GP1

I think a more realistic scenario is they don't know what they are doing, or they don't have a real grasp of what players have done.As far as them eventually getting in, former NFL Zips should be the first in line. Especially if they have graduated. In almost every case, NFL experience is an indication of the quality of a player.There is no defense for John not getting in yet.Maybe you could give them a call or send them a letter outlining your concerns. I remember Buddenberg as an outstanding player also and I'm sure he deserves consideration. Most of the members are older, but I don't think they lack a grasp of Zips sports history. You could always volunteer your services to the nominating commitee and that would give you some insight into the selection process. Buddenberg was a good OL. How he isn't there is beyond me. I believ ehe was a 10th round pick, when there still were 12 rounds in the NFL draft. One of our better OL ever at UA.It was the 10th round. How many people even know that the Browns were the team that drafted him?The University wouldn't know because the media guide is wrong about his career. John played for Cleveland for two years, the Steelers for one and Atlanta for three. I think he played his CFL time with Sacramento when they had teams in the United States.

A playoff system has basically made every other divisions regular season irrelevant. The same 12 teams make it every year and they mix in four different teams periodically.The issue nobody ever addresses when discussing playoffs is what the NCAA would do to level the playing field between those who make the playoffs and those who do not. The NFL does this through scheduling, draft picks and salary caps to name a couple of big ones. The NCAA has no mechanism to do this. An unlevel playing field is the reason why the same teams make it in every year in the other divisions. The advantages they have are recruiting and practice time. Practice time is the most important to the future of the program, at least for the next season. Why is practice time important? Let's face it, a playoff is the end of bowls just like the 64 team NCAA BB Tournament has made the NIT a joke. The bowls would go away. Teams making the playoffs would have additional time to develop their young players during the playoff period for the following season. A guy who works for me played for Clemson long ago and said that at their bowl game practices this year they spent at least 30 minutes per practice with the red shirts and second/third team players in full contact drills to evaluate and coach them. The further you make it into a playoff, the better chance you have of developing the team for the next year; thus creating the advantage between the teams that make the playoffs and those that do not.If there was a playoff, how do you correct this advantage? Great question again GP1! Limit scholarships? NO, this solution is too punitive. The trick is to only impact the playoff teams the year after making the playoffs and not years down the road. Here is my solution. I've never seen this idea anywhere so I think it may be original. Limit spring practices based upon how deep into the playoffs you go. 16 team playoff equals four weeks. Increase spring practice from 15 to 20 practices and an 11 game season (15 are way too few practices so the NCAA created the farce of a 12th game giving five extra practices in the fall in lieu of spring with a I-AA team or MAC team waiting at the end of the week).The more a team advances in the playoffs, the fewer spring practices they get. If you make the playoffs, you only get 15 spring practices, those that don't make it get all 20. If you win one playoff game, you only get 10 spring practices. If you make it to the final four, you only get 5 spring practices. If you make the championship game, you get none.

I think a more realistic scenario is they don't know what they are doing, or they don't have a real grasp of what players have done.As far as them eventually getting in, former NFL Zips should be the first in line. Especially if they have graduated. In almost every case, NFL experience is an indication of the quality of a player.There is no defense for John not getting in yet.

http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_...;ATCLID=1365302If John Buddenberg is already in the HOF, please disregard this rant. Before the rant though, congratulations to everyone inducted.John Buddenberg was the best offensive lineman to ever play at Akron.....hands down. He has six years of NFL experience and I believe three years in the CFL for nine professional years total. Why isn't he in the Varsity A HOF? It's absolutely shameful if he isn't.How good was he GP1? Great question! In 1988, we played Auburn. At the time, Auburn had a All American defensive end named Tracy (sp?) Rocker. They were ranked #12 at the time. John played Rocker one-on-one for the majority of the game and did not surrender a tackle or sack that day.After his NFL career, he came back to school full time to finish his degree. I believe it is an E. Engineering degree. This person should be in the HOF.Community involvement? Well, he coached his sons little league football team to the state championship game last fall.Local? Of course, lives in Stark County.Further evidence as to why the Varsity A should be absorbed by the University and taken out of the hands of volunteers. They all mean well, but this is Division I-A sports and we need to behave as such. I'd challenge anyone to go out and find one Division I-A school that has a varsity association is run by volunteers.....and we wonder why we don't go anywhere......or that there is no money......... A wise poster from this board once said to me, more than once, at an Akron game, "It's Bush League all the way..." It sure as Hell is.

