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UAB Likely Scuttling Football Program


UAZipster0305

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I like Victor ,,,,,, For openers

77 Victor Salako Offensive Line 6-6 315 SO/1L Huntsville, Ala. (Grissom HS)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/654540/highlights/7307373

2 Jamari Staples Wide Receiver 6-4 190 SO/1L Lineville, Ala. (Central HS) ..... Nice size ..... another 20 lbs and he fits nicely.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1531124/jamari-staples

11 Quincy Perdue Wide Receiver 6-3 210 FR/HS Marietta, Ga. (Lassiter HS)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1470942/highlights/73491390

67 Chris Hudson Offensive Line 6-5 280 FR/HS Ocala, Fla. (West Port HS))

Man I hope we are on this

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I think I feel worst for the alumni. The players at least can finish out somewhere else and have an ongoing football program to associate with. The existing alumni (who were fans) will no longer be able to go to a football game of their alma mater and are bitter toward the big brother school/trustees. I guess they will become Auburn fans.

A good article with lots of MAC references:

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20141203_With_costs_spiraling_up_a_college_tosses_out_football.html?id=284622931

Other Possibilities: Northern Illinois Rumors are the Huskies are quite unhappy with the MAC, and along with Ohio might be looking to leave.
http://www.underdogdynasty.com/2014/12/3/7327255/uab-football-fallout-who-replaces-the-blazers-in-conference-usa
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I don't think the majority of the students realize we have a football program, or only remember the really crappy teams we had.

My wife has several cousins who go there and during an outing me and my son left to go to a Zips game and they all asked why? The male, a sports fan, said he went to the first game at the Info, but the team is so bad there's no reason to go there even for free.

That is where we are.

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Question:

If the continuation of the Akron football program was put up for a vote by current UA students do you think the answer would be yay or nay?

My question:

If the continuation of apathetic current UA students was put up for a vote by Zips fans, ...yay or nay?

(I vote nay)

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I was in for the CUSA a few years back.. But I'm not sure it's an upward move at this point. Competition is a little bit better.. But terrible travel, no rivals, not much local interest. Not many "names" that will draw fans out to games either. I think I'm in the stay put camp, unless we can get into the AAC at some point.

Looking exclusively at this situation as what do we gain from moving from the MAC to CUSA, it might not seem favorable. However, if you consider that two or three other MAC schools may leave to join CUSA and we are left behind, the MAC becomes highly undesirable. Would you want to be in the MAC if NIU, Toledo, and Ohio left? I wouldn't! Besides, a north-south divisional alignment in CUSA would not be too bad travel-wise.

CUSA would be a huge upgrade in competition for soccer.

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Did you not all just see the crap deal the commissioner just got for the MAC? This conference is garbage. CUSA at least has some decent teams and a decent tv deal (No more tues games). Also, this will help with non conference scheduling as they can always schedule Can't, BG, OU, etc. Akron recruits in the south and this would help with that. People talk about getting to the AAC. This is how you do it.

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Who's in CUSA?

Conference USA enjoys a far-reaching fan base with its 14 members: Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and WKU.

Looks like an awesome basketball conference. And a step up in football too.

Can Wistercill mastermind the deal to get us in?

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I think that's a 2 or 3 bid league if UA, UT and OU join. Decent travel in a division of us, OU, UT, Marshall, WKU, ODU and MTSU.

I guess I'd be bummed if we joined and no other MAC teams did. Looks like they'd either add 1 or 3. I'd hope a MAC team or 2 joined us, if we did in fact look to make the move.

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Who's in CUSA?

Conference USA enjoys a far-reaching fan base with its 14 members: Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and WKU.

Looks like an awesome basketball conference. And a step up in football too.

Can Wistercill mastermind the deal to get us in?

This is where having beautiful new facilities and big name coaches really matters. If league officials visit they will no doubt be impressed.

Moving to CUSA would give UA a more national profile as well. Could this be what finally allows the locals to see UA as a national research university rather than just a city college and commuter school?

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This is where having beautiful new facilities and big name coaches really matters. If league officials visit they will no doubt be impressed.

