think five wins is a realistic goal for this team with the talent they have and the generally poor state of the MAC. Six wins is also a possibility and should be a yearly minimun expectation. We can meet that expectation this season. I'm feeling good about them right now, but they need to believe and not me. The Zips are a good team guys!

While I was too busy sitting on the beach yesterday to watch the game, I'll give an opinion based upon what I read* on this board and the little I have seen him this year.I am a huge Ben Roethlisberger fan (in fact, I am going to watch him play in person tonight) because I think he is a winner. That doesn't mean that there have not been times when I wanted to shoot my TV watching him play. Sometimes he drives me absolutely bonkers. With that said, there is no other QB I would want to have the ball with the game on the line and the team the Steelers have. Guys like Carson Palmer are noon QBs and guys like Roethlisberger are 3:45 QBs**.Jacq seems to be at a point when the game is on the line he comes through after stinking up the field for a period of time during the game. Yesterday may have been a watershed day for the kid and maybe the team. Who knows? In fact, the Zips score a lot of points in the fourth quarter when it counts. I remember a past Zips QB who always looked great for three quarters and then did nothing spectacular to win games in the fourth. Losing follows that QB around like the cloud of dust around Pig Pen in Peanuts. The QB must be a winner. I think Jacq is just what he is and is good enough to win six games if the M*A*S*H unit could fix up some of the other players. JD had good success with QBs like him at Pitt. He doesn't deserve to be called a "winner" just yet because he has actually won nothing, but let's see what happens with him. There is no need to panic at this point. What Akron really needs is someone other than DK in the backfield. I've been saying since I saw him play at NCState that he runs east/west too much. JD is loyal to a fault a lot of times.The problem with changing QB is what if it does not work? The season is over because the vote of no confidence has been given to the original starter and you can not go back to him expecting the team to respond. The Zips are 3-3 with good talent. There is no reason they should not win five or six games this season. Jacq should remain the starting QB and JD should not monkey around with putting back up players in for a series or two.* Based upon what I read on this board means the following logic. 1. Browns fans are stupid. 2. Everything Browns fans want ends up blowing up in their faces. 3. A lot of Browns fans read this board and are Zips fans. 4. A lot of fans posting on this board are stupid. 5. A lot of fans on this board want Rogers which means Browns fans want Rogers. 6. If Rogers gets in the game, the exact opposite of what Browns/Zips fans want to happen will happen. 7. Like him or not, Jacq stays in the game.** Carson Palmer is a noon QB because when he comes out to warm up at noon, he looks great. He is tall, has a huge arm and looks like a great NFL QB. The problem with the noon QB is the game starts at 1:00 and he doesn't look as good as he did at noon. At two o'clock he looks worse than he did at one. At three, he looks worse than he did at two. At 3:45 when the game is on the line he is a disaster. Guys who are winners can stink it up early, but rally late to win (see last Monday night).

Hello everyone from sunny Florida. Yes, there are good teams in the MAC East, and one of them is The University of Akron.Like you said, just win the east. Six wins could do it for us. We are at three and we need three more.

Akron 19Can't State 13Looks like it is going to be a beautiful fall day in Ohio tomorrow. Perfect football watching day. Enjoy the day if you go to the game.

GP1, You mean like Ohio State has with Pryor?Considering OSU has no hope left this season after USC took it from them along with their manhood, Pryor is a safe bet. OSU could beat Troy, Minnesota and the rest of the garbage in the Big Ten with Mr. Magoo at QB.

My friends, please be careful of putting your hopes in the hands of a first year player.

Good stuff zip81. How about something similar to what Temple does with a very simple blue lettering Akron on one side and one of three options on the other side:1. Akron again2. Zips3. The number of the player.Thanks...Something like this?I like it. Especially the font. Would it be too much to ask to see the other two options in the same font?

