Smaller, Leaner athletic program...

[DannyHoke]

3 hours ago, GP1 said:

This is a really good point and central to what I have been concerned about as it relates to schools like ours for a few years. I would bet a lot of money your lack of interest didn't happen overnight. All of us have been given two scenarios by the morons who run our athletic departments. Fans can pick one or the other or both. Both are bad. The experiment has run it's course and the results are in and the current state of MAC football proves how disastrous things have become.

 

Scenario one:  Set up a schedule designed for early season failure and hope things turn around and you get to .500. Given the standings, this is a 50/50 bet. Heck, the highest number of wins by a MAC school last year was an uninspiring 8. The results drive fans away because of early season failure and little to hope for down the road positive possibilities. I don't blame a fan for losing focus.

 

Scenario two:  Enter into television contracts that make it almost impossible for some fans to attend games because of travel restrictions and those who are close enough can't go because of work restrictions, late season weather problems in the midwest or any number of reasonable excuses not to attend a college football game on a Tuesday/Wednesday night. Even the games at the good schools are not well attended on weeknight games so I'm not buying the argument anymore that winning will solve branding problems.

 

The only conclusion any sane person can make is the athletic departments of these schools could care less about the average fan, enjoy making the schools they work for look like a joke on national television and could care less about winning or losing football games. The erosion of fan support has happened slowly, but it is no accident.

 

There is a really good book called "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*$k". The book isn't about indifference or not caring about things. It is about accepting that life is a series of problems you have to solve daily and then basically you die. Dropping down a division isn't going to solve the problem of horrifically bad decision making on the part of schools like ours. Some just think our problems will be solved if we drop down. Some problems may be solved, but others are created at that point and they could be far worse than what we are currently experiencing. The best thing we can do is accept our failures and chart a new course that will surely bring different problems, but in fact may make the average fan of schools like ours more positive about supporting sports teams. We really need better long term thinking and the current crop of athletic directors being produced in this country simply are not capable of solving our problems and may in fact be the central problem.

 

The best example I can give of problems never being solved is Warren Buffett.  Are all of his problems solved because he has a pile of cash?  Heck no. He has so many problems he has to have a team of executives he pays millions of dollars each to take some of the problem solving burden off of his shoulders so he can focus on 3-4 problems he can deal with.

 

The tonnage of your arrogance is impressive.  Your scenarios 1 and 2 are both the lifesource of the MAC.  Go play in FCS and you don't worry about midweek games set up by the MAC to benefit men's basketball positioning or having to play multiple big $ paydays.

 

If you are so omnipotent about how things should be run in athletics then why are you not volunteering your wealth of knowledge to your alma mater?  

 

[DannyHoke]

1 hour ago, zippy5 said:

That's not true

 

Bowl games are 100% a result of conference affiliation and connections.  ESPN owns the bowl games and basically makes all scheduling deals as they pertain to their air time.  Thus, MACtion.

 

https://www.bannersociety.com/2017/12/15/20707270/espn-bowl-games-playoff

[DannyHoke]

2 hours ago, GP1 said:

Facts aren't reasons.

 

I would like to see what MAC schools could do if they put a compelling, more enjoyable product on the field at a time and day of the week when it was reasonable for fans to attend.  It wasn't that long ago that they did and attendance was good.

 

When was attendance good?  

 

1971 Acme Zip game? (49 years ago... LOL)  

 

The glory years of Gerry Faust?  

 

How many of those tickets were paid for vs comped?  

 

Akron has not had legit attendance of over 15,000 butts in the seats for a season in... ever. Not in any way that would actually stand up in an audit.  If paid attendance was over 15,000 there would be no fiscal crisis in athletics.

 

Take out the bands and the team comps and the ticket dumps with the local schools and "free tickets" given to the students who actually pay for them with their student fees and there are less than 1,200 paid people per game on average for the games  played in October and November.

 

In all of your posts you still cannot give one sound business reason why Akron should be playing FBS football.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clarkwgriswold]

16 minutes ago, DannyHoke said:

It's interesting that you come on and rail against people, but what makes you an expert on anything  regarding athletics and management of a D1 program?  

 

 

I.....just....ummmm.....

 

 

I don't even know what to type.

[LZIp]

 

[zippy5]

22 minutes ago, DannyHoke said:

 

Bowl games are 100% a result of conference affiliation and connections.  ESPN owns the bowl games and basically makes all scheduling deals as they pertain to their air time.  Thus, MACtion.

 

https://www.bannersociety.com/2017/12/15/20707270/espn-bowl-games-playoff

Conference records have absolutely nothing to do with bowl eligibility. Yes they have conference tie-ins. I don't believe there's much use in engaging you anymore

[LZIp]

The only thing that matters regarding conference record is winning your division, as I believe that guarantees a bowl bid. Anyone outside of that is theoretically at the mercy of the bowl selection committees', assuming there are more bowl eligible teams than we have contracts for.

[DannyHoke]

1 hour ago, Spin said:

 

I'm starting to come around on playing those games. From all the comments here they do appear to make football at least a break-even sport. I said earlier I didn't like them because they can screw up our bowl eligibility, but that's not true since the bowl games are contracted by the conference, and are based on conference record, not overall record.

