Women's bball at Ball State

[ZachTheZip]

BSU radio feedGoing to OT, tied at 59.

[MDZip]

Ladies up by two with 1:06 left in OT. This would be a big win against the defending MAC champs on the road. Coach Kest must be doing something right.

[MDZip]

Zips win! They were down 19-5 in the first half. Nice job.

[ZachTheZip]

Akron gets the win! 66-64 win on the road against the defending MAC champs! Now 5-2 in the MAC. They don't give up when the other team gives them trouble. It shows determination and it builds confidence.

[timmyboy]

Akron gets the win! 66-64 win on the road against the defending MAC champs! Now 5-2 in the MAC. They don't give up when the other team gives them trouble. It shows determination and it builds confidence.

now that the lady zips are winning, maybe we can start getting more people to come out to the games. I've been saying it for the last year, that the program is turning around and that they are going to shock alot of people.

[joshgozips]

Anyone ever think in the last few years that at this point of the season that the women's team would have more wins than the men's? LoL. Congrats Coach Kest on a big win and to the Coach Dambrot and the men as well for a big road win.

[timmyboy]

Anyone ever think in the last few years that at this point of the season that the women's team would have more wins than the men's? LoL. Congrats Coach Kest on a big win and to the Coach Dambrot and the men as well for a big road win.

Mens team 14 winswomans team 11 wins.

[joshgozips]

If you had taken more than a second to look over my typo, you would have realized that was conference wins, genius.

Anyone ever think in the last few years that at this point of the season that the women's team would have more wins than the men's? LoL. Congrats Coach Kest on a big win and to the Coach Dambrot and the men as well for a big road win.

Mens team 14 winswomans team 11 wins.

[timmyboy]

No need to get offended. I just read through it and seen that it said the lady zips had more wins then the men's and i didnt know if you were looking at a website that had them put in wrong or what so i was just letting you know. Wasent trying to be an A$$............. regardless, both of the teams are doing a very nice job this season, so lets keep it up.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Akron gets the win! 66-64 win on the road against the defending MAC champs! Now 5-2 in the MAC. They don't give up when the other team gives them trouble. It shows determination and it builds confidence.

now that the lady zips are winning, maybe we can start getting more people to come out to the games. I've been saying it for the last year, that the program is turning around and that they are going to shock alot of people.

My dad wants to start buying season tickets for women's, too. I LOVE Coach Kest and the way she's turned this team around. Good for the Zips.

[zip37]

AND she has a ton of talent coming in next year! Thousands of cheers for Jody!

[g-mann17]

Wow winning sure changes a lot. I remember many members crying foul when Kest came in and said goodbye to a lot of lazy, babied, ladies that were on the team.Wonder how many who complained are willing to admit they were wrong about the direction Kest wanted to go.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I follow the ladies team in the newspaper, but that's about it. No knock on the program...that's just the way it isKest has done an amazing job turning around a program that was among the absolute dregs of D-1 women's hoops. If it continues, it could be one of the all-time greatest program turnarounds in college basketball history. It seemed like 5 years ago, every article in the paper mentioned "The Lady Zips were led by Sarah Tokodi..." Then it went to "The Lady Zips were led by Kara Murphy..." Now it seems a different girl's name is highlighted every game. They seem to have developed a very good team.If they make the MAC Tourney finals - I'll attend.And to address G-Mann's comments - I will go on the record as saying I was all for Kelly Kennedy-Kebe's dismissal, as well as the party posse that Kest cleaned out early-on.

[timmyboy]

Wow winning sure changes a lot. I remember many members crying foul when Kest came in and said goodbye to a lot of lazy, babied, ladies that were on the team.Wonder how many who complained are willing to admit they were wrong about the direction Kest wanted to go.

I will admit i was a little upset when she dismissed all them players from the team, and maybe i was wrong for it. But i was also one of the very few there supporting them when they were losing to. When i seen the plaers she dismissed, i seen her getting rid of her best players at the time. Just didnt seem like a very good move when your trying to build a program an win games. But i will admit, with her recruting and the new core of players she has now and incoming, she has turned the program around. Lets just hope the winning continues and soon we can he holding that MAC championship trophy.

[GoZips]

AND she has a ton of talent coming in next year! Thousands of cheers for Jody!

Make note of the fact that coach Kest is now successfully recruiting the level of talentthat three years ago would have never given the Zips a second look.The incoming group is sufficiently talented to start from the git go. Young & LuburghYou will have to dig a little to get stats on these two ladies that are on a Div-I team that is currently 15-0. But, its worth your time. They play for Tri-Valley, Dresden, OH.The other two girls, Kacie Cassell and Sina King) are both having excellent seasons.Unfortunately, stats on them is a good bit tougher to dig up.You can rest assured that coach is recruiting even better talent for the next class.Winning changes everything. The gals aren't perfect, far from it. But, they arelight years better than when coach Kest came to town. She is doing a fantastic job.

