GP1

Replace Temple with Toledo if Akron isn't already playing them in the MAC. Actually, just replace Temple. Whenever I see them on the schedule, I just think "again...why?".

You drove me to look at the 2022 schedule. The program has had a lot of soul sucking schedules in the past, but this one ranks right up there with some of the greatest. Guaranteed 1-3 start to the season with two of them being humiliations and one possible humiliation (Liberty). Note that in my guide to success (benefit players, students, alumni, fans and greater Akron community), "padding the Athletic Director's resume" isn't one of them. There is a Rage Against The Machine song called "Know Your Enemy". At the end the singer shouts out enemies. He should have included G5 Athletic Directors as one. They are just as bad as those he mentions.

Moving forward, what do you think progress will look like in the next 2-3 years? Going 6-6 and making a bowl would be good. Meaningful late season games that have us in the hunt for the MAC Championship would be fun. Other thoughts are: How does the progress tie to making the football program benefit the players, students, alumni, fans and greater NE Ohio community? I'm going to throw out one idea and let you folks figure out the rest. Miami and Kent are playing for the MAC East Championship this weekend. What is one of the big things that helped them get to this point? Both teams are undefeated at home this year. Over half of all MAC teams will finish the season with a home record of .500 or worse. That's terrible. It's a symbol of how easy it is for a team to win six games with a small level of competency in a bad league. Want to benefit the players by playing meaningful games late in the season? Win your home games. Want to benefit the students? Win home games so they feel good about going to the games. Want to benefit the alumni? Win home games so they feel good about going to the games. Want to benefit the fans? Win home games so they feel good about paying money to go watch a school they didn't even go to play football. Want to benefit the greater NE Ohio community? Win home games so they feel good about the school and see it as a valuable part of where they live. Winning puts a shine on things. Losing cakes everything in mud. Expecting progress in the form of making a bowl game in 3 years isn't unreasonable.

I haven't been there in a long time. I assume yes. The cleanliness of the stadium is not the problem.

The game is at noon. I love it. Toledo is going to put on a football game in a clean stadium, good food, good tailgating and they field a good team. They don't give a flying poop that the OSU vs Michigan game is going on less than an hour away at the same time. Hats off to them for believing in their product.

"If your time to you is worth saving" is the line that stands out to me. I can't say I put much time into Zips football as many of you over the past 15 years. Some of you may not even have much time left on this Earth or may be approaching a time in your life where you can't make it to game as much or ever. At some point the time you spend has to be worth saving for those things that can give you some pleasure. I hope the University makes a good decision for those of you who have wasted too much time in your life watching bad football.

I expect more than indifference from Akron. Luke 16:19-31.

He makes money from an organization that takes a small fortune from a country, China, that literally has slave camps where an ethnic minority Muslim group is forced to work and he says nothing about it.

I've been away from Akron for a while now. Is Lebron the new Jim Tressel in that people around the area think he is the only person who can save whatever they think they want saved?

It merely takes competency to win in the MAC. JD was a competent coach and won the MAC. Bowden was competent and won a bowl game. In 2021 we aren't as far from winning as you might think.

It's run every weekend but not like it used to be.

"Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin' And you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'" - Bob Dylan

Jim Grobe "resigned" (cough...snicker) from Wake Forest after telling the AD he wanted to switch to the triple option. The AD hired a creative coach in Dave Clawson and is now on the verge of making the ACC Championship. Keeping Arth for another season would be a better move than hiring Johnson and running the triple option. Keeping Arth for another season would not doom the program as long as failing with the triple option. Triple option is giving up on a football program.

I think you are overestimating the value of the Tressel name and parental/coach. The kids are very sophisticated these days.

How do you know he is a good recruiter? Do you really think any 18 year old cares about the name anymore? At best, the current recruits we're 8 years old when his uncle was coaching OSU.

Bobby Petrino is a cancer.

Good post. This is interesting. Lambert built the UNCC program from scratch. He worked there for at least one year before there were even any players and was highly involved in every aspect of the program and construction of facilities. The losing record doesn't bother me because it is sort of expected considering the circumstances were so difficult. What is most intriguing to me is his history at Wake Forest. He was defensive coordinator when they won the ACC during the Grobe years. They really had some good defenses and brought in some really good players like Aaron Curry and Al Smith. It's not easy to win at Wake Forest and he was part of winning. Akron needs a coach like that whether it's him or someone else. There would be a money problem.

I was shocked at the display of sanity the likes of which we rarely see.

If his name was Joe Smith, would you be interested? This just in. The Zips are going hard after one of the Mannings to be the next coach...... Cooper Manning.

I don't hate him either. He has some redeeming qualities. He is my favorite porn addict.

Who would they interview right now?

Or, a change of scenery.

The link is worth the read because it takes you to a study UofA did on athletics. Some good ideas there and some not so good ides. Let's put this to bed. Pluto is a moron. I can't stand the guy and I know this is going to make this reply go on more than I intend. Unfortunately, Pluto has been a thought leader in NE Ohio for decades now and has helped created some of the most miserable fans in the world. Of course someone can win at Akron!!!! How do I know that? Akron has won. We have won a MAC Championship, been to another MACC game and won a bowl game. I think Faust had a season that is still the highest winning percentage in the D1 era. It is absolutely possible to win at Akron. This whole notion that "if Arth cannot win then who can" is presenting the public with the idea that Akron can't win or worse yet has never won and that is just factually inaccurate. What I would really like to ask Pluto, which would expose the reality of his stupidity, is what about Arth's resume made him think he was a good hire to begin with. Played at St. I?....so what, a lot of people have. Went to JC?....so what, it's a D3 school. Played with Manning at Indy?....so what, he isn't Manning...God knows I wish he was. Coached at JC?....so what, it's a D3 school. Coached at UTC?.....so what, it's an irrelevant FCS program he made worse after going 9-13 in two seasons. Someone help me here. How was this guy ever going to create success at Akron? Don't blame Arth for taking a better job than he had. He is a smart guy who made a smart choice and will be making almost $700k over the next two years for doing nothing if he wants. Our previous AD was an absolute moron. The UofA study is interesting in that some of what I have said is included in it. I love the part about K-12 activities on campus and using those activities to drive people to sporting events. It needs to be more bold though. It can't always be sporting events driving people to activities on campus. If "We Rise Together" is more than just a statement on fundraising letters, everything has to work together. My concern is too much of it does not look towards the future of college athletics, specifically football, and tries to see a different path forward not just for the University, but he MAC and G5 schools. It also focuses on revenue generation. The endless pursuit of more an more money is destroying G5 athletics. For example, another buy game is just more of the same bad thinking that got us all here in the first place. The real problem is they lay out a solution that is ultimately going to lead the program to early season failure that will result in never gaining any momentum for winning and will have another study trying to figure out in 10 years why this study didn't work. . The debt service was something I learned. However, I think if they eliminated the debt tomorrow, I'm not certain much would change. The fact that out of state athletes on scholarship get charged out of state tuition rates to the Athletic Department is moronic and should change. That was a good point it makes.

Again, if nobody else wants them, why would we? If WKU would just calm down and work with their existing conference to find two more schools, it isn't a bad conference.

Someone I am close with in central Ohio coaches high school football and has for a long time. Knows everyone in and around Franklin Co. People rolled their eyes at Arth's staff after leaving schools. Coaches looked at their early staff as little more than a D3 staff. First impressions are lasting impressions. They simply weren't taken seriously by a large body of them and that matters in recruiting.