The fire iCoach NOW thread

[Blue & Gold]

I'd assume that, due to past successes, TW was salivating at the opportunity to hire RI. TW probably just wanted to cover his bases & go through the charade of interviewing other candidates, but knew who his dream-candidate was all along.

It hasn't worked out like - or as quickly as - we all had hoped. That's for certain. And, perhaps it never will under RI. Who can say? But I'm with the party of those who want to give iCoach some more time.

[xu9697]

These next 5 weeks are HUGE for Ianallo and anyone, including me, that is still giving the guy a chance.

Temple: we MUST be competitive and look like we belong out there. If the game is undecided game begininng the 4th quarter that would be progress. I will accept 24-10 type loss.

@ Cincinnati: somewhat competitive...lose by less than 3 TDs. I will accept 34-14 type loss.

VMI: MUST WIN. Expecting 34-17 type score.

@ EMU: if not a win, must be a darn close loss. But...really...if we are going to win 4+ games, this has to be one of them. 24-20 win

FIU: They are supposedly the best team (or in top 2) of Sun Belt. They are at our place. Close loss? Might be acceptable if we win the 2 previous games.

Bottom line...we don't come out of these next 5 games with AT LEAST 2 wins and 2 other good performances...I will be calling for Ianallo's head like others.

[Zip Watcher]

Lazy? Really? Have you ever met Tom?

Can anyone take a deep breath, back away from your angst about the FB team, and really take an objective look at UA Athletics today?

You're better than this.

Lazy? Yes, I think his hiring of Coach I was a lazy decision. I didn't say he was a lazy guy, just this decision was lazy. Try not jumping to conclusions next time. I know how close you like to get to people within the Athletic Department, so please don't let your relationships with them impede your reading ability.

Have I ever met Tom? No. So what? Save me the nice guy and hard working stuff. People are supposed to be nice and hard working.

Everything good about Akron sports today was in place before TW too over. KD was the basketball coach and the program was rolling. The soccer program was established. Other programs are good as well. We didn't need direction in those programs. We needed direction in football. The AD was responsible for providing that direction and he has failed badly.

Soccer has maxed out. Basketball has shown it will attract the same 2,800 people a game on average and that is about it. Remember the Motor City Bowl and how many people were there? That could be every week, and more, at The Big Dialer. It's not like there is no proof it can be done. The MCB is the proof.

You were on the committee that made the FB hire then, and know first hand that it was predetermined and hard work wasn't done to make the best decision they could at the time with the resources and information that was available to them? You have no data to back that up. Assertions by Zach don't count in this discussion.

Look, I like people who work hard to give UA student athletes a good college experience. Not everything they try works, or works immediately. I like the Mike's a lot, I thought Mack did plenty to further the vision .. and Tom isn't any different in his goals or dreams for UA. I don't need to defend any of the 3 of these guys .. they can stand tall on their own merits. Take a look at the futbol funding level and facilities now, and 3 years ago. They're pretty different. Not all attributable to one guy .. but these things took real effort, fund raising and making clear commitments to staff and athletes, and then following through on those commitments. Mack was in Houston before much of any of that got done.

I'll never cease to be amazed at the level at which highly educated, normally coherent Zips fans will hate on the current AD (whoever that happens to be) because "they're not Mike Thomas .. they're not Mike Waddell .. or they're not Hunter Yuracheck." While some of those guys were here .. people beat on them just as much. I figure no UA AD or Asst. AD will ever be viewed favorably until there's another guy in the chair who does things differently.

There's more to UA Athletics than FB, as hard as that might be for a football alumn to believe. And there's more to measuring of the department than attendance at one sport.

Go Zips!

[Dave in Green]

..... We can all basically say that this hiring was a favor by Tom Wistrcill to his buddy Rob Ianello. And what Zach said about the search committee suggesting Luke Fickell is true. We know people in the athletic department from previous classes, activites, sporting events, etc. together with those people that are now in the athletic department. Not mentioning any names, but we hear plenty of stuff, especially when that whole interviewing/hiring process was going on. .....

By "stuff," you mean office gossip, right?

In the last large company I worked for, I attended high-level planning meetings on a routine basis. After the meetings, I'd hear "stuff" from people who weren't in the meetings, but knew a friend of someone who worked in the same department as someone who was in the meeting. The "stuff" they passed on through the grapevine was inevitably distorted to suit someone's agenda.