 

The program, properly run, can be competitive, we saw that in 2015 and 2017. Just a few years ago. You need the right people in place, and consistently put together winning seasons. Like I said in an earlier post, I've seen 50,000+ at a Zips home game before. This region will support a decent program. 

 

And help the entire athletic dept break even.

 

You have never seen 50,000 people at a Zips Football home game.  If so, the media guide is wrong as I just checked. Biggest Rubber Bowl crowd was Sept. 20, 1969 – While on the way to matching UA’s best record ever, a 9-1 mark, breaking 32 UA records and finishing with the football team’s highest national ranking ever – third in the AP college division poll – the Zips upset favored Tampa, 40-0, before an Acme-Zip Game crowd of 42,869. Little All-American halfback Jack Beidleman scored four TDs to lead the UA attack.

 

50 years ago.  Really.  This is the basis of a logical discussion.

 

 

 

 

[DannyHoke]

29 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

I.....just....ummmm.....

 

 

I don't even know what to type.

 

 

There was a nice sense of irony there.  Thanks for noticing.

[DannyHoke]

11 minutes ago, LZIp said:

The only thing that matters regarding conference record is winning your division, as I believe that guarantees a bowl bid. Anyone outside of that is theoretically at the mercy of the bowl selection committees', assuming there are more bowl eligible teams than we have contracts for.

 

Factually incorrect. 

 

See here https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/7/22/football-mac-partners-with-espn-events-for-four-bowl-games-in-next-bowl-cycle.aspx

[GP1]

36 minutes ago, DannyHoke said:

 

1. The tonnage of your arrogance is impressive.  

2. Your scenarios 1 and 2 are both the lifesource of the MAC.  

3. Go play in FCS and you don't worry about midweek games set up by the MAC to benefit men's basketball positioning or having to play multiple big $ paydays.

 

4. If you are so omnipotent about how things should be run in athletics then why are you not volunteering your wealth of knowledge to your alma mater?  

 

1. Thank you

2. Then we are doomed. There has to be another way.

3. Our men's basketball positioning is the same as it always has been. We are a one bid league. As a conference we are worse off all around because of the weeknight games.

4. This board is all the volunteering I can do.

 

Thanks for being a fan.

[LZIp]

3 minutes ago, DannyHoke said:

 

Factually incorrect. 

 

See here https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/7/22/football-mac-partners-with-espn-events-for-four-bowl-games-in-next-bowl-cycle.aspx

I fail to see how this link shows that my statement is factually incorrect.

[zippy5]

2 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I fail to see how this link shows that my statement is factually incorrect.

The ignore feature is your friend

[GP1]

33 minutes ago, DannyHoke said:

In all of your posts you still cannot give one sound business reason why Akron should be playing FBS football.

You're right. I can't give a good business reason why. But then again, it isn't a business. It's a university.

[clarkwgriswold]

What's that old thing about the sharks eating the sharks?

[Spin]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

What's that old thing about the sharks eating the sharks?

complains about football attendance

 

vehemently defends college soccer

[Spin]

2 hours ago, zippy5 said:

Conference records have absolutely nothing to do with bowl eligibility. Yes they have conference tie-ins. I don't believe there's much use in engaging you anymore

They absolutely do. The MAC has six contracts with bowl games

 

A teams record in the MAC determines which bowl game you go to.

 

Or in our case, which MAC teams we watch in them.

[Spin]

2 hours ago, DannyHoke said:

 

You have never seen 50,000 people at a Zips Football home game.  If so, the media guide is wrong as I just checked. Biggest Rubber Bowl crowd was Sept. 20, 1969 – While on the way to matching UA’s best record ever, a 9-1 mark, breaking 32 UA records and finishing with the football team’s highest national ranking ever – third in the AP college division poll – the Zips upset favored Tampa, 40-0, before an Acme-Zip Game crowd of 42,869. Little All-American halfback Jack Beidleman scored four TDs to lead the UA attack.

 

50 years ago.  Really.  This is the basis of a logical discussion.

That just one example of NEOhio supporting a half-decent football team. 
 

Are you going to nitpick the rest? Jeez, the simple fact that the Browns are still in business should tell you something. LOL

[ZippyRulz]

3 hours ago, LZIp said:

 

 

Football is dead. Long live football!

 

[zippy5]

42 minutes ago, Spin said:

They absolutely do. The MAC has six contracts with bowl games

 

A teams record in the MAC determines which bowl game you go to.

 

Or in our case, which MAC teams we watch in them.

Okay I'll play along. Do you have the bowl order by conference standings available? 

Edited May 11, 2020 by zippy5

[Spin]

40 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Okay I'll play along. Do you have the bowl order by conference standings available? 

Not the most recent...

[zippy5]

Thanks. From your article.

 

"For the most part, conference bowl tie-ins aren't pegged to specific spots in the league standings"

Edited May 11, 2020 by zippy5

[Spin]

The top three are. Check out the chart. 

[zippy5]

MAC-1 means the first MAC bowl gets their pick of MAC teams. Then down the line. They don't have to follow standings, and rarely do

[zippy5]

So where does the MAC champ go?