You should have just stopped right there. And who's Pat Summitt?I know you are just kidding, but Pat Summitt is the John Wooden of women's college basketball. I generally don't like women's sports, but I do like to use the word "winner" to describe one. Pat Summitt is a WINNER if there ever was one.

Sports PickleThe Sports Pickle has some fun at the expense of the MAC.....and Purdue for that matter. Toward the bottom right of the front page.

Great idea! No go out and find the boosters. We can't fund what we do now. It is going to take more than a few boosters to get the Athletic Department to where it needs to be.

That's the truth. Maybe we're in over our heads in football. March madness is way better than the bowls. I wouldn't mind putting more emphasis on basketball.Thanks.I could write the exact same post about MAC basketball.I love the bowls, but we have only made one. I love MM, but we never make it. We're always "building" to get there though. That's all MAC schools do is build for the future. Big on building, little in results.

Thanks!I could have gone on all day.

The MAC is bad and getting worse. The week night games are not helping the quality of product on the field. Most schools have too small of a fan base to really compete. The league looks foolish in bowl games and any bowl committee not looking into getting out of their affiliation with the MAC would be a committee full of crazy people (with the exception of the Motor City Bowl). Scheduling is at best poor as the schools do nothing but allow themselves to be practice games for BCS conference schools. Our conference champion lost by 50+ to Clemson which plays in an average conference (ACC) that they could not even win their division.Today is a sad day for the MAC. I would go as far as to say CMU could not beat App. State, which leads me to a point I hate to make......The MAC is a I-AA conference and the commissioner should call an immediate meeting of all MAC Athletic Directors to discuss the future of the MAC as a I-AA conference (it would not hurt basketball). The ADs wouldn't do it because it would look bad on their resumes, but that's what they should do.Sorry to be so negative, but I did not see much positive in MAC football this season. All trends point to it getting worse.Have a nice day everyone.

My understanding is Mr. Taylor has been more than generous with his donations to UofA. Far more than any other Zip ever to play in the NFL now or in the past.

