New Head Coach Search - 2021 Edition

[blueandgold]

13 hours ago, scottditzen said:

 

I don't know who that is, but he sounds great haha. 

 

I mean, how hard would it be to convince Ken Carmen to come down?  He often has a national audience for his shows on Saturdays. 

 

https://www.audacy.com/923thefan/authors/ken-carman

 

Ken Carman, a Perry High School and University of Akron graduate, started his love for sports radio while delivering papers around Canton at 11. His first job in the broadcasting world was hosting Friday Night Football, eventually working his way up to hosting his own show in Akron. Carman is a veteran play by play commentator, broadcasting area college sports and Akron Aeros Baseball on radio and television....

I agree. When news broke that we were hiring Moorhead, Carmen was so excited on the radio. He sounded just like one of us!

[Let'sGoZips94]

5 hours ago, blueandgold said:

I agree. When news broke that we were hiring Moorhead, Carmen was so excited on the radio. He sounded just like one of us!

 

His interview of JoeMo was awesome. University of Akron fight song to start and finish the interview, full of enthusiasm, and Anthony Lima even stated how big of a hire this is. Akron should really considering partnering with Ken to help promote the University a bit more. He has a solid audience base locally and nationally, and is an ACTUAL AKRON FAN. He hates OSUcks. 

[Zipmeister]

9 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Idk, but if we had more of a crowd and were winning (& thus everyone in a better mood) what he's trying to do may not seem cringe at all.  But as it is I feel for him, the last few years he's been charged with swimming up stream at the Info.  Like leading a pep rally at a funeral. 

 

We need someone who can put the fun back in funeral.

[akzipper]

3 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

His interview of JoeMo was awesome. University of Akron fight song to start and finish the interview, full of enthusiasm, and Anthony Lima even stated how big of a hire this is. Akron should really considering partnering with Ken to help promote the University a bit more. He has a solid audience base locally and nationally, and is an ACTUAL AKRON FAN. He hates OSUcks. 

 

There's plenty of Zips alumni at the Fan and ESPN Cleveland. Unfortunately the only school those stations care about is Ohio State. Unless the Zips are playing in the MAC basketball tourney. They know most of their audience doesn't consider Akron a "real" school.

[Spin]

On 12/22/2021 at 8:14 PM, akzipper said:

 

There's plenty of Zips alumni at the Fan and ESPN Cleveland. Unfortunately the only school those stations care about is Ohio State. Unless the Zips are playing in the MAC basketball tourney. They know most of their audience doesn't consider Akron a "real" school.

 

I run into that now even in the workplace. The College of Nursing is held in high regard, but to the rank and file it's "That's nice" or "Akron has a nursing program?" The whole university has a horrible public image.

[bigjim]

On 12/22/2021 at 4:19 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

His interview of JoeMo was awesome. University of Akron fight song to start and finish the interview, full of enthusiasm, and Anthony Lima even stated how big of a hire this is. Akron should really considering partnering with Ken to help promote the University a bit more. He has a solid audience base locally and nationally, and is an ACTUAL AKRON FAN. He hates OSUcks. 

I did not hear the interview, but I have listened to the Fan for a while.  Carmen is a true $uckeye fan and rarely if ever brings up the Zips.  When the JoMo news broke, Anthony Lima was more excited than that useless Carmen.  I would never attend an Akron event that was being run by Carmen.  Merry Zipmas!!!

[72 Roo]

1 hour ago, Spin said:

 

I run into that now even in the workplace. The College of Nursing is held in high regard, but to the rank and file it's "That's nice" or "Akron has a nursing program?" The whole university has a horrible public image.

I think you are dead on! The public's perception of UA is poor (I was going to say horrible). There are so many exceptional programs at UA like nursing and yet the public doesn't know it or won't accept. I do lecturing in the sales program in the college of business. I tell everyone who will listen in my classes that they should and must be proud of their education. Sales has a 100% placement rate out of Akron and the program is rated in the top 5 in the country out of 38 that offer a true sales discipline, not just sales classes. We all need to tout our school whenever possible. 

