Is the VMI game the last straw for Ianello?

[akronzips71]

Keener'92 states my position very well. I've been willing to give Ianello a fair chance, and the clock is starting to run down as I continue to look for signs of progress with increasing pessimism.It's annoying enough to have to put up with inferior play on the football field without the added annoyance of having to dig through a continuous stream of "I hate Ianello" posts from the usual suspects every time I come here looking for thoughtful comments about what went right and what went wrong in the last game.We all know by now who has totally written off Ianello. It doesn't need to be continuously repeated like some annoying little kid continuously whining about not wanting to take a bath. Endless repitition is annoying and unproductive. Make your point and move on.Like coaches and players, fans can also be judged on their performance. One measure of fan performance is the thoughtfulness of their comments. There are Zips fans on this forum who do a good job of citing examples and explaining why they don't think Ianello will be successful with the way he's trying to build the program. I enjoy reading those thoughtful comments and I learn from them.

Dave:He is still here. How can we move on?

Really....isn't that last comment what is wrong with the culture in the USofA right now?? We had Bush...and his haters could not move on. Now we have Obama and his haters cannot move on. Seriously...find a way.

This has nothing to do with Bush or Obama. They were both elected by the people and were entitled to serve out their term. iCoach is merely an employee. Right now, I find this to be incredibly embarrassing. The WORST Div I team two years in a row. Are you kidding me?Let me put it to you this way:Akron, a perennial Soccer powerhouse, is the NATIONAL CHAMPION.Mens Basketball has won 20+ games every year under KD, and has become a perennial post season participant. In fact, I think we may be outgrowing the MAC in hoops. This has the potential to be a banner year for us.And then there is FOOTBALL. So lets see, we can attract Soccer and Hoops talent, and that talent can be coached into being big winners.Is there some mysterious reason why we can't do that in football? Do we lack funds? Do we have a horrible facility that no one will play in? NOWhat we have is an incredible inept coach who has no clue how to call a game or use his players to the best advantage to use the skills they have. His entire game plan is hand off to Chilsom. then when we get wayyyy behind, the game plan is try to throw to anyone. In between handoffs to Chilsom. At this point, we have to save face and fire the man. By going on with the season with him at the helm we just show everyone we are losers. Football is big time for college. This embarrassment WILL affect our recruiting for ALL sports, our recruiting of good students, and our fund raising. No one likes a loser. The only out is to get rid of him, and find someone who understands college football.

[akronzips71]

Watch Sunday night football now. Look at the play calling by the Eagles. You NEVER know what they are going to do.HINT HINT

[ZachTheZip]

VMI Message BoardYou need to register to see it.

[Doug Snyder]

Watch Sunday night football now. Look at the play calling by the Eagles. You NEVER know what they are going to do.HINT HINT

How did that work out???

[skip-zip]

The Zips outscored Cincinnati's 2nd and 3rd stringers 14-10 in the second half. I don't see any excuse for not being able to perform this well or better against VMI's first string.

I just bascially said this in another thread. It's about the only thing we have to hang our hats on right now. But, lets hope that it leans towards the "better" mark. And lets hope Cincy's backups are a lot better than VMIs starters.

[akronzips71]

Watch Sunday night football now. Look at the play calling by the Eagles. You NEVER know what they are going to do.HINT HINT

How did that work out???

A whole lot better than our game. Even without Vick for almost 1/2 the game.

[akronad]

At this moment, we have to be the worst football team in the FBS. To highlight Ianello's 1 1/4 seasons in 15 games,points for 174=11.60 per gamepoints againts 526=35.07I think that says it all.

[Dr Z]

Watch Sunday night football now. Look at the play calling by the Eagles. You NEVER know what they are going to do.

How did that work out???

A whole lot better than our game. Even without Vick for almost 1/2 the game.

A whole lot better? I don't think so. I actually thought Vick's sloppy game reminded me of the Zips QB play. You can't turn the ball over constantly and expect to win, I don't care what your play calling is.

[Doug Snyder]

Watch Sunday night football now. Look at the play calling by the Eagles. You NEVER know what they are going to do.HINT HINT

How did that work out???

A whole lot better than our game. Even without Vick for almost 1/2 the game.

AHHHHH....so you are saying you cannot win without stellar QB play??? I did not know a 6'0" mobile QB was so important to the outcome. One would think he was to short and could not see over the line to be effective. I can't keep all the facts straight on here...sorry.