[g-mann17]

Wow winning sure changes a lot. I remember many members crying foul when Kest came in and said goodbye to a lot of lazy, babied, ladies that were on the team.Wonder how many who complained are willing to admit they were wrong about the direction Kest wanted to go.

I will admit i was a little upset when she dismissed all them players from the team, and maybe i was wrong for it. But i was also one of the very few there supporting them when they were losing to. When i seen the plaers she dismissed, i seen her getting rid of her best players at the time. Just didnt seem like a very good move when your trying to build a program an win games. But i will admit, with her recruting and the new core of players she has now and incoming, she has turned the program around. Lets just hope the winning continues and soon we can he holding that MAC championship trophy.

Well as people in construction will tell you, sometimes it's easier to knock it all down and start over than it is find ways to fix it and make it work.

[MDZip]

If you want to see what people thought on the subject of Coach Kest dismissing players a few years ago, here are a few good threads. Most people seemed to have been supportive of her moves:http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?sh...t=0&start=0http://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?sh...473&hl=Kesthttp://zipsnation.org/forums//index.php?sh...=9273&st=0

[Z.I.P.]

Wow winning sure changes a lot. I remember many members crying foul when Kest came in and said goodbye to a lot of lazy, babied, ladies that were on the team.Wonder how many who complained are willing to admit they were wrong about the direction Kest wanted to go.

Look, I can tell when an arrow is aimed at my head. And even at my age, I'm nimble enough to duck ahead of contact. I attend more women's/girl's bb games than men's (and I attend a lot of men's games). I attended Akron women's games in the late '70s and early '80s, when there were perhaps two dozen fans in Memorial Hall. I put up with all the years of sad, losing seasons. I tried to provide excuses to outside WBB fans when 23-yo Angel Donley had to take over as coach when her boss quit over the holidays -- right when the team had some of its best young players ever. The coach who followed Angel took the ladies to their one and only post-season tournament, where they played even with MSU for 35+ minutes. I met that team at the airport and gave them leis on their arrival in Hawai'i in 2000. I have a long-term emotional commitment to the welfare of the teams and players -- that hasn't changed with the passing of numerous 20-loss seasons -- and won't change when they manage to win 20, something that I believe has yet to be achieved, but could be only a year or two away.Jody Kest arrived with lower expectations than even most Akron coaches, and she immediately recruited a band of HS all-stars including a state POY in Sarah T. Given the information that I and others had as an average fan at the time, it looked as if coach Kest had gone overboard in her disciplinary actions, and lost not only the players whom she dismissed -- for reasons that remain unreported, but some, including academic stars, who decided they'd rather play in D-2 (or in one case, the SEC) than be what seemed like a victim of the coach's rath. Wins and losses don't play into the question of whether I support the team, it would take a heck of a lot for me to give up on the ladies. Wins and losses don't play into my evaluation of the coach's relationship with the team either. I'm more than willing to congratulate coach Kest for beginning the program's turn-around. I expect the victories to continue, and that she can get a BCS-level job in a year or two. Notice she brought in her newest assistant from Virginia, who is being groomed as her successor. But, in my mind, the jury is still out on whether Jody is just a winning coach, or whether she is a 'good' coach. I would rather my daughter play for a good coach, who always has the players best interests in mind, than for a winning coach, who only uses young athletes for their own career advancement. There are a lot of those coaches around, but fortunately, Akron has managed to have coaches like Keith and Caleb who are capable of winning while earning the respect of all their players and building them into better citizens. I hope its proven that Jody Kest is a good coach, but that proof won't come on any basketball court. Go get 'em Zips.

[GP1]

Wow winning sure changes a lot. I remember many members crying foul when Kest came in and said goodbye to a lot of lazy, babied, ladies that were on the team.Wonder how many who complained are willing to admit they were wrong about the direction Kest wanted to go.

