Football

Now that the Browns took offensive tackle Joe Thomas third overall, it appears slightly less likely Andy Alleman will play for Cleveland.

Don’t you think?

If you want more consistent liveblogging on draft day with an Akron flavor, click over to Dan Kadar’s blog on NewEraScouting.com.

Football

Today might as well be a national holiday for sports nerds like me.

Since the NFL Draft falls on a Saturday, there’s really no necessity for that.

Anyhow, I talked to Andy Alleman a few times this week. He kept asking if it was Saturday yet. Aside from advising him about the day of the week, I listened to some extreme excitement.

And why wouldn’t he be? He went from above-average MAC lineman to possible second-round pick in just weeks.

If I’m Alleman, I’m not getting my hopes up. It’s very easy to slide on draft day. I stand by my initial estimation that he’ll go in the third round. I would love to see the Browns grab him.

I’m going to give Alleman a call after he’s chosen, and I’ll have that conversation for you shortly thereafter.

Men’s basketball

At the end of Tom Gaffney’s story about Keith Dambrot’s contract extension, he mentions that John Rybak is transferring to Texas State.

It seems like a great thing for both parties. Rybak never would play extended minutes, and now the Zips have a scholarship freed up. Gaffney suggests Columbus DeSales’ Alex Kellogg, son of television analyst and former Buckeye Clark Kellogg, could be the target.

Men’s basketball

Keith Dambrot is one of the MAC’s best coaches.

Now he’s getting paid like it.

For the second time in five months, UA extended the fourth-year coach’s contract. His deal is among the top third of MAC coaches, the university says.

Knowing Dambrot isn’t a money hungry guy, the respect of a new contract among the MAC’s highest could be as valuable as the extra dollars.

Football

I think the theme of the defense this spring was dominance.

Of course, you have to consider that the offense was young and missing key players for much or all of the 15-practice schedule.

With that in mind, the young touted recruits certainly showed why Zipsnation (the concept, not the Web site … actually, both) got so excited about them.

Defensive line: C-. Anyone who knows me will tell you how worried I was about this position. Last year’s line made few plays (although that may be attributed to the 3-3-5 scheme), and two of those guys are gone. The spring showed me that the starters can be serviceable. In other words, they won’t be the best in the conference, nor the worst. A more fit Nate Robinson will be a solid run stuffer. Eric Lively and Jared Cecchetti look like average MAC defenders. The backups are another story. Shawn Lemon is going to be good pass rusher. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. Viktor Rajek has the athleticism for the position, but not the knowledge for the position yet. Hopefully, a couple of the 2007 recruits are ready to play. Speaking of recruits, Rivals.com is showing Hassan Hazime from Ontario as a late signee. J.D. Brookhart mentioned him — although not by name — as a player who possibly could suit up as a true freshman. Florida, Florida State and Boston College had shown interest before he settled on his only offer, Akron. The coach also said Joe Rash might be ready. Overall, the coaches should be pleased if the defensive line is just average next season.

Linebackers: A. Doug Williams is a freak. His play will really surprise Zips fans next season. He proved to be an impact player this spring. Kevin Grant had a nagging injury, and coaches decided to keep him out for much of the spring because he’s already proven. Brion Stokes is a terrific blitzer, and hopefully the coaches fire him into the pocket on every third down next season. The real question is, will the coaches find enough playing time for Al-Teric Balaam? The sophomore is an All-MAC linebacker in the making. It would be nice to have a little more depth, but all in all, the linebackers are equipped to put hits on running backs, cover tight ends with their athleticism and rush the passer.

Defensive backs: A+. Yeah A+. Although they weren’t tested by David Harvey, Jabari Arthur or a veteran quarterback this spring, they were downright impregnable. John Mackey and Davanzo Tate have to be preseason favorites for All-MAC safeties. They also have four cornerbacks who could start for almost every other team in the conference. What impresses me most is the leadership this mostly upperclassman group exudes. They have a certain swagger that will not let the rest of the defense play lackadasically. As long as the defensive line gets adequate penetration, no current MAC quarterback-receiver combination should scare this corps.

Punter: Incomplete. John Stec did a decent job in his freshman season. I grade him as incomplete for the spring because I didn’t watch him punt much, and to be honest, I don’t know how to analyze a punter during practice.

Kicker: B-. Matt Domonkos showed a considerable boost in leg strength. The fact that Brookhart would send him to the field with a 56-yarder in front of him on Saturday is proof of that. But Domonkos has always been a good practice kicker, so there’s no use in getting excited about that. Igor Iveljic missed half of spring with a sore back. He was a bit rusty upon his anticipated return, biffing a few kicks here and there. He still performed well enough to earn the first-string duties, in my opinion, going into the fall. That’s of course assuming he doesn’t beat the crap out of another fellow student. (As an aside, wouldn’t it be lethal if Iveljic knew karate? That would make for a forceful front kick.)

