2024-25 Post Mortem and Looking Ahead to 2025-26

[MDZip]

33 minutes ago, Westie said:

Coach did not exactly cement his own return in the latest Beacon article. Have to believe he is getting some calls. Hopefully it passes with no drama. 

Wonder what it means that his son Conner is not coming back? 

[clarkwgriswold]

2 minutes ago, MDZip said:

Wonder what it means that his son Conner is not coming back? 

The word on the street is that Connor came to UA to be with his dad and get in a year of practicing against top notch players before heading off to a smaller school to play.

[Captain Kangaroo]

34 minutes ago, Westie said:

Coach did not exactly cement his own return in the latest Beacon article. Have to believe he is getting some calls. Hopefully it passes with no drama. 

I remember Dambrot saying "I'm not going anywhere. I'm an old man" for years when questions arose about him moving on. And then, he was gone. Words don't mean much.

 

If Groce moves on I'll be severely bummed. The next guy won't be as good. He could be the Zips next Coleman Crawford? So I'll enjoy JG while we've got him. 

[AkronAlumnus]

57 minutes ago, Westie said:

Coach did not exactly cement his own return in the latest Beacon article. Have to believe he is getting some calls. Hopefully it passes with no drama. 

I asked a similar question earlier, and while I’m just speculating, I can only assume the players know way more about the situation than we do. If JG were showing hesitation, I’d think Sharron Young and Nate Johnson wouldn’t have been so quick to announce their return—unless this is part of the angle Budd intended to use to put pressure on JG.

[AkronAlumnus]

Definitely still has me worried though... 

[Illini Zip]

After reading @clarkwgriswold Beacon Journal piece I don’t think it’s complicated. Groce and his family like it there and he has a vision to incrementally take Akron to the next level. He talks about what they’re building all of the time. As long as he is supported by the University and local community he is likely to stay put. The best thing fans can do is fill the JAR on a regular basis. 

[WeRise225]

Xavier could be a good spot for Groce, the school is in a better situation and they have an awesome arena. Hope he never leaves though. 

[NWAkron]

Couple of "concern trolls" on here.

 

"the action or practice of disingenuously expressing concern about an issue in order to undermine or derail genuine discussion."

[clarkwgriswold]

37 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I remember Dambrot saying "I'm not going anywhere. I'm an old man" for years when questions arose about him moving on. And then, he was gone. Words don't mean much.

 

If Groce moves on I'll be severely bummed. The next guy won't be as good. He could be the Zips next Coleman Crawford? So I'll enjoy JG while we've got him. 

 

Amen.  The chances on the Zips hitting the jackpot on three head coaches in a row are slim to none.

 

I do think all of the kids returning is a pretty strong indicator he intends to stay.

 

If he moves on I will be very disappointed as I think he's fantastic.  I would wish him well as he's been great for the program.  I've never understood people who get upset with a coach "moving up" in the coaching world as most of those critics would change jobs in a heartbeat for a promotion and/or the promise of higher pay.

[NWAkron]

56 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I remember Dambrot saying "I'm not going anywhere. I'm an old man" for years when questions arose about him moving on. And then, he was gone. Words don't mean much.

 

If Groce moves on I'll be severely bummed. The next guy won't be as good. He could be the Zips next Coleman Crawford? So I'll enjoy JG while we've got him. 

Old sins cast long shadows.

[HoopsFan03]

18 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

After reading @clarkwgriswold Beacon Journal piece I don’t think it’s complicated. Groce and his family like it there and he has a vision to incrementally take Akron to the next level. He talks about what they’re building all of the time. As long as he is supported by the University and local community he is likely to stay put. The best thing fans can do is fill the JAR on a regular basis. 

This team is too good not to play in front of better crowds. Besides the PCCC game, the crowds were slim this year. 

[kreed5120]

The only outstanding job that he might be remotely interested in WVU. There just aren't many options this year. He's likely already committed to Akron for next year, but wants to keep his options open for future years. With Akron returning most of last years key contributors and working the portal to address biggest needs, one would think Akron would be one of the highest regarded mid-majors heading into next season. 

 

Running it back with the current cast with the hopes of generating some noise is probably his best bet if he wants to get back to the P5 level at something other than a dead end job. Some here might not like to hear it, but an opening at OSU would probably be hard for him to pass up and Diebler has to be on the hot seat entering next year.

[WeRise225]

2 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said:

This team is too good not to play in front of better crowds. Besides the PCCC game, the crowds were slim this year. 

I agree but they had some good crowds this year. Ohio, Miami, Toledo games, as well as Enrique night vs NIU. There were some bad crowds especially in the early out of conference games and senior night v Buffalo was bad. 

[Zippy87]

I think this is a leverage play. Groce knows cuts are coming at UA. I'm betting he wants to avoid complacency from the program in regard to that plus support of the Collective and the program in general. UA took KD for granted for a long time, and I'm sure JG saw that play out. I'd be stunned if he left now, personally. 

[clarkwgriswold]

As for attendance, the Zips averaged 2203 per game this past season.  They averaged 2650 last season.  Those numbers are based in the attendances listed in the box scores.  This season's top three were PCCC- 4967, Northern Illinois- 3472 and Miami0 2834.  Last year's top three were PCCC- 5160, Toledo- 3151 AND Gardner- Webb- 2756. 

[WeRise225]

17 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

As for attendance, the Zips averaged 2203 per game this past season.  They averaged 2650 last season.  Those numbers are based in the attendances listed in the box scores.  This season's top three were PCCC- 4967, Northern Illinois- 3472 and Miami0 2834.  Last year's top three were PCCC- 5160, Toledo- 3151 AND Gardner- Webb- 2756. 

