Plain Dealer: Akron's Rob Ianello expects significant improvement in 2011 Zips football

[ZachTheZip]

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/in...xpects_sig.htmlHe doesn't plan on changing any strategies this year. "Stay the course" is his message.

[Zipmeister]

I think if Icoach wore a white top and blue pants he might look less like a bowling pin.

[K92]

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/in...xpects_sig.htmlHe doesn't plan on changing any strategies this year. "Stay the course" is his message.

Zach, I 100% disagree. Rob's message is

[skip-zip]

I think the last article pretty much said the same thing. And just like that article, it scares me to hear that the intent is to stay on the same path. Obama's been saying something similar for the last 2-1/2 years also.

[g-mann17]

I think the last article pretty much said the same thing. And just like that article, it scares me to hear that the intent is to stay on the same path. Obama's been saying something similar for the last 2-1/2 years also.

And Bush said it for 7 years, what's your point?Coach I is talking about the program, not the on field stuff. He's talking about the class room, and player behavior, and player accountability, and player involvement, and player leadership.You keep that stuff the same if it means that player effort continues to increase. And last year player effort did improve at the end of the season. Player effort looked pretty good in the spring game. You don't change the program fundamentals because you failed for a year because you were constantly fighting people who wanted you to fail, or felt entitled so they didn't work hard.

[zen]

did someone photoshop his mouth? I mean, is that humanly possible? It looks like some sort of exxaggerated cartoon mouth.k... anyway, second year. If he was right the first year but looked wrong because it was right but didn't fruit, then he is right and should stay the course.*breathes*but............................................... if he was just wrong all along... ugh*sigh*

[Dave in Green]

"You can make significant improvement [quickly] in this league if you stay the course and believe in the message and don't make change for change's sake," Ianello said recently. He was pointing to Miami of Ohio's rise from a one-win team in 2009 to Mid-American Conference East Division champion last season.True dat. You just hope that Coach Ianello stays the course on what he did right last season and corrects what went wrong. I don't expect the Zips to contend for a divisional championship this season, but I do expect a significant improvement.

[K92]

Of course RI is going to "stay the course". What else is he going to say? "Last year we didn't know what we were doing and that is why we are going to change everything this year"? He had a plan coming in that he thought would work. I doubt if there is anything that happened last year that made him question that plan. He said in the interview with Bruce Drennan that Wisconsin is the template. He thinks that template will work. He is going to stick with it. I don't see anything wrong with that. Changing philosophy after one year would be much more disturbing to me and make me think he really DOESN'T know what he's doing. He uses the Miami example to show what "staying the course" in the midst of critical fan opinion can succeed. Whether or not Akron will succeed under RI remains to be seen, but I sure can't fault the guy for not being a wishy-washy, see which way the wind blows, waffling wimp.What I do grow tired of is taking the time to read an article on the Zips that I learn nothing from. This, like every other interview with RI, is totally non-informative. I long for a forthcoming, revealing interview with substance. Unfortunately 99% of all coaches are unable to converse in anything but the dreaded "coach speak".

[ZachTheZip]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

[Doug Snyder]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

Zach....this is college and you are always rebuilding (or in Caleb's case..reloading). In college teaching it is "publish or perish", in retail it is "expand/grow or die", in business it is "what have you done for me lately". He just wants to build a culture where growth and constant improvement are expected of everyone...including himself. I have no problem with his statement. Would you rather have him say..."we will get where we want this year and we can rest on our laurels"?? You want him to admit failure and make drastic changes. That in my mind would be failure. We may as well start over with someone who believes in himself and his program. The fact that he says of himself that he is "green and growing" means that there will be improvement expected by him of himself.

[ZachTheZip]

I want him to admit that his playcalling was ridiculously bad. CK already mentioned his bigger gaffes in another thread, and I'm being led to believe by his interviews that he still thinks that kicking off twice or going for 3 when you're down by 21 will somehow win games.

[K92]

I want him to admit that his playcalling was ridiculously bad.

Yeah. That's gonna happen.

[Zipmeister]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

Zach....this is college and you are always rebuilding (or in Caleb's case..reloading). In college teaching it is "publish or perish", in retail it is "expand/grow or die", in business it is "what have you done for me lately". He just wants to build a culture where growth and constant improvement are expected of everyone...including himself. I have no problem with his statement. Would you rather have him say..."we will get where we want this year and we can rest on our laurels"?? You want him to admit failure and make drastic changes. That in my mind would be failure. We may as well start over with someone who believes in himself and his program. The fact that he says of himself that he is "green and growing" means that there will be improvement expected by him of himself.

Or it could mean he considers himself a foot fungus!

[johnnyzip84]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

Zach....this is college and you are always rebuilding (or in Caleb's case..reloading). In college teaching it is "publish or perish", in retail it is "expand/grow or die", in business it is "what have you done for me lately". He just wants to build a culture where growth and constant improvement are expected of everyone...including himself. I have no problem with his statement. Would you rather have him say..."we will get where we want this year and we can rest on our laurels"?? You want him to admit failure and make drastic changes. That in my mind would be failure. We may as well start over with someone who believes in himself and his program. The fact that he says of himself that he is "green and growing" means that there will be improvement expected by him of himself.

