iCoach has an opportunity to make history....

[Big Zip]

Zips football has never had a defeated season in their Div. 1 history. Have we ever had a defeated season outside of Div. 1? This team appears to be regressing.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

I'll be very pleasantly surprised if this team wins a game this season.

[zipseuph]

looking at the remaining schedule, I honestly don't think theres a game they can win.

[RootforRoo44]

looking at the remaining schedule, I honestly don't think theres a game they can win.

What are you talking about? Of the remaining six games, only one is against a team that is over .500. Ohio U, WMU, and Ball State are all awful as well. Sure the Zips are probably worse than all six teams but the schedule isn't going to be what does them in, it'll be themselves.

One of these games is going to be handed to the Zips and they will get that win, you'll see.

[72 Roo]

This thread strikes a hell of a note! Here we are debating if we win a game or not the rest of the season. We have got to change the culture that accepts mediocrity (for the last 15 years) as success and accepts destroying the program as a prerequisite for rebuilding it. This is not meant to ridicule any poster. It is to get everyone associated with the football program, from Dr. P on down, to either make it better or find another job. I refuse to accept that we are doomed to be a .500 or below program for life. Any person or part of our athletic culture that accepts these results has got to go.

[zipseuph]

This thread strikes a hell of a note! Here we are debating if we win a game or not the rest of the season. We have got to change the culture that accepts mediocrity (for the last 15 years) as success and accepts destroying the program as a prerequisite for rebuilding it. This is not meant to ridicule any poster. It is to get everyone associated with the football program, from Dr. P on down, to either make it better or find another job. I refuse to accept that we are doomed to be a .500 or below program for life. Any person or part of our athletic culture that accepts these results has got to go.

I don't think there is anyone here "accepting" this.

[Big Zip]

72 Roo I couldn't agree with you more, but I think you are preaching to the choir. The people running this athletics program are getting paid good money to destroy it. We are paying money to watch the destruction. I can honestly tell you I'm not sure if I'll be in attendance for a game the rest of the season. All three games are scheduled to be on TV...which I was told earlier this year will not impact attendance - yeah right. Imagine how those three games are going to look on TV with literally 100s of people in the stands. I can't imagine being there in person if the weather isn't perfect. I know my wife will tell me I'm crazy and will not be joining me.

This problem started with hiring an AD people thought little of and then watching him turn around and hire a Coach people thought even less of. Now we are stuck with both.

Funny how when LO was let go I never in wildest dreams thought seven years later we would be wondering if this program will win a game this year. We have done everything we thought we needed to become a big time program yet nobody seems to have a clue how actually hire a coach that can turn this thing around. There are no excuses anymore.

[RACER]

for all the people who say other mac programs can win occ games why can't we.the reality is the mac is 6-31 against

d-1 teams this year.nobody is getting it done week in and week out in occ play.for every niu beating of on min, toledo

beating purdon't there are 11 other mac teams getting pounded that week.there is no other mac teams can do it; so why

not akron.the conference has no tv contract that brings in $ revenue.the mac is then forced to play away games against

bcs teams for money.akron has no business playing osu next year.we can't beat a 1-AA team let alone a top 10 team

every year.we need to downgrade the schedule for the next few years.play home /home games against

C-USA,and sunbelt teams.if you have to play a 1-aa team do it.start winning some games would be nice.

people wan't to see a team that wins games.how many people know about soccer teams.

people go to akron soccer because they win games.tell me how is OU,and EMU getting pounded by OSU is helping there

recruiting.everybody said how great our occ schedule was this year.how great is 0-4 with about 7k at the rest of the games

this year.you are competing against teams like alabama who can pay the coach 40 million a year.the bottom line is the mac

cannot,and will not be able to compete in occ play simply because of tv revenue.

