JD is not the problem

[tim123]

What I've observed this year is not the coaches but the players. We've had a knucklehead QB who was totally selfish. The backup QB is at best a Div. III QB and the players are now starting to make excuses. The coaches need to change personel and recommit themselves to maybe a different style of play. The players need to take this personally. The coaches can scheme all they want to but in the end the players need to man up and take charge. Go out and kick some ass.Go Zips!

[GP1]

When things get this bad, there is never one single problem. JD is not THE problem, but he is a big part of the problem. There is a lot of blame to go around, but the buck stops with him. He has eight more weeks to get six more wins.....

[akronad]

I don't know how you can say JD and the coaching staff are not the problem or at least a part of the problem? Who recruited these players? Who is making the offensive and defensive calls? Who designs the game plans? Answer the coaches! Yes, our players have to perform, but if they couldn't perform, why did we recruit and sign them. I have heard the say old mantra for the last three years, " The Zips had the best or one of the best recruiting classes in the MAC." If that is the case, then either the players are under performing or the coaches are not doing their jobs. I would speculate that it is a combination of both. We were all giddy with excitement in the spring eith expectations that JD was not going to use or use sparingly the 3-3-5. Well, nothing has changed. He is still using that gimmick defense and other than Morgan St., we have not stopped anyone. Why are we using a stable of RB's. Pick 2 and go with them. Same thing with qb prior to Jaq being removed from the team, we were using 2 qb's. Can't JD or someone on his staff make a decision? Or, have they watched too many Clev. Browns tapes? To save JD's job, the teamMUST go 6-2. Anything less and JD and staff are gone.Yet I still am and will be a true Zips fan.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

BS to all the idle chatter. 6 to win 8. BS. This team is completely done. Finished. What a complete and disgusting disappointment this season has become. There is not ONE opponent left on the schedule I'd put money on this team to beat. It's time to blow this thing up and at least tell the fans that while we all know this season is over, UA is going to STOP accepting such pathetic football. JD&Co clearly didn't get it done and now they're kicked to the curb. We may still lose but damn it we'll find players and coaches with something to offer this program. Winners. Heart. Effort. UA, you want my donations? You want my priority reserved ticket money? Damn it, it's time to put a damned team on the field at the Info that is worthy of us and those beautiful facilities. I don't care what it takes. If KD and Caleb can get it done, if the track teams can get it done, don't you DARE to trot out such an embarrassing group to Infocision/Summa anymore.It's time for a new football culture. STZ

[ZachTheZip]

