Week 5 (Ohio) Thoughts

[GP1]

JD was a really friendly guy. In fact, I got to know some of his assistants and they were all good people. That was a different time in college athletics. 

[Zipmeister]

19 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

No chance. The guy is 60 now. Happy to have him as a WR coach, but the ship has sailed on him being a D1 HC.

You wouldn't think that such an occurrence was possible anyplace with a Big Time football program, so that alone bumps the probability of it happening at Akron up to 50%.

[Lee Adams]

On 10/4/2024 at 4:34 PM, 1981 grad said:

I knew Brookhart when he coached here and he is a super nice guy.  After Akron I think he went to Colorado as an assistant and then left football to work on a family foundation and I think he has been out of football for 10 years.  Was surprised to him come back to Akron but I also believe he has been out of football too long to come back as a head coach.  Interesting to see his son sending in the signals since he was a toddler when Brookhart left Akron.

Whats Moorehead's excuse? I'm 72 and saw the Zips win the MAC championship. 60 ain't that old. How old was Bowden?

Probably fewer outside distractions than when he was raising a family. Doubt it would happen but it would be intruiging eh?

[Captain Kangaroo]

2 hours ago, Lee Adams said:

Whats Moorehead's excuse? I'm 72 and saw the Zips win the MAC championship. 60 ain't that old. How old was Bowden?

Probably fewer outside distractions than when he was raising a family. Doubt it would happen but it would be intruiging eh?

60 is ancient. Especially for a guy that, until this season, was out of college football for 15 years. 
 

Why not bring back Oscar Rodriguez? He seemed like a nice guy?

[Lee Adams]

14 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

60 is ancient. Especially for a guy that, until this season, was out of college football for 15 years. 
 

Why not bring back Oscar Rodriguez? He seemed like a nice guy?

How old was Bowden when he got the job here and when he left? Don't know how many people on this site are 60+. Some 60+ year olds are 'washed up'. Some people 50+ are 'washed up'. Some people a lot younger are 'washed up'. No, I highly doubt that JD would get a head coaching job here. But ageism is insulting.

[kreed5120]

To me it isn't as much about age as its about the fact that he has been out of the game for so long. It would be different if he was still involved in running camps or something to stay engaged. Having developed relationships helps with recruitment. Particularly when you don't have a giant war chests of NIL money to play with.

[ZippyRulz]

No, we should definitely be looking at up and comers like Ianello and Arth.

 

[GP1]

43 minutes ago, Lee Adams said:

But ageism is insulting.

It is. It's also completely real. Most people in the United States should expect their career and income to decline after 50. It's why people who delay retirement savings until after their kids leave the house will never able to retire. In addition to not be able to take advantage of compound interest, their incomes decline so they can't save as much. Most countries revere and hold up older generations as sources of wisdom. The United States discards older people.  It's gross. 

[Lee Adams]

On 10/6/2024 at 1:43 PM, GP1 said:

It is. It's also completely real. Most people in the United States should expect their career and income to decline after 50. It's why people who delay retirement savings until after their kids leave the house will never able to retire. In addition to not be able to take advantage of compound interest, their incomes decline so they can't save as much. Most countries revere and hold up older generations as sources of wisdom. The United States discards older people.  It's gross. 

Agree. After I retired I got busy being busy. Lots of volunteering, a side job, grand kids. I'm on the north side of 70. Those who assume that 'getting old' in this day and age is the same as even 40, 50, 60 years ago are the ones who are 'over the hill'. Ageing is what you make of it.

[Sergeant Zip]

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Lol. Dude wanted to get to civilization. 

[MangoZip]

That’s a very surprising move. 

[72 Roo]

At first it looks like a lateral move, but maybe not. All MAC schools are strapped for resources. Charlotte seems to have an administration that is saying whatever it takes we will supply. He also goes to a major city, better climate, better conference and a better salary. Personally, I think he could have done better possibly at a low P4 school that wants a turnaround. But who knows?

[MangoZip]

4 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

At first it looks like a lateral move, but maybe not. All MAC schools are strapped for resources. Charlotte seems to have an administration that is saying whatever it takes we will supply. He also goes to a major city, better climate, better conference and a better salary. Personally, I think he could have done better possibly at a low P4 school that wants a turnaround. But who knows?

Surprised that he was making that much at OU but it sounds like he’ll probably be making about $1 million at Charlotte - probably a big enough raise to make the move 

[Zippy87]

 

[ZippyRulz]

Not on my Bingo card. Must have been in the works for a little while. It will be interesting to see who the kitties dredge up and the TP fallout.

 

 

[catdaddyp]

Good for Albin. He did an outstanding job with the portal this off-season. No one, including myself, saw this type of year coming for Ohio. 
 

Charlotte is in a hotbed for football talent and the school is heavily investing into their program. If I’m not mistaken, Charlotte’s overall athletic budget is about $10 mil more than Ohio’s. They are also in the midst of a $70 mil stadium expansion project.

[GP1]

11 hours ago, MangoZip said:

That’s a very surprising move. 

I agree. This would be an excellent hire for a program like uncc. It's an almost invisible program and to hire a D1 conference champion will make at least people around their conference pay attention. People around Charlotte still won't care. 

 

Uncc is going to expand their stadium in the coming years. They need to get good quickly. 

[kreed5120]

11 hours ago, MangoZip said:

Surprised that he was making that much at OU but it sounds like he’ll probably be making about $1 million at Charlotte - probably a big enough raise to make the move 

The numbers I saw elsewhere were 7 million over 5 years, $1.4 million/yr. Exactly double what he's making currently. He's 60 and this is his last chance for a pay day to set his family up long-term. I can't really blame him.

