Where's the "Akron Football Night?"

[Captain Kangaroo]

Always fun to compare the promotional efforts of our MAC bretheren to that of our Zips Marketing Machine.

[Dr Z]

They are very focused right now.

[ZachTheZip]

It is interesting to compare promotional efforts. I would refrain from calling it fun, however, until there's actually something worthwhile to compare.

[GP1]

Here is what I would like to know. How many people attended the WMU event and how many ladies attended the Football 101 event? On the surface, they both seem like really good ideas. One event a year is not enough though. At the end of the day, marketing requires results.... meaning, selling tickets or other forms of revenue generation. The best way to generate money from the WMU event is to get some out of the players they had at the event. They are flush with cash right now, my as well get some of it before they blow it all buying a sports bar.

Miami has a decent idea. However, waiting for someone else to do your job for you is the lazy way to do your job. My experience in life is the lazy way usually results in failure. The "silent sales force" will only take you so far when the task is difficult.

An article on a local TV station or local paper doesn't generate much interest as not many people read those mediums. Few even watch the local news. The article has one comment and two reactions to it. Yaaaaaaaaawn says the folks from western Michigan.

Please, someone find out how many people were at the WMU event, not including the countless Athletic Department paper pushers who show up to every event for free food?

[you am i]

Here is what I would like to know. How many people attended the WMU event and how many ladies attended the Football 101 event? On the surface, they both seem like really good ideas. One event a year is not enough though. At the end of the day, marketing requires results.... meaning, selling tickets or other forms of revenue generation. The best way to generate money from the WMU event is to get some out of the players they had at the event. They are flush with cash right now, my as well get some of it before they blow it all buying a sports bar.

Miami has a decent idea. However, waiting for someone else to do your job for you is the lazy way to do your job. My experience in life is the lazy way usually results in failure. The "silent sales force" will only take you so far when the task is difficult.

An article on a local TV station or local paper doesn't generate much interest as not many people read those mediums. Few even watch the local news. The article has one comment and two reactions to it. Yaaaaaaaaawn says the folks from western Michigan.

Please, someone find out how many people were at the WMU event, not including the countless Athletic Department paper pushers who show up to every event for free food?

According to press reports, "At least 525 people attended."

[GP1]

According to press reports, "At least 525 people attended."

Real good turnout....maybe. If we had 525 people turn out for something at the Big Dialer, it would be right around 2% of the seating capacity of the stadium. It's all how you look at the numbers. Then again, if the Zips are as bad next year as last year, they'll be lucky to get 525 to show up for a game.

I'm more impressed WMU has five guys in the NFL willing to come back to do it. They mention "tradition" in an article. That's how tradition is built...not a former star QB working camps at Ashland University.

Again, real good event...maybe. The question is whether or not it will turn into additional ticket sales, or was this just something to do in a town with little to offer in terms of entertainment?

[ZachTheZip]

So wait. On Fox 8 tonight they had a piece about Can't's new coach doing a "women's football clinic". How come when we do it it doesn't even get a mention beyond a single blurb on our own website? Pathetic.

Marketing these days is all about getting other people to do your work for you. Call up the local news and tell them you have a unique little story about teaching some housewives to play football, and they'll eat it up. Boom, free 90-second advertisement. if Can't can do it, why can't we?

[GP1]

Marketing these days is all about getting other people to do your work for you.

It really isn't about getting people to do your work for you. That is how failure is created. Sales/Marketing is very difficult. I do it for a living. Many who don't do it think it is all about guys going to work at 10 AM and going golfing at 2 PM. That isn't the case. You can do those things, but you don't last long.

[Captain Kangaroo]

So wait. On Fox 8 tonight they had a piece about Can't's new coach doing a "women's football clinic". How come when we do it it doesn't even get a mention beyond a single blurb on our own website? Pathetic.

Because it is an embarrassing, crappy event attended only by about 70 UA employees and their wives. Why show a big fat puss-laden scab, if you can place a t-shirt over it?

Women's Football 101. That's our showcase event to promote Zips Football for the past 2 seasons. F-ing kill me.

[K92]

I don't know if you clicked on Zach's link for the Miami promotion, but they are offering up prizes to MU season ticket holders, which is great to try to energize your base. Would a benefit auction be of interest to ZN.Oers? It would probably not be best to do it as a stand alone event, rather in conjunction with other festivities, I'm thinking Homecoming, but could be for another event as well. I have been involved with benefit auctions from "show up with my p.a. at 7" to organizing the whole thing. They can be a great success. With the right merchandise, you can energize the base and draw in community folks.