[Spin]

13 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

I think you are dead on! The public's perception of UA is poor (I was going to say horrible). There are so many exceptional programs at UA like nursing and yet the public doesn't know it or won't accept. I do lecturing in the sales program in the college of business. I tell everyone who will listen in my classes that they should and must be proud of their education. Sales has a 100% placement rate out of Akron and the program is rated in the top 5 in the country out of 38 that offer a true sales discipline, not just sales classes. We all need to tout our school whenever possible. 

 

Unfortunately, there are quite a few of Ken Carman's out there who bleed dark blue and gold, but work in a market that only gives a crap about the Buckeyes. Even when CSU went 13-1 and went deep in the tourney, they were an afterthought. Ohio State OWNS Ohio.

 

Ken talked about the Zips regularly and took Zips fan callers when he was on 1350 but the station destroyed his show by partnering him with the "Fishhead" and then firing him when it didn't work. He landed in a much better position in CLE, but as we know, OSU is the only major college in Ohio.🙄 It's like they hate the other state universities because they steal resources from the Worthless Nuts.

[GP1]

Stop worrying about whether or not local AM radio talks about Akron. AM sports radio is dying across the country and NE Ohio is no different. 

 

Moving on to how people generally view the University. Stop worrying about how they have viewed it and worry about how people can view it in the future. Akron is a good school with thousands of alumni in NE Ohio who know it's a good school. Akron seems to have turned the corner on feeding the news stories that can only be viewed as negative and started to highlight the positives. This is a good thing. 

[Dr Z]

[Kangaroo Craig]

7 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

Wow! That’s impressive! I knew he was a successful NFL assistant, but thought he was still a few years away from being considered for a head coaching gig.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Getsy pumps... He throws for Hixon and it is... CAUGHT! FOR A TOUCHDOWN! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

 

Good luck to Luke in this interview process! 

[GoZips86]

1 hour ago, Kangaroo Craig said:

Wow! That’s impressive! I knew he was a successful NFL assistant, but thought he was still a few years away from being considered for a head coaching gig.

 

Everyone trying to catch that Sean McVay magic the Rams did!

[clarkwgriswold]

...and Rodgers is a free agent.  The Broncos could bring on Getsy to lure Rodgers there not unlike they brought in Peyton at the end of his career.

[Blue & Gold]

 

[GoZips86]

10 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

 

Great read, thank you for posting!!
 

One thing that excites me is I feel confident Joe is here for the long haul and not leave after a first winning season. Family being close seems really important to him so I could see him being really content with staying in Akron and building success here and not really giving into the temptation of a big school coming after him, especially if it is further away from home. That is very good news for us Zips fans! 

[GP1]

10 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

Perfect!

 

He doesn't say there is a "building process".  Building what?  Ever notice over the past 25 years nobody ever defined what the building process was supposed to entail?  Saying there is a building process is a fancy way of saying, "I have no idea what in the heck I'm doing and I'm hoping something good happens before the public figures that out."

 

John Madden had only three rules: be on time, pay attention and play like Hell when I tell you to.  Why only three?  The more rules you put out, the more a person is able to break the rules so you spend all of your time trying to get the person to follow your rules instead of playing football.  I like JMoorhead only has four rules. It's very simple and is how you establish a solid base in a program.

 

There is also discussion about making the program something people in the community can look to as a source of pride through winning. Presenting a good product and winning is something the university can control. There is some discussion of attendance. Attendance is something the university can have influence over, but cannot control because it's hard to control people in a free society. It's why winning on the field isn't enough. The university has to put a full-ass effort into, on game day, making the University a cultural center point for the players, students, alumni, fans and general community. The presentation of the University as more than a football game on game day is something the University can control and needs to control. Finding ways to benefit these five groups on game day needs to be the foundation of success for the University and athletics has to be a part of it but not the only department owning this responsibility.

 

Lastly, it's encouraging to see the University is putting various people in a forward facing position to the citizens of NE Ohio in a way that highlights the positive things going on at UofA.  