[Big Zip]

RACER....in case you didn't notice this has nothing to do with the OOC schedule....we just lost to effing Can't State. This team also lost to a Div. 1-AA school I don't care about OOC wins and losses against BigTen schools. I do care that this team has the opportunity to go winless this year and I think the possibility is very real. I think we might as well have kept paying LO the last seven or eight years....the product on the field is barely different. We are actually worse now then at any other time in Div. 1. I hated LO, but I'm watching a team that would get the crud kicked out of them by a LO team. I'm watching a team that would have got their head kicked in by last year's Zips.

I would love to see someone ask ICoach some frank and candid questions. I want some reporter to be blunt with him and ask him...After 6 games your team has yet to win a game and has lost to a Div. 1-AA team do you think you are qualifed to coach this team? Tom Wistricill hiring of you is looking pretty bad right now. What do you think you need to do to restore confidence in his decision? This team returned a lot of starters from last year and they fired last year's coach who actually won games. How much rope do you deserve? Did you know it was going to be this difficult being a head coach? Are you in over your head? Do you really think your pro style offense is the right offense to be running in college? What do you tell the fans of the Zips who are six games in to your tenure and already calling for your firing? How many fans do you anticipate seeing in the stands for the remaining three games (actually bodies in seats)? -- 1350 AM guy those are all free of charge get some balls and actually ask the tough questions.

[skip-zip]

looking at the remaining schedule, I honestly don't think theres a game they can win.

What are you talking about? Of the remaining six games, only one is against a team that is over .500. Ohio U, WMU, and Ball State are all awful as well. Sure the Zips are probably worse than all six teams but the schedule isn't going to be what does them in, it'll be themselves.

One of these games is going to be handed to the Zips and they will get that win, you'll see.

OU just detroyed BGSU

Western Michigan just destroyed Ball State

There's a few winnable games left, but based on recent performances, I don't know how you call our next two opponents, OU and WMU, "awful".

[Buckzip]

RACER....in case you didn't notice this has nothing to do with the OOC schedule....we just lost to effing Can't State. This team also lost to a Div. 1-AA school I don't give a shit about OOC wins and losses against BigTen schools. I do care that this team has the opportunity to go winless this year and I think the possibility is very real. I think we might as well have kept paying LO the last seven or eight years....the product on the field is barely different. We are actually worse now then at any other time in Div. 1. I hated LO, but I'm watching a team that would get the shit kicked out of them by a LO team. I'm watching a team that would have got their head kicked in by last year's Zips.

I would love to see someone ask ICoach some frank and candid questions. I want some reporter to be blunt with him and ask him...After 6 games your team has yet to win a game and has lost to a Div. 1-AA team do you think you are qualifed to coach this team? Tom Wistricill hiring of you is looking pretty bad right now. What do you think you need to do to restore confidence in his decision? This team returned a lot of starters from last year and they fired last year's coach who actually won games. How much rope do you deserve? Did you know it was going to be this difficult being a head coach? Are you in over your head? Do you really think your pro style offense is the right offense to be running in college? What do you tell the fans of the Zips who are six games in to your tenure and already calling for your firing? How many fans do you anticipate seeing in the stands for the remaining three games (actually bodies in seats)? -- 1350 AM guy those are all free of charge get some balls and actually ask the tough questions.

I would love to see those questions asked. I think we all know they never will be though.

[72 Roo]

Big Zip and Zipseuph .... Didn't mean to come off as preaching to the choir, but I can see how I did. Sorry to put the nation thru that, yet it was very therapeutic and saved me $150 on the shrink's couch. Big, I love your questions and hope someone has the guts to ask them. The point we all have to keep in mind is that if they don't get asked we have become irrelevant as well as pathetic.

One final thought, soccer will out-draw football. This idea was floated weeks ago as a tongue-in-cheek comment. Now it is totally realistic.

[Blue & Gold]

The point we all have to keep in mind is that if they don't get asked we have become irrelevant as well as pathetic.

Well said.

[Buckzip]

Big Zip and Zipseuph .... Didn't mean to come off as preaching to the choir, but I can see how I did. Sorry to put the nation thru that, yet it was very therapeutic and saved me $150 on the shrink's couch. Big, I love your questions and hope someone has the guts to ask them. The point we all have to keep in mind is that if they don't get asked we have become irrelevant as well as pathetic.

