ABJ Notices Low InfoCision Attendance

[GP1]

No one wants a building process that goes on endlessly with consistently negative results. This season is rock bottom. You can't get any lower than #120 of 120 FBS teams. The only two options left are to remain at rock bottom or demonstrate a building process that produces positive results. I'm open to a building process that produces positive results starting next season.

I don't disagree.

The problem with the "building process" in college athletics is (especially with UofA and the MAC in general) nobody ever defines the measurables as they relate to a winning timeline.

If you were building a factory, your boss would force you to have a measurable time period in which you would have certain aspects of the factory completed and producing products. We never get that at UofA.

For example, we had a building time frame that did not take into account results on the field. Call me crazy, but I want to see my team win and I don't care where they win or where they practice as long as they win. The fieldhouse had to be completed by a certain date and it did. Same for the Big Dialer. What was the time period for the team winning a minimum of six games on a regular basis and how were they going to do it? It's like we built a factory and had no idea what we were going to do with the building and production line when it was completed. Not only do we not know what to do, we hire people from different industries to run our factory (CoachI is a pro style coach in college). The mismanagement of this football program has been almost criminal for the past 20 years. We get soccer right. We get basketball right. We can't find our ass with both hands when it comes to the football program. It's what happens when you focus on the "building process" and not the "winning process".

I've had enough losing.

[Lee Adams]

In college football and sports in general one problem is lack of true accountability. Lets say for sh... and giggles that Proenza decided to fire Wistrcill next year. Lets say a new AD decided to fire Ianello. Normally,contracts as you all know have some sort of buyout or escape language. The AD and the coach are going to get a lot of money if they get fired for anything other than 'for cause'. Losing football games is not a 'for cause' offense. So those guys can take their money go on vacation and turn up at another program on down the road. If you or I get fired because we did not perform on the job what do we get? Maybe some unemployment. Until there is a greater penalty for not producing on the field these rebuiding episodes can go on and on and on. Ask the guys at Can't.

[GP1]

In college football and sports in general one problem is lack of true accountability. Lets say for sh... and giggles that Proenza decided to fire Wistrcill next year. Lets say a new AD decided to fire Ianello. Normally,contracts as you all know have some sort of buyout or escape language. The AD and the coach are going to get a lot of money if they get fired for anything other than 'for cause'. Losing football games is not a 'for cause' offense. So those guys can take their money go on vacation and turn up at another program on down the road. If you or I get fired because we did not perform on the job what do we get? Maybe some unemployment. Until there is a greater penalty for not producing on the field these rebuiding episodes can go on and on and on. Ask the guys at Can't.

JD is a good example of what you are talking about. If he played his cards right, he could not work again next year and continue to live in his nice home in Summit County without any financial worries. I'm sure JD will pop up somewhere next year as an assistant.

[Quickzips]

No one wants a building process that goes on endlessly with consistently negative results. This season is rock bottom. You can't get any lower than #120 of 120 FBS teams. The only two options left are to remain at rock bottom or demonstrate a building process that produces positive results. I'm open to a building process that produces positive results starting next season.

I don't disagree.

The problem with the "building process" in college athletics is (especially with UofA and the MAC in general) nobody ever defines the measurables as they relate to a winning timeline.

If you were building a factory, your boss would force you to have a measurable time period in which you would have certain aspects of the factory completed and producing products. We never get that at UofA.

For example, we had a building time frame that did not take into account results on the field. Call me crazy, but I want to see my team win and I don't care where they win or where they practice as long as they win. The fieldhouse had to be completed by a certain date and it did. Same for the Big Dialer. What was the time period for the team winning a minimum of six games on a regular basis and how were they going to do it? It's like we built a factory and had no idea what we were going to do with the building and production line when it was completed. Not only do we not know what to do, we hire people from different industries to run our factory (CoachI is a pro style coach in college). The mismanagement of this football program has been almost criminal for the past 20 years. We get soccer right. We get basketball right. We can't find our ass with both hands when it comes to the football program. It's what happens when you focus on the "building process" and not the "winning process".

I've had enough losing.