Look, I can tell when an arrow is aimed at my head. And even at my age, I'm nimble enough to duck ahead of contact. I attend more women's/girl's bb games than men's (and I attend a lot of men's games). I attended Akron women's games in the late '70s and early '80s, when there were perhaps two dozen fans in Memorial Hall. I put up with all the years of sad, losing seasons. I tried to provide excuses to outside WBB fans when 23-yo Angel Donley had to take over as coach when her boss quit over the holidays -- right when the team had some of its best young players ever. The coach who followed Angel took the ladies to their one and only post-season tournament, where they played even with MSU for 35+ minutes. I met that team at the airport and gave them leis on their arrival in Hawai'i in 2000. I have a long-term emotional commitment to the welfare of the teams and players -- that hasn't changed with the passing of numerous 20-loss seasons -- and won't change when they manage to win 20, something that I believe has yet to be achieved, but could be only a year or two away.Jody Kest arrived with lower expectations than even most Akron coaches, and she immediately recruited a band of HS all-stars including a state POY in Sarah T. Given the information that I and others had as an average fan at the time, it looked as if coach Kest had gone overboard in her disciplinary actions, and lost not only the players whom she dismissed -- for reasons that remain unreported, but some, including academic stars, who decided they'd rather play in D-2 (or in one case, the SEC) than be what seemed like a victim of the coach's rath. Wins and losses don't play into the question of whether I support the team, it would take a heck of a lot for me to give up on the ladies. Wins and losses don't play into my evaluation of the coach's relationship with the team either. I'm more than willing to congratulate coach Kest for beginning the program's turn-around. I expect the victories to continue, and that she can get a BCS-level job in a year or two. Notice she brought in her newest assistant from Virginia, who is being groomed as her successor. But, in my mind, the jury is still out on whether Jody is just a winning coach, or whether she is a 'good' coach. I would rather my daughter play for a good coach, who always has the players best interests in mind, than for a winning coach, who only uses young athletes for their own career advancement. There are a lot of those coaches around, but fortunately, Akron has managed to have coaches like Keith and Caleb who are capable of winning while earning the respect of all their players and building them into better citizens. I hope its proven that Jody Kest is a good coach, but that proof won't come on any basketball court. Go get 'em Zips.

I love you Z.I.P., but this post is pure 1950s nonsense. Caleb will be gone soon enough. Dambrot wants to be at Akron, but as soon as he can win enough games to make people look past his "issue" at CMU, he will cash in. Let's not be naive. Both of these guys are complete pricks to their players and that is what makes them good coaches. Winning is absolutely in the forefront of everything they do. JK is possible the best coach at Akron.....no, she is the best coach at Akron. Porter took over a winning program (Quite frankly, I watched the final four and I'm not certain how coaching players to bounce the ball off of their heads for 2.5 hours makes a great coach, but maybe I don't know enough about the particulars of soccer). KD took over a decent team with some talent. JK took over a pile of crap.You say a good coach always has the players best interests in mind. Take it from someone who played for our losing football program, winning is in the best interest of the players. It is absolute misery losing game after game and I don't see how that misery is in the best interest of the players. Those young ladies playing basketball are at Akron to win games...period. If they go to class and graduate with straight Cs, even better. I had a friend in college who always said, "C's get degrees". Today that guy is sitting on a pile of cash. All they are asked to do is graduate and play basketball. It was that way in the 1990s...it was that way in the 1980s.....it was that way in the 1970s....it was that way in the 1960s....it was that way in even the great 1950s.If the mindset is it is about the competition and not the winning, that's nonsense as well. If sports are to prepare you for life, shouldn't an employer hire an employee that won and showed positive results in lieu of losers who show no results? Driving a team to win and then winning creats an attitude in a player that teaches them how to produce results and not process. Holding hands and singing "We Are The World" is process, not results. In closing, it's OK to confess that JK is a good coach and doing a great job with the WBB program.

[Zip Watcher]

Your first 2 paragraphs are garbage .. you have no idea how KD or Porter treat their players. Way to make bogus suppositions and statements from your perch in beautiful NC. And KD took over a *decent* team? By what measure was that team decent?Simply uniformed on the first 2 items.Go Zips!

[Zip Watcher]

I tried to provide excuses to outside WBB fans when 23-yo Angel Donley had to take over as coach when her boss quit over the holidays -- right when the team had some of its best young players ever.

Any idea what became of Angel, Z.I.P.?

[GoZips]

I love you Z.I.P., but this post is pure 1950s nonsense. Caleb will be gone soon enough. Dambrot wants to be at Akron, but as soon as he can win enough games to make people look past his "issue" at CMU, he will cash in. Let's not be naive. Both of these guys are complete pricks to their players and that is what makes them good coaches. Winning is absolutely in the forefront of everything they do. JK is possible the best coach at Akron.....no, she is the best coach at Akron. Porter took over a winning program (Quite frankly, I watched the final four and I'm not certain how coaching players to bounce the ball off of their heads for 2.5 hours makes a great coach, but maybe I don't know enough about the particulars of soccer). KD took over a decent team with some talent. JK took over a pile of crap.You say a good coach always has the players best interests in mind. Take it from someone who played for our losing football program, winning is in the best interest of the players. It is absolute misery losing game after game and I don't see how that misery is in the best interest of the players. Those young ladies playing basketball are at Akron to win games...period. If they go to class and graduate with straight Cs, even better. I had a friend in college who always said, "C's get degrees". Today that guy is sitting on a pile of cash. All they are asked to do is graduate and play basketball. It was that way in the 1990s...it was that way in the 1980s.....it was that way in the 1970s....it was that way in the 1960s....it was that way in even the great 1950s.If the mindset is it is about the competition and not the winning, that's nonsense as well. If sports are to prepare you for life, shouldn't an employer hire an employee that won and showed positive results in lieu of losers who show no results? Driving a team to win and then winning creats an attitude in a player that teaches them how to produce results and not process. Holding hands and singing "We Are The World" is process, not results. In closing, it's OK to confess that JK is a good coach and doing a great job with the WBB program.