I wish they could average like 3k. 

[akzipper]

Groce seems to put culture and character above all. I can't imagine him convincing practically the entire team to come back only to bail on his players. Not to mention the fact that the tournament loss, as much as it sucked, and his tenure at Illinois will probably turn people away. 

 

Having said that I never thought KD would leave for a lowly A10 program. So who knows. The only difference is he was convinced that his teams would be in the running for at-large bids. Which was never even close to the case. Their one tournament appearance was because of the conference championship. If Groce leaves it's for one of the "bigs" and an opportunity he can't pass up. 

 

Just now, WeRise225 said:

I wish they could average like 3k. 

 

There's really no excuse for us to not lead the MAC in attendance. Being 6th or whatever, and below Kent State is pretty embarrassing. 

Edited Tuesday at 03:01 PM by akzipper

[Zippy87]

4 minutes ago, akzipper said:

Groce seems to put culture and character above all. I can't imagine him convincing practically the entire team to come back only to bail on his players. Not to mention the fact that the tournament loss, as much as it sucked, and his tenure at Illinois will probably turn people away. 

 

Having said that I never thought KD would leave for a lowly A10 program. So who knows. The only difference is he was convinced that his teams would be in the running for at-large bids. Which was never even close to the case. Their one tournament appearance was because of the conference championship. If Groce leaves it's for one of the "bigs" and an opportunity he can't pass up. 

 

 

There's really no excuse for us to not lead the MAC in attendance. Being 6th or whatever, and below Kent State is pretty embarrassing. 

 

Not to rehash old discussions, but his father had a significant impact on this decision, too. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

32 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

I think this is a leverage play. Groce knows cuts are coming at UA. I'm betting he wants to avoid complacency from the program in regard to that plus support of the Collective and the program in general. UA took KD for granted for a long time, and I'm sure JG saw that play out. I'd be stunned if he left now, personally. 

 

This.

 

Whole team commits to coming back - no way in hell they didn't get reassurance & commitment from Groce. This is a public play for the University and community to continue to support the program.

[Zippy87]

10 minutes ago, akzipper said:

There's really no excuse for us to not lead the MAC in attendance. Being 6th or whatever, and below Kent State is pretty embarrassing. 

 

Of the opponents below, who were fans going to have strong interest in going to see? 

 

Ohio Wesleyan 

Lamar

Omaha

Alabama State

Northern Kentucky

Suny-Brockport

South Alabama

 

South Alabama was it for me, personally. Now, I went to most of these because I'm a Zips hoops junkie, but the reality is that this non-conference home schedule wasn't moving most fans, and certainly not the average fan. It didn't help that three of the games were in one weekend, either. 

[kreed5120]

Ohio averaged 4487 and Toledo averaged 4402 per the MAC's official numbers. The JAR would need to average an 82%+ capacity every game to surpass OU. 7-8 (including NIU & Buffalo) of those home games are against cupcakes, who even I have no desire to to drive to Akron in the freezing cold to watch. We're just not going to be at or near capacity every night. Ohio isn't either, but they have a huge arena so they're able to inflate their season average by having 1-2 games a year where they attract 8k-9k fans. We could probably attract a similar number for Kent, but capacity caps us out at ~5500.

 

Getting to ~3500 is something ideal to shoot for. We weren't far off from those numbers during the Dambrot days. Back then attendance hovered around 2800-3300 most years as I recall.

[akzipper]

28 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Of the opponents below, who were fans going to have strong interest in going to see? 

 

Ohio Wesleyan 

Lamar

Omaha

Alabama State

Northern Kentucky

Suny-Brockport

South Alabama

 

South Alabama was it for me, personally. Now, I went to most of these because I'm a Zips hoops junkie, but the reality is that this non-conference home schedule wasn't moving most fans, and certainly not the average fan. It didn't help that three of the games were in one weekend, either. 

 

I agree completely. Our OOC home opponents are boring and MAC schedule isn't much better. When the most exciting opponent is NKU, there's definitely a problem. I'm just not sure how to fix that. Which schools are willing to play in Akron? I guess that's the biggest problem. 

 

Most Mids have trouble bringing teams in. Dayton is the only one I can think of that consistently stacks their home schedule. Somehow 10 of their first 13 games were all at home and those remaining 3 were in Hawaii. 

[blueandgold]

I'd love to get Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati on our schedule sometime. Home would be great, but even on the road or neutral site would be good.

[Zippy87]

4 minutes ago, akzipper said:

 

I agree completely. Our OOC home opponents are boring and MAC schedule isn't much better. When the most exciting opponent is NKU, there's definitely a problem. I'm just not sure how to fix that. Which schools are willing to play in Akron? I guess that's the biggest problem. 

 

Most Mids have trouble bringing teams in. Dayton is the only one I can think of that consistently stacks their home schedule. Somehow 10 of their first 13 games were all at home and those remaining 3 were in Hawaii. 

 

I won't pretend to know who is/isn't willing to come to the JAR or if any of these opponents would interest people. 

 

Cleveland State,Youngstown State - If we are going to play a Horizon League (or similar level) team, let it be regional foes. If nothing else, you'd potentially draw more road fans. 

 

Xavier, Cincinnati, Dayton - I'm guessing none of these schools will play us, but maybe if we offered a 2-for-1 or even 3-for-1? 

 

Duquesne - Obvious connections to the staff there and I think would be a good, competitive game most years. 

 

All in all, the options are unfortunately probably pretty limited. 

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

I don't know what the plan is for the Akron Basketball Classic, but year 1 saw 4 competitive teams with 0 name interest. If that can be pitched to more recognizable programs, the ABC could be an answer to our prayers.