I don't think the problem is a lack of a defined time-table as much as it is a lack of an overarching plan to begin with. If we are using your building a factory analogy, in order to put a timetable into place for actually building the brick and mortar factory you need to have hired a design firm, drawn up blueprints, hired the contractors, etc., etc. Then you can start saying, "alright we are going to have the foundation laid on 'X' day, then we are going to finish the structural componenets by 'X' day, then we will have electrical, plumbing, drywall, etc., etc. done on 'X' days." We've never gotten much past the point of hiring the design firm (coaching staff). At that point it seems like we are just content to throw a bunch of crap (coordinators, conditioning programs, recruiting strategies, offensive and defensive schemes, etc.) against the wall and hope something sticks. At least it always looks that way from where I sit.

[akzipper]

Do you guys realize that Tom W is not a football coach here, he is the AD? What does he have to do with rebuilding the team and all the losing? Yes he hired coach I, but beyond that you can't blame him...

[BirdZip]

No one wants a building process that goes on endlessly with consistently negative results. This season is rock bottom. You can't get any lower than #120 of 120 FBS teams. The only two options left are to remain at rock bottom or demonstrate a building process that produces positive results. I'm open to a building process that produces positive results starting next season.

Let's not underestimate RI and TW. There may yet be a way...

[Lee Adams]

Do you guys realize that Tom W is not a football coach here, he is the AD? What does he have to do with rebuilding the team and all the losing? Yes he hired coach I, but beyond that you can't blame him...

What is the responsibilty of your supervisor where you work? If, after given a reasonable opportunity you don't do your job what happens? If you have a good supervisor he will get involved when he sees things going badly. Hopefully he would give you some input to help correct the problem. Remember, Mr. Wistrcill does have to worry about the financial situation of the athletic department. If the football program doesn't produce revenue through attendance,fund raising sales of merchandise etc.,Mr. Wistrcill's supervisor Mr. Proenza will be on the phone. Blame? Maybe responsibility is a better word.

[330]

In college football and sports in general one problem is lack of true accountability. Lets say for sh... and giggles that Proenza decided to fire Wistrcill next year. Lets say a new AD decided to fire Ianello. Normally,contracts as you all know have some sort of buyout or escape language. The AD and the coach are going to get a lot of money if they get fired for anything other than 'for cause'. Losing football games is not a 'for cause' offense. So those guys can take their money go on vacation and turn up at another program on down the road. If you or I get fired because we did not perform on the job what do we get? Maybe some unemployment. Until there is a greater penalty for not producing on the field these rebuiding episodes can go on and on and on. Ask the guys at Can't.

JD is a good example of what you are talking about. If he played his cards right, he could not work again next year and continue to live in his nice home in Summit County without any financial worries. I'm sure JD will pop up somewhere next year as an assistant.

Brookhart lives in Texas, runs his father-in-laws foundation, and has no plans to return to coaching. He had one year remaining on his UA contract and that is now all paid out.

[dubfun]

When you are not a Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan, you have to win with an exciting brand of football to improve attendance. The MAC championship is up for grabs for any MAC school that wants to spend the money to build a winning program. Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs and don't be stingy with the funds. If a school can't afford to do that, then don't expect miracles. Hoping that you will find a bargain basement, diamond-in-the-rough head coach out of the ranks of assistant coaches is not going to get the job done. At this point, it seems that keeping the Zips in the Rubber Bowl, and spending money on the program and first-class coaching instead of building Infocision might have been the wiser move. Hopefully, in the distant future, the Zips will become a dominant power in the MAC, and building Infocision will look like a brilliant decision. But if, and until then...........

[Zip_ME87]

When you are not a Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan, you have to win with an exciting brand of football to improve attendance. The MAC championship is up for grabs for any MAC school that wants to spend the money to build a winning program. Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs and don't be stingy with the funds. If a school can't afford to do that, then don't expect miracles. Hoping that you will find a bargain basement, diamond-in-the-rough head coach out of the ranks of assistant coaches is not going to get the job done. At this point, it seems that keeping the Zips in the Rubber Bowl, and spending money on the program and first-class coaching instead of building Infocision might have been the wiser move. Hopefully, in the distant future, the Zips will become a dominant power in the MAC, and building Infocision will look like a brilliant decision. But if, and until then...........

I don't know what $ amount you think UA should throw at the HC position, but throwing money doesn't ensure a winning coach and causes you to have to make adjustments in other UA coaches' salaries or suffer degradation in those other sports. And, as far as "Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs", any coach who is truly winning with a proven track record at the FBS level, would be filling one of the vacancies in one of the more established FBS programs. If you're talking about bringing in "a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs" from an FCS or lower division, there's no guarantee that winning at those levels translates to winning in FBS. Although, I personally would have preferred a head coach from an FCS or DII winning program.