JD is part of the problem, but not the whole problem. There are many different factors at play here, some of which are beyond anybodies control.Factor #1: Off the field problems affecting the team on the field. Jacq screwed up that has been a killer, but I do think that the team should be better off as a unit without somebody like that in the locker room. Then you have an offensive lineman suspended for legal problems. Given how the line has played, this one might hurt more than you think even if he didn't play since early last season. He showed more attitude than any of the linemen that actually saw the field and I would imagine that his presence would help. Then the running back coach gets suspended for who knows what. That one has to add into why the running game is as bad as it is. The thing is, these problems can't be helped. You simply have to move on. I don't know if the team did that.Factor #2: Lack of heart on the field. This one is on the players, especially the captains. Where's your competitive spirit? A captain is supposed to lead his men into battle, rally and inspire those underneath him. I'm not seeing that at all. I know some of the players are reading this. You're going to hate me for saying this, but WORK HARDER, NOT MORE. Focus on quality over quantity. I would rather you make the most of the practice time you already have than see you putting in extra hours lifting or studying more film. Go all out when you can, and take that attitude with you on the field. You can only affect the plays that you're in. At the end of the Steelers-Bengals game, the announcer said something about the victor Bengals that needs to happen to the Zips: "The players, the core veteran players, decided that they had had enough and that they would do something about it." It's time you did something about it.Factor #3: The offensive and head coaching staff. The defense is working with what the offense gives them, and that's not much. It's a revolving door at almost every position on offense. The coaches need to make up their minds and stick to it. I wonder if there are too many head coaches to be productive here. Maybe it was a mistake to hire people who are so used to doing things their own way. I have to imagine that JD and Harris are mostly on the same page thanks to their past together at Pitt, and that leaves Shane Montgomery as the outlier. Who is calling plays: JD or Shane? Whoever it is, something's not right here. I'm not going to tell you which plays you should be calling, but I will tell you that the draw play up the middle does not work. It has never worked. It will never work. Not with this O-line. I get the feeling that you're trying to keep the QB in the pocket longer, holding back his running ability to develop a pocket passer when he's clearly not that kind of QB. You can't keep running an offense designed for players you don't have. You have two weeks to adjust to your personnel changes. Whatever happens I feel that the offense needs to be drastically different from the current offense if you want to win another game this season.Those are the three main factors for this mess. There are others, but without something changing with those three it won't matter.The more I watch football, the more I understand how the little things affect the big things. How the details come together and affect the grand scheme. Right now, both the details and the big picture are messed up. You can get all the details right but if you don't put them together right you won't succeed. You can also have a great overall plan and execute it but if the minor details are all wrong it will fail. Right now the players are in control of the details and the coaches are in control of the overall picture. Both are at fault. Both need to change what is wrong with their end and not worry about the other. Players don't worry about the coaching problems, just focus on improving yourselves and doing what the coaches are teaching you. Coaches focus on getting your stuff together cohesively and then teach the players what to do to contribute to your plan. If both sides do this and trust the other, you will see a great football team. If only one side does their part, you will see an average team with some problems with room for improvement. But if nobody does anything and puts all the blame on the other side, you get a terrible team like the one I watched yesterday.

[Buckzip]

The Head Coach is responsible for the team...........................

[zip37]

I guess it was good old Santa that got the players here, right? And the 7 dwarfs that coached them, and ... well, you get it. Old Harry Truman had a signin the Oval Office that said 'The buck stops here'. [imagine that a politician accepting responsibility[ The buck stops at JD/

[Zip_ME87]

What I've observed this year is not the coaches but the players. We've had a knucklehead QB who was totally selfish. The backup QB is at best a Div. III QB and the players are now starting to make excuses. The coaches need to change personel and recommit themselves to maybe a different style of play. The players need to take this personally. The coaches can scheme all they want to but in the end the players need to man up and take charge. Go out and kick some ass.Go Zips!

And whose players are these? JD Brookhart's. This is his 6th year. They are his recruits. Sorry Baller, but JD is responsible.

[Spin]

Let's look over the numbers:JD took over the team in 2004, and had one good year in 2005. That wasn't his team. That was still Lee Owens' team.Since then, Akron has been 5-7, 4-8, 5-7, and 1-3. 15-25 in that time. If you count his record since he started, you're looking at 28-36. He only has one player in the NFL that he recruited. Reggie Corner. Though gone since 2003, Lee still has Alleman, Blackburn, Frye, Hixon, and Smith. (Taylor would be Faust's recruit).

[Valpo Zip]

Let's look over the numbers:JD took over the team in 2004, and had one good year in 2005. That wasn't his team. That was still Lee Owens' team.Since then, Akron has been 5-7, 4-8, 5-7, and 1-3. 15-25 in that time. If you count his record since he started, you're looking at 28-36. He only has one player in the NFL that he recruited. Reggie Corner. Though gone since 2003, Lee still has Alleman, Blackburn, Frye, Hixon, and Smith. (Taylor would be Faust's recruit).

Not that i want to deffend JD but Alleman transfered from Pitt with him and is not an Owens recruit.

[RootforRoo44]

What I've observed this year is not the coaches but the players. We've had a knucklehead QB who was totally selfish. The backup QB is at best a Div. III QB and the players are now starting to make excuses. The coaches need to change personel and recommit themselves to maybe a different style of play. The players need to take this personally. The coaches can scheme all they want to but in the end the players need to man up and take charge. Go out and kick some ass.Go Zips!