[xu9697]

I think those that have "hope" only have "hope" because of the schedule. I don't think anyone thinks the Zips are any better than one of the worst 20 teams in the FBS. But the fact remains that the next 2 games are against VMI and EMU...and Can't and Buffalo appear on the schedule. Not to mention, Central Michigan is looking to be a bad team this year.So those of us that thought UA could get 4-6 wins...I don't think any of us saw us doing too much in these 1st 3 games. Admittedly, it has been WORSE than I expected. But MY thought that we could win 4+ games was based on VMI, EMU, Can't, Buffalo and maybe 1 surprise (ala the ALMOST win...sadly..against Miami last year).So the "confidence" that some have is simply that we are NOT the worst of a very bad bunch. And that, in and of itself, is bad.Oh...and VMI is a must win.

[InTheZone]

Based on what I've seen, we will lose to VMI. At that point, a choice has to be made by the administration of this University. Either we say we just wasted 100 million dollars over the past decade upgrading our football facilities to some of the finest in the region, only to get one of the worst teams in the nation, and we're okay with that, or this level of incompetence is unacceptable in ANY department of the University and changes have to be made. I understand the cost arguments of buying out the contract, but the man is going to have to be fired at the end of this season anyways, so no money is going to be lost for this season by firing him and naming an interim head coach from the staff. It may not get better, but it can't get any worse, and it sets the right tone. TW should also be fired immediately and one of the associate AD's should be elevated in the interim. Mary Lu Gribschaw makes the most sense for that.

[Doug Snyder]

Based on what I've seen, we will lose to VMI. At that point, a choice has to be made by the administration of this University. Either we say we just wasted 100 million dollars over the past decade upgrading our football facilities to some of the finest in the region, only to get one of the worst teams in the nation, and we're okay with that, or this level of incompetence is unacceptable in ANY department of the University and changes have to be made. I understand the cost arguments of buying out the contract, but the man is going to have to be fired at the end of this season anyways, so no money is going to be lost for this season by firing him and naming an interim head coach from the staff. It may not get better, but it can't get any worse, and it sets the right tone. TW should also be fired immediately and one of the associate AD's should be elevated in the interim. Mary Lu Gribschaw makes the most sense for that.

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong. I expect the that the loser will be man enough to say they were wrong and willing to change their opinion. You can count on that from me if you are correct. Have you ever hired anyone?? Most will rely on personal observations and experiences. I do not have a problem with TW using personal experience to help make a high risk decision. People make mistakes....he may have made one. But to make that determination now is not something that is not prudent or wise. TW has also done many good things. I am willing to wait until the end of the season to make any judgments on the football situation.

[Dave in Green]

InTheZone, sounds to me as if you may have a case of premature evaluation.I'm willing to let the game play out before suggesting what might be best to do next.

[akronzips71]

Based on what I've seen, we will lose to VMI. At that point, a choice has to be made by the administration of this University. Either we say we just wasted 100 million dollars over the past decade upgrading our football facilities to some of the finest in the region, only to get one of the worst teams in the nation, and we're okay with that, or this level of incompetence is unacceptable in ANY department of the University and changes have to be made. I understand the cost arguments of buying out the contract, but the man is going to have to be fired at the end of this season anyways, so no money is going to be lost for this season by firing him and naming an interim head coach from the staff. It may not get better, but it can't get any worse, and it sets the right tone. TW should also be fired immediately and one of the associate AD's should be elevated in the interim. Mary Lu Gribschaw makes the most sense for that.

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong. I expect the that the loser will be man enough to say they were wrong and willing to change their opinion. You can count on that from me if you are correct. Have you ever hired anyone?? Most will rely on personal observations and experiences. I do not have a problem with TW using personal experience to help make a high risk decision. People make mistakes....he may have made one. But to make that determination now is not something that is not prudent or wise. TW has also done many good things. I am willing to wait until the end of the season to make any judgments on the football situation.

Can I have some of what you have been smoking?Our opponents have been taking it easy on us. They could probably all have scored 100+ against us. We are NEVER going to win "big". MAYBE we can eke out one win, but I would not count on it.

[Dr Z]

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong.

What do you expect the line to be? No line as of yet.

[MDZip]

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong.

What do you expect the line to be? No line as of yet.

Zips by 10.

[jupitertoo]

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong.

What do you expect the line to be? No line as of yet.

Zips by 10.

There are no lines on games involving an FCS school, correct?

[Doug Snyder]

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong.

What do you expect the line to be? No line as of yet.