UA is similar to a large company. There are many departments full of many different people with many different agendas. In some cases you have some people who for, whatever reason, don't like other people and want to see them fail. They gladly pass on negative "stuff" about the person they don't like, and if nothing negative enough is available, they'll twist what's available into something negative.

I have no doubt that there are UA employees who don't like Tom Wistrcill, Rob Ianello, and any number of other people on the staff. Maybe the feeling is mutual. Who really knows the truth? Certainly not those who are tuned into a single channel of negative gossip. Tuning into another channel might result in totally opposite "stuff."

So when you say "we can all basically say that this hiring was a favor by Tom Wistrcill to his buddy Rob Ianello," you are dead wrong. I am not included in that "we," and I'm pretty sure there are others here who don't want to be included in your all-inclusive "we can all."

If you applied a little independent thinking to your gossip channel, you might ask why Wistrcill would risk his own career on deliberately hiring an uncompetitive football coach when football is the biggest program at UA. Why didn't he get rid of Caleb Porter and bring in one of his loser soccer coach buddies? Why didn't he get rid of Keith Dambrot and bring in one of his loser basketball coach buddies? Why did he just bring in a new baseball coach who everyone seems to think is a winner?

You know, there are real, experienced adults on this forum who have been around the world many times and heard all this "stuff" a thousand times over. You can pretend all you want that all the "stuff" you hear is real. But everyone with any real life experience knows it's just office gossip until confirmed by a credible source who doesn't have their own personal agenda.

Listen, I have no problem with anyone criticizing Ianello, Wistrcill, or anyone else for what you think they might not be doing right. There are plenty of reasons for criticizing everyone, including me, you, and the man in the moon. We're all imperfect and we're all open to legitimate criticism.

But when you go beyond legitimate criticism and pick sides in a fight in which you don't know all the facts, you're on your own. There's no "we" about it.

[mes102]

..... We can all basically say that this hiring was a favor by Tom Wistrcill to his buddy Rob Ianello. And what Zach said about the search committee suggesting Luke Fickell is true. We know people in the athletic department from previous classes, activites, sporting events, etc. together with those people that are now in the athletic department. Not mentioning any names, but we hear plenty of stuff, especially when that whole interviewing/hiring process was going on. .....

4) By "stuff," you mean office gossip, right?

In the last large company I worked for, I attended high-level planning meetings on a routine basis. After the meetings, I'd hear "stuff" from people who weren't in the meetings, but knew a friend of someone who worked in the same department as someone who was in the meeting. The "stuff" they passed on through the grapevine was inevitably distorted to suit someone's agenda.

UA is similar to a large company. There are many departments full of many different people with many different agendas. In some cases you have some people who for, whatever reason, don't like other people and want to see them fail. They gladly pass on negative "stuff" about the person they don't like, and if nothing negative enough is available, they'll twist what's available into something negative.

I have no doubt that there are UA employees who don't like Tom Wistrcill, Rob Ianello, and any number of other people on the staff. Maybe the feeling is mutual. Who really knows the truth? Certainly not those who are tuned into a single channel of negative gossip. Tuning into another channel might result in totally opposite "stuff."

1) So when you say "we can all basically say that this hiring was a favor by Tom Wistrcill to his buddy Rob Ianello," you are dead wrong. I am not included in that "we," and I'm pretty sure there are others here who don't want to be included in your all-inclusive "we can all."

2) If you applied a little independent thinking to your gossip channel, you might ask why Wistrcill would risk his own career on deliberately hiring an uncompetitive football coach when football is the biggest program at UA. Why didn't he get rid of Caleb Porter and bring in one of his loser soccer coach buddies? Why didn't he get rid of Keith Dambrot and bring in one of his loser basketball coach buddies? Why did he just bring in a new baseball coach who everyone seems to think is a winner?

3) You know, there are real, experienced adults on this forum who have been around the world many times and heard all this "stuff" a thousand times over. You can pretend all you want that all the "stuff" you hear is real. But everyone with any real life experience knows it's just office gossip until confirmed by a credible source who doesn't have their own personal agenda.