One final thought, soccer will out-draw football. This idea was floated weeks ago as a tongue-in-cheek comment. Now it is totally realistic.

if you are talking for the season, you are probably right because soccer has more games.

if you are talking average per game, that won't happen.

However, point still made and taken.

[UAZipster0305]

One final thought, soccer will out-draw football. This idea was floated weeks ago as a tongue-in-cheek comment. Now it is totally realistic.

I floated this question. At the time and after losing to a I-AA, I was being quite serious although most members didn't take it that way. The UK and IU games lead me to believe the team had made some progress. I now seriously doubt that progress and see 0-12 on the wall. Sadly, the Info will be empty. Thank Porter for soccer!

[skip-zip]

Big Zip and Zipseuph .... Didn't mean to come off as preaching to the choir, but I can see how I did. Sorry to put the nation thru that, yet it was very therapeutic and saved me $150 on the shrink's couch. Big, I love your questions and hope someone has the guts to ask them. The point we all have to keep in mind is that if they don't get asked we have become irrelevant as well as pathetic.

One final thought, soccer will out-draw football. This idea was floated weeks ago as a tongue-in-cheek comment. Now it is totally realistic.

if you are talking for the season, you are probably right because soccer has more games.

if you are talking average per game, that won't happen.

However, point still made and taken.

It won't happen for the season either, even with more games. But I have to admit. I had to think about it for a second.

I'm counting 8 home soccer games. It looks like we're averaging about 3.6K up to this point. But, I'm sure that's even scewed very high since one of those games was against the #2 team in the country on a Friday night in perfect weather. And another was a season opener on a Friday night. The other two games drew considerably less. And we have more games coming up during the middle of the week, which will draw lower numbers.

But either way, even if we can hold a 3.6K average through the season, we'd have approx. 28,000 soccer fans for the ENTIRE season. And football has already drawn 38,000 through only 1/2 the season.

It won't even be remotely close. Even if football only gets 5,000 a game through the rest of the season, they'll still double soccer's season attendance, even with several less games.

But I must say that even though I don't like Soccer, I'm probably just as interested in seeing Zips Soccer as Zips Football right now.

[zen]

RACER....in case you didn't notice this has nothing to do with the OOC schedule....we just lost to effing Can't State......

I was tempted to ask zipmeister put me on the quit on the zips list (it was he who made that list, right?) after the kÉnt game... but to be perfectly honest, I'm pretty sure I'll still be watching this year.

The point is, an O-fer season should never ever ever have happened, because we have Can't on the schedule ever year.

This is shameful and disgraceful.

The gardiner webb game was bad, but it was still meaningless.

If we can't even beat Can't, then it's not a question of winners or losers, we are failures.

[MDZip]

I was tempted to ask zipmeister put me on the quit on the zips list (it was he who made that list, right?) after the kÉnt game... but to be perfectly honest, I'm pretty sure I'll still be watching this year.

Actually, that was Zip Watcher, just look in his signature block, all three charter members are still proudly displayed there. I'm not sure Zipmeister knows that people root for things, unless it is a presented opportunity for sarcasm or being a smart-ass.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

I'm just going to say it like it is. Hack away at me if you'd like. This program has failed to gain any semblance of relevance in D1-A (FBS) football, twenty years in from the days of Faust. No matter the attractiveness of the new facilities, which were much needed as part of the larger growth of the campus anyway, it is high time for the university to admit their failure and look for ways out of this level of football. I'll continue to go to the games for the tailgating and because I enjoy having football so close to where I live, but I would do that whether this program were FBS or FCS. In fact, I would do it with much more excitement if the program competed and had a tradition of winning, no matter the level. How many actual UA football fans would really stop attending games if the Zips were FCS instead of being a TERRIBLE FBS program? Certainly nobody who takes the time to post on these boards would walk away if we were a winning FCS program and you all know it.

