Four Decades of Ineptitude

[UAZipster0305]

On 10/31/2026 at 5:09 PM, 1981 grad said:

I thought since we cannot watch Akron football today, we can talk about the futility of this program.  Since Jim Dennison was forced to make way to Gerry Faust in 1986, every Akron football coach has been fired and left the program with a losing record.  Maybe this is the Dennison curse for forcing a good football coach to leave for the school's two seconds of fame.  I still remember when Gerry was hired and there were a room full of press at the new conference.  Gerry Faust, Lee Owens, J.D. Brookhart, Rob Iannella, Terry Bowden, Tom Arth, Joe Moorhead.   You would think in 40 years we could pick one coach that would bring success to our program and then get hired away.  Never happened.  J.D. did win a MAC title and took us to a Bowl Game.  Bowden also took us to a Bowl game.  

 

During the last 40 years, who was your favorite coach and the coach you dislike the most.  

Favorite Brookhart, Least favorite Arth  (I just remember we seemed to be outmatched almost every game)

Bowden didn't just take us to a bowl game, Brookhart did that. Bowden won us a bowl game...the only D-1A coach to do that for us.

[ZippyDoo]

So only being on the board for two years, is the reason as simple as the fatigue and "wanting their guy"?  Why get rid of some of these other coaches? Did they choose to leave and go on to other jobs?  Brookhart is here now right, isn't he one of the assistants? I would assume he would be the logical interim IF moorehead were canned before the season ended which I'm guessing isn't going to happen...

 

I wonder if Brookhart would try to come back as the head coach if he had success before?

 

Here is how I see it playing out and the major dilemma, if they keep moorehead, the turnover is going to be tremendous... I am guessing that they are going to lose WAY MORE players than they have in the past into the portal.  I predict the numbers are going to be huge with players leaving, they obviously don't have money to pay for top talented players to come in or really any level of talented players to come in so the level of talent is probably going to drop drastically.  What is moorehead going to sell to future incoming recruits with one year left on his contract - recruits knowing that he is leaving; and the fact that he most likely just won a game or maybe two if they are lucky?

 

If they replace him before the season with this Brookhart who has experience and the current roster likes him, maybe he can convince some of the players to stay?  

[GP1]

3 hours ago, UAZipster0305 said:

Bowden didn't just take us to a bowl game, Brookhart did that. Bowden won us a bowl game...the only D-1A coach to do that for us.

JD won a MAC Championship and is the only coach to do it. I'll take that over a bowl game. 

[UAZipster0305]

11 minutes ago, GP1 said:

JD won a MAC Championship and is the only coach to do it. I'll take that over a bowl game. 

I agree. I was merely updating the accuracy of the original statement. Both JD and Bowden were more than competent enough to maintain their positions longer than they did. We had little success before and none since.

Edited Monday at 07:08 PM by UAZipster0305

[Hilltopper]

JD was forced out due the repercussions from the over use of pain killers by the players. Oxycontin was a new drug and worked amazing. Unlike Oxycodone which gives immediate relief but makes you drowsy, Oxycontin was a slow release formula which made it very addicting. It just made you feel good.

Bowden had lost control of the team by the time of his firing. Lots of discipline issues. Some reported, many more not. 

Edited Monday at 07:33 PM by Hilltopper

[UAZipster0305]

28 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

JD was forced out due the repercussions from the over use of pain killers by the players. Oxycontin was a new drug and worked amazing. Unlike Oxycodone which gives immediate relief but makes you drowsy, Oxycontin was a slow release formula which made it very addicting. It just made you feel good.

Bowden had lost control of the team by the time of his firing. Lots of discipline issues. Some reported, many more not. 

This is all new information to me.

 

Based on what was publicized, I stand by my supportive statements. However, if these things are true, I am glad UA made the ethical choices to maintain standards and keep all stakeholders safe. Win-lose record is secondary to such things.

[Hilltopper]

1 hour ago, UAZipster0305 said:

This is all new information to me.

 

Based on what was publicized, I stand by my supportive statements. However, if these things are true, I am glad UA made the ethical choices to maintain standards and keep all stakeholders safe. Win-lose record is secondary to such things.

Teams everywhere were using Oxycontin. Everything was legally prescribed. 