Listen, I have no problem with anyone criticizing Ianello, Wistrcill, or anyone else for what you think they might not be doing right. There are plenty of reasons for criticizing everyone, including me, you, and the man in the moon. We're all imperfect and we're all open to legitimate criticism.

1) But when you go beyond legitimate criticism and pick sides in a fight in which you don't know all the facts, you're on your own. There's no "we" about it.

1) So you basically spend 7 paragraphs on why it's not "we". And people use the excuse "I don't have time to watch Akron women's soccer." I'm tired of all these fair weathered or a popular sport Zip fan...

2) Your logic on firing Porter or Dambrot is totally insane. Because everyone the next day would of been at Wistrcill's doorstep with torches and pitchforks wanting answers. And then bringing in "losers"? Come on, I thought you were more intelligent than that. TW isn't that dumb to try that. He saw an opportunity(bad record, new stadium) and decided to take a risk.

3) Stop using this "real, experienced adults" stuff as well. Is that a shot in the gut to us college students on this forum? Because I have been a volunteer in a high school basketball program for a while, and I have so many connections now in NE Ohio, I will keep gaining experience every day no matter where I am.

4) By stuff, I meant I'm not taking my post seriously? Do I really need to find, and get ZN.o to add an emoticon saying "BEWARE: THERE IS SARCASM BEYOND THIS POINT"

seesh...A lot of people were saying it, and I was being sarcastic about it. People were asking Zach about the "source?" and I decided to have a little fun with it since last week was atrocious. We do know people in athletic department, but never said anything to that sort of "stuff". Wistrcill went for a risk that was going to be a complete failure or is going to turn this program completely around. I don't like how he has handled the student situation(soccer v football), but he needs to work on that. I'll give him the next 5 games as well...

[Doug Snyder]

..... We can all basically say that this hiring was a favor by Tom Wistrcill to his buddy Rob Ianello. And what Zach said about the search committee suggesting Luke Fickell is true. We know people in the athletic department from previous classes, activites, sporting events, etc. together with those people that are now in the athletic department. Not mentioning any names, but we hear plenty of stuff, especially when that whole interviewing/hiring process was going on. .....

By "stuff," you mean office gossip, right?

In the last large company I worked for, I attended high-level planning meetings on a routine basis. After the meetings, I'd hear "stuff" from people who weren't in the meetings, but knew a friend of someone who worked in the same department as someone who was in the meeting. The "stuff" they passed on through the grapevine was inevitably distorted to suit someone's agenda.

UA is similar to a large company. There are many departments full of many different people with many different agendas. In some cases you have some people who for, whatever reason, don't like other people and want to see them fail. They gladly pass on negative "stuff" about the person they don't like, and if nothing negative enough is available, they'll twist what's available into something negative.

I have no doubt that there are UA employees who don't like Tom Wistrcill, Rob Ianello, and any number of other people on the staff. Maybe the feeling is mutual. Who really knows the truth? Certainly not those who are tuned into a single channel of negative gossip. Tuning into another channel might result in totally opposite "stuff."

So when you say "we can all basically say that this hiring was a favor by Tom Wistrcill to his buddy Rob Ianello," you are dead wrong. I am not included in that "we," and I'm pretty sure there are others here who don't want to be included in your all-inclusive "we can all."

If you applied a little independent thinking to your gossip channel, you might ask why Wistrcill would risk his own career on deliberately hiring an uncompetitive football coach when football is the biggest program at UA. Why didn't he get rid of Caleb Porter and bring in one of his loser soccer coach buddies? Why didn't he get rid of Keith Dambrot and bring in one of his loser basketball coach buddies? Why did he just bring in a new baseball coach who everyone seems to think is a winner?

You know, there are real, experienced adults on this forum who have been around the world many times and heard all this "stuff" a thousand times over. You can pretend all you want that all the "stuff" you hear is real. But everyone with any real life experience knows it's just office gossip until confirmed by a credible source who doesn't have their own personal agenda.

Listen, I have no problem with anyone criticizing Ianello, Wistrcill, or anyone else for what you think they might not be doing right. There are plenty of reasons for criticizing everyone, including me, you, and the man in the moon. We're all imperfect and we're all open to legitimate criticism.

But when you go beyond legitimate criticism and pick sides in a fight in which you don't know all the facts, you're on your own. There's no "we" about it.