Baller4Life, you may be one of the only people on here that know what they are talking about.

[zippy5]

What I've observed this year is not the coaches but the players. We've had a knucklehead QB who was totally selfish. The backup QB is at best a Div. III QB and the players are now starting to make excuses. The coaches need to change personel and recommit themselves to maybe a different style of play. The players need to take this personally. The coaches can scheme all they want to but in the end the players need to man up and take charge. Go out and kick some ass.Go Zips!

Baller4Life, you may be one of the only people on here that know what they are talking about.

the only problem with this thought is that these coaches recruited all of these "knucklehead" players and D-III QB's.

[Spin]

Not that i want to deffend JD but Alleman transfered from Pitt with him and is not an Owens recruit.

You're right. oops

[GP1]

That wasn't his team. That was still Lee Owens' team.Since then, Akron has been 5-7, 4-8, 5-7, and 1-3. 15-25 in that time. If you count his record since he started, you're looking at 28-36.

This logic is interesting to me. The logic is if there were leftover LO players then the team isn't his. OK then, JD has only been the coach for two or three years now and he should get three more years to make the team "his". Everyone should read that last sentence out loud to see if you feel stupid or not after reading it. How come the 2006 and 2007 teams wouldn't be his as well? Weren't there LO players left over at that time as well. The truth is, they were his teams. Brett Biggs, a JD recruit, was the reason they won the MAC. Luke Getsy played a huge part in them winning the MAC....Luke didn't transfer to UofA because of the nice climate. Alleman didn't transfer because of the nice climate as well. Kemme was a JD recruit and part of that team. JD rescued Hixon from LO's defense and put him on offense then turned him into an NFL WR....Owens didn't do that and JD should get the credit.As far as the players, did Owens produce an NFL player in his first five years? Taylor, but Faust recruited him. I really don't remember one, but they were all so easy to forget. Alleman is an NFL player. The Browns have a Zip on their team. Corner is there. Would Blackburn be in the NFL without JD?...there is no answer to that but it is always nice to have a coach and group of coaches who know NFL coaches.After this season there will be a new coach. We need one. I fully expect the team to be his on day one. There is enough talent to win and to put off winning for two or three years until the team is "his" is just stupid. I just hope the players don't throw temper tantrums and leave the team after he gets canned.Seriously guys, you don't have to come up with strange intellectual gyrations to justify firing JD. It's a waste of time. He isn't doing anything with the talent he has and will be canned at the end of the season. All the coachers will be happy until the Zips lose a game next year then they will all be back with the same logic.

[g-mann17]

Let's look over the numbers:JD took over the team in 2004, and had one good year in 2005. That wasn't his team. That was still Lee Owens' team.Since then, Akron has been 5-7, 4-8, 5-7, and 1-3. 15-25 in that time. If you count his record since he started, you're looking at 28-36. He only has one player in the NFL that he recruited. Reggie Corner. Though gone since 2003, Lee still has Alleman, Blackburn, Frye, Hixon, and Smith. (Taylor would be Faust's recruit).

Not that i want to deffend JD but Alleman transfered from Pitt with him and is not an Owens recruit.

As too was Getsy, who I believe won us the MAC championship. Not to mention a few Juco's that were recruited that first year, oh and Hixon was a DB. I'm sorry, but everyone heading for the life rafts because we lost two games (one of which no one gave us a chance and the other against team we greatly under-rated) with our backup (albeit "I told you so" he isn't ready) QB and everyone thinks we can't win 6 of 8? We have Ohio, Buffalo, Syracuse, NIU, Can't, Temple, BGSU and Eastern Michigan, yet you guys think we have no shot?Get over yourselves. You know what I do want a winner, and we all deserve a winner, but blowing up the program isn't going to do any good. There is nothing wrong with the talent, there is something wrong with the motivation. We have two weeks to reset, let's just see what happens.If we finish 6-6 or better, I'm happy.If we finish 5-7 or worse, I'm bitter. But I'm still supporting my alma mater and the athletes that represent it. Anyone who doesn't isn't a real a fan anyway.Either way, we will have a new coaching staff next year