Ralph Wiggum -- "But that's unpossible!""Anyone who says you can have as much fun when you're not drinking as you can when you're drinking is a liar." Harry Caray on the old Roy Firestone ESPN show.

Good stuff zip81. How about something similar to what Temple does with a very simple blue lettering Akron on one side and one of three options on the other side:1. Akron again2. Zips3. The number of the player.

YOU DON'T KNOW SQUAT DUDE! JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE MASTERED MADDEN DOESN'T MEAN YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT. I NEVER RESPOND AFTER BEING A MEMBER FOR YEARS HERE, BUT HAD TO RESPOND TO YOU. THAT TEAM IS DECIMATED BY INJURIES AND THOSE KIDS PLAYED THEIR HEARTS OUT AND THE HEAD COACH HAD THEM READY, BUT IDIOTS LIKE YOU TALK CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Good emotional outburst rumplemintz! I'm sure you know after reading this board for years that there are a certain number of posters who have wanted JD fired from day one and anything that goes wrong is his fault. They will not let the facts of an injury decimated team get in the way of their NE Ohio bitter sports fan attitude. We have a coach who won a league title with much lesser overall talent than what he has right now. Hell, as much as I like KD, he can't say the same thing and everyone slurps him up left and right and his teams have had MORE than their share of collapses in big games and even some small ones. Regardless of what happens this weekend, if JD wins five games, he stays. This team is much better than last year. I fully expect them to win Satruday.I've been saying all year that the Zips need a winning attitude. Part of having a winning attitude is being determined to and doing the little things right. For example, making extra points, not roughing the kicker twice and really stupid mistakes. At some point, the players have to stop looking to the coach for inspiration and look to themselves. I really, really believe the Zips can win five to six games this season.....I just hope they do as well. I hope they believe they can win every game from here on out because they can. It is very frustrating and there are a lot of games to be played.

SeeTeeZip, good post.Reinterviewing JD for his job is silly. If an employee needs to reinterview for a job, the employee needs to be terminated.The new stadium will draw a new level of coaching talent and interest? From whom and why? If JD is let go, all we have the ability to do is bring another JD in to coach. A coach is better off being a coordinator at a major BCS school than coach of a MAC school. It pays better and the exposure is better...Hell, the ESPN crew can't even figure out who our coach is on the sideline.When I look at the schedule, I still see five wins. I think we could win six, but five is still the best bet. I didn't see the game yesterday, but it seems as if we still have the 20+ year curse of "lose at all cost" mentality. When I saw we had 15 points, I immediately thought, "high school score, what went wrong?". I said this last week and I'll say it again, there are schools out there that when they score a TD it means 7 points. When Akron scores a TD, it means 6 points and MAYBE 7. Of course the team is deflated when they don't convert the EP after seeing it happen so many times. It places the team a horrible situation where they have to chase that point all day. The players work their asses off to get a TD and then they blow what should be the easiest play in football. For those of you focusing on red zone offense, an EP is in the red zone and two freaking weeks in a row now, we can't convert on the easiest play in football. That alone placed the Zips in a positon where they were scrambling for points late and not converting on a 2 pt conversion which is deflating after scoring a TD. It kept the Zips from going in to OT.Big East officials..... this is the most corrupt group of officials in college football. They routinely punish any team in their own conference who is playing well againt a Top 20 Big East team. What happened to the Zips yesterday should be no surprise. It is in fact par for the course.Have a good day everyone.

If I was the coach of a good college football team, I would not want to play an ESPN Thursday night game on the road.

Just because A beat B and B beat C doesn't mean that A will beat C. Football is a game of emotions and coaching....and matchups, and schemes, and playcalling, and gameday dynamics.......and tailgating......and when in Toledo, point shaving..........and when playing for the 1990s Dallas Cowboys, strippers and prostitutes.

That's just what our wives tell us to make us feel better.