+ 1

[Zipsrifle]

These next 5 weeks are HUGE for Ianallo and anyone, including me, that is still giving the guy a chance.

Temple: we MUST be competitive and look like we belong out there. If the game is undecided game begininng the 4th quarter that would be progress. I will accept 24-10 type loss.

@ Cincinnati: somewhat competitive...lose by less than 3 TDs. I will accept 34-14 type loss.

VMI: MUST WIN. Expecting 34-17 type score.

@ EMU: if not a win, must be a darn close loss. But...really...if we are going to win 4+ games, this has to be one of them. 24-20 win

FIU: They are supposedly the best team (or in top 2) of Sun Belt. They are at our place. Close loss? Might be acceptable if we win the 2 previous games.

Bottom line...we don't come out of these next 5 games with AT LEAST 2 wins and 2 other good performances...I will be calling for Ianallo's head like others.

Put me in the same camp!

I'm amazed at how everyone knows the personal work ethic of all these people in the athletic dept. Now I'm not "In the know" but a head football coach or DI-A Athletic Director has built a reputation prior to their current position. I don't see how UA would have hired a bunch of lazy people who just want to collect a paycheck. Dr. P and the gang MAY have stumbled here, but come on, lets be realistic, I have to believe these guys are busting their tails and doing their best. They may fail, but that doesn't mean they aren't trying.

As for TW, for me he started off slow with the RI hire. But, since then, he has impressed me. He has done an excellent job doing what was necessary to keep Porter here and getting the soccer team what it needs. On the other hand, regardless of how the soccer team does, IMO, TW was brought in here to fill that football stadium and THAT will be his legacy. IF ALL the other sports are successful, and the FB team sucks, nobody will remember his name 10 years from now. If RI was the right hire, and the FB program takes off, they will name a building after the guy.

As for RI, again, I was never very excited about his hire, but we are one game into the season and we are ready to fire the guy. Yes, last year was a disaster, but if that is what is necessary to put this program on a solid long term winning course, then so be it. I expect to see improvement over the season and I expect 4 wins by the end. I have been thinking over the past few days how excited I was when JD had his early success. How everyone wanted to lock him into a very long contract and how sure we were that he was going somewhere else in only a season or two. It was all downhill from there. We were so sure that he was the real deal and look where we are now? Time will tell for RI, and I'm willing to give him some time to do his work.

[you am i]

It's hard to believe that we would have Ianello as a coach if TW was not the AD. Does anyone really think that he would have even been among the finalists without TW pushing him? Assuming that's true, this hire really is on TW.

I want the guy to succeed but he has been a disaster and it's hard to see him turning this thing around. My worst fear is that he'll "improve" to 3 or 4 wins a year - just enough to keep him from getting fired - and we'll be stuck with him until his contract runs out.

[zip403]

It's hard to believe that we would have Ianello as a coach if TW was not the AD. Does anyone really think that he would have even been among the finalists without TW pushing him? Assuming that's true, this hire really is on TW.

I want the guy to succeed but he has been a disaster and it's hard to see him turning this thing around. My worst fear is that he'll "improve" to 3 or 4 wins a year - just enough to keep him from getting fired - and we'll be stuck with him until his contract runs out.

TW and RI need to ASK CM8 for his horse and all ride off into the sunset

[Big Zip]

@Dave in Green as an adult who has spent the better part of his career in HR I can assure you hiring managers against the recommendation of their recruiter do hire their friends and to suggest this doesn't happen makes me question you.

If we examine the facts of the situation there were some serious facts that made me question the decision then and now. When iCoach was hired his connections to the AD were highlighted. He came from a program that was poor and was coached by one of the biggest names at the time in football. ICoach has been a highly regarded recruiter for over 10 years, but that was recruiting for the likes of Arizona, Wisconsin and Notre Dame not a bottom feeder Mac school that has struggled since they arrived in Division 1. What could he know about recruiting at this level? ICoach always had a significant name behind him when he came knocking and I have to think that helped.

In his first year coaching his blunders were numerous and you can find them on this site if you care to search. He also lost a Div 1-aa school a mediocre one at that - this is a feat even his two predecessors managed to avoid. I was in Columbus last week and saw an unimaginative coaching display and a listless team. I will be at the game this week and you can be sure if the Zips can't muster the 275 yards of offense or the 7 points Villanova did against Temple the "radical" young folks on this site won't be the only ones calling for his job. ICoach is compensated very well for what he is and extremely well for his performance and should be roundly criticizes for how his team has performed.