Akron has not competed successfully at the FBS level and will never compete because the cards are completely and utterly stacked against programs like ours. It's simply a mockery to continue on this path. Programs like ours exist simply to be toyed with and mocked, plain and simple. We provide the doormat games for large FBS teams in their early season OOC schedules, and help to fill out lists like ESPN's Bottom Ten. Ha ha ha boys and girls, here come the "compass directionals", the Hilltoppers, the Flushes, the Zips. Ha ha ha.

What exactly does the university get out of continuing down this road? What do we get out of watching this team get obliterated by better teams, year in and year out? How many times will we have to watch nail-biters against actual FCS teams, losing too many of them along the way? How is it acceptable to anyone that in twenty years of attempting to play at this level we have had ONE arguably good year with a Bowl berth?

I cannot understand why schools like Akron, EMU, Can't and WKU trot out these terrible, terrible teams to be mocked and destroyed year after year. The Northwesterns and Indianas I can understand; these are teams that are part of historically great conferences, and suck or not they can draw fans and be a part of something bigger. The Zips suck, have never dominated the conference, AND it's the MAC, one of the two worst conferences full or doormats in the entire country. There are no redeeming features to be found in the football situation in which UA finds itself in 2010. There HAS to be a better way.

[GP1]

I'm just going to say it like it is. Hack away at me if you'd like. This program has failed to gain any semblance of relevance in D1-A (FBS) football, twenty years in from the days of Faust. No matter the attractiveness of the new facilities, which were much needed as part of the larger growth of the campus anyway, it is high time for the university to admit their failure and look for ways out of this level of football. I'll continue to go to the games for the tailgating and because I enjoy having football so close to where I live, but I would do that whether this program were FBS or FCS. In fact, I would do it with much more excitement if the program competed and had a tradition of winning, no matter the level. How many actual UA football fans would really stop attending games if the Zips were FCS instead of being a TERRIBLE FBS program? Certainly nobody who takes the time to post on these boards would walk away if we were a winning FCS program and you all know it.

Akron has not competed successfully at the FBS level and will never compete because the cards are completely and utterly stacked against programs like ours. It's simply a mockery to continue on this path. Programs like ours exist simply to be toyed with and mocked, plain and simple. We provide the doormat games for large FBS teams in their early season OOC schedules, and help to fill out lists like ESPN's Bottom Ten. Ha ha ha boys and girls, here come the "compass directionals", the Hilltoppers, the Flushes, the Zips. Ha ha ha.

What exactly does the university get out of continuing down this road? What do we get out of watching this team get obliterated by better teams, year in and year out? How many times will we have to watch nail-biters against actual FCS teams, losing too many of them along the way? How is it acceptable to anyone that in twenty years of attempting to play at this level we have had ONE arguably good year with a Bowl berth?

I cannot understand why schools like Akron, EMU, Can't and WKU trot out these terrible, terrible teams to be mocked and destroyed year after year. The Northwesterns and Indianas I can understand; these are teams that are part of historically great conferences, and suck or not they can draw fans and be a part of something bigger. The Zips suck, have never dominated the conference, AND it's the MAC, one of the two worst conferences full or doormats in the entire country. There are no redeeming features to be found in the football situation in which UA finds itself in 2010. There HAS to be a better way.

I agree with everything....basically....and I've been posting it for a while.

At this point, they shouldn't do it alone. The non-bcs schools/conferences need to find a way out of the mess the vast majority of them are in. They all need to get together and form their own division. How much more does everyone need to see? The game is over. 20 more years? Please.....

IF the non-bcs schools/conferences can't do something in the next two years, then UofA needs to act unilaterally. OR, the MAC needs to act with the membership to make a move to I-AA. Two more years after this year is all they get. Enough is enough. Another division or I-AA are the choices.

