GP1

I've been saying it for years on this board. As it relates to college athletics, the answers to your questions are yes to question #1 and no to question #2. In fact, college athletics marketing is so void of any original thinking or creativity that many schools have move to ISP to market for them so they can have some level of professionalism in their marketing and sales.The only thing people in athletics marketing are really good at is promoting themselves. We had a marketing director for a while at UofA who produced a steady decline in ticket sales annually and because he was nice to everyone, everyone thought he was some sort of marketing genius. In the world I work in, a steady decline in sales gets one fired and not loved. It's amazing what people will fall for.

Great post.UofA can beat SU as they are one of the worst teams in college football. Cincy is another issue. I'm going to be interested to see how they do without Mauk next year. I don't think the NCAA cleared him for another year. If they did clear him, we can't win.... If they did not, it depends on the next QB.The problem with the MAC is most team range from "bad" to "really bad" compared to the rest of college football. The good news is most teams are just bad. Akron falls into the bad category at this point meaning 5-3 is possible. 4-4 is also possible. 3-5 is also possible.If Mr. Gump was alive today, he would say in him dimwitted voice, "The MAC is like a box of crap, hard or squishy, it all just smells really bad."

Given our history, it would be a bathroom stall without a door on it and a Cambodian guy sitting on the toilet.that's got to make the hall.......well played sir!I can not accept unless it is under Best Duet. I lifted the Cambodian reference from a Capt. Kangaroo post last football season.

privatize schools?reduce taxes??give people choices???take bureaucrats out of the education system????TO the GULAG with you! Comrade ZippyRulz, you are an enemy of the people's republic of the U.S.Nice!I saw someone talking about this on TV one day. What we really need to do is get smart kids out of secondary school and into college much sooner than age 18. Adolescence has been a complete failure in the United States and it needs to change. A lot of kids just sit around unchallenged by the current school systems. We have a huge obesity problem with teenagers and I think the easy life they live contributes to it. We should pay kids who graduate and go to college early. Ben Franklin worked for his uncle at the age of 13. John Q. Adams served as a secretary to the US Ambassador to Russia at about the same age when his father, the first President Adams sent him away. If a child can graduate at age 16, we should reward that child for achievement with a partial scholarship to college. If Americans were made free to make these choices, I'm sure a lot of people would take advantage of it. Instead, the average American voluntarily allows the government to put more and more restrictions on him every day. The average American is way smarter than the average politician. Look at the three idiots remaining in the Presidential election for the Republicrat Party. It's embarrassing. We need more freedom, and not more restrictions.Live free or die!

High School RankingsAbove is a link for some sort of a ratings system for the best high school athletic programs by state. I don't know much about the rankings or how they came about them, but I found it interesting. The majority appear to be public schools. Give it as much importance as you feel necessary.Before moving away, I lived in the city of Akron. I also went to private elementary school and public middle and high school. Both schools were really good but I was also from a small Ohio town. If I had children, there is no way I would send one to Akron Public Schools at this point. The educational opportunities at Hoban, St. V-M, Walsh and Our Lady of The Elms are much better than offerings at APS. Ultimately, a kid growing up in Akron with a chance to play college sport stands a better chance of being prepared for college (athletics and academics) if that kid goes to one of the private schools above. There are some fantistic kids playing at places like Firestone and Buchtel, but the average run of the mill kid from Akron with college talent is better served at a private school.I find this topic interesting because it makes me realize how much I could really care less about high school sports. I could care less if all public schools win state championships and I could care less if all private schools win state championships. One public school division and one private school division is really a silly proposal because it is only high school sports and it is not really that important to anyone other than the kids and parents participating. Articles like this elevate high school sports to a level it really does not belong. In recent years, we have had good Zips from all types of schools. Dru, Romeo and Dom Hix were all private school products. Wood, Pinky, Biggs, Blackburn et al are public school products. I can't believe the ABJ wasted ink and paper on this subject.

Barbara Walker seems to be the class of the bunch with a pretty impressive resume. With the way universities obsess over "diversity", she may get the first offer.Do you guys think anyone on the hiring committee bought any of the nonsense from UAM that he wanted UNI to be his last stop? Everyone in athletics is the same....as soon as they get one job, they are looking for the next.

Given our history, it would be a bathroom stall without a door on it and a Cambodian guy sitting on the toilet.

I think we need to see how the upcoming season plays out without our special teams ace.

I agree. As long as we disregard the fact they are Connecticut's flagship school and the underlying institutional differences, they are a good example. However, if we include the fact they are Connecticut's flagship school and the underlying institutioinal differences, they are a poor example.

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.