Finally your points about Porter and Dambrodt are idiotic...even AD Tom isn't dumb enough to fire wining coaches to bring in his cronies. Hiring the baseball coach on the other hand could be a realization of his mistake with iCoach. Raising money for a National Champion and Runner-Up Div 1 program can't be difficult so let's not give him too much praise for that...acknowledge and recognize he did what we expected and move on.

[Zip_ME87]

You were on the committee that made the FB hire then, and know first hand that it was predetermined and hard work wasn't done to make the best decision they could at the time with the resources and information that was available to them? You have no data to back that up. Assertions by Zach don't count in this discussion.

Look, I like people who work hard to give UA student athletes a good college experience. Not everything they try works, or works immediately. I like the Mike's a lot, I thought Mack did plenty to further the vision .. and Tom isn't any different in his goals or dreams for UA. I don't need to defend any of the 3 of these guys .. they can stand tall on their own merits. Take a look at the futbol funding level and facilities now, and 3 years ago. They're pretty different. Not all attributable to one guy .. but these things took real effort, fund raising and making clear commitments to staff and athletes, and then following through on those commitments. Mack was in Houston before much of any of that got done.

I'll never cease to be amazed at the level at which highly educated, normally coherent Zips fans will hate on the current AD (whoever that happens to be) because "they're not Mike Thomas .. they're not Mike Waddell .. or they're not Hunter Yuracheck." While some of those guys were here .. people beat on them just as much. I figure no UA AD or Asst. AD will ever be viewed favorably until there's another guy in the chair who does things differently.

There's more to UA Athletics than FB, as hard as that might be for a football alumn to believe. And there's more to measuring of the department than attendance at one sport.

Go Zips!

You're right that none of us were on the "committee" (was there one?) that made the FB hire. I was told by someone in the Athletics Department last year that Barry Alvarez recommended RI, and I've always taken that to explain why Coach I was hired. For whatever it was worth, TW took the advice of someone with success in college football and probably someone he knew. I think most of us take advice from a friend/acquaintance over someone we don't know. It still seems that proper due diligence was not paid to this hire given how quickly it happened.

As far as basketball and soccer, I give TW a lot of credit for not messing with things that are working and for not destroying those or other programs at UA by concentrating too much on football (perhaps a slight overcompensation). At any rate, I think you give TW a little too much credit for soccer. If you read what was published at the time, it was Dr. Proenza himself who said 'get it done' as far as increasing Coach Porter's compensation so much that it would be unlikely for him to go to any other university. In Santa Barbara, immediately following the National Championship win, Dr. Proenza couldn't praise Caleb enough. As for the soccer stadium upgrades, you can mostly thank Coach Porter, his staff, and teams. It's easy to get donors on board with naming rights when you win, especially in an area so void of winners. I will say thank you to TW for actually making it happen.

Finally, you won't hear me comparing TW to Mack Rhoades or Mike and Mike or anyone else. But, you will hear me compare Akron Football now to Akron Football since I was there in the mid-80's. For one shining moment in 2005, I was proud of Akron Football. It was awesome to drive to Detroit and see other cars on the turnpike and I-75 with University of Akron logos. However, Akron Football continues to stagnate. It was a significant driver of UA apathy in the 80's and it appears to continue that legacy today. The only other shining moment was the day Infocision Stadium Summa Field opened. A large crowd, on campus, attending a football game on a beautiful, sunny, late summer day. Real college gameday had come to UA only to be washed away the following week. A lot of folks on this board obviously are stronger than me at putting up with this. When I see us kick off twice in a game and put our play sheets down our pants, not even appearing professional, it's time for me to move on and forget that Akron has a football program.

[Hilltopper]

I want the guy to succeed but he has been a disaster and it's hard to see him turning this thing around. My worst fear is that he'll "improve" to 3 or 4 wins a year - just enough to keep him from getting fired - and we'll be stuck with him until his contract runs out.

Ianello could lose every game this year and he will still be the coach. Unless some rich booster comes up with the money to pay the remainder of his contract, we are stuck with him. UA does not have the money to get rid of him. Its a classic Catch-22 situation.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Solid posts by BigZip ad Zip_ME87. You get a free beer at my tailgate Saturday.