 

Football could not save Chris Jacquemain and Tyler Campbell from painkiller addiction - cleveland.com https://share.google/jHKPbosTulyJCCgv5

[UAZipster0305]

5 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

Teams everywhere were using Oxycontin. Everything was legally prescribed. 

 

Football could not save Chris Jacquemain and Tyler Campbell from painkiller addiction - cleveland.com https://share.google/jHKPbosTulyJCCgv5

Unfortunately, I could not read the article because I am not a subscriber, but thanks for sharing anyhow.

 

Sad and definitely an ethical gray area whether legal or not.

[Captain Kangaroo]

On 11/2/2026 at 10:39 AM, ZippyDoo said:

So only being on the board for two years, is the reason as simple as the fatigue and "wanting their guy"?  Why get rid of some of these other coaches? Did they choose to leave and go on to other jobs? 

Why is a new AD “Wanting his own guy” such an improbable reason? It’s the reason most Akron AD’s have been hired for 30 years…to turn around a moribund football program. 

 

AD Thomas wanted his own guy, and became enamored with Brookhart during an AD interview with Pitt. 
 

JD had mixed results. His biggest downfall wasn’t the opioid issues with 2 players. It was his reliance on “high risk high reward” recruits that mostly flamed out, leaving him with a 3-9 record in his final season. He wanted to make a big leap after his MAC championship, and rolled snake eyes. Couple that with a new AD, and it was adios, JD.

 

Ianello was hired because a new AD had a fetish for Notre Dame guys. He was the biggest jackass I’ve ever met. Tied with Arth for the worst Zips HC ever.

 

Arth was hired because new AD Larry Williams loved Ohio HS catholic school guys. He thought that D3 Tom Arth’s playoff win over Mount Union portended bowl victories for the Zips. Williams paid UT Chattanooga something like $400,000 to buy out Arth’s contract. They still celebrate that day in Chattanooga, and will for years to come. Arth was woefully incapable of leading a D1 football program.

 

Bowden did some good, and bad things. In the end he had some discipline issues and a w/l record that was trending in the wrong direction. Bowden always treated me well. He’s the only ex Zips HC that found employment as a D1 HC afterwards, although it didn’t go great at ULM.

 

Guthrie wanted “his guy”, and couldn’t turn down Joe’s resume. I think Guthrie was a hot garbage AD, but not because of Joe’s hire. That was a no-brainer that just hasn’t panned out. Like Bowden, I think the world of Joe (and Reno and JD - legacy guys from the early 2000’s). It really bums me out that the wins aren’t there.

 

Can anyone win at Akron when the program is so poorly funded? 
 

Can any HC generate the funds needed to be competitive at Akron?

 

Being polite, I can only say - I have my doubts.

[kreed5120]

40 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

 

Can anyone win at Akron when the program is so poorly funded? 
 

Can any HC generate the funds needed to be competitive at Akron?

 

Being polite, I can only say - I have my doubts.

This is where I stand. Even if all the cards magically align and we end up with a Sean Lewis and have 1-2 moderately successful seasons they will be poached and we will go back to losing. Sustainable success isn't achievable under the current climate.

Edited Tuesday at 05:31 PM by kreed5120

[GP1]

3 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

 

Can anyone win at Akron when the program is so poorly funded? 
 

Can any HC generate the funds needed to be competitive at Akron?

 

Being polite, I can only say - I have my doubts.

Question 1:  No. Those that spend, outperform. Those that don't spend, underperform. The job isn't attractive enough to draw someone capable of overcoming the lack of spending. 

 

Question 2:  No. The job of being a head coach is too difficult to rely on that person to also raise money. This responsibility needs to fall squarely on the shoulders of the AD. From what I can piece together, our AD is putting his best foot forward, but we have a long way to go just to catch up. 

 

Could this get turned around and Akron becomes respectable?  Of course it could. Wake Forest is having a Top 25 season with a cast off from UNC at QB, one future NFL receiver and a physical defense. None of this showed itself against the Zips. All of this has been strung together by a coach who is smart about how the money he does have gets spent. Can they win the ACC? Probably not, but at least everyone is talking about them in November. Akron could be a MAC program that at least MAC teams/fans must to pay attention to in November, but that will never happen with what they are spending.