Edited January 14, 2022 by GP1

[Captain Kangaroo]

2 hours ago, GP1 said:

There is also discussion about making the program something people in the community can look to as a source of pride through winning. Presenting a good product and winning is something the university can control. There is some discussion of attendance. Attendance is something the university can have influence over, but cannot control because it's hard to control people in a free society. It's why winning on the field isn't enough. The university has to put a full-ass effort into, on game day, making the University a cultural center point for the players, students, alumni, fans and general community. The presentation of the University as more than a football game on game day is something the University can control and needs to control. Finding ways to benefit these five groups on game day needs to be the foundation of success for the University and athletics has to be a part of it but not the only department owning this responsibility.

I have yet to meet the new AD. One seemingly small, yet impressive thing he's implemented is displacing some lower-reserved season ticket holders in the JAR and creating a lower-reserved student section.

 

That idea was suggested here years ago and was dismissed as impossible. Likewise, selling beer at the JAR was suggested here years ago, and dismissed as absolute lunacy. 

 

Now we have a basketball student section as engaged and full as I've seen it in decades. And during a pandemic, no less? And I can have a $6 beer at my seat and watch the game, and shockingly...nobody has died because of it.

 

There was a General Electric commercial a few years ago which contained the phrase "Ideas are frightening because the threaten what is known. They're the natural born enemy of the way things are."

 

There are way too many people within UA that had clung to "the way things are" for decades. And believed issues like football game day attendance is just "the way things are." Why? It is a lot easier to say "I wouldn't have built that stadium" than it is to fill it. You're off the hook scot-free...it was the fault of the guys preceding you. 

 

It seems like UA may have finally lucked into an ambitious, engaging AD who can pull it out of it's decades-long death grip on the past. He made a great hire with Joe Moorhead. He's implementing changes that are seemingly simple, but on UA's conservative scale, are groundbreaking. I look forward to seeing  InfoCision butts-in-seats increase appreciably over the next several years. Based upon the student involvement at the JAR this winter, I expect an immediate uptick in student attendance at football games this fall. 

 

Great things are going on at UA. Thanks to Guthrie for pulling us Zips fans off the ventilator. After a 3-24 three year stretch, I was ready to flat-line. Now I'm ready to party! 😁

[kreed5120]

1 minute ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I have yet to meet the new AD. One seemingly small, yet impressive thing he's implemented is displacing some lower-reserved season ticket holders in the JAR and creating a lower-reserved student section.

 

That idea was suggested here years ago and was dismissed as impossible. Likewise, selling beer at the JAR was suggested here years ago, and dismissed as absolute lunacy. 

 

Now we have a basketball student section as engaged and full as I've seen it in decades. And during a pandemic, no less? And I can have a $6 beer at my seat and watch the game, and shockingly...nobody has died because of it.

 

There was a General Electric commercial a few years ago which contained the phrase "Ideas are frightening because the threaten what is known. They're the natural born enemy of the way things are."

 

There are way too many people within UA that had clung to "the way things are" for decades. And believed issues like football game day attendance is just "the way things are." Why? It is a lot easier to say "I wouldn't have built that stadium" than it is to fill it. You're off the hook scot-free...it was the fault of the guys preceding you. 

 

It seems like UA may have finally lucked into an ambitious, engaging AD who can pull it out of it's decades-long death grip on the past. He made a great hire with Joe Moorhead. He's implementing changes that are seemingly simple, but on UA's conservative scale, are groundbreaking. I look forward to seeing  InfoCision butts-in-seats increase appreciably over the next several years. Based upon the student involvement at the JAR this winter, I expect an immediate uptick in student attendance at football games this fall. 

 

Great things are going on at UA. Thanks to Guthrie for pulling us Zips fans off the ventilator. After a 3-24 three year stretch, I was ready to flat-line. Now I'm ready to party! 😁

 

I think covid in large part has forced athletics hand in needing to adapt. They added beer to the JAR to entice fans that went a year without going to Zips games to come back. They likely had empty seats on the lower bowl from many deciding to not renew tickets after covid so it's better to give them to students to make the lower bowl look full than to leave it look like an eye sore on TV.