The only place I ever bet is on the golf course....I go along with any game my friends want to play but never suggest a bet. And the stakes are never more than $20. So....I don't follow the line and have no clue what it will be. My WAG is the Zips should be expected to beat a D1A team at home by 14 points or more. I think it will be more and here is why:1. The game seemed to slow down a lot for Moore in the second half and he made some good decisions and nice throws.2. As I stated before the season, I believe the WRs and RBs are far better than anyone here expected…and better than last year. I still do. They are not the problem. The O-Line is. But they should not be overpowered by VMI. That should allow our skill positions to excel and get some confidence and rhythm3. There is now a new sense of urgency...from the players to the coaches. Freshman will now play if the veterans are not up to the job. The team is looking to beat up on someone.

[johnnyzip84]

I think the Zips win big. One of us will be wrong.

What do you expect the line to be? No line as of yet.

Zips by 10.

There are no lines on games involving an FCS school, correct?

This is an interesting question. That definitely used to be the case. But last year I am sure I saw lines involving FBS/FCS matchups. This year I'm not seeing them.

[ZachTheZip]

There are no lines on games involving an FCS school, correct?

Depends on the betting service.Also, Sagarin's PREDICTOR ratings can be used to come up with a line no matter who the opponent. He has Akron as 8 and 1/2 point favorites.

[Dr Z]

There are no lines on games involving an FCS school, correct?

Oh yeah, I think your right. There goes my free money this week.

[Lee Adams]

Akron football is at an all time low right now and a lot of us are worried we'll lose again to another FCS/D1AA school. If Akron does not win against VMI, will the Zipsnation community finally come together and make it official that we want Ianello gone? This has got to be the last straw for him. I understand there are those that believe the Titanic (in this case, the raft) isn't sinking and they'll think that no matter what. But for the rest of us, how long are we going to allow this to continue silently?Ianello's job should be on the line against VMI, no matter the consequences of ending his contract.

No,whether they win or not,Ianello's job is not on the line this year. Not that losing to VMI is going to help anything. It won't. But,the AD is not going to get rid of him this year,nor should he. I was not a fan of hiring someone with no successful head coaching experience. But,Wistrcill did. That is HIS responsibility. Hopefully,Proenza will hold him responsible one way or the other. What I want to see is if Ianello can correct the mistakes he has made not only with personnel and who is playing but the way he is handling the team in general. Obviously the team is not responding to what he has done so far. As far as the QB situation Ianello made the decision to go with Moore over Nicely based not on Moore's better performance in the spring or summer but what Ianello perceived to be more of an upside as far as leadership and style. Right now that is obviously not paying off. I felt Nicely should have been the starter. Then if he didn't show improvement from last year,then Moore plays. Now Ianello is sort of limited. He could make some changes to his offensive scheme to better fit Moore's physical skill set. Or, he could paly it out and hope Moore makes better progress as the season goes on.As far as palying more underclassmen,if the stareters are dogging it,fine. But, what do you say to a guy like Wagner when you replace him? The defense isn't controlling the game so we have to play younger guys to see what they can do. What about Waller,Marcoux,Hazime? What about Anderson,Simkovich,Kasperak on the other side of the ball?

[Dave in Green]

..... Our opponents have been taking it easy on us. They could probably all have scored 100+ against us. .....

I wonder why Cincinnati didn't take it easy on Austin Peay, beating them up by a score of 72-10, and continuing to pour it on in the 4th quarter by outscoring them 21-7 in the final 15 minutes?

[ZachTheZip]

..... Our opponents have been taking it easy on us. They could probably all have scored 100+ against us. .....

I wonder why Cincinnati didn't take it easy on Austin Peay, beating them up by a score of 72-10, and continuing to pour it on in the 4th quarter by outscoring them 21-7 in the final 15 minutes?

Because with Austin Peay they had a normal week of rest before playing their next game at Tennessee. But they only get four days of rest after playing Akron before they face NC State on Thursday.

[Zipmeister]

..... Our opponents have been taking it easy on us. They could probably all have scored 100+ against us. .....

I wonder why Cincinnati didn't take it easy on Austin Peay, beating them up by a score of 72-10, and continuing to pour it on in the 4th quarter by outscoring them 21-7 in the final 15 minutes?

You can stop wondering. They didn't. Pouring it on would involve keeping the first string in the game. You can't tell your 3rd and 4th stringers to go out and lay down. They want to show what they can do. If AP didn't have the players to stop Cincy's subs then to some it might look like the Bearcats were pouring it on.