[UAZipster0305]

I'm just going to say it like it is. Hack away at me if you'd like. This program has failed to gain any semblance of relevance in D1-A (FBS) football, twenty years in from the days of Faust. No matter the attractiveness of the new facilities, which were much needed as part of the larger growth of the campus anyway, it is high time for the university to admit their failure and look for ways out of this level of football. I'll continue to go to the games for the tailgating and because I enjoy having football so close to where I live, but I would do that whether this program were FBS or FCS. In fact, I would do it with much more excitement if the program competed and had a tradition of winning, no matter the level. How many actual UA football fans would really stop attending games if the Zips were FCS instead of being a TERRIBLE FBS program? Certainly nobody who takes the time to post on these boards would walk away if we were a winning FCS program and you all know it.

Akron has not competed successfully at the FBS level and will never compete because the cards are completely and utterly stacked against programs like ours. It's simply a mockery to continue on this path. Programs like ours exist simply to be toyed with and mocked, plain and simple. We provide the doormat games for large FBS teams in their early season OOC schedules, and help to fill out lists like ESPN's Bottom Ten. Ha ha ha boys and girls, here come the "compass directionals", the Hilltoppers, the Flushes, the Zips. Ha ha ha.

What exactly does the university get out of continuing down this road? What do we get out of watching this team get obliterated by better teams, year in and year out? How many times will we have to watch nail-biters against actual FCS teams, losing too many of them along the way? How is it acceptable to anyone that in twenty years of attempting to play at this level we have had ONE arguably good year with a Bowl berth?

I cannot understand why schools like Akron, EMU, Can't and WKU trot out these terrible, terrible teams to be mocked and destroyed year after year. The Northwesterns and Indianas I can understand; these are teams that are part of historically great conferences, and suck or not they can draw fans and be a part of something bigger. The Zips suck, have never dominated the conference, AND it's the MAC, one of the two worst conferences full or doormats in the entire country. There are no redeeming features to be found in the football situation in which UA finds itself in 2010. There HAS to be a better way.

I agree with everything....basically....and I've been posting it for a while.

At this point, they shouldn't do it alone. The non-bcs schools/conferences need to find a way out of the mess the vast majority of them are in. They all need to get together and form their own division. How much more does everyone need to see? The game is over. 20 more years? Please.....

IF the non-bcs schools/conferences can't do something in the next two years, then UofA needs to act unilaterally. OR, the MAC needs to act with the membership to make a move to I-AA. Two more years after this year is all they get. Enough is enough. Another division or I-AA are the choices.

+1

[GP1]

I'm just going to say it like it is. Hack away at me if you'd like. This program has failed to gain any semblance of relevance in D1-A (FBS) football, twenty years in from the days of Faust. No matter the attractiveness of the new facilities, which were much needed as part of the larger growth of the campus anyway, it is high time for the university to admit their failure and look for ways out of this level of football. I'll continue to go to the games for the tailgating and because I enjoy having football so close to where I live, but I would do that whether this program were FBS or FCS. In fact, I would do it with much more excitement if the program competed and had a tradition of winning, no matter the level. How many actual UA football fans would really stop attending games if the Zips were FCS instead of being a TERRIBLE FBS program? Certainly nobody who takes the time to post on these boards would walk away if we were a winning FCS program and you all know it.

Akron has not competed successfully at the FBS level and will never compete because the cards are completely and utterly stacked against programs like ours. It's simply a mockery to continue on this path. Programs like ours exist simply to be toyed with and mocked, plain and simple. We provide the doormat games for large FBS teams in their early season OOC schedules, and help to fill out lists like ESPN's Bottom Ten. Ha ha ha boys and girls, here come the "compass directionals", the Hilltoppers, the Flushes, the Zips. Ha ha ha.

What exactly does the university get out of continuing down this road? What do we get out of watching this team get obliterated by better teams, year in and year out? How many times will we have to watch nail-biters against actual FCS teams, losing too many of them along the way? How is it acceptable to anyone that in twenty years of attempting to play at this level we have had ONE arguably good year with a Bowl berth?

I cannot understand why schools like Akron, EMU, Can't and WKU trot out these terrible, terrible teams to be mocked and destroyed year after year. The Northwesterns and Indianas I can understand; these are teams that are part of historically great conferences, and suck or not they can draw fans and be a part of something bigger. The Zips suck, have never dominated the conference, AND it's the MAC, one of the two worst conferences full or doormats in the entire country. There are no redeeming features to be found in the football situation in which UA finds itself in 2010. There HAS to be a better way.

