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Larry Williams Gone - Replaced by UW-Green Bay's Charles Guthrie


94zipgrad

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Charles is a rising star. He will move from Akron when the situation is right. He is a great guy and better than we can provide. He will move to Syracuse (both his and his wife's  alma mater), Pitt, Penn State or BC. All four will put him in a P5 position with more money than he could ever get at Akron. He also would be closer to home, which is Albany NY. He is a strong family man and wants to get home one day while his mom and sisters are still healthy. I can't blame him. I'd do the same thing. One thing is for sure, he will leave Akron far better than he found it. He will make that happen before he leaves. When he does go I will thank him and wish him well.

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It is way to soon to discuss Guthrie departing UA. He just got here.

 

His most-visible accomplishments so far are marketing some $7 beers in the JAR and filling a hundred or so otherwise empty JAR seats with students. That's Doctoral-level thinking when compared to Larry Williams or Tom Wistercill, but pales in comparison to the re-branding and stadium construction we saw in the early 2000's under Thomas and Waddell. Those guys accomplished some major stuff, and were ready to move on to bigger and better things.

 

Credit for hiring Joe to coach the football team should be tempered. Joe's agent reached out to UA expressing his interest in the job. I do credit Guthrie for swiftly recognizing his good fortune and sealing the deal. I guarantee if Joe's agent had called Larry Williams, Williams would have hung up the phone and still paid buyout money to secure 3-win Tom. 

 

The best recent Akron AD's did something major in order to matriculate to the "next level." For Guthrie to make that leap he needs to fill InfoCision to a reasonable capacity every Saturday (17-20k = "reasonable"). If the football team wins ("wins" = 9+ wins, like Toledo has done 11 times in the past 22 seasons), a 10-12k Tuesday night crowd in November game should also expected. The days of 500 butts-in-seats has to be over.

 

I like Guthrie. He seems hardworking, intelligent, personable and genuine. He's not the typical phony, hand-shaking stuffed shirt. He has great synergy with Gary Miller (another desperately-needed breath of fresh air @ UA). With all due respect to the tasks of keeping Groce happy, and getting soccer back to its deep NCAA tourney runs, rallying the community to support Akron Football and making the corner of Spicer and Exchange rock & roll on fall gamedays is Guthrie's measuring stick for success. I hope he can do it. I'll have a beer on ice waiting for him in Lot 9 when he does.🦘🏉🦾

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Very well said, Captain. Guthrie will be here for a couple of years, as CK said, he’s done some great things so far that don’t necessarily add much to the resume…yet. While he did land JoeMo, JoeMo’s wife and agent had a lot to do with that, however Guthrie used his connection with Dave Roach, Fordham’s former AD, to really move that forward. He’s got hundreds of similar connections, it is quite impressive. It seems that he knows or has a connection with every visiting coaching staff that comes to play against Akron across multiple sports. And if he doesn’t already have a connection, he introduces himself and tries to start one 

 

His plan for UA looks to be about 5 years. Once Miller is retired in a few years, I think he will follow suit. If football and basketball really catch fire, he could be out of here sooner, but either way I think possible P5 suitors are going to wait and see how things play out first. The alignment we have at UA is something he talks about a lot. While he didn’t hire Groce, they are still very much on the same page. Miller likes and supports athletics, he hand picked Guthrie, who did well for him at Green Bay, and Guthrie has put together a senior staff with a few people who have been around for a while and some fresh minds. It wasn’t an easy transition for everyone, but people are starting to see the vision play out. It feels like a special time to be an Akron Zip. The whole Moorhead hiring process and the months following, combined with being back in the basketball championship in a packed Pizza 216 for a pep rally have given me new life as a Zip fan after it was difficult for a few years. Hopefully, it’s just getting started and those are a drop in the bucket compared to what we’re about to experience. 

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