How much louder can the voices of Zipsnation get?

[RowdyZip]

I left just after the half. We're now losing 35-3 at home to our rival, arguably one of the worst teams in FBS.

HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THIS CONTINUE?

[Blue & Gold]

What can you do? I don't know. I only brought one group to one game this year. Next year I'm not bringing any. I'm not going to renew my season tickets. That's about all I can do to make my displeasure known to the administration.

I wasn't at the game today, but even when I am I don't "boo." I wouldn't ever want the players to misconstrue a "Boooo!" as being directed toward them when in reality it would be absolutely intended for the coaching staff.

I watched this week's abomination on SportsTime Ohio while doing some chores around the house & reading a book. I hardly care about our football program anymore. It used to be a daily passion of mine - from recruiting, to spring ball, to the regular season. Now? Whatever.

[bobbyake]

There are a few that are willing to risk another year on him because the contract he's currently under would require a financial loss. I believe it costs more to keep him and i come from an accounting background. Tom is going to keep him, ive accepted and do not plan on supporting this team until Ianello is fired.

[akronzips71]

How do you put a dollar value on our reputation?

National Championship Soccer team.

MAC Championship game 5 years in a row.

Two trips to the madness in the last three years from a ONE BID CONFERENCE.

20+ wins 6 years in a row - one of only 20 NCAA teams. Seventh on the way.

And we can't put a team on the field that can win more than one game in a season?

WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM? This is a STATE University with scholarship money. There ARE HS players out there who would jump at a free ride at a Dvi 1 school.

WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM?

[UAZipster0305]

1-20. Soon to be 1-22. Enough said! If this isn't the threshold for a coaching change, what is?

[ZachTheZip]

It usually takes more than a bad record to force a change of football coaches. That being said, Ianello will be back next season barring a massive influx of income from donors.

But what could spark what few Zips fans and alumni that still care to send in their money? When Soccer won, they brought in a lot of money, but it was all specified by the donors to be used for the soccer team. Basketball donations are the same way. The "big money" donations don't usually go to the Z-fund as a generic donation to be spent how the athletic departments sees fit.

So a spark is needed. Something that can get the cash flowing directly to the football program; enough to afford Ianello's buyout or at least make it worth doing.

What kind of spark can do that?

[Quickzips]

At some point te administration has to look at the mostly empty brand new stadium they built and the mostly apathetic, mostly non-existent fan base that their mostly clueless coach has run off and see that the negative economic impact he is having on the football program and university as a whole is far greater than the negative economic impact of firing him with a year left on his contract would be.

I've been mostly behind Dr.P and his administration over the years, but allowing Ianello to play out his contract is one decision I could not possibly get behind. It would basically signal to me that the administration is waving the white flag in terms of putting together a winning football program. We might as well drop to FCS or D-II at that point. Any program that would allow this guy a third year is simply not serious about ever competing at any level in FBS. Not for MAC titles, not for bowl games, and certainly not for BCS games or national titles.

The time has long passed for the administration to sack up, admit that they made a HORRIBLE mistake in ever hiring this guy and take prompt and sweeping actions to correct it.

[ZachTheZip]

There are two ways to get the money to be able to do this immediately instead of having to wait another year.

The first is to just fire the coach, and then start begging like the homeless guy on the corner of Goodkirk and Carroll. Ask for donations, tell people that they are trying to fix their mistake and firing Ianello is proof of it.

We might get the money, we might not. If we hire a "name" coach, it possibly would help, but then you have an even bigger bill to pay so you had better hope that people are feeling generous. This is the most visible method and the one that every school does when they fire their coaches.

The second way is for the Athletic Director to go out and start secretly campaigning big donors to pony up the cash in advance. You don't need to come up with the full buyout amount, because once you get enough of a start you can fire Ianello and start working on the begging part I mentioned above to cover the rest. But I don't think Wistrcill wouldn't do something like this.

[Big Zip]

Zach stop acting like this school doesn't bring in dollars ever year...last year was a record 42 million!

The entire equation needs to come into play here....lost revenue expected from attendance vs salary...I can't believe the difference in firing him is as big as you make it out to be.

If the administration is not interested in being taken seriously and firing this buffoon...I beg of everyone on this board to not renew your seats next year and when you get the order form back send them the letter back with a reason.

[ZachTheZip]

The athletic department has a budget. And the university doesn't want to have to bail them out any more than they have to. An extra $1 million spent on paying someone not to work here just won't happen.

