Dan Hipsher

[skip-zip]

In the end, Dan was yet another UA coach who hung on for NINE stinkin years at UA.

How was that even remotely possible?

Football mirrored that, with Owens. How can you keep a football coach for that long with a record 20+ games under .500 ??

Those were certainly some of the dark days of Akron Athletics, since football and basketball struggled mightily, simultaneously.

[legendofzippy]

Hipsher was a head coach at Wittenburg, Stetson, and coached the Zips for 9 seasons. He was also a top assistant at Alabama and South Florida.

Ianello was never so much as a coordinator in the Lingerie League or Pop Warner.

Completely different.

While I agree, I do want to point out that at Notre Dame Charlie Weis named him assistant head coach of offense, which is basically as stupid as it sounds. He was also Notre Dame's recruiting coordinator.

So I think Akron took a "if he's good enough for Notre Dame he's good enough for us" approach. I mean, I can't possibly imagine what else they were thinking. I guess they also ignored what a clown show Notre Dame was.

Anyway, after the extreme disappointment of the VCU game, at least we've all returned to our senses and realized how lucky we are to have Coach Dambrot. With Kest, Bowden, and others, we're pretty spoiled right now.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Anyway, after the extreme disappointment of the VCU game, at least we've all returned to our senses and realized how lucky we are to have Coach Dambrot. With Kest, Bowden, and others, we're pretty spoiled right now.

I dislike the "spoiled" moniker. It is untrue. Spoiled infers you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. That you don't have any concept of adversity.

Zips fans are 100% hardscrabble. Even in their men's best basketball season they get punched in the gut by King Hippo.

Their football team has won 3 combined games in 3 years. Coach Kest's WNIT appearance doesn't really scratch the surface of reparations required to forget the bulk of what we've endured over the past couple decades.

[GP1]

So I think Akron took a "if he's good enough for Notre Dame he's good enough for us" approach. I mean, I can't possibly imagine what else they were thinking. I guess they also ignored what a clown show Notre Dame was.

I respectfully disagree.

Since you brought up a clown show, I'll go that direction. TW hired a fellow clown from a clown show. There couldn't have been much thought put into hiring Ianello other than he was a friend of the AD. It's almost impossible to make any other conclusion.

[LZIp]

I respectfully disagree.

Since you brought up a clown show, I'll go that direction. TW hired a fellow clown from a clown show. There couldn't have been much thought put into hiring Ianello other than he was a friend of the AD. It's almost impossible to make any other conclusion.

right on cue.

[legendofzippy]

I respectfully disagree.

Since you brought up a clown show, I'll go that direction. TW hired a fellow clown from a clown show. There couldn't have been much thought put into hiring Ianello other than he was a friend of the AD. It's almost impossible to make any other conclusion.

I agree that would be a factor, but in the end, we all have someone we report to. Telling your superiors "I'm hiring my friend" just doesn't cut it. You have to point to something. He did have a high-ranking position at arguably the highest-profile team in the nation (even if they have been most awful the past two decades), so that had to be factored in. It wouldn't be the first time Akron - or many other schools - were fooled by someone with "Notre Dame" on their resume.

[legendofzippy]

I dislike the "spoiled" moniker. It is untrue. Spoiled infers you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. That you don't have any concept of adversity.

Zips fans are 100% hardscrabble. Even in their men's best basketball season they get punched in the gut by King Hippo.

Their football team has won 3 combined games in 3 years. Coach Kest's WNIT appearance doesn't really scratch the surface of reparations required to forget the bulk of what we've endured over the past couple decades.

I think you took the word spoiled in the wrong context. I meant it as a compliment - we're lucky to have coaches to be excited about. Also, if you're talking reparations, maybe that's a little spoiled?

I'm not trying to be argumentative here. Just saying we've had a ton of success recently across all sports, but we have a lot to be excited about too. When people go negative, I wonder if they've really tried following the program the past few decades.

[taxpayer]

It's not that complex. He never took an assertive role offensively, and had plenty of opportunities. Then, somewhere along the line, he lost his confidence to shoot the basketball.

Love the guy, but he was far, far away from being an Andy Hipsher. And Reggie has an even much longer way to go to ever reach that level.

Walsh's performance when healthy was impressive; especially when you factor in he rarely got more than 8 to 10 shots in a game. His game versus OK State illustrated what might have been but for injuries. He will never use it as an excuse but he was injuried almost all year with hip, back and ankle injuries. How he even got on the floor in Athens after severely spraining an ankle 6 days prior was unbelievable. Summation: great team first player who unfortunately played his last year hampered. Like Paul Harvey said........an now, you know the rest of the story.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I think you took the word spoiled in the wrong context. I meant it as a compliment - we're lucky to have coaches to be excited about. Also, if you're talking reparations, maybe that's a little spoiled?

