Shocked

[InTheZone]

There's not much I can say after what transpired yesterday. I was as absolutely stunned by the news as everyone else. I'm literally at a loss for words.

Those of you who know me off the board, and after this coaching search most everyone on here who reads my posts, knows how much respect I have for Coach Winters. I owe a lot to the man in terms of how I developed as both a player and a man. That being said, I can't express how disappointed I am in him today.

I know that Coach Winters has been treated unjustly, burned, by this University in the past. There are some stories I've heard (not from him, mind you, as he's not the kind of guy that goes around airing his grievences to everyone) that would make any spite he has for the University of Akron understandable. But the numerous times I've spoken with him through the years and even recently, he's never given me any impression other than he'd love to come back here as Head Coach if given the opportunity. He was given that opportunity, and turned it down.

I do plan on calling Coach at some point within the next few months and hopefully getting the story of exactly why he did this. At this point, I'm just as clueless as the rest of you. I don't know whether TW lowballed him, if Wayne State outbid Akron (how embarrassing), if TW wouldn't give him the necessary institutional commitments (budget, staff salaries, etc) that he felt he needed to win, or if he just doesn't have it in him to rebuild another program. Regardless of the reason however, I'm pissed at him, and don't understand it.

All that being said, I'm going to take some time off this board, and off from Zip sports in general. Sports are supposed to be for entertainment and fun, and I'm allowing myself to get way too entwined in all of this. When you root for a program like Akron, that can take a toll quickly.

Obviously it's taken its toll on me, as I allowed myself to get so agitated that I literally told another poster that I wanted to beat his ass at the VCU game. To Zipgrad01, I apologize. Regardless of what was said, there is never any justification for something that childish. I allowed my emotion and agitation to get the best of me, and I hope you'll accept my apology.

Whomever TW hires, he's going to need our support. He's going to have a tough job ahead of him after the mess that's been left. Last time around, I saw the stupidity of the hire when it was made, and I was never on board with the guy. Regardless of who is hired this time around though, he'll have my support for a very tough job, so long as I generally see a commitment to winning, minus the arrogance and "better than this" attitude of RI. I hope the rest of you will make the same commitment, both with your voices on this board and with your wallet. If the hire is vastly unqualified like the last one, that won't be his fault... it'll be TW's. Let's give him our support and try to ressurrect this thing.

GO ZIPS,

ITZ

[Blue & Gold]

Good to see you post, dude.

I'm wearing black right now.

[Zipmeister]

There's not much I can say after what transpired yesterday. I was as absolutely stunned by the news as everyone else. I'm literally at a loss for words.

Those of you who know me off the board, and after this coaching search most everyone on here who reads my posts, knows how much respect I have for Coach Winters. I owe a lot to the man in terms of how I developed as both a player and a man. That being said, I can't express how disappointed I am in him today.

I know that Coach Winters has been treated unjustly, burned, by this University in the past. There are some stories I've heard (not from him, mind you, as he's not the kind of guy that goes around airing his grievences to everyone) that would make any spite he has for the University of Akron understandable. But the numerous times I've spoken with him through the years and even recently, he's never given me any impression other than he'd love to come back here as Head Coach if given the opportunity. He was given that opportunity, and turned it down.

I do plan on calling Coach at some point within the next few months and hopefully getting the story of exactly why he did this. At this point, I'm just as clueless as the rest of you. I don't know whether TW lowballed him, if Wayne State outbid Akron (how embarrassing), if TW wouldn't give him the necessary institutional commitments (budget, staff salaries, etc) that he felt he needed to win, or if he just doesn't have it in him to rebuild another program. Regardless of the reason however, I'm pissed at him, and don't understand it.

All that being said, I'm going to take some time off this board, and off from Zip sports in general. Sports are supposed to be for entertainment and fun, and I'm allowing myself to get way too entwined in all of this. When you root for a program like Akron, that can take a toll quickly.

Obviously it's taken its toll on me, as I allowed myself to get so agitated that I literally told another poster that I wanted to beat his ass at the VCU game. To Zipgrad01, I apologize. Regardless of what was said, there is never any justification for something that childish. I allowed my emotion and agitation to get the best of me, and I hope you'll accept my apology.

Whomever TW hires, he's going to need our support. He's going to have a tough job ahead of him after the mess that's been left. Last time around, I saw the stupidity of the hire when it was made, and I was never on board with the guy. Regardless of who is hired this time around though, he'll have my support for a very tough job, so long as I generally see a commitment to winning, minus the arrogance and "better than this" attitude of RI. I hope the rest of you will make the same commitment, both with your voices on this board and with your wallet. If the hire is vastly unqualified like the last one, that won't be his fault... it'll be TW's. Let's give him our support and try to ressurrect this thing.

