J.D.

[a-zip]

J.D. BuzzzzFor those of you that don't think it will happen sooner than later..

[GP1]

Interesting report. Great find a-zip! The guy writes, "then lost to Central Michigan". CMU may be the second best team we play all year..........much better than NC State (State is only a 3 or 4 win team), and we lost to them on the road on our third straight away game and could have easily won the game.I think the biggest advantage JD would have is his recruiting ties to Florida.The biggest disadvantage is not many coaches are leaving the MAC and experiencing much success. The guy that left for Missouri from Toledo is in a perpetual state of average. Terry H from Miami is at Indiana to break the bank at the end of his career and his program is going nowhere. Miami is going to be looking for a "sure thing". Does a MAC coach give that to you?.......I'm not sure. Will the Miami community settle for a MAC coach?........I'm not sure.If JD wants this type of job by next year, he can't lose a game the remainder of the season.

[ZipAnalyst]

J.D. Brookhart: Up-and-comer won the MAC in his second year at Akron. Won at North Carolina State this season, then lost to Central Michigan.

.Good for JD. Certainly! Bad for Akron? Not necessarily. The Zips backed into the MAC Championship game in 2005 and got lucky in the game itself. Under Brookhart the Zips have been inconsistent. Remember Central Michigan, Army and Ball State last year.The Zips got help from other teams. It was not Brookhart's motivational and quality skill inculcation coaching that got them into the championship. If I were selecting a coach for the Hurricanes, Brookhart would be last on the list if on the list at all. He still has much to prove. Many of the ZipNation folks are premature in thei accolades they are hurling JD's way. Their exhuberance is happening because the Akron program has been pathetic since the Dennison era.As a long time Zip fan I hope JD pans out as being extraordinary. If he does, Akron will lose him. But the program will then be of such a quality that high quality replacements will be drawn to the program.

[KentZip]

Oh my God ZipAnalyst! A logical reply. Stop it!!!There have to be 10 names on that list that make much more sense. Like you state, let's get JD's contract extended and cheer as our program gets better over time. All of this talk of losing JD and Big East membership is way premature. Some people see the only way up from the MAC as moving to a better conference. It may be that over time, the MAC itself becomes a better conference than CUSA or the Big East. Then you don't have to move, just win the MAC baby!

[GP1]

Good for JD.  Certainly!  Bad for Akron?  Not necessarily.  The Zips backed into the MAC Championship game in 2005 and got lucky in the game itself.

Bad for Akron? Absolutely. We need two more years of JD to make certain the program could be placed on cruise control while a new staff takes shape. The defense is playing much better. The offensive just needs to execute better. Two top recruiting classes in the MAC the past two seasons. The team's size and athletic ability is better than it has ever been. The players are more physical than they have ever been (probably due to being bigger and stronger). I also think the team is mentally stronger than it has ever been....we never used to come from behind in a game to win. The team is better prepared than it has ever been (remember the number if timeouts we had to take prior to JD because the freaking defense didn't know where to line up). Without question, JD Brookhart is one of the top two or three coaches in the MAC. Losing him at this point would be very difficult for the program to overcome. The people on this board have not given JD anything.......he has earned the respect of the fans after some were calling for his head when he started his first season 1-4.The win in the MACC was not luck. JD and his staff completely out coached NIU in the game last season, especially when it counted in the fourth quarter. The staff kept the team together, made the adjustments they needed to make, had all of their time outs at the end of the game, held NIU to a three and out after an INT and executed a great two minute drive at the end of the game. How is that luck? Sounds like good coaching to me.Please define backing into the MACC. We won all the games we had to win to get there and played by the same rules as everyone else. You make it sound like we did something wrong. In fact, we did everything right. Sorry you have a problem with Akron experiencing success. For some reason, there are some out there who do.