The one thing I remember the most about listening to sports radio in NE Ohio was listening to Brenda talk about the mentality of NE Ohio sports fans. He always talked about them living in a constant state of wanting to build something; when in fact, they needed to stop the endless cycle of building and start winning. If a coach doesn't win in two years, fire the coach, tear it all down and rebuild. If that coach doesn't win in two years, do the same thing again. Etc., etc., etc. That gets me to my point.If Akron can get their hands on a JUCO QB that is immediately better than CJ11, they should get him. I'll say the same thing about the Zips as I said about the Browns after Week 1 (I'm not even a Browns fan). The Browns had too many good players on that team to be as bad as they were Week 1. All they needed was a QB change that could take advantage of the talent on the team. With that one change, the Browns went from a team in endless building mode to a playoff contender and one that can see some hope. Welcome to the big leagues Browns...we'll see if you can keep it up.I'll say the same thing about the Zips. There is too much talent on that team to wait for a freshman QB (CJ11) to maybe or maybe not develop and lead the team to a championship down the road at some point maybe. Please don't anyone get hyper-sensitive over about what I am about to type, but we went down the exact same road with Frye and I don't want to go down that road again. His first two seasons, the team went 4-7. Season three, they load up on two horrible I-AA teams and went 7-5 (5-5 against I-A teams). A lot of you got all tweedlefluttered after that season, but basically they got Owens fired after that season (See the sports section fromt he ABJ, November 17, 2003 and you will see a guy, Mike Thomas, who completely understood how bad the team was and how unimpressive that record was. Actually, see the quote at the bottom of this post.). Season four, without putting Biggs in the starting lineup, that team goes 3-8 or 4-7 again. With Biggs, they go 6-5 with a shot at the championship game until losing to that QB machine Betts from Miami the last game (I can't believe I typed that even jokingly. By the way, Betts has a Super Bowl ring. God, that makes my head hurt). The following year, with Biggs and a QB that didn't fold in big games, they win six games and win the conference. Miracle, no. Nothing happens by chance.Certainly most of you watched a lot of football this holiday season. I would hope that all of you now know what I have been saying for years on this board. It all starts with the QB. Teams with good QBs win...teams with bad QBs don't win. CJ7 wasn't the answer I though he would be, but I also don't think CJ11 is the answer either. At least I'm not willing to wait for CJ11. We need a seasoned QB to come in here and win games.Stop building, start winning. There is talent on the team that needs to be utilized. The OL was good, the TEs were good, the running backs were the best pair ever, the guys on defense are talented but playing in that horrible 3-3-5 defense. The only thing lacking is the QB. Let's get someone at QB that can take advantage of the talent that is there. This is season five for JD. It is a make or break season regardless of whether or not there is a new stadium. The new stadium is insignificant to what has to happen next year. He needs to win next year. The question is also, do you people want to win or do you just want to continue the endless building?Quote by Mike Thomas: "Even in winning seven games this season, I did not believe the program was on the right path for long-term success," Thomas said. "We were 5-5 against Divisioin I-A opponents with 17 starters returning, including 11 on offense, with the easiest schedule in the conference and possibly the easiest schedule in the country for a Division I-A program." ABJ, November 17, 2003, by David Lee Morgan Jr. Everyone should read this article so you understand everything that was wrong with the program then. Mike Thomas was the only person in the program at the time who had a clue as to how bad they were. The players' quotes show how absolutely clueless they were.

You guys are all so wrong in your predictions it isn't even funny. Charlie Coles wins his type of game in 3 overtimes tonight.....Miami 30Akron 29 SeriouslyAkron 57Miami 56Bet the under. Akron is coming off an emotional loss in two OT and Miami is.....well, just boring.

I don't know about Gates. The way he is playing now, yes.If Taylor retired today, he isn't just a HOF player, he is a first ballot HOF player. He is probably one of the top 20 players in the NFL in the past ten years. Too bad he plays for such a poor team.

I'll get to the lack of self awareness in a second.....The MAC Championship was won by Biggs and Getsy.....the end. The last time I checked, they were JD's recruits. Now off to self awareness.....One of the interesting things I notice when I see former players from the Owens era post, like ITZ, is the complete lack of self awareness. I know a lot of guys from the Faust era. To a man, they know they were bad teams with bad players. They have absolutely no illusions things were anything more than what they were. As bad as they were during the Faust era, I'd stack the talent level on some of those teams any day against the best team of the Owens era. In fact, the highest winning percentage in the D-1A era was by a Faust team (1992)......all without a new fieldhouse. The interesting thing about the Owens players is that they were bad players, and they don't know they were bad. They have sort of this over inflated opinion of themselves that so many young people have today. There have actually been recent articles in the Wall Street Journal about this attitude and how to handle it. Perhaps they were kept in diapers too long as children. Maybe in time they will grow up. JD didn't walk into an ideal situation, he walked into a barn knee deep in steaming crap.The talent level on the current team is very good. As a group, probably better than in a long time. Certainly better than any year of the Owens era. A decent QB and last year's team wins 7-8 games. Two additional games get won with a decent QB...Miami, CMU.

The theme here seems to be McNees. I only saw him play once, but I liked what I saw. Since I didn't see his name much in the line up or on this board, I thought maybe the Winthrop game was an exception to his normal play. I told my wife he seemed to be a "sneaky good" player.....in a good way. I like that type of player.He seemed to understand what was going on out on the floor and what Coach D was telling him. When he came out of the game, Coach D would talk to him, he would listen and most importantly, he would respond verbally with Coach D and they would have a conversation. It almost seemed as if Coach D was developing a coach on the floor the way he did Dru.