I won't bore you with any more details right now. Let me send this out as a test balloon to see if there is any interest in exploring this further. I have tons of ideas but one voice in the wilderness won't make it happen.

[GP1]

Why show a big fat puss-laden scab, if you can place a t-shirt over it?

Why? So you can show you supported diversity with a line on your resume showing you had the event.?.?

In reality, they should have this event, but it should be part of an ongoing summer campaign. Wake has this event and it is well attended. They also have a tennis match.... a golf outing.... and a BBQ all on the same day. It's amazing an athletic department employee somewhere can walk and chew gum at the same time.

At the end of the day, I don't know how much any of these programs would move tickets for UofA. And I don't just mean some company buying up 1,000 tickets that never get used. I mean people actually buying tickets and going to the games. The football team went 1-11 last season. Try selling tickets for that steaming pile of crap. It would be like selling a line of cars where half the product sold had wheels that flew off one mile from the dealership. There are marketing campaigns you could put together, but what would the message be? Pick one or make up your own:

1. We won't suck as bad.

2. You have to see it to believe it (read what you will into that one).

3. We might just win five.

4. More fun than raking leaves.

5. Come and watch us build...again.

6. Come out to InfoCision Stadium...there's plenty of room.

See what I mean? There are no known players....not a single player anyone would recognized on an ad. There is no good record to point to from the previous year. The coach who went 1-11 would help sell tickets on an ad? Pictures of the stadium?....Everyone has seen it already.

The easiest thing to market is winning. It is what people want to buy. Second to winning is quality football even if the team doesn't win. We don't have either. Just look at how well Cincy did when their team started to win....tickets were sold out. Now that they are on a downslide, let's see how smart their marketing department is now.

A problem we have is marketing. The problem we have is winning. Solve the winning problem and the marketing problem will be solved as well.

[GP1]

I don't know if you clicked on Zach's link for the Miami promotion, but they are offering up prizes to MU season ticket holders, which is great to try to energize your base. Would a benefit auction be of interest to ZN.Oers? It would probably not be best to do it as a stand alone event, rather in conjunction with other festivities, I'm thinking Homecoming, but could be for another event as well. I have been involved with benefit auctions from "show up with my p.a. at 7" to organizing the whole thing. They can be a great success. With the right merchandise, you can energize the base and draw in community folks.

UNCC had one and it raised $200K. All they offer is bad basketball. UofA should be doing something like that right now, not Homecoming.

Better than incentives for fans selling tickets, how about incentives for Athletic Department employees selling tickets if the tickets are to new ticket holders? 10% of all sales? Schools need to do their own work, not ask others to do their work for them. Miami is taking the lazy way out. Think about it, if ticket sales fail because your fans didn't sell enough, the athletic department officials have someone other than themselves to blame. "Not my fault...."

[Captain Kangaroo]

I am through with going out of my way to assist this UA regime. They don't care, so why should I?

I renewed my Football season tix. I paid for the parking pass. I gave to the Z-Fund. I'll renew my basketball tix, and hit a fair share of the soccer matches. I'll hit the Basketball Golf Outing. We keep ZN.o running, giving UA fans a place to discuss their team. I do a lot more for UA than 99.975% of the people in Summit County, so I feel whole.

But as far as organizing any time-consuming stuff....forget it. I have enough going on in my life without adding the burden of doing other people's work.

Maybe the next administration will be like the Thomas regime and re-energize me. I'd have walked a thousand miles for those guys, because I knew they'd do the same for The Fan. That's just not the case in 2011.

Looking forward to "2012 Ladies Football 101 @ InfoCision." It should be awesome.

[K92]

GP1, I understand what you are saying about taking the easy way and having someone else do your work for you. The most successful charity auctions I have been a part of have been the ones where I played the role of consultant to answer any auction questions, how it works, what kind of items sell well, etc. An engaged beneficiary means the world. For 2 years I organized a NASCAR sheetmetal auction for charity in conjunction with the Craftsman Truck Series race at Mansfield Speedway. I contacted every CTS, Busch and Cup team in the greater Charlotte area, then we came to NC with our trailer and picked up swag from all teams that were willing to contribute. When all was said and done, we were able to raise some money a worthy cause and it was a labor of love for me. But at the end of the day, the person who cared most about it was me. That's why it is better for me to work with a group that cares from day one. There may be no one in the athletic department that would buy in.

Your link to UNCC's event displays the potential. My question to the group here, which is the base, is whether or not there is interest in attending an auction event with merchandise like what MU is offering, plus much more. If there is interest here, you can take the next step. If it doesn't excite anyone here at ZN, it ain't gonna excite anyone else either.