GP1, best piece you have ever written. I, too, know about playing for a losing college football team. Losing sucks.This evening I looked in the women's media guide and found that last year was Kest's best year as an Akron coach.She posted an 11-19, 6-10 MAC record. So, for the record, with ten games remaining the Lady Zips are on the verge of producing coach Kest's best year. Currently the Ladies are 11-9 and 5-2 in the MAC. The Ladies shouldfinish in the upper half. Quite an achievement for a once morbund program.While coach Kest may and probably should bolt at some future date, I do not believe that it is any sooner than twoyears away. Kest probably wants that MAC championship and a trip to the NCAA on her resume. She earned it.

[g-mann17]

I love you Z.I.P., but this post is pure 1950s nonsense. Caleb will be gone soon enough. Dambrot wants to be at Akron, but as soon as he can win enough games to make people look past his "issue" at CMU, he will cash in. Let's not be naive. Both of these guys are complete pricks to their players and that is what makes them good coaches. Winning is absolutely in the forefront of everything they do.

Wow, that Arizona sun must finished off what was left of that raisin you call a brain.If Caleb wanted to be gone, he could have been gone this year. To any level he wanted to go, Clemson (in you super fabulous south)IU (his alma mater, where everyone wants to be), to DC United (to follow the money baby). Then with Dambrot, after taking a do nothing team to 5 consecutive winning seasons, 3 post season tournaments, 3 MAC finals, a MAC Championship, I'm pretty sure if he wanted a job at a "better school" he could have taken it. You are an absolute sham and the fact that anyone gives you Kudos for anything is sad. But then in a nation where people hold the opinions of highschool/college drop outs, and people who have never done anything other than talk on the radio or TV, in higher regard than college educated "worked in the business" individuals what should I expect."Those that talk the loudest are the ones that get heard"

[zippyrifle32]

Given the information that I and others had as an average fan at the time, it looked as if coach Kest had gone overboard in her disciplinary actions, and lost not only the players whom she dismissed -- for reasons that remain unreported, but some, including academic stars, who decided they'd rather play in D-2 (or in one case, the SEC) than be what seemed like a victim of the coach's rath.

Well as being someone who was "in-the-know" and not really giving a shit anymore about keeping department secrets (and it has been a few years)... from the best of my memory there was a big house part an an athlete's house. I think it was a b-ball person's house, but to which sport they belonged I do not remember. There were several sport teams represented in addition to wbb including wsoc, v-ball, and a few football players. As the night was getting fun a few (three?) individuals crashed the party. They were not invited and no one knew who they were. One of them (girl I think) got jealous about some flirting between a soccer player and her man or something and a fist fight erupted. They were told to leave and refused. A couple of the football players were able to throw them out of the house and once outside one of these strangers drew a gun and fired shots into the air. The athletes, scared of being caught and in trouble for underage drinking, drinking in season, and whatever else the department/coaches would did not call the police. Neighbors did and the police came, but the athletes continued to try to hide in the house. Obviously it got back to the department and there were numerous suspensions and punishments. The most obvious were the wbb ones because they were still in season and lost some of their better players. From the fight on of the soccer girls had her face (cheek or eye socket) fractured and one of the footballers had a black eye. Not all athletes got into as much trouble because each coach creates their own team rules. Somehow the press didn't get a hold of the story, which made it easy to keep hushed. Again this is from my memory so the minute details are not all there, but that's the jest of the story.

[Z.I.P.]

I tried to provide excuses to outside WBB fans when 23-yo Angel Donley had to take over as coach when her boss quit over the holidays -- right when the team had some of its best young players ever.

Any idea what became of Angel, Z.I.P.?

Angel got an assistant job at Southern Florida U in Lakeland (I believe that's the location) the following year. Mary Ann Grimes was the gal who quit on, as I recall, the day after Christmas. Just names in the great morass that has been UA WBB. Angel got national publicity for her age -- and because she was too young to rent a van for the team when they went on the road. I think someone from the SID Ofc took on that job. She was just a year and-a-half out of Northern Kentucky when she got a D-1 HC job! Roxanne Allen...she was the very unique lady who came from being WBB and tennis coach at Wooster to guide our team. Recruited the best player in program history, Cheryl Bowles, who was Kansas City's Athlete of the Year and had Big-12 offers. Seemed as if Roxanne was the anti-GP-1 -- putting GPA ahead of W-L. Her teams had the highest GPAs in school history, with several each year above 3.5, but her victories trailed off every year.