 

It's just more sad to see how far the MAC has fallen. 10 years ago it it was bottom feeder P5 coaches or upper tier G5 programs plucking our top coaches. Now the bottom feeders at other G5 programs are now able to do the same.

Edited December 8 by kreed5120

[LZIp]

50 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

 

It's just more sad to see how far the MAC has fallen. 10 years ago it it was bottom feeder P5 coaches or upper tier G5 programs plucking our top coaches. Now the bottom feeders at other G5 programs are now able to do the same.

Worth noting that Charlotte now has the AAC money, which is probably best among the G5. 

A better example might be Nick Toth (Moorheads’s original DC hire) leaving us to take a positional coaching job at Air Force before he even started.
 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

The numbers I saw elsewhere were 7 million over 5 years, $1.4 million/yr. Exactly double what he's making currently. He's 60 and this is his last chance for a pay day to set his family up long-term. I can't really blame him.

 

It's just more sad to see how far the MAC has fallen. 10 years ago it it was bottom feeder P5 coaches or upper tier G5 programs plucking our top coaches. Now the bottom feeders at other G5 programs are now able to do the same.

 

But don't worry, Commish is focused on the right things to turn the conference around. I really hope he continues to crusade against flag planting and gatekeeping the MAC from legitimately competitive programs. 

 

I really don't understand the reaction to Albin's move. Lots of people on Twitter claiming it's a lateral move. 

 

- AAC is a far superior conference, especially financially. Their TV deal is worth tenfold per school what the MAC is getting.

 

- Athens is to civilization what college athletics currently is to the word "stable". Good for Albin getting his family to a nicer, warmer climate for double the money. 

Edited December 8 by Let'sGoZips94

[ZippyRulz]

https://ohiobobcats.com/news/2024/12/18/brian-smith-named-ohio-football-head-coach.aspx

 

the ferocious felines are bowling today at noon on ESPN.

Edited Friday at 05:22 AM by ZippyRulz

[Let'sGoZips94]

9 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

https://ohiobobcats.com/news/2024/12/18/brian-smith-named-ohio-football-head-coach.aspx

 

the ferocious felines are bowling today at noon on ESPN.

 

Ironically, this bowl game will not feature either team's regular season HC, although Ohio's next HC will be coaching this game. 

 

Bowl season has really lost its luster. 

[egregiousbob]

Interesting process by which Tim Albin ended up going to a program he did not want to lead. It should be a lesson on how not to advance your career.

 

His first contract at Ohio was for $500K, with automatic bumps every time he won 8 games.  His first year was a disaster,  3-9, although that could be partly blamed on the fact that Frank Solich didn't retire until late July.

 

He initially had a five-year deal with "outs" after years one and two. Ohio's AD wasn't thrilled with being trapped into giving him the job due to Solich's strategically late announcement.

 

Ohio stuck with him through year one, found more money for assistants' salaries in year 2 and urged him to replace some of the "buddies of Frank" that were still on the staff. With those changes, including the hiring of Brian Smith as OC, they won 10 games and made the MACC in year 2.  He got another bonus.

 

In the middle of year three, the AD boosted his pay to ~$730,000 and retained all the bonuses already built into his contract.  He ended up winning 10 games again but lost a couple of key games (including Miami at home) that kept the Bobcats from the MACC.

 

Here's where it gets interesting. The AD agreed to begin another renegotiation at the end of year three...with Albin's agent pointing to Jason Candle of Toledo ($1M+) as the benchmark. Of course, Albin hadn't won a MACC yet, so the AD told him that seemed high.

 

Unfortunately for both parties,  40+ players went for $$$ in the portal after the 2023 season. Suddenly 80% of offensive production was gone. Given this fact, the AD delayed renegotiation until she could determine if the program could maintain its trajectory. You don't give a guy a $1M deal in the midst of a downturn.

 

When Albin and team started out slow in 2024 - losing to Syracuse, badly to KY and also badly at Miami - the AD said let's wait until the end of the season, but promised a new and better deal.

 

At this point, Albin and his agent got scared. They figured 2024 would be mediocre and that they'd better play the "2 straight 10-win seasons" card while they could. They reached out to several programs.

 

UNCC (Charlotte) expressed interest.  But as Ohio started to string together wins in October and November, UNCC told Albin take it or leave it.  He played it safe and accepted their first offer...without telling his employers in Athens.

 

Heading into the MACC, Ohio's AD offered him a deal of around $1.3M plus incentives.  He hemmed and hawed...but still didn't tell them he had signed the UNCC deal.  Ohio wins the MACC, Albin gets on one of the team buses back from Detroit and then sees on Twitter that UNCC is telling people that he is their new coach.  At this point, he panicked, asked the bus driver to pull over, and got into his wife's car (behind the bus) - still without telling players or staff that he was leaving. He skips the game night celebration in Athens. He does not address the team until 2 days later.

 

In essence, Albin bet against himself and his team by signing the UNCC deal under the gun. He would have ended up making more in Athens (and money goes a lot farther there than in Charlotte). By many accounts, he was heartsick he had to leave. But he and his agent had trapped themselves.

 

Ohio fans are angry at how he pursued the new contract but thrilled with his replacement, Brian Smith. The AD is now upping assistant pay again to try to retain most of the staff.  The Charlotte program is a mess. It will be a multi-year rebuild, so not sure how attractive it will be for his former assistants.

 

We'll see.

 

Edited Friday at 03:30 PM by egregiousbob

[72 Roo]

This is a fascinating narrative. UNCC could prove to be a better position than OU, but that is only if Albin can start winning there. This move does seem to be a head scratcher in that if you are going to move, make a bigger step. Your story explains a lot. Nice reading. The MAC is indeed a bizarre place.