[Buckzip]

You don't go from Akron to Miami.There is another stepping stone.Urban Meyer went from BG to Utah, before Florida.As for Terry H. at Indiana, they are basically a MAC school. IU is not big time.I am sure he would leave there if something better came along.Coaches don't voluntarily leave big time programs for other big time programs unless they are an alum, or have ties somehow. I feel JD will be taken, but he will have to go to a higer level mid major, before the big time like Miami.I think JD will eventually be big time, but he needs another step first.

[GP1]

One other thing on us getting lucky in the MACC. It drives me crazy when a person claims someone had success because of luck. It took me a few minutes to find this quote in the book I have been reading, but here it goes. This is from Page 60 of David Maraniss in his book "Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero". It's a great book and I highly recommend it. The quote if from the great manager Branch Rickey. I'll write the entire paragraph. Mostly, the phrase "Luck is the residue of design" is all we get."All events in Mr. Rickey's world could be studied, categorized, and explained. Good things did not fall upon people, or baseball clubs, by accident. He was a man of sayings, and his most famous phrase came a the end of his thought: 'Things worthwhile generally don't just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference or inattention are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.'" Akron 31, NIU 30.

[Buckzip]

Every champion has had luck.Luck isn't always a bounce of the ball, or a bad call, it is also pulling something out of a hat. Sure we had some luck. Every champ does.

[ZipAnalyst]

Aah, Mr. Branch Rickey. One of my all time favorites. A man who had the foresight and courage to bring Jackie Robinson to the major leagues.GP1 does choose good sources, however, in his first contribution to this discussion he cherry picked the "design" quote. He redeemed himself by giving the entire quote which serves to support GP1's point while not invalidating mine."Luck is a fact." But I am quick to affirm GP1's point (if I may paraphrase) that luck most often happens to those who prepare themselves and, of course, the converse of that.My expression to my students is "putting one's self in a position to succeed." However, notwithstanding being throughly prepared, people (teams) get underservedly lucky while sometimes the unprepared get rewarded with fortuity.My take on JD so far is that there is not enough evidence that he has generated a well prepared team that just falls into having fortunate things happen to them. Over time that may happen and there is some evidence that it is happening (NCST may be a point of evidence but Central Michigan militates the other direction). Akron had every incentive to defeat CMU (losing a 17 point lead last year, building for a good crowd at the North Texas game tomorrow, et cetera) and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (I think we were good enough [talent wise] to win the CMU game). My question is did the coach get in the way? I know GP1 will not like the question but I pose it anyway.Why would you try a pass like the one returned 100 yards when you could have tried something much safer. A fourteen point turnaround is difficult to overcome. Taking that kind of risk is not putting oneself in a position to succeed. An interception is one thing, bringing it back for a 100 yard touchdown is somethng else.Also, we passed the ball down field only to get bogged down in trying to run the ball in. Obviously, the coach forgot the narrowest of margins in scoring at NCST. The point being that Akron's offensive line is not exactly blowing people off the line of scrimmage. A part of point of putting oneself in a position to succeed in squaring up with what you do well and going with "whom brung you to the dance" in the first place. And when you do pass, why would it be on fourth down and to a tight end other than Kasparek who Getsy has much more of a history with.I like JD Brookhart but I am not ready to cannonize him. He has some growing to do as a coach and I am sure he would be the first person to say so.

[Dr Z]

You don't go from Akron to Miami.

If you can go from YSU to OSU, anything is possible.I can remember a Steve French quote when a caller said "what do you think about Jim Tressel at OSU?"Steve: "my big toe has a better chance of coaching at OSU than Jim Tressel"It wouldn't surprise me if JD got hired anywhere. I have a feeling he will only move for a great opportunity.Enjoy JD while he is here. Why worry now, nobody is going to hire him until the end of any given season (not saying at the end of this season.) Champs know how to put themselves in position to take advantage of so called "luck"

[Buckzip]

You don't go from Akron to Miami.