Sorry, but this is the athletics department's problem. Think of UA like a corporation. When a department screws up big time, do the CEO and board of trustees look into specifics of what happened and spend all their time working on that, or do they go to the guy who was responsible for that department and tell him to fix mess? UA is telling Wistrcill to fix the mess because it's his responsibility as head of the department. The BoT and Proenza won't meddle in just one section of one department, they'll enforce departmental responsibility and if the guy responsible can't do the task they'll find someone new. That's as far as the university is going to go down this rabbit hole.

[GoZips]

If the Athletic Director, Tom Wistrcill, is feeling any heat he sure is not

showing any signs of discomfort. Maybe Uncle Tom is as clueless as

Rob Ianello. Just a thought.

IMO, each year wasted on Rob Ianello will take two years to repair.

[Big Zip]

Zach how far off base can you be? You are going to equate the French Literature department within the English program to the most visible program at the University? A program they built a 60 million building to house? Yeah you are right same thing.

[bobbyake]

taxpayers and the media will see a 54.5% increase in home attendance which looks very good on Tom's resume. He's scored high marks in other areas of the athletics department, I don't see how his job would be in jeopardy this year.

Tom's problem is that he's stuck at UA. He won't be able to use his performance here as a stepping stone because of the mistake he made hiring Ianello, but he won't be fired either because of his performance in other areas of athletics. We'll be seeing him for a long time.

[Big Zip]

Bobby what exactly are you giving him credit for with relation to the other programs? He inherited a solid coach in soccer and basketball that had success? Who has he hired and/or what has he specifically impacted that would give him any credibility. He has done nothing to change the fortune of any program for the better....he has though impacted the football program significantly negative.

[bobbyake]

Bobby what exactly are you giving him credit for with relation to the other programs? He inherited a solid coach in soccer and basketball that had success? Who has he hired and/or what has he specifically impacted that would give him any credibility. He has done nothing to change the fortune of any program for the better....he has though impacted the football program significantly negative.

there were a ton of positives mentioned in another thread about a month or 2 ago, too busy doing some attendance numbers right now to find it but I remember the consensus was he's doing very well in other areas, especially in academics. If you find that thread, it has everything there.

[Dave in Green]

After awhile these discussions get all deja vuish. People make the same points and others make the same challenges that were made in previous threads.

Reminds me of the old joke about someone visiting a nursing home and seeing two old guys sitting next to each other in wheelchairs.

One old guy says "37" and the other laughs hysterically. The second guy says "13" and the first guy doubles over in laughter.

The visitor asks an aide what's going on. The aide says, "Oh, they keep telling the same old jokes over and over, so they finally just gave numbers to the jokes so they wouldn't have to go through the whole spiel every time."

[bobbyake]

After awhile these discussions get all deja vuish. People make the same points and others make the same challenges that were made in previous threads.

Reminds me of the old joke about someone visiting a nursing home and seeing two old guys sitting next to each other in wheelchairs.

One old guy says "37" and the other laughs hysterically. The second guy says "13" and the first guy doubles over in laughter.

The visitor asks an aide what's going on. The aide says, "Oh, they keep telling the same old jokes over and over, so they finally just gave numbers to the jokes so they wouldn't have to go through the whole spiel every time."

there are probably at least 10 fire Ianello threads in the football section. It feels like when each one starts, the same points have to be made again. I think it's easier to refer to a previous thread instead, especially when I'm busy nerding it up on soccer attendance figures. BTW, unless a school made an error in reporting attendance numbers, Akron ranked 3rd this year for soccer regular season attendance.

[ZachTheZip]

taxpayers and the media will see a 54.5% increase in home attendance which looks very good on Tom's resume. He's scored high marks in other areas of the athletics department, I don't see how his job would be in jeopardy this year.

Tom's problem is that he's stuck at UA. He won't be able to use his performance here as a stepping stone because of the mistake he made hiring Ianello, but he won't be fired either because of his performance in other areas of athletics. We'll be seeing him for a long time.

TW was brought in for one purpose: to sell football tickets. He has failed at that. UA is bailing him out in that area, spending tons of money to buy our own tickets.

Most of his successes people might list can be attributed to his predecessors. I don't think his job is as secure as you think.

[zipsfan33]

Its all gonna be OK Zips fans... I heard Coach Ianello say on Zips Live that, " I promise better days are ahead for Zips players and fans!" Woo Hoo I feel a lot better now!