GO ZIPS,

ITZ

Front runner for the 2011 Award for "Most words by a guy who is at a loss for words."

[Blue & Gold]

...or if he just doesn't have it in him to rebuild another program...

It honestly may be as simple as this. He's not as young as he once was.

[72 Roo]

ITZ, there is a lot of pain that is felt by ZipsNation now. We have been rejected for no obvious reason. Nothing makes sense now and we are all feeling low. But let's get over it. The right guy can turn this around. We could be on the cusp of moving this program to a higher level, one above the MAC. Remember to achieve it you first have to dream it. We will get better and rise above being a program Paul Winters would easily turn down. I'll never know why Paul turned us down, but we will be better soon. Hang in there, TW or LP will right the ship of football.

[Zipgrad01]

There's not much I can say after what transpired yesterday. I was as absolutely stunned by the news as everyone else. I'm literally at a loss for words.

Those of you who know me off the board, and after this coaching search most everyone on here who reads my posts, knows how much respect I have for Coach Winters. I owe a lot to the man in terms of how I developed as both a player and a man. That being said, I can't express how disappointed I am in him today.

I know that Coach Winters has been treated unjustly, burned, by this University in the past. There are some stories I've heard (not from him, mind you, as he's not the kind of guy that goes around airing his grievences to everyone) that would make any spite he has for the University of Akron understandable. But the numerous times I've spoken with him through the years and even recently, he's never given me any impression other than he'd love to come back here as Head Coach if given the opportunity. He was given that opportunity, and turned it down.

I do plan on calling Coach at some point within the next few months and hopefully getting the story of exactly why he did this. At this point, I'm just as clueless as the rest of you. I don't know whether TW lowballed him, if Wayne State outbid Akron (how embarrassing), if TW wouldn't give him the necessary institutional commitments (budget, staff salaries, etc) that he felt he needed to win, or if he just doesn't have it in him to rebuild another program. Regardless of the reason however, I'm pissed at him, and don't understand it.

All that being said, I'm going to take some time off this board, and off from Zip sports in general. Sports are supposed to be for entertainment and fun, and I'm allowing myself to get way too entwined in all of this. When you root for a program like Akron, that can take a toll quickly.

Obviously it's taken its toll on me, as I allowed myself to get so agitated that I literally told another poster that I wanted to beat his ass at the VCU game. To Zipgrad01, I apologize. Regardless of what was said, there is never any justification for something that childish. I allowed my emotion and agitation to get the best of me, and I hope you'll accept my apology.

Whomever TW hires, he's going to need our support. He's going to have a tough job ahead of him after the mess that's been left. Last time around, I saw the stupidity of the hire when it was made, and I was never on board with the guy. Regardless of who is hired this time around though, he'll have my support for a very tough job, so long as I generally see a commitment to winning, minus the arrogance and "better than this" attitude of RI. I hope the rest of you will make the same commitment, both with your voices on this board and with your wallet. If the hire is vastly unqualified like the last one, that won't be his fault... it'll be TW's. Let's give him our support and try to ressurrect this thing.

GO ZIPS,

ITZ

Not a problem. We are good. It is an emotional time to be a Zips fan and it is easy for things to go overboard.

[Big Zip]

Anyone else think George Thomas is going to get the inside story on the Winters non-hire? How impressed would you be if he drove to Detroit or set time to interview PW over the holidays when he was in town? Hey George this is your big chance to make some fans...just sayin.

[akronad]

GT is on vacation until 1/3. Knowing George, he is not going to anything that he is not paid to do.

[Blue & Gold]

GT is on vacation until 1/3. Knowing George, he is not going to anything that he is not paid to do.

A well deserved vacation.

[ZipRoo]

GT is on vacation until 1/3. Knowing George, he is not going to anything that he is not paid to do.

He seems to enjoy calling radio talk shows.

RE: A well deserved vacation.

(Yeah, what was he on the Zips beat for....a week?)

[Dave in Green]

@InTheZone, classy post. The statement from Winters, which you posted in another thread, helps explain his personal situation. Winters had dreamed of coaching the Zips while his mother and father were in the stands. Their loss caused him to reassess where he wanted to be and what he wanted to do with his life. I hope that made you personally feel more comfortable with his decision.

ZN.o is a better place with people like you active. I hope you'll reconsider your thoughts about taking time off from this forum. Your educated observations from the perspective of an ex-Zips player are always welcome here.

[afootball]

Paul Winters was never going to take the job here. We waiting and waiting which we all knew he would never be our HC. Now Akron has paid the price for waiting on him.

[K92]

Paul Winters reflects

[Zipmeister]

Paul Winters reflects

Sounds like Paul was just to tired to tell the folks from Akron that he would prefer to wait a little while before he talked to them.