There was also a cost to staying in the Rubber Bowl. In order to sell tickets, UA had to ensure that is was reasonably safe for patrons and for the team. I don't believe upkeep ( ) was free.

[bobbyake]

Attendance was so low, I wonder what the Football team makes compared to the soccer team.

I understand that football brings in more on ticket sales, but it costs a lot more money to run the Info than it does for a soccer game at Lee Jackson. Do they release this data? and where could I go to find it?

[Lee Adams]

When you are not a Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan, you have to win with an exciting brand of football to improve attendance. The MAC championship is up for grabs for any MAC school that wants to spend the money to build a winning program. Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs and don't be stingy with the funds. If a school can't afford to do that, then don't expect miracles. Hoping that you will find a bargain basement, diamond-in-the-rough head coach out of the ranks of assistant coaches is not going to get the job done. At this point, it seems that keeping the Zips in the Rubber Bowl, and spending money on the program and first-class coaching instead of building Infocision might have been the wiser move. Hopefully, in the distant future, the Zips will become a dominant power in the MAC, and building Infocision will look like a brilliant decision. But if, and until then...........

I don't know what $ amount you think UA should throw at the HC position, but throwing money doesn't ensure a winning coach and causes you to have to make adjustments in other UA coaches' salaries or suffer degradation in those other sports. And, as far as "Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs", any coach who is truly winning with a proven track record at the FBS level, would be filling one of the vacancies in one of the more established FBS programs. If you're talking about bringing in "a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs" from an FCS or lower division, there's no guarantee that winning at those levels translates to winning in FBS. Although, I personally would have preferred a head coach from an FCS or DII winning program.

There was also a cost to staying in the Rubber Bowl. In order to sell tickets, UA had to ensure that is was reasonably safe for patrons and for the team. I don't believe upkeep ( ) was free.

Since the dead horse has arisen...If you were responsible for hiring someone to fill a position where you work,what would be the one objective factor that you might consider over everything else in choosing that new employee? I have done it before. I tended to look at successful experience in the same or very closely related position as to the one needing filled. No its not a guarantee of success but it beats on the job training and is very defensible. It would be very difficult to believe that there was not one successful head coach from a lower level who was not interested in the Akron job. That would assume however that the AD actually looked.

[bobbyake]

When you are not a Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan, you have to win with an exciting brand of football to improve attendance. The MAC championship is up for grabs for any MAC school that wants to spend the money to build a winning program. Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs and don't be stingy with the funds. If a school can't afford to do that, then don't expect miracles. Hoping that you will find a bargain basement, diamond-in-the-rough head coach out of the ranks of assistant coaches is not going to get the job done. At this point, it seems that keeping the Zips in the Rubber Bowl, and spending money on the program and first-class coaching instead of building Infocision might have been the wiser move. Hopefully, in the distant future, the Zips will become a dominant power in the MAC, and building Infocision will look like a brilliant decision. But if, and until then...........

I don't know what $ amount you think UA should throw at the HC position, but throwing money doesn't ensure a winning coach and causes you to have to make adjustments in other UA coaches' salaries or suffer degradation in those other sports. And, as far as "Bring in a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs", any coach who is truly winning with a proven track record at the FBS level, would be filling one of the vacancies in one of the more established FBS programs. If you're talking about bringing in "a winning coach with a proven track record for building winning programs" from an FCS or lower division, there's no guarantee that winning at those levels translates to winning in FBS. Although, I personally would have preferred a head coach from an FCS or DII winning program.

There was also a cost to staying in the Rubber Bowl. In order to sell tickets, UA had to ensure that is was reasonably safe for patrons and for the team. I don't believe upkeep ( ) was free.

Since the dead horse has arisen...If you were responsible for hiring someone to fill a position where you work,what would be the one objective factor that you might consider over everything else in choosing that new employee? I have done it before. I tended to look at successful experience in the same or very closely related position as to the one needing filled. No its not a guarantee of success but it beats on the job training and is very defensible. It would be very difficult to believe that there was not one successful head coach from a lower level who was not interested in the Akron job. That would assume however that the AD actually looked.

The interview process started and ended with iCantcoach.

[Zip_ME87]

The interview process started and ended with iCantcoach.

I agree...that's how we got where we are.