Read for RedZone StatisticsExcellent pick up Captain. If anyone is looking for signs the Zips are improving over last year, this is good proof. My biggest concern from last week in the red zone was a couple of penalties. A penalty is a good way to turn a TD into a FG. They really need to score TDs this week against a good Cincy team.

I understand what you are saying, and I don't think we disagree. My point is that halftime adjustments are a small part of the ongoing adjustments that must take place during a football game. Setting up the first drive of the half is about all the time a team has at half to adjust. Setting up the next drive is about all the time you have to make adjustments when the other team goes on a long drive against you. Defensive adjustments are much more difficult to make because of low IQ of most defensive players. They really can't grasp complex ideas quickly so it takes a while for them to adjust. Defensive players are more like monkeys or dogs than humans.If the quarter-by-quarter score is the ultimate indicator, then it doesn't look like JD makes good halftime adjustments. It also looks as if he does well providing in game adjustments. Every sport requires deviations from the original game plan, IMHO, basketball requires the most. I think the Zips have other problems than halftime adjustments (ie: play calling that results in running on third and long, poor red zone execution, etc).

Being tired in the third quarter probably has more to do with the boring eternity that is college halftimes. I think teams would have more energy coming out of the locker room if they shortened the halftime misery. Someone has to look this up for me because I am too lazy to do so. How many times did the Zips score the first drive of the second half and how many times did the other team score the first drive of the second half? If it is lopsided, I will admit we don't make good halftime adjustments that result in a second half opening drive score or stop.From the looks of the stats though, it appears as if the Zips make good adjustments throughout the game with the exception of the third. Remember, it is a four quarter game and adjustments are made throughout the gameAlso, keep in mind that the Zips have beaten one team they should have beaten, beat one team that was a toss up at the beginning of the season and lost to two very good teams. The season really isn't going as bad as some of you make it out to be.

First, let's discuss halftime adjustments. Our third quarter performance is horrible, but I'm not certain that there is a direct correlation to halftime adjustments and third quarter scoring. I read a lot about this on this board and in regards to the Browns and there is something you guys need to understand. Adjustments are made the entire game and not just at one point in the game. There is not as much time as you guys think to make adjustments at halftime in a 20 minutes(college halftime should be limited to 12 minutes.....if you can't crown a homecoming queen in 12 minutes, you don't deserve to be a university) or 12 minute (NFL). If it takes five minutes to get everyone in the locker room and five minutes to get them out and warmed up, that only gives them ten minutes on the low end and maybe up to fifteen minutes if you are really quick about things. Be open minded for a second and think about ten minutes. If a team goes on a 6 minute scoring drive against you, it takes at least ten minutes of real time with clock stoppage. There is in fact no difference between the real coaching time at halftime and the on field coaching time. Coaches are making adjustments with the players at all time. It takes a little over three hours to play a college football game. The clock time is only 60 minutes or roughly 1/3 of the real time it takes to play the game. If time of possession is equal, that means that each team has 1.5 hours to make adjustments during a game. How important is that ten minutes in the middle of it compared to the rest of the down time? Hint, it is only 10% of the down time.The always popular fan call to run the hurry-up offense. Like the 3-3-5 defense, running the hurry-up offense is gimmick that really does not work long term. In fact, it is a way to get your butt kicked week in and week out. Why? Because it puts the defense on the field all day long. Time of possession is a major indicator of who wins a game or not and keeping the defense on the field all day is an excellent way to lose the TOP statistic. Games are won by a balanced offense that controls the field position and the clock. Winning a college football game is very simple. First, get an early lead...Second, run a balanced offense that gives good field position...Third, maintain good field positon with a good punting game...Fourth, keep your defense off the field with a clock eating offense...Fifth, field a defense (something other than the 3-3-5) that can keep the other team under 24 points (defense really doesn't win championship...offense does).The next time someone tells you the answer to a football problem is running the hurry up offense the whole game, look at that person and say, "If that is the answer, it sure was a stupid question."