If you can go from YSU to OSU, anything is possible.I can remember a Steve French quote when a caller said "what do you think about Jim Tressel at OSU?"Steve: "my big toe has a better chance of coaching at OSU than Jim Tressel"It wouldn't surprise me if JD got hired anywhere. I have a feeling he will only move for a great opportunity.Enjoy JD while he is here. Why worry now, nobody is going to hire him until the end of any given season (not saying at the end of this season.) Champs know how to put themselves in position to take advantage of so called "luck"

I knew someone would bring that up. I actually posted that originally and then deleted it.Tressel was a former asst. at OSU. He also won multiple NC at YSU. OSU wanted someone with Ohio ties and JT had that. I don't believe he was their first choice, even though he was the right one. JD hasn't won anything yet. Tressel had a great record over many years.

[Zip Watcher]

I like JD Brookhart but I am not ready to cannonize him.

I'm quite certain JD is thankful for that.Go Zips!

[GP1]

"Luck is a fact." But I am quick to affirm GP1's point (if I may paraphrase) that luck most often happens to those who prepare themselves and, of course, the converse of that.My question is did the coach get in the way? I know GP1 will not like the question but I pose it anyway.

Great discussion.Preparation (intelligence) is only half of the conjunction. The other half discusses effort. JD has brought players to Akron that not only have talent, but also display a high level of effort. Hard work can not be taught, it just exists in a person who at some point in their life decided something good could happen to them if they just work hard. Likewise for talent, it just exists. Intelligence.........football isn't exactly splitting the atom. As long as the coaches can teach them the game, all will be well if the effort is there. A senior QB should not make the play Luke did Saturday, he has been in college football too long to allow that to happen.The other point above is, "Did the coach get in the way?". I was listening to the call in show last night on 1350 AM, and JD all but said he did get in the way. His point was not directed at the play call. He said something along the lines that if he does not challenge the call, the team attempts a field goal and they win the game because the INT for a TD does not happen (something like that). So here we are in the unlucky seat Mr. Rickey describes. Did "intelligence and effort" combine at their best for CMU on that play? I would say yes. Sometimes, the other team is allowed to make good plays too.

[a-zip]

If you can go from YSU to OSU, anything is possible.I can remember a Steve French quote when a caller said "what do you think about Jim Tressel at OSU?"Steve: "my big toe has a better chance of coaching at OSU than Jim Tressel"It wouldn't surprise me if JD got hired anywhere. I have a feeling he will only move for a great opportunity.Enjoy JD while he is here. Why worry now, nobody is going to hire him until the end of any given season (not saying at the end of this season.) Champs know how to put themselves in position to take advantage of so called "luck"

Summarizes my thought exactly. Lets enjoy the year and J.D's tenure.To those of you that don't think JD is great....here are some facts; we won the MACC, we went to a bowl, the teams FIGHT until the last second has ticked, we've have had some incredible recruiting classes, we beat NCSt at their house, and we are are all incredibly optimistic about this year. Heck, Luke transferred without having seen the school!We would not be having any of these discussions or wins if it were not for J.D. I only hope he holds out for a MAJOR job and not a stepping stone to one.J.D IS THE MAN!!!

[Buckzip]

I don't think anyone is saying JD hasn't done a great job in the short time he has been here. I know we are going to lose him sooner rather than later. I just feel he needs another stepping stone before he reaches the top programs.I would love to see what he can do with this program in 5 years, along with a new stadium to help sell to recruits.

[SoFlaZip]

This is not to throw ice water on your fire GPI and Zip Analyst, but, if you read The Biography of Larry Doby - Pride and Prejudice, you might want to reconsider the greatness of the "manager" Branch Rickey or Branch Rickey being one of your all time favorites (assuming the greatness and favortism is base in part on HIS alleges intergration of baseball).If not. then I apologize for being so presumptious (sp). DEFENSE SPEED DEFENSE SPEED DEFENSE SPEED DEFENSE SPEED DEFENSE SPEED DEFENSE SPEED In JD I trust