[GP1]

You were on the committee that made the FB hire then, and know first hand that it was predetermined and hard work wasn't done to make the best decision they could at the time with the resources and information that was available to them? You have no data to back that up. Assertions by Zach don't count in this discussion.

No, but this isn't a court of law so we are allowed to use our brains. My only data to back it up is TW and Coach I worked together. This goes on all the time in business and in college athletics. I don't need to spend six months putting together Six Sigma cause and effect tables to figure this one out.

As far as the last comment, I don't take what Zach says seriously. I don't expect you to issue youself an official ZNO demerit, but in the name of more civility, I'll be awaiting your apology. Claiming someone takes Zach seriously is one of the most viscous, almost violent, statements one poster can say to another. Shame!

I'll say it again. Let's not call it a lazy decision...maybe it was an easy decision (is there really a difference?). That doesn't make Tom lazy. Lots of us do things every day to make our lives easy and on some level, that could make us lazy at that task. I think he made the easy decision in this case.

I believe it isn't hard to look at the landscape of college football and conclude that a pro style offense isn't the way to win. Either TW didn't know this, or he willingly decided to take a direction that would not lead to success. The recent history of the MAC shows it isn't the way to win. I don't see how that makes him a good decision maker in this matter, which was the most important decision he had to make thus far. It's not a personal attack at all. It is an eveluation of his ability to make important decisions at his job.

In conclusion, I agree that the personal attacks of the AD and Coach I have to stop. Especially in the case of Coach I. I find the attacks in regards to his personal appearance repugnant. I will continue to have philosophical differences with his style of offense even though I think his style of defense is one I enjoy.

[Zip Watcher]

Claiming someone takes Zach seriously is one of the most viscous, almost violent, statements one poster can say to another. Shame!

I believe it isn't hard to look at the landscape of college football and conclude that a pro style offense isn't the way to win.

+1 on that.

In conclusion, I agree that the personal attacks of the AD and Coach I have to stop. Especially in the case of Coach I. I find the attacks in regards to his personal appearance repugnant. I will continue to have philosophical differences with his style of offense even though I think his style of defense is one I enjoy.

+10. Thank you.

[Blue & Gold]

...though I think his style of defense is one I enjoy.

Amen. It is so refreshing seeing a more tough-nosed defense w/ 4 DL. If we get shoved around w/ 4 DL, so be it; our opponent deserves to win. But I was so sick and tired of watching our 3DL D get shoved up & down the field year-after-year.

[Captain Kangaroo]

...though I think his style of defense is one I enjoy.

Amen. It is so refreshing seeing a more tough-nosed defense w/ 4 DL. If we get shoved around w/ 4 DL, so be it; our opponent deserves to win. But I was so sick and tired of watching our 3DL D get shoved up & down the field year-after-year.

Seeing 5 defensive bodies on the line of scrimmage on 3rd and short, instead of 3, was a dream come true. I almost cried.

[GP1]

...though I think his style of defense is one I enjoy.

Amen. It is so refreshing seeing a more tough-nosed defense w/ 4 DL. If we get shoved around w/ 4 DL, so be it; our opponent deserves to win. But I was so sick and tired of watching our 3DL D get shoved up & down the field year-after-year.

Seeing 5 defensive bodies on the line of scrimmage on 3rd and short, instead of 3, was a dream come true. I almost cried.

Someone needs to start a "Why the Zips defense is better" thread. It will be a bright spot for the Zips this year. I can't do it all around here.

[mes102]

Last night, my friend and I wanted to see what Infocision looked like in the NCAA Football 12 game. When we decided to play a game with Akron together against Can't St, We saw them show the definition of what each style of play each school ran offensively.

Can't St had Spread offense. We had the Pro style offense it said. Here was the exact definition of the pro style according to the game:

"Pass first mentality to set up the run"

When My friend and I read that, we both wondered "What offense do we run then?"

[Captain Kangaroo]

Seeing 5 defensive bodies on the line of scrimmage on 3rd and short, instead of 3, was a dream come true. I almost cried.

Someone needs to start a "Why the Zips defense is better" thread. It will be a bright spot for the Zips this year. I can't do it all around here.

