Tom Wistrcill Resigns. Larry Williams hired.

[bengalboardgg]

It's going to take 2-3 years of winning teams, and 7+ wins to get people's attention. The first winning season we will average around 10K. The second season around 15K and then the jump to 23K will happen. Of course, the killer in all of this will be the MAC mid week games that sap out attendance and kill the overall brand of football.

Sorry if I appear to be disappointed with the last man standing hire in Larry Williams. A career private school guy coming to a place where everything is micromanaged by a Board of Trustees and a loose cannon President. Someone who knows nothing about Akron, nothing about the marketplace, with only a 1 year President and Captain Bow Tie Larry Burns to guide him around. Not exactly lighting me up with optimism.

The entire interview pool for this position save for Van Horne was a massive letdown, including 3 people who were fired from their last jobs, a Miami lifer in Hernandez, leaving only Williams as one who would even take the job. Van Horne should get this AD job and I would not be surprised if after getting passed over he finally leaves. Loyalty at Akron has never been rewarded as in house AD hires never happen. They didn't after Thomas when Wadell was up for it, not after Rhodes when Yurachek wanted it, and not now after Wistricil when Van Horne deserves it. The repeating cycle of the grass is always greener will repeat itself and again we will fail to achieve anything consistent or upward in motion.

[a-zip]

It isn't the only thing that's hollow with you.

I give you the facts you asked for and you respond with a childish cartoon…..I'm assuming you copied and pasted a cartoon that was sent to you. In order to win, you need top recruits. In order to get top recruits you need compelling reasons to choose a school. Taking a recruiting trip with 5-8 people at the stadium ain't gonnna turn anyone on. All my past post are starting to come to fruition…….I told all of you if people don't start supporting the school we would be in big trouble……TB will leave, Amato will leave, and KD will leave. MARK MY WORDS if all the BS excuses you people keep using continue unfortunately I will be right!

[skip-zip]

Hey LZip....not trying to ruin your party, but if I were trying to prove a 20k attendance average over 5 years, I wouldn't reference a couple of the largest years, and ignore the rest.

The 2 years you ignored are years where they averaged 13k and 17k, and the lowest one was the most recent.

Kangaroo....If the NIU example has "Zero" (your word) to do with our situation, please find me an example more valid than a consistently successful program, from the same conference, and the same part of the country, which is likewise surrounded by Big 10 territory. And should I add that they are less than an hour away from the 3rd largest city in the country?

[Dave in Green]

... Sorry if I appear to be disappointed with the last man standing hire in Larry Williams. A career private school guy coming to a place where everything is micromanaged by a Board of Trustees and a loose cannon President. Someone who knows nothing about Akron, nothing about the marketplace, with only a 1 year President and Captain Bow Tie Larry Burns to guide him around. Not exactly lighting me up with optimism. ...

I get part of this. I pointed out in my original post on LW that all of his experience was at private Catholic schools without football programs, which is a legitimate concern. It's also a concern that he's unfamiliar with the Akron marketplace. But then you'd have to automatically disqualify anyone without an Akron connection, which is extremely limiting.

[LZIp]

Hey LZip....not trying to ruin your party, but if I were trying to prove a 20k attendance average over 5 years, I wouldn't reference a couple of the largest years, and ignore the rest.

The 2 years you ignored are years where they averaged 13k and 17k, and the lowest one was the most recent.

Kangaroo....If the NIU example has "Zero" (your word) to do with our situation, please find me an example more valid than a consistently successful program, from the same conference, and the same part of the country, which is likewise surrounded by Big 10 territory. And should I add that they are less than an hour away from the 3rd largest city in the country?

Well even if I didn't ignore the rest, not even this most recent year anomaly, they are still averaging 18k over a 5 year period. I stand by my statement that I think if we had a program with similar success to NIU, with our beautiful facilities and being located in a hotbed for football, 20k average attendance wouldn't be unreasonable. But my roots aren't from Northeast Ohio, so maybe I am not as cynical as some.

[K92]

Given our history, I think it may be prudent to avoid all things ND. Just sayin'.

[a-zip]

It isn't the only thing that's hollow with you.

and Captain Kangaroo………in the last 100 years…...in the history of the world……history of Buchtel College/University of Akron/Ohio Tech….how many games has the city of Akron had attendance over 20K? And You still continue the delusional talk about moving to a bigger conference…………………...HEL…LOOO?

[skip-zip]

Ok LZip, without doing all of the math, lets say that NIU only falls 2,000 short of the 20,000 average you presumed. Seems like a small number, except that it's 60,000 people over a 5 year period.

Imagine getting that many more new people attracted to MAC football?

And the huge drop off could even possibly indicate that after the major bowl game appearances, the fans quickly disappeared again?

The lesson to be learned here is that it's very, very tough, even during a remarkable run of success and a location close to one of the largest metro areas in the county, for a MAC team to reach a 20k average.

[LosAngelesZipFan]

Building a fan base it hard, particularly when it means pushing against the decades of what UA (or Can't or any MAC school for that matter) has meant to NEO sports fans and in the context of an increasingly challenging landscape to build a program.

It's not just winning, as evidenced by our BB team's struggle to fill the JAR consistently.

It's clearly not just facility, as evidenced by building the Info.