[skip-zip]

That wasn't his team. That was still Lee Owens' team.Since then, Akron has been 5-7, 4-8, 5-7, and 1-3. 15-25 in that time. If you count his record since he started, you're looking at 28-36.

This logic is interesting to me. The logic is if there were leftover LO players then the team isn't his. OK then, JD has only been the coach for two or three years now and he should get three more years to make the team "his". Everyone should read that last sentence out loud to see if you feel stupid or not after reading it. How come the 2006 and 2007 teams wouldn't be his as well? Weren't there LO players left over at that time as well. The truth is, they were his teams. Brett Biggs, a JD recruit, was the reason they won the MAC. Luke Getsy played a huge part in them winning the MAC....Luke didn't transfer to UofA because of the nice climate. Alleman didn't transfer because of the nice climate as well. Kemme was a JD recruit and part of that team. JD rescued Hixon from LO's defense and put him on offense then turned him into an NFL WR....Owens didn't do that and JD should get the credit.As far as the players, did Owens produce an NFL player in his first five years? Taylor, but Faust recruited him. I really don't remember one, but they were all so easy to forget. Alleman is an NFL player. The Browns have a Zip on their team. Corner is there. Would Blackburn be in the NFL without JD?...there is no answer to that but it is always nice to have a coach and group of coaches who know NFL coaches.After this season there will be a new coach. We need one. I fully expect the team to be his on day one. There is enough talent to win and to put off winning for two or three years until the team is "his" is just stupid. I just hope the players don't throw temper tantrums and leave the team after he gets canned.Seriously guys, you don't have to come up with strange intellectual gyrations to justify firing JD. It's a waste of time. He isn't doing anything with the talent he has and will be canned at the end of the season. All the coachers will be happy until the Zips lose a game next year then they will all be back with the same logic.

GP...I've always thought the same thing when I hear someone make this argument, like Spin just did. I'm not defending JD, and think he has a tall task to save his job. But, guys like Biggs, Getsy, Hixon, Alleman and Kemme were indeed a HUGE part of our success in 2004 and 2005. We gave up tons of yardage to Wolfe from NIU in that MAC Championship game in 05, and still pulled it out with a ton of offense ourselves. Does someone really want to try to make the argument that the offensive players JD recruited/converted did not impact that result?

[mivid12]

What I've observed this year is not the coaches but the players. We've had a knucklehead QB who was totally selfish. The backup QB is at best a Div. III QB and the players are now starting to make excuses. The coaches need to change personel and recommit themselves to maybe a different style of play. The players need to take this personally. The coaches can scheme all they want to but in the end the players need to man up and take charge. Go out and kick some ass.Go Zips!

Baller4Life, you may be one of the only people on here that know what they are talking about.

i call BS....so you're saying Brookhart is a good coach? The coaches can scheme all they want but if the scheme doesn't put the players in a position to succeed...well, i think you can figure out the rest....these brookhart apologists put the blame somewhere else where it shouldn't be...so if the players suck who's fault is that? who brought them in? just sayin'Brookhart should and will be fired...

[ZipsAlum92]

This season is OVER. So, it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference if you fire JD now or do it in December. Heck, at least if you kick him to the curb now, you can use an interim head coach for the rest of the season while you are out looking for the best head coach you can get.

[Spin]

Seriously guys, you don't have to come up with strange intellectual gyrations to justify firing JD.

So a career record of 28-36 is a "strange intellectual gyration". I'm sorry I just don't think that's acceptable. If you want to see "strange gyrations", watch our passes.