Like you, I think most level-headed posters are waiting to see how the Zips fare in game #2 before making any substantial observations on the defense. The Ohio State match up was a really bad barometer.

The Temple game is a lot like the Marshall games of several years ago. The Zips are a sub .500 team, and Temple should be seeing some votes in the "others" group for Top 25 consideration. But a good game plan, execution and a home crowd gives the Zips a great shot at an upset.

We should not get blown out this week. We should give the Owls all they can handle.

[Dave in Green]

.....4) By stuff, I meant I'm not taking my post seriously? Do I really need to find, and get ZN.o to add an emoticon saying "BEWARE: THERE IS SARCASM BEYOND THIS POINT"

seesh...A lot of people were saying it, and I was being sarcastic about it. People were asking Zach about the "source?" and I decided to have a little fun with it since last week was atrocious. We do know people in athletic department, but never said anything to that sort of "stuff". Wistrcill went for a risk that was going to be a complete failure or is going to turn this program completely around. I don't like how he has handled the student situation(soccer v football), but he needs to work on that. I'll give him the next 5 games as well...

There is a sarcasm emoticon on ZN.O and most other forums. It's the familar old "roll eyes" emoticon:

Without the emoticon, your previous post was quite easy to misinterpret as serious. If you weren't being serious, then my response didn't apply directly to you, but only to anyone who seriously believes the words you posted as sarcasm.

The comments you have made in subsequent posts have been fair and are shared by many. Same with the comments by Big Zip. As I've said many times, there's nothing wrong with fair and reasonable criticism.

I'm in total agreement with GP1 that it's time for the personal attacks from a few posters to stop. It detracts from an otherwise fair and reasonable discussion about the very real shortcomings we all see in UA football.

As Zips fans, we should continue to try to point out what we see as not working, and also give credit where credit is due for any improvements we might see.

[mes102]

.....4) By stuff, I meant I'm not taking my post seriously? Do I really need to find, and get ZN.o to add an emoticon saying "BEWARE: THERE IS SARCASM BEYOND THIS POINT"

seesh...A lot of people were saying it, and I was being sarcastic about it. People were asking Zach about the "source?" and I decided to have a little fun with it since last week was atrocious. We do know people in athletic department, but never said anything to that sort of "stuff". Wistrcill went for a risk that was going to be a complete failure or is going to turn this program completely around. I don't like how he has handled the student situation(soccer v football), but he needs to work on that. I'll give him the next 5 games as well...

There is a sarcasm emoticon on ZN.O and most other forums. It's the familar old "roll eyes" emoticon:

Without the emoticon, your previous post was quite easy to misinterpret as serious. If you weren't being serious, then my response didn't apply directly to you, but only to anyone who seriously believes the words you posted as sarcasm.

The comments you have made in subsequent posts have been fair and are shared by many. Same with the comments by Big Zip. As I've said many times, there's nothing wrong with fair and reasonable criticism.

I'm in total agreement with GP1 that it's time for the personal attacks from a few postebeing built. rs to stop. It detracts from an otherwise fair and reasonable discussion about the very real shortcomings we all see in UA football.

As Zips fans, we should continue to try to point out what we see as not working, and also give credit where credit is due for any improvements we might see.

I will say this...Most Athletic Directors would just focus on trying to get the football program turned around first, and then work on the others. TW has made sure that every sport is getting better. The one highlight of TW's time here, is that he's a great AD when it comes to upgrading or building new facilities. He was a big part of the Minnesota's new stadium being built. I would love to see what he does with the basketball program. The JAR either needs upgraded, or we need a new arena, but keep the JAR for basketball practices and volleyball matches...

[Captain Kangaroo]

There are some posters seem to scan the ZN. for "personal attacks" with a fine-tooth comb, and hit the panic button way, way too often. Finding phantom attacks where none exist.

I don't use the roll-eyes emoticon for sarcasm. A well-written post doesn't need it.

I am thinking of making our board automatically turn the words "personal attack" into "fluffy bunnies," much like K.e.n.t. turns into Can't. I think it would make the board a better place.

[cornbread]

YAY feature requests!

If a post contains "fire" and "coach" could the below be appended?

[Dave in Green]

Right, CK. One person's fluffy bunnies is another person's love tap. Note: Moderator editUser edit: Gee, I wonder which moderator?