And it's not just Akron, but rather a MAC phenomenon, as evidenced by NIU. And it's also an issue for other schools in similar conferences like the MWC.

Building a fan base is about building affiliation-- a tribe. That is hard to do, but not impossible. It is probably easier, however, to build from scratch rather than having to undo the preconceived notion about something that develops over decades. The key thing in building a tribe is a sense of movement. People have to feel like they are a part of something that is building, that has forward movement and momentum. And, it has to feel like that the destination is something important and significant.

So, yes, at the core is winning because all the other hurdles are completely insurmountable without that. But that doesn't mean the other hurdles aren't don't exist. The marketing equation is "winning + reconsideration". Basically, we have a heavily flawed brand playing in a conference that ignites almost no interest in the market. The Scarphoon of negative news coverage the last 4 months has hurt our brand even more.

Let's make the assumption (ok, wild leap of faith) that TB will start winning. What is the plan to drive 're-consideration', the critical step that would have to happen to reset the current default view.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Let's make the assumption (ok, wild leap of faith) that TB will start winning. What is the plan to drive 're-consideration', the critical step that would have to happen to reset the current default view.

One word - Polytechnic.

[zippyfan34]

Williams it is. Per GoZips release

[Dave in Green]

I'm disappointed that George Van Horne didn't get the job, as I think he could have done well. All the pressure is now on Larry Williams. I wish him well as UA and Zips Athletics need all the help they can get right now. George's experience and expertise could provide huge assistance to Larry assuming George doesn't get a better offer elsewhere.

[K92]

"Larry Williams was our top choice," Scarborough said. "He brings a wealth of experience to the position. We are very excited to see what Larry will do to elevate our intercollegiate athletics program to a higher level."

http://www.gozips.com/general/2015-16/Releases/WIlliams_Larry_Release_081815

[ZachTheZip]

http://m.pfref.com/m?p=XXplayersXXWXXWillLa21.htm

Drafted by the Cleveland Browns.

[morris buttermaker]

"Larry Williams was our top choice," Scarborough said.

Can we really be asked to believe this?... I do think he is a good choice-- except that I think he leaves asap when a better (Catholic or academic) school has an opening.

[Dr Z]

Can we really be asked to believe this?

Browns fans do when they hire a new coach every other year. Why can't Zip fans?

[skip-zip]

I just got the announcement in my e-mail. Williams is the choice. Congratulations. I hope he can do the job.

Edit: Hey, what is this I am seeing about him leading Marquette's entry into a bigger conference?

[lance99]

I just got the announcement in my e-mail. Williams is the choice. Congratulations. I hope he can do the job.

Edit: Hey, what is this I am seeing about him leading Marquette's entry into a bigger conference?

The Big east is a "Better" Basketball Conference.

[Zip-Law]

Good luck to Williams. Personally, I would have liked to see Van Horne get the job, though. He's been with UA for a long time and very committed to NE Ohio and the University of Akron - qualities I think UA could use right now. Not saying Williams won't be "all in", but he's certainly bounced around a lot in his career, which makes me nervous.

So, with all that being said, if Zips fans really want to make a difference and see UA be successful and prosper, buy season tickets and put butts in the seats! DO IT! DO IT NOW!!!!

[UAZipster0305]

I wish him the best. However, if Williams doesn't work out, I say no to ever again embraching the ND legacy. Faust and iCoach were strikes one and two.

I'm impressed with his resume and background. Completed law school while and NFL player...wow! I also like that he has experience with successful soccer and basketball programs. Unfortunately, I think the financial success of the entire department depends on selling tickets at The Big Dialer.

[skip-zip]

I find it rather silly for someone to imply any link to failure because others who they deem as unsuccessful once worked at the same University. If you thought someone was a boob who once worked at a particular company, would you have a fear of the ability of everyone else that ever worked at that company?

Who knows. The Gerry connection may have even been the reason why we were able to attract someone with Larry's kind of background. And although people will debate forever about Gerry's college coaching ability, I will forever acknowledge all of the work he did to get us started in D-1A, under very lean circumstances, and all of the great former players who I've gotten to know who rave about how much he did to develop them as players and people.

Lumping Gerry and Rob I. in the same conversation is just ridiculous.

[Dave in Green]

I see two pluses with Larry Williams right off the bat. First he has a strong marketing background. For everyone who's been critical of past UA marketing efforts, this is a critical strength to have in a new AD. Now we'll have to see how that marketing background translates to a lesser known school in one of the lesser conferences in a mid-range marketing area. Can he make some magic out of the Z? Second his strong record on academics is sure to score points with UA faculty who may believe that athletics and academics don't mix well. At the very least faculty won't have the same level of animosity with this AD that they would with a pure jock who tries to cheat the system to protect athletes who are under-performing in academics.

[GoZips]

From the bio on Gozips.com "Williams was a two-time All-American football player and a 1985 graduate of the University of Notre Dame."

Enough said. Strike three. When will we ever learn?

[LZIp]

I find it hard to have a reason not to like this hire. Certainly could have done a lot worse. Not sure about better.

[LZIp]

From the bio on Gozips.com "Williams was a two-time All-American football player and a 1985 graduate of the University of Notre Dame."

Enough said. Strike three. When will we ever learn?

Probably about the same time Akron joins the ACC.