Since the MU event was held up as an example of something another MAC school was doing, my thought was that we could blow that out of the water on our first attempt.

[GP1]

If it doesn't excite anyone here at ZN, it ain't gonna excite anyone else either.

I'm sure the first time UNCC had the event, it didn't raise $200K. At some point, someone at UNCC was willing to risk something failing and had the event...then kept having the event. We don't have daring leadership at UofA that is willing to do something different that might fail. It's easy to have one event a year and call it a success. Judy Rose has been the AD at UNCC for 20+ years now. She is has taken the huge step of starting a football team where there was none. That's daring. Her resume is more complete than 90% of the good old boys club out there calling themselves Athletic Directors. She took responsibility for the department and the results are pretty good. We need someone who gets paid to be responsible to actually be responsible then demand responsibility throughout the Athletic Department.

[MaxZIP]

We don't have daring leadership at UofA that is willing to do something different that might fail.

The Athletic Department may lack in this area but UA Leadership as a whole has shown to be very proactive. Proenza will not let the football team continue to fail without getting involved. Dr. P wants increased revenue, improved student experience/environment, and exposure from the football program. They have a long way to go and ICOACH and TW are only temporary custodians of failure.

[GP1]

The Athletic Department may lack in this area but UA Leadership as a whole has shown to be very proactive. Proenza will not let the football team continue to fail without getting involved. Dr. P wants increased revenue, improved student experience/environment, and exposure from the football program. They have a long way to go and ICOACH and TW are only temporary custodians of failure.

Dr. Proenza hired the janitors of football. He is at fault for the problem we now experience with football. I don't see any other way to slice it.

[MaxZIP]

The Athletic Department may lack in this area but UA Leadership as a whole has shown to be very proactive. Proenza will not let the football team continue to fail without getting involved. Dr. P wants increased revenue, improved student experience/environment, and exposure from the football program. They have a long way to go and ICOACH and TW are only temporary custodians of failure.

Dr. Proenza hired the janitors of football. He is at fault for the problem we now experience with football. I don't see any other way to slice it.

Tw might not be the best for football he Is doing well in other areas. Dr. P takes risks and expects returns. I don't see any the way to slice it. Not a big tw fan but he has not been all bad. I coach on the other hand is failing plain and simple. He was a tw hire so Dr. P will probably have to pressure tw to fire I coach early. Accountability

[GP1]

Tw might not be the best for football he Is doing well in other areas. Dr. P takes risks and expects returns. I don't see any the way to slice it. Not a big tw fan but he has not been all bad. I coach on the other hand is failing plain and simple. He was a tw hire so Dr. P will probably have to pressure tw to fire I coach early. Accountability

I don't know we disagree, but I have a different perspective. The Big Dialer was built as a centerpiece for the campus vision Dr. P had. Regardless of what TW has done in other areas, his decisions as it relates to the crappy product on the field have resulted in an empty stadium. The empty stadium is crippling to Dr.P's vision. Instead of Saturdays on campus with 20,000 people showing up to watch a football game and take in what the campus/downtown Akron has to offer, the stadium will sit with a few thousand fans, if they are lucky, watching the game. Those few thousand fans will be the same fans who would go watch the Zips even if they were still playing at the Rubber Bowl. What is going on with the football program is a complete disaster that goes far beyond just the football team. Time will tell, but there is a good chance that after this season, the football program could be viewed as worse than when JD left.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The Athletic Department may lack in this area but UA Leadership as a whole has shown to be very proactive. Proenza will not let the football team continue to fail without getting involved. Dr. P wants increased revenue, improved student experience/environment, and exposure from the football program. They have a long way to go and ICOACH and TW are only temporary custodians of failure.

Dr. Proenza hired the janitors of football. He is at fault for the problem we now experience with football. I don't see any other way to slice it.

Tw might not be the best for football he Is doing well in other areas. Dr. P takes risks and expects returns. I don't see any the way to slice it. Not a big tw fan but he has not been all bad. I coach on the other hand is failing plain and simple. He was a tw hire so Dr. P will probably have to pressure tw to fire I coach early. Accountability

Proenza is an amazing intellectual. He has vision that's borderline paranormal. But the guy doesn't know jack about football.

He knows the importance good football can contribute to the University. But the nuts and bolts of how to form a successful football program is one attribute the guy lacks. So, he relies on consulting firms and the advice of others when it comes to football. And it hasn't worked out.