[K-Roo]

Sounds more like he is full of himself and wanted more groveling. The opportunity was there for him when it was there. What a baby. " I wasn't ready. And they wanted an answer. And they offered me the job and I was too busy to think about it. and. waa.. waaa."

This makes me even more happy he is not the coach. Self-absorbed ego-maniac. We've tried that before.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I wish we had a Winters' offense last Saturday.

[Lee Adams]

Its almost impossible to judge from reading an article written by a sports columnist what actually happened much less what someone was thinking. Given some of the negativity on this site that has been thrown at the Akron athletic department it would likely be a mistake to sit in judgment of Winters' decision. Someone earlier commented that they had the opinion from reading the article that Winters was full of himself etc,etc. Or could be the other side viewed itself as some kind of white knight coming in to 'rescue' Winters from D-II. In any case so far it hasn't really worked all that well in Akron but hope springs eternal.

[Dave in Green]

I hope this doesn't devolve into a "Winters was too sensitive vs. Wistrcill was too insensitive" debate. I agree with @Lee Adams that we can't really know exactly what happened in a private meeting. All that kind of debate would drag up is a bunch of preconceptions and prejudices. I think Coach Winters could have done a good job at UA over time, but I'm not sure he could have done better than Coach Bowden to date. I'm certain that Coach Winters doesn't have the connections to bring in the high-level transfers that Coach Bowden has attracted. But all the talent in the world is meaningless without putting up wins. I'm sure there'll be a long discussion here at the end of this season about the number of wins that Coach Bowden's team produces and maybe a little speculation about whether Coach Winters could have done better.

[Zipmeister]

I hope this doesn't devolve into a "Winters was too sensitive vs. Wistrcill was too insensitive" debate. I agree with @Lee Adams that we can't really know exactly what happened in a private meeting. All that kind of debate would drag up is a bunch of preconceptions and prejudices. I think Coach Winters could have done a good job at UA over time, but I'm not sure he could have done better than Coach Bowden to date. I'm certain that Coach Winters doesn't have the connections to bring in the high-level transfers that Coach Bowden has attracted. But all the talent in the world is meaningless without putting up wins. I'm sure there'll be a long discussion here at the end of this season about the number of wins that Coach Bowden's team produces and maybe a little speculation about whether Coach Winters could have done better.

How can you be sure a long discussion will occur on this topic at the end of the season when the recent article produced just a handful of comments?

And regarding the debate, I think Winters was more too sensitive than Wistrill was too insensitive.

[K92]

How can you be sure a long discussion will occur on this topic at the end of the season when the recent article produced just a handful of comments?

And regarding the debate, I think Winters was was more too sensitive than Wistrill was too insensitive.

I think he was was too.

[Captain Kangaroo]

In other "Former UA Head Coach Candidate" news - Joe Moorhead has 1-AA Fordham sitting at 2-0, with a win over Top 10 ranked Villanova last Saturday.

[johnnyzip84]

In other "Former UA Head Coach Candidate" news - Joe Moorhead has 1-AA Fordham sitting at 2-0, with a win over Top 10 ranked Villanova last Saturday.

And w/o schollys too - impressive!

[skip-zip]

We'll never know what transpired, but I am so incredibly thankful for Bowden. A proven winner at every level, including at a major 1-A school. If he can't turn it around, nobody can.

Meanwhile, Winters has never even been a D-1 coach. Not even a 1-AA coach. Barely a .500 record as a D-II coach. And he just followed up his career year at that level with an "impressive" 5-5 season. This is pretty much the end of the story for me. Like I've said before, when the D-1 schools come clamoring for his services, maybe I'll change my opinion. But with coaches, most times they end up right where they ought to be. If big schools see your talents rising, they come calling, and produce the resources to bring you there. But, in this case, 10 years now at a D-II school. Likewise with Owens.

[MDZip]

In other "Former UA Head Coach Candidate" news - Joe Moorhead has 1-AA Fordham sitting at 2-0, with a win over Top 10 ranked Villanova last Saturday.

And who knocked off Temple this week. When do the calls for Joe Moorhead's return start? And Temple might just regret leaving the MAC, well at least they can point to all their championship hardware like Marshall could when they left the MAC, of wait, that's right, in their years in the MAC Temple never even made it to the MACC.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Two additional "Former Coach" Updates:

Former Zips RB coach Reno Ferri now holds the same position at Towson, where the Tigers are #2 in the latest FCS poll.

Former UA OL coach Mark Nori, who left the Zips in favor of the SF 49'ers staff, has his Stow Bulldogs at 5-0 as they enter this week's game against the 5-0 Hudson Explorers.