If asking for reparations after forking over roughly $1,500 for football season tickets over the past 3 seasons is being spoiled, call me spoiled.

Some fans wear their hair shirts and are compelled to accept whatever tripe UA gives them. Others call a spade a spade, and have felt like Kunta Kinte coupled with Ground Hog Day from the moment InfoCision opened it's pearly gates to hell.

To each his own.

[legendofzippy]

If asking for reparations after forking over roughly $1,500 for football season tickets over the past 3 seasons is being spoiled, call me spoiled.

Some fans wear their hair shirts and are compelled to accept whatever tripe UA gives them. Others call a spade a spade, and have felt like Kunta Kinte coupled with Ground Hog Day from the moment InfoCision opened it's pearly gates to hell.

To each his own.

Well this is a message board so replying seems argumentative, but that's not what I'm trying to do. I agree with you, but there are some on this board that are spoiled, and some of the comments I heard in the stands during basketball this year were unreal. Even in wins there are those constantly griping about stuff. Yes, Zeke is the tallest guy on the floor. No, that doesn't mean he can grab every rebound.

But you can't just be a blind fan either, and none of us should be. The football team definitely needs to be held accountable for the mess Ianello left. We can blame him all we want, but in the end the university hired him.

Also - again, don't take this the wrong way - but the university didn't force you to buy those tickets. It's a tough call for fans - you want to support the program, but you also don't want to support a bad product.

[scottditzen]

Where to go with this?

If this was a Motown group from the 60s (since I went to the Motown Musical on Broadway last week, I had to get that in.), this group would be called "Jimmal Ball and the Forgettable Four". The problem with Hipsher was he didn't bring good enough talent to Akron. The Zips didn't bring top notch talent to Akron until Zeke came to town. There was a smattering of good players, but never top notch players.

I could be totally off base, but other than Ball, there isn't guy on the above team that would get significant playing time mid season last year. Hipsher was such a bad judge of talent, he gave his two sons scholarships.

Well, you may be right. But I think that's really a testament to the current talent. I just re-watched a Zips vs. Can't game on a crappy vhs tape last week (probably indicative of what my life is like currently). It was surreal. The JAR was packed and it brought back some vivid memories of the era.

George Phillips, pre-injury was a force. I wanna say he was All MAC as a freshman. His knee issues kept him from reaching his potential.

Andrick could play. I'd say his game was similar to Nik Cvetinovic, except Andrick had better offensive moves. Would Nik have gotten time this year? Hard for me to say.

And Bosley was such a unique player who could put up the points when needed. It's hard to say how good these guys - including Ball - really could've been if their coach didn't cause them to hate the game.

I still say Ball/Bosley was my favorite Zips backcourt in the last 20.

[Dr Z]

I still say Ball/Bosley was my favorite Zips backcourt in the last 20.

[odhgibo]

Well, you may be right. But I think that's really a testament to the current talent. I just re-watched a Zips vs. Can't game on a crappy vhs tape last week (probably indicative of what my life is like currently). It was surreal. The JAR was packed and it brought back some vivid memories of the era.

...

Andrick could play. I'd say his game was similar to Nik Cvetinovic, except Andrick had better offensive moves. Would Nik have gotten time this year? Hard for me to say.

And Bosley was such a unique player who could put up the points when needed. It's hard to say how good these guys - including Ball - really could've been if their coach didn't cause them to hate the game.

...

To tell you something about my life, the thought of asking to borrow the tape actually ran through my head.

I was surprised that Andrick wasn't as tall as I expected when I saw him in person (coaching Springfield). The same might have been true for Nik, but I have no data on that.

I still don't know how Bosley was able to score in D1, given his lack of size and speed. I couldn't believe when OSU offered him a full ride, and I couldn't believe when he became a scoring force when he transferred to UA.

Ball was the best overall PG I've seen at UA in my 15 years of watching.

Good memories.

[johnnyzip84]

I believe I heard Joe Dunn say on 1350 am's Big Time Sports today that they are interviewing Hip during the show tomorrow. No word on whether Andrick will get his say as well.

[Blue & Gold]

I believe I heard Joe Dunn say on 1350 am's Big Time Sports today that they are interviewing Hip during the show tomorrow. No word on whether Andrick will get his say as well.

You're correct. I didn't hear it today, but I did make a mental note when I heard them announce last Friday that Hipsher was going to be interviewed on Wednesday.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I believe I heard Joe Dunn say on 1350 am's Big Time Sports today that they are interviewing Hip during the show tomorrow. No word on whether Andrick will get his say as well.

Hope Joe has a 5 second delay instituted.

[legendofzippy]

I believe I heard Joe Dunn say on 1350 am's Big Time Sports today that they are interviewing Hip during the show tomorrow. No word on whether Andrick will get his say as well.

They were saying today at 5:00. A perfect way to spoil the end of a work day.