Accountability is great. In principle. But there are Accountants who look at the football budget and say "We can't afford to pull the plug...we're stuck with this guy." Proenza won't approve terminating Ianello's contract with any more than 1-year remaining.

Hell...UA sabotaged our 2009 season in hopes of saving JD's $250k in salary. That shows me the the reality of what finances can control at the corner of Brown and East Exchange.

If the Zips go 1-11 in 2011, Ianello isn't going anywhere. And if he goes 4-8 in 2012, expect a contract extension.

I don't see it playing out any differently.

[Hilltopper]

The Athletic Department may lack in this area but UA Leadership as a whole has shown to be very proactive. Proenza will not let the football team continue to fail without getting involved. Dr. P wants increased revenue, improved student experience/environment, and exposure from the football program. They have a long way to go and ICOACH and TW are only temporary custodians of failure.

Dr. Proenza hired the janitors of football. He is at fault for the problem we now experience with football. I don't see any other way to slice it.

Tw might not be the best for football he Is doing well in other areas. Dr. P takes risks and expects returns. I don't see any the way to slice it. Not a big tw fan but he has not been all bad. I coach on the other hand is failing plain and simple. He was a tw hire so Dr. P will probably have to pressure tw to fire I coach early. Accountability

Proenza is an amazing intellectual. He has vision that's borderline paranormal. But the guy doesn't know jack about football.

He knows the importance good football can contribute to the University. But the nuts and bolts of how to form a successful football program is one attribute the guy lacks. So, he relies on consulting firms and the advice of others when it comes to football. And it hasn't worked out.

Accountability is great. In principle. But there are Accountants who look at the football budget and say "We can't afford to pull the plug...we're stuck with this guy." Proenza won't approve terminating Ianello's contract with any more than 1-year remaining.

Hell...UA sabotaged our 2009 season in hopes of saving JD's $250k in salary. That shows me the the reality of what finances can control at the corner of Brown and East Exchange.

If the Zips go 1-11 in 2011, Ianello isn't going anywhere. And if he goes 4-8 in 2012, expect a contract extension.

I don't see it playing out any differently.

And all the bitching and moaning on this board is not going to change that scenario one bit. I have tried to stay out of the daily love fest for Coach I that goes on here, because I know that its not helping the program. If you don't think potential recruits are affected by some of the crap posted online on fan message boards, you need to have a reality check. This site may be all there is for a recruit to maybe get a feel for how the fan base supports the program. Call me a homer or a blind follower, but I am a Zips fan no matter what. And that means sticking with the program through the good and the bad. GP1, you should put all that energy and all those ideas into a message to Tom Wistricil and volunteer to help implement them. It looks like your UA education has paid off for you, maybe you can give a little bit back.

[GoZips]

And all the bitching and moaning on this board is not going to change that scenario one bit. I have tried to stay out of the daily love fest for Coach I that goes on here, because I know that its not helping the program. If you don't think potential recruits are affected by some of the crap posted online on fan message boards, you need to have a reality check. This site may be all there is for a recruit to maybe get a feel for how the fan base supports the program. Call me a homer or a blind follower, but I am a Zips fan no matter what. And that means sticking with the program through the good and the bad. GP1, you should put all that energy and all those ideas into a message to Tom Wistricil and volunteer to help implement them. It looks like your UA education has paid off for you, maybe you can give a little bit back.

+1.

Let us set the record straight. Dr. Porenza has to rely on advisers. They fed him a bad lob.

Wistrcill has been mediocre at best. His huge failing was to hire a "friend" (a safe route?)

as opposed to doing research and finding the best available candidate.

Wistrcill failed miserably to study the recent history of Akron football coaches. Most specifically

the failure to see that J D Brookhart was hired with a blank resume and failed terribly. Wistrcill

managed to repeat this blunder.

Not when the great head coach at Grand Valley State and Luke Fickle of tOSU were available.

Bad. A really bad decision.

The University of Akron badly needs an Athletic Director that loves the university. That means an

AD that can not be lured away for shekels. An AD who is in it for the long haul. Our AD position

needs to stop being a stepping stone.

[Doug Snyder]

The Athletic Department may lack in this area but UA Leadership as a whole has shown to be very proactive. Proenza will not let the football team continue to fail without getting involved. Dr. P wants increased revenue, improved student experience/environment, and exposure from the football program. They have a long way to go and ICOACH and TW are only temporary custodians of failure.

Dr. Proenza hired the janitors of football. He is at fault for the problem we now experience with football. I don't see any other way to slice it.