Moving to CUSA would give UA a more national profile as well. Could this be what finally allows the locals to see UA as a national research university rather than just a city college and commuter school?

I think we need to have a viable plan to replace the dump we call an "arena". JAR by any other name still stinks.

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I think we need to have a viable plan to replace the dump we call an "arena". JAR by any other name still stinks.

Pretty much any other school we'd be competing with for a slot in CUSA would not have great overall facilities. An arena is the only part of the puzzle that is missing for us. There are plans on the table, which I expect would be enough to placate league officials. Keep in mind, aside from NIU, no other school has the media market that we do, and that is a huge part of the appeal.

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Is it possible for us to pick up any of those "cancelled" games? Would we want any of those games...personally I wouldn't mind visiting Nashville again, I had a blast there.

Balsy, were you in Nashville while the football team was in Knoxville? Hope you enjoyed yourself! :CK_brew:

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The last D1-A/FBS program to drop football was The University of the Pacific in 1995. It just so happens, the Zips picked up RB Yasin Reeder from that squad and he went on to have a pretty productive year for UA in 1996 (as seen in the link, Yasin is now an assistant for Paul Winters at Wayne St). So heck yeah, go out and bring some of the ex-Blazers to Akron coaching staff! I prefer 1 RB, 1, WR and 1 OL in my stocking (don't want to use up too many schollies).

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I agree with footballzip. The MAC is where we need to make our stand (football-wise). But footballzip, I think the question of switching conferences is hovering around the fact that it would be all sports: soccer, basketball, football...would it be an upgrade for all sports...if so then we should probably consider it.

However, I don't think this is realistic. C-USA will not be adding Akron anytime remotely close to now.

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I agree with footballzip. The MAC is where we need to make our stand (football-wise). But footballzip, I think the question of switching conferences is hovering around the fact that it would be all sports: soccer, basketball, football...would it be an upgrade for all sports...if so then we should probably consider it.

However, I don't think this is realistic. C-USA will not be adding Akron anytime remotely close to now.

The MAC is the butt of football jokes around the country for it's pathetic pedigree. Even our most important demographic (Ohio) believes this. We should jump ship the first chance we get.

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C-USA offers inroads to much better recruiting. Ohio has good football and basketball talent, but the problem is that we don't get to play much in other big recruiting states because half our conference opponents are in Ohio, and the rest are in worse states for high school talent, especially in football. C-USA gets us regular games in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina, all of which are better recruiting states than Ohio.

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The MAC is a smaller Div.1 conference. We do get respect when we regularly beat big ten, ACC,(Pitt) and other bigger conference teams. We have had alot of big name pro's come out of the MAC, The MAC has been a long established conference, with most of its members being here for a long time. We were never big time conference, but I feel a respectful conference, that will beat the big boys once in a while.

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The MAC is a smaller Div.1 conference. We do get respect when we regularly beat big ten, ACC,(Pitt) and other bigger conference teams. We have had alot of big name pro's come out of the MAC, The MAC has been a long established conference, with most of its members being here for a long time. We were never big time conference, but I feel a respectful conference, that will beat the big boys once in a while.

Where ever did you get the idea that the MAC is respected? Some area outside the MAC's footprint, I would guess. There's probably more respect for the MAC in California than there is in Ohio.

Also, we can beat BCS programs while playing for a different conference, too, you know.

And as for the MAC being long-established, that's a nice way of saying it's stagnant. The same group of schools have made up the MAC since the early 70s, with the exceptions being Akron, Buffalo, and NIU who left and came back like Marshall. They're all happy where they are, and happy being together. And they look at Akron as the newcomer, who joined recently, all the way back in 1992. We'll never be accepted as a real MAC member, because we haven't been in the conference for 50 years. There is no push for improvement from the MAC. At least in C-USA you're with a group of other schools that strive to be more than what they are.

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The MAC is the butt of football jokes around the country for it's pathetic pedigree. Even our most important demographic (Ohio) believes this. We should jump ship the first chance we get.

And we've been the butt of the MAC and MAC jokes for a long time. I don't think a move is realistic, but I could be wrong.

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