Or it could mean he considers himself a foot fungus!

Or the character shown in the foreground below is turning into the character shown in the background?

[skip-zip]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

I compared the experience and philosophies of our coach to our president. And it was fair. And someone had to get defensive and play the "just blame it on Bush" card. Sorry guys. I had to respond.Zach..this is a great point to pull out. If you're perceiving his points as being that you're either "building" or "tearing down"....where's the third highly-desirable option of "reaching a successful level and staying there" ??

[ZachTheZip]

He doesn't have that option, which is all we really want. "Youre either green and growing or ripe and rotting" is a pretty clear indicator that he views reaching a successful level as the beginning of a decline. Sustainability isn't an option.

[K92]

Fer crying out loud. Stop taking the whole green and growing thing so literal. He's talking about continuous improvement.Growth.Progression.Advancement.Whatever you want to call getting better.Is it that hard to understand? The soccer Zips are defending NCAA champs. They need still need to be green and growing. No matter how good it gets, you never "get there". You never want to get to ripe.Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeez.Back in h.s. football, our coach told us EVERY DAY, "If you're not getting better you're getting worse, cause everybody else we are going to play is getting better."I realize the hatred for RI runs deep, but come on.

[Big Zip]

I think the point I'm most disappointed in with ICoach is his conversation continues to point towards him being right and it was essentially the players he had that made them be as bad as they were. As if he had nothing to do with how bad that played. All I want to hear from him is something along the lines of...last year was my first year as a head coach too and I made some mistakes --- I've learned from them and look forward to the new year. It is called humility which I have yet to see from ICoach. I want to know what was in YouTube Tom's performance review for this guy....did he get an exceeds expectations for his job? The way this guys talks is like he was awesome last year.

[Dr Z]

All I want to hear from him is something along the lines of...last year was my first year as a head coach too and I made some mistakes --- I've learned from them and look forward to the new year.

+1 Having never talked to the guy, from what I read/hear, I don't think it's going to happen. With that being said, some exciting football and some victories will make me forget all about it.

[Dave in Green]

He doesn't have that option, which is all we really want. "Youre either green and growing or ripe and rotting" is a pretty clear indicator that he views reaching a successful level as the beginning of a decline. Sustainability isn't an option.

He also said: "as a coach you always need to be green and growing."Always green and growing is the very definition of sustainability, as there's no room for "ripe and rotting" (decline).

[Blue & Gold]

He obviously just means you never want to be satisfied/complacent. Which, after this past season, should not be an issue.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Just a short note as I put my moderator hat on for the first time in about a year --1.) Talk politics in another forum. Talk Zips in this forum.2.) It takes two to tango. If someone post something political in a Zips forum, and another member responds, and the Zips-related topic is derailed, the responder is equally at fault as the originator. Do you really need to defend your politics in a thread discussing Patrick Nicely or Zeke? Really? Would anyone die if you just let it go?Thanks,CK

[g-mann17]

I mean my comment as non-political as possible. The fact is people have stayed the course much longer than 1 year. If the foundation is solid there is no reason to change anything. You have a bunch of fan-boys on here flying off the handle because coach I said no changes to the program fundamentals. That has zit to do with on the field strategy. Zach is consistantly toxic about the current coach, that gets us nowhere.I'm far from being warm and fuzzy about our situation. Coach I has a lot to prove to get me to buy into him this year. But I have seen signs of improvement which lead to a glimmer of hope that we can get some where. But enough with the "he can't do anything right mentality" from most of you. We get it, you wanted someone else, but great job of campaigning for whoever it is that you wanted.

[Buckzip]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

Zach....this is college and you are always rebuilding (or in Caleb's case..reloading). In college teaching it is "publish or perish", in retail it is "expand/grow or die", in business it is "what have you done for me lately". He just wants to build a culture where growth and constant improvement are expected of everyone...including himself. I have no problem with his statement. Would you rather have him say..."we will get where we want this year and we can rest on our laurels"?? You want him to admit failure and make drastic changes. That in my mind would be failure. We may as well start over with someone who believes in himself and his program. The fact that he says of himself that he is "green and growing" means that there will be improvement expected by him of himself.

Or it could mean he considers himself a foot fungus!

I literally laughed out loud at that one.

[Lee Adams]

We've got plenty of political crap in the OT forum. Nothing explicitly stated in the thread titles, though. Maybe someone should start one for arguments to be held in. Anyway, this thread is about iCoach's interview. I read it again. This quote is a terrible analogy."I think you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting, both as a coach and as a program. I think our program is clearly green and growing, and as a coach you always need to be green and growing."It's the mindset of a perpetual builder. It doesn't allow for sustained success. In his mind, you're either building the program or tearing it down to build again. But what happens when you're stuck constantly placing and demolishing the very first brick, unable to move on until you think you placed it absolutely perfectly?

See General George McClellan.