 

In general though the changes were much needed. Students should have always had that section. They pay the bulk of the expenses through student fees. Forfeiting some short-term season ticket sale dollars to build the college experience is well worth it. The better time those kids have at games, the more likely they will grow up to be season ticket holders and alumni donors themselves. I don't know about you guys, but when I went to the JAR pre-covid I didn't really see many people between the ages of 25-35 at the games. That's concerning for the long-term health of Akron athletics. Hopefully this helps improve that.

[Captain Kangaroo]

4 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I think covid in large part has forced athletics hand in needing to adapt. They added beer to the JAR to entice fans that went a year without going to Zips games to come back. They likely had empty seats on the lower bowl from many deciding to not renew tickets after covid so it's better to give them to students to make the lower bowl look full than to leave it look like an eye sore on TV.

To create the section is groundbreaking for UA. But it's actually been full too? The old AK-Rowdies section was completely empty under the Williams regime.

 

I could very well be wrong, but I expect to see a dramatically increased student engagement at InfoCision this fall. At least for Game #1. 😁

[Dr Z]

News5—Joe Moorhead aims to create winning culture in Akron 
By: Camryn Justice

 

Quote

"When I took over Fordham it was a 7,000-seat stadium and we could come to a game, and there were barely 1,500 people in the stands," Moorhead recalled. "We went and started winning a ton of games, and I think we sold out every home game for three years and actually had to get extra bleachers put in, and we were selling 10,000 tickets to a 7,000 seat stadium."

 

I think it's going to take more than winning to fill 30k at Akron. From the little I know about Guthrie, I would guess he has a multi-phased plan. I think it will take success at each phase to fill the Info. Looking forward to seeing the plan unfold. 

 

[LZIp]

I like the current AK-Rowdies leadership. Its not been there in recent years IMO...maybe not since I've been out of school. I think and hope the university as a whole has escaped the "dark ages" we've had to experience the past 5 or so years - rapidly declining enrollment, financial issues, layoffs, and constant change of leadership at the top (whether it be presidents, ADs and/or coaches. I take my wife and friends to games - a mix of UA alum and not  - and its embarrassing. Not so much football, but basketball and soccer games were really fun and had great attendance when I was in school less than a decade ago. I strongly believe COVID is still in the way for basketball as they play indoors and this crap seems to spike during their season, but I hope athletics and the university as whole has hit rock bottom and we can start/keep trending upwards. Go Zips!

Edited January 14, 2022 by LZIp

[kreed5120]

With mid-week MACtion there is no chance of that stadium being filled on a consistent basis. If we could average 15k-18k per game (and I mean a real 15k-18k, not this University buying 50k tickets themselves to inflate the number bs) I'd consider that a success.

[GoZips86]

17 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

News5—Joe Moorhead aims to create winning culture in Akron 
By: Camryn Justice

 

 

I think it's going to take more than winning to fill 30k at Akron. From the little I know about Guthrie, I would guess he has a multi-phased plan. I think it will take success at each phase to fill the Info. Looking forward to seeing the plan unfold. 

 

 

First of all Captain Kangaroo, great posts from you!! I share the same excitement!

 

Dr Z, I quoted your post. I'm curious to hear what you feel it would take, besides winning, to fill the stadium? And I apologize if this comes off as me challenging you. No, I'm just curious to hear what other things it may take as I sometimes have too much of my eyes set on winning changing all things which I realize isn't the full story 😁

[Let'sGoZips94]

11 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

With mid-week MACtion there is no chance of that stadium being filled on a consistent basis. If we could average 15k-18k per game (and I mean a real 15k-18k, not this University buying 50k tickets themselves to inflate the number bs) I'd consider that a success.

 

Agreed. 20-25k on the weekend games, 15-18k on the week night games. That would be fantastic. I also think we have the opportunity to push closer to 20k on week nights if we become a Cincy/Coastal Carolina/UCF/ULL type of G5 program - 1-2 losses on the season, beating P5 schools, etc. Moorhead is going to run a fun offense with talent at every position. People like watching good football, and good football is going to be in Akronites' backyards.