The one thing that sticks out here is George Mason. Two years ago, they were in the final four. That helps quite a bit. Take out that game (someone with a calculator) and what is their attendance?The biggest "P" in marketing is Product (Price, People, Packaging, Projects, etc. are others.). Both of those schedules are horrible with the exception of George Mason and maybe Temple. One of the things I notice on this board is that we sometimes have trouble putting ourselves in others shoes. The point about product is this. When you go to a basketball game, the product consists of two teams, not just one. As long as the Zips, and the Yellow Flush, continue to schedule junk for home games, they will continue to draw poorly. I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything when I type that, but that's just the way it is. The people of NE Ohio are not stupid and will not throw their money away on something where there is no value. Longwood? Where the heck is that place? NC A&T? I didn't even know the place existed until I saw the schedule. NC Central? I thought that was a magnet high school.Akron and the Yellow Flush will draw better when the MAC schedule starts. People know OU, Miami, etc. and they know the product will be better than the likes of NC A&T, NC Central or Longwood. When marketing, always remember that people are not as stupid as they may seem at times.

I read this board, nobody is going to the bb games now. What makes the difference who they play? Let the kids see how good they really are.

Why would anyone come to the JAR and play in front of 3,000 people. Of course it isn't a home game, but that is the cost of being a low level mid major.If KD wants to continue to schedule the junk he is for home games, he shouldn't complain in post game interviews that nobody goes to the game.I'll say it again, let the players see how good they are. Play one or two bigger teams. The program isn't going to fall apart because of those games.

You guys tend to think too much in the extreme. I'm not saying load up the schedule with Top 20 teams, but for crying out loud, play one or two home/home at The Q. Let the players on the team see how good they really are. This is the one chance in their life they will get to do that.

Interesting article. In a lot of ways, I'm glad Mack got his say. I know there are a lot of smoke and mirrors in college athletics, but the guy seems committed. I'm not sure of the facts around the financial numbers, but the ABJ probably didn't take time to do any historical research around them either.I'm also glad he read my post on the struggles of Rutgers football the first four years of Coach S. I'm always glad to help the school any way the great GP1 can.Secondly, not recruiting enough local talent? I've said this before, and I'll say it again, high school football in NE Ohio is a shell of what it was 20-30 years ago. Times have changed and the best football in the state is now being played around Columbus and Cincinnati. A local recruiting strategy would be a disaster of Owens proportions.

I don't know how many players are enough, but I do know it takes the best five to win the game. IMHO, KD should do what Coles does at Miami. Coles plays a lot of players the first 30 minutes in order to find his best five man rotation for that game. The last ten minutes, only those five play and he wins or loses with them. It's such a simple strategy, I can't believe everyone doesn't do it.

I find the strength of schedule topic .To me, this topic is interesting if one or two conditions exist. 1. You purchase tickets to the games. 2. You are a player.1. There is no way I would take money out of my own pocket, or more importantly, spend time going to see the ooc home schedule Akron offers. If you guys enjoy it, that's great! 2. If we have players on this team who want to truely compete, they would want a tougher ooc schedule. I hope there isn't a player on the Zips who wouldn't love to play a UNC or UCLA or Georgetown, etc. Part of playing college athletics is a young person finding out how good they really are at what sport they play. This schedule cheats the players out of that opportunity. If there is a player on the team who woudn't want to play a tougher ooc schedule, that kid should transfer out immediately to a school and a sport where backbones are not needed.

I've always believe that if engineers controlled the United States, and Dilbert became President, the immediate adoption of the metric system would be the tool to unleash a Totalitarian state upon the remainder of the population.

What will happen first? Americans calling D-1A the Football Bowl Subdivision and D-1AA the Football Championship Subdivision; or, Americans accepting the Metric System.I think we have a better shot at the Metric System. If anyone can explain why the NCAA started this stupidity, we are all listening. I'm pretty certain it must have had something to do with an intern needing another line on their resume.