Keep Coach Dambrot

[a-zip]

I originally was posting this as a response to another thread but thought it warranted what I view to be the most important topic we have. I said it in previous posts and I will say it again..........The key to our success is KEEPING good coaches. It is rare when you have a great coach like KD who actually WANTS to stay and BUILD our program to national prominence and make that his legacy....... "Dambrot Arena".....I like it! What a story if he were to make it happen in his home town. The pieces are in place (Lebron) for this to happen. In KD's tenure, we are off to a great start(Lebron), winning seasons, better recruits(Lebron) and we have advantages that no other (Lebron) school has. Did I mention that Coach Dambrot and Lebron are loyal to Akron?Who could blame him for taking millions one day to go to......UCLA or Kentucky? Christian going to TCU is a joke and another slap in the face to the MAC. I hate Can't, but TCU? I have been to TCU If UA lets Coach Dambrot get away for anything other than an absolute ELITE school - I will separate any association I have with UA. This is a rare (nope, once in a lifetime) chance to make a serious leap. I have more to say, but let’s see if there is any interest.

[zippyrifle32]

i thought both kd and jd got contract extensions like last year.

[zippy5]

i thought both kd and jd got contract extensions like last year.

Those mean anything anymore?

[skip-zip]

a-zip..as far as I am concerned, I will take both sides of the argument for right now. On one side, he has improved the program, and won quite a few games. And his statements that he would like to stay at Akron gives stability to the program, which could help recruiting in the long run. And from my perspective, he does appear to get some true "gutsy" performances from a lot out of his players on many instances. On the other side, some people will point to the fact that we've not won a MAC championship, and have been right on the doorstep twice now, but faltered. And some of the other meltdowns late in big games raise some questions. AND...he just lost basically the 5 guys that have gotten it all done for him over the last few years. So, he appears to have some significant challenges ahead of him.I like to hope and lean towards the top scenario and keep him here. But, I also won't argue that there are some valid points on the other side as well.

[zippyrifle32]

probably the best way to get kd to stay is to increase fan support and fill the jar for every game.

[akronad]

I agree, that we need to keep KD, which means we need to ramp up his salary. I see only a few opitons in that area. First, and foremost, we need to sell-out the JAR every game. This generates revenue. Not only from the ticket sales, but also form parking, concessions,souvenirs, etc. However, with the limited amount of seating at the JAR this will not help entirely. The U needs to budget more money to the program. This would hopefully come in the way of endowments, the Z Club or just plain old donations. We, alumni & students, collectively, have to come up with the ways to fund this endeavor. And the more ideas, the better!!

[ZachTheZip]

Coach Dambrot after 4 years as HC: 92-38Bob Huggins after 5 years as HC: 97-46Huggins' name is near legend around UA. He got us our only NCAA appearance in school history, and coached the ultimate team of overachievers.Dambrot is only 5 wins shy of besting that win total, and he has a whole season to do it. Dambrot has given us the only two post-season wins in school history. The talent level has never been higher here.

[Blue & Gold]

I agree that the KD - LeBron - Akron connection is an absolute once-in-a-lifetime event. The planets all aligned for us Zips fans here. This will NEVER happen again. There is no other mid-major U in the nation that is as fortunate as we are right now. We need to milk this for all it's worth! We need to ride this wave for as long and as far as we possibly can! KD is a good game coach, a great players coach, a tireless recruiter, and loyal to his hometown and U - what more could you ask for?! Oh, yeah...... he's great friends with LeBron James!!!!! Holy crap.