Tw might not be the best for football he Is doing well in other areas. Dr. P takes risks and expects returns. I don't see any the way to slice it. Not a big tw fan but he has not been all bad. I coach on the other hand is failing plain and simple. He was a tw hire so Dr. P will probably have to pressure tw to fire I coach early. Accountability

Proenza is an amazing intellectual. He has vision that's borderline paranormal. But the guy doesn't know jack about football.

He knows the importance good football can contribute to the University. But the nuts and bolts of how to form a successful football program is one attribute the guy lacks. So, he relies on consulting firms and the advice of others when it comes to football. And it hasn't worked out.

Accountability is great. In principle. But there are Accountants who look at the football budget and say "We can't afford to pull the plug...we're stuck with this guy." Proenza won't approve terminating Ianello's contract with any more than 1-year remaining.

Hell...UA sabotaged our 2009 season in hopes of saving JD's $250k in salary. That shows me the the reality of what finances can control at the corner of Brown and East Exchange.

If the Zips go 1-11 in 2011, Ianello isn't going anywhere. And if he goes 4-8 in 2012, expect a contract extension.

I don't see it playing out any differently.

And all the bitching and moaning on this board is not going to change that scenario one bit. I have tried to stay out of the daily love fest for Coach I that goes on here, because I know that its not helping the program. If you don't think potential recruits are affected by some of the crap posted online on fan message boards, you need to have a reality check. This site may be all there is for a recruit to maybe get a feel for how the fan base supports the program. Call me a homer or a blind follower, but I am a Zips fan no matter what. And that means sticking with the program through the good and the bad. GP1, you should put all that energy and all those ideas into a message to Tom Wistricil and volunteer to help implement them. It looks like your UA education has paid off for you, maybe you can give a little bit back.

+1

Even if I hated ICoach and was not a Zip fan....I would still think it is moronic to fire someone after one year given the recent history and lack of success of the program. Talk to me after this year...any discussion of a coaching change now is just silly. I would rather debate the merits of the shower vs the bath. But it is a free country with free speech (or it was when I left)...so if it makes you feel better...have at it. But as Hilltopper pointed out...it serves no one and can only have negative repercussions. I have always said...if you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The same people will always be complaining about something.

[GP1]

Call me a homer or a blind follower, but I am a Zips fan no matter what. And that means sticking with the program through the good and the bad. GP1, you should put all that energy and all those ideas into a message to Tom Wistricil and volunteer to help implement them. It looks like your UA education has paid off for you, maybe you can give a little bit back.

It is not my job to do his job for him. It is his job to put a winning product on the field. It is his job to hire a coach who would put a winning product on the field.

I don't think Coach I is a bad guy and a lot of what is said about him is probably blown a little out of proportion. Having never met him, I have no idea what he is like. In reality, I doubt I will ever meet him. I have a deep philosophical disagreement with his style of play. I don't think it is a good way for teams to win in college football. Even worse, it is a terrible way for a bad team to get good in the hurry we all needed that to happen. TW is going to sink or swim with Coach I, that's the way it works. People are just as free to fail as they are to succeed.

My responsibilities are what CK described the other day. Support the school financially (I have not been doing a good job of this lately, shame on me, but that will change)...buy tickets to events when I am around....pull for the Zips to win...I would start up a local alumni association around Charlotte if I could get a list of alumni around the area. It isn't little league sports where concerned citizens get to give their opinions on what goes on. It's D-1A athletics and we all need to behave like it is. The school smiles nicely and listens because they are public employees, but they really need to come up with their own ideas.

Because it is D-1A athletics, expectations should be high and people should complain publically about what happens. I wish someone at InfoCision or Summa (sp?) would say something publically about what a terrible investment they have made thus far into Zips football and how bad they want to have a winning product on the field they are paying for. The rest of the advertisers should complain as well. If a business bought an ad at the Big Dialer expecting 20,000 people per game to see it and the team is so bad only 5,000 show up because the team is so bad, doesn't that business have the right to be upset about the money they are spending? I'd raise holy Hell if I was one of those businesses.

Being critical of players, coaches, ADs or even university presidents is common at D-1A schools. If any of those people can't take the heat, they shouldn't be in the kitchen. The same goes for a potential recruit. If a recruit doesn't like negative comments on fan web boards, he should look at B-W or Case Western or Ashland or any other level of college athletics where the expectations are lower. I want the kids who want to win and understand that what is currently happening needs to change. Give me ten kids like that and keep the 25 candyasses who get upset about what people say on fan boards.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.

Fredrick Douglass