I agree with everything....basically....and I've been posting it for a while.

At this point, they shouldn't do it alone. The non-bcs schools/conferences need to find a way out of the mess the vast majority of them are in. They all need to get together and form their own division. How much more does everyone need to see? The game is over. 20 more years? Please.....

IF the non-bcs schools/conferences can't do something in the next two years, then UofA needs to act unilaterally. OR, the MAC needs to act with the membership to make a move to I-AA. Two more years after this year is all they get. Enough is enough. Another division or I-AA are the choices.

+1

Anyone who comes on here and says any of us three don't care, save it. We've put our time in.....and plenty of it.

Right now, somewhere in the world, a doctor is cutting off the leg of a patient in order to save the life of the patient. We are just trying the save the life of this program. The program is dying right in front of us. We might even thrive at another level. What 20 years has taught us is we can't survive at this level.

[ZachTheZip]

There is no other level of football. It's either FBS or drop the program. Moving to the FCS simply magnifies the problems we experience now. If football loses money now, in the FCS it loses far more even with the decreased costs. Montana, which draws more than most FBS programs and is a regular in the FCS final four playoffs loses money hand over fist, as revealed by their AD, and is willing to be less successful in the WAC in order to save money even with the extra scholarship costs.

Moving down is not an option.

[skip-zip]

I'm just going to say it like it is. Hack away at me if you'd like. This program has failed to gain any semblance of relevance in D1-A (FBS) football, twenty years in from the days of Faust. No matter the attractiveness of the new facilities, which were much needed as part of the larger growth of the campus anyway, it is high time for the university to admit their failure and look for ways out of this level of football. I'll continue to go to the games for the tailgating and because I enjoy having football so close to where I live, but I would do that whether this program were FBS or FCS. In fact, I would do it with much more excitement if the program competed and had a tradition of winning, no matter the level. How many actual UA football fans would really stop attending games if the Zips were FCS instead of being a TERRIBLE FBS program? Certainly nobody who takes the time to post on these boards would walk away if we were a winning FCS program and you all know it.

Akron has not competed successfully at the FBS level and will never compete because the cards are completely and utterly stacked against programs like ours. It's simply a mockery to continue on this path. Programs like ours exist simply to be toyed with and mocked, plain and simple. We provide the doormat games for large FBS teams in their early season OOC schedules, and help to fill out lists like ESPN's Bottom Ten. Ha ha ha boys and girls, here come the "compass directionals", the Hilltoppers, the Flushes, the Zips. Ha ha ha.

What exactly does the university get out of continuing down this road? What do we get out of watching this team get obliterated by better teams, year in and year out? How many times will we have to watch nail-biters against actual FCS teams, losing too many of them along the way? How is it acceptable to anyone that in twenty years of attempting to play at this level we have had ONE arguably good year with a Bowl berth?

I cannot understand why schools like Akron, EMU, Can't and WKU trot out these terrible, terrible teams to be mocked and destroyed year after year. The Northwesterns and Indianas I can understand; these are teams that are part of historically great conferences, and suck or not they can draw fans and be a part of something bigger. The Zips suck, have never dominated the conference, AND it's the MAC, one of the two worst conferences full or doormats in the entire country. There are no redeeming features to be found in the football situation in which UA finds itself in 2010. There HAS to be a better way.

Do I have to keep reminding people that our record in 2005 was NOT our best year in D-1A?

I completely understand your frustration, but I don't understand how you can point out that we can't succeed in D-1A when many non-BCS teams have gotten ranked, and some non-BCS teams have even been in national championship contention at the end of recent seasons.

I don't like that the "cards are stacked against us" either. But others are doing it. So, the problem is not the system. The problem is We Stink.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Do I have to keep reminding people that our record in 2006 was NOT our best year in D-1A?

The day they have a ceremony to honor the 7-3-1 Faust team, I'll believe you.