[Zipsrifle]

I agree that we need to sell out the JAR. I agree the LeBron Connection is HUGE. I agree that we need to pay KD more money. These are all good points, but lets face the facts:1) We don't sell out the JAR. Winning games will continue to increase attendance. Winning a MAC Championship and going to the NCAA Tourney will do this. Unfortunately, this success will also garner offers for KD to go elsewhere.2) We already try to get money out of alumni. Why are they going to give more money? We are building a 50+ million dollar stadium and selling bricks to raise money. Are our Alumni just supposed to donate thousands of dollars a year for our athletic programs? 3) A new arena would be nice, but we don't NEED a new arena. I think the RB was a different scenario than the JAR. Either the RB was going to need 50+ million in renovation, we were going to build a new stadium, or we weren't going to play FB in Akron. Those were our choices. UofA's bond rating went down (I'm not saying it is bad, but it did go down) because of our debt. I do not think it is a wise move to borrow more money for an athletic facility that isn't urgently needed. I love the talk here about how we need to pay our coaches more money and build new facilities. I am as impressed with anyone with the changes that have happened on campus, but lets put some thought behind this folks. We've put a LOT of money into this campus in the past decade, and we need to get our house in order. Personally, I think the contract that KD got last year was sufficient, and I would only add to that if he gets us to the NCAA tourney and we win a game or two there. At this point, I think UA should focus on getting rid of some of that debt, and if it is going to add to campus, do it by improving academic facilities.

[Quickzips]

I'm really not certain where all this KD might leave talk is coming from. I guess it has something to do with Christian bolting on Can't. To be honest, they are completely different situations. Christian is a younger coach whose still on that proverbial upswing of his career. KD was down that road before when he was at CMU. Christian had no previous ties to Can't before he arrived there. KD grew up in the area and went to school here. KD's been around the block a lot more. To be perfectly honest, he's kind of lucky to have scrapped his way back into DI coaching after what went down at CMU. I've never gotten the impression from KD that Akron is just another stepping stone towards some dream of a job with a larger program. With Christian that's always been an issue. I could be totally blinded to something here, but I really think a lot of this KD might leave stuff is just overreaction to that school from the East losing their coach.

[skip-zip]

Good points....Zipsrifle....without question, the JAR and the Rubber Bowl are two TOTALLY different situations. Plain and simple...financially, I don't see a MAC school replacing a 25 year old arena, that is in good shape, and only draws 3,000 people to games. You also mention salaries. Why do so many coaches leave MAC schools for big offers? That's simple too. MAC schools do not have the resources to hand out big-time money to keep the best coaches, and that's not going to change anytime soon.Quickzips...I concur. KDs commitment to Akron has not been questioned in front of me, either among fellow fans and alums, or anyone I know that is close to the program. Until I see it, I won't believe it either. I was around for the Huggins era, and we all started seeing the writing on the wall. In this case, I am not even seeing a hint at this point that anything of that nature will happen.

[zippyrifle32]

I'm really not certain where all this KD might leave talk is coming from. I guess it has something to do with Christian bolting on Can't. To be honest, they are completely different situations. Christian is a younger coach whose still on that proverbial upswing of his career. KD was down that road before when he was at CMU. Christian had no previous ties to Can't before he arrived there. KD grew up in the area and went to school here. KD's been around the block a lot more. To be perfectly honest, he's kind of lucky to have scrapped his way back into DI coaching after what went down at CMU. I've never gotten the impression from KD that Akron is just another stepping stone towards some dream of a job with a larger program. With Christian that's always been an issue. I could be totally blinded to something here, but I really think a lot of this KD might leave stuff is just overreaction to that school from the East losing their coach.

agreed

[GoZips]

There will always remain the strong possibility that coach Dambrot might move on. Perhaps this is good as it keeps the administration and the fans on their toes.Twenty years ago a foolish administration let a great coach "move on" simply because they had their eyes focused on football. It is a bitter mistake that the university needs to have permanently stuck in their craw. It was and remains a stupid blunder by short sighted idiots. This should never happen again. If coachever gets the fidgets the administration best make sure that the price another school pays to gain his services is so costly that only fools would try.Pay the staff well, not just the head coach, but the assistants as well. And I say this for ALL sports. The best teams have great assistants. Akron lost a great assistant in Shaka Smart. Fortunately, coach Dambrot was able to gain the services of Jeff Boals. How longAkron can keep him depends a lot on how well he and other assistants are paid. Its a money game.