Special teams: B. It’s hard to judge the kickoff coverage when I didn’t see one kickoff. However, Brookhart used the final 15 minutes of each practice to teach blocking techniques. That is enough to give me confidence that this squad will adapt well to the new NCAA rule of kickoffs coming from the 30-yard line, rather than the 35.

Men’s basketball

Keith Dambrot may not have a top-notch field house or promise of a new stadium to lure recruits.

He does have a 6-foot-8 forward who can’t stop bringing attention to the school in his hometown.

Terry Pluto wrote today about how the King James Classic AAU basketball tournament brings the nation’s best high school talent to Akron and Kent State. Last year, that may have helped to land Ronnie Steward, the state’s best point guard who ventured onto campus because of the tournament.

I have no clue who is on what team, but here is the schedule for the tournament that starts tomorrow.

Miscellaneous

I did some snooping this semester about where the athletic department – and the university as a whole — spend their money.

There might be some stuff in the story you might not know.

I’ll post that story below. If you’re interested, here’s the link to the main story, which focuses on the whole university.

Mack Rhoades stood over his desk, placed his hand on his jaw and sighed.

“We have to get a football stadium built,” said the University of Akron’s athletic director.

“The Rubber Bowl prohibits us with attendance - especially with students,” he continued. “The lack of amenities, the deteriorating seats, et cetera. It prohibits us from maximizing revenue.”

Having the $54 million on-campus stadium ready for 2009 is a goal held by many at the university, but especially by the fans.

An entirely different contingency among the university community is asking, “Why bother?”

UA subsidized its athletic department $13.1 million last year. That is $13.1 million that could have gone to improve academic programs, they say.

The football program alone lost more than $3 million. No sport came even close to breaking even (see chart on A2).

Also, coaches spent $500,000 last year in recruiting. In layman’s terms, the university is paying $500,000 to coax high school students to accept a full-ride scholarship at UA. It’s a double whammy.

Rhoades offers several defenses against these points.

Although Akron sports don’t come close to paying for themselves, only a handful of the teams at the 119 Division IA schools do.

The national standard is that a university subsidizes athletics with about 5 percent of its total budget. The $13.1 million subsidy is just less than 4 percent of UA’s $345 million budget.

Some sports also help by attracting paying students. The track team, which awards only a small fraction of its 90 athletes with scholarships, increases tuition by attracting students to UA, who normally would go elsewhere. That figure could reach $1 million for the track team alone.

“We are, by far, a great bargain with what we bring in and provide,” track coach Dennis Mitchell said.

About 200 athletes on campus are without a full scholarship, Rhoades said. Those students pay tuition, but that money is not calculated as athletics revenue.

Rhoades also points to the publicity sports garner for a university. The football team will play twice on ESPN next season. Ninety million homes receive that network, and each of the viewers, conceivably, could walk away from the television set with a higher level of respect for UA.

“For most universities, the greatest marketing window is athletics,” Rhoades said. “It can lead people to investigate the academics, which is most important.”

Another intangible benefit is the cohesion that university athletics offer.

“It can be a focal point of celebration,” Rhoades said. “If you’re winning, it brings a sense of school spirit to the campus.”

Still, Rhoades said his department must improve upon the $3 million in total revenue it generated last year.

The department has improved already since Rhoades arrived in January 2006. Football ticket sales brought in $349,000 last season, which is double the total from 2005 when Akron won the Mid-American Conference Championship. With Keith Dambrot’s Zips winning 26 men’s basketball games, attendance income jumped 15 percent to $270,000, and that’s even with a massive blizzard wiping out attendance for the game against Ohio University which was expected to be a big money maker.

Women’s basketball is considered the third-largest collegiate sport. Akron’s team brought in only $25,800 last year. That is a figure with perhaps the highest potential to grow, Rhoades said.

“It hasn’t been a successful program,” Rhoades said. “People want to see a quality product. Before we can think about making money, we have to have a better product.”

That illustrates the importance of winning to a financially successful institution. Take Ohio State University, for example. The Buckeyes were national runners-up in men’s basketball and football. OSU’s budget of $98 million reflects that. It is the highest of any department in the nation.

Merchandise sales at Ohio State also boost revenue significantly. It’s hard to walk anywhere without seeing a Buckeyes shirt or baseball cap, even on UA’s campus.

UA’s merchandising is not so lucrative. The university hires Licensing Resource Group, Inc. to protect its brand and logo. LRG collected about $50,000 last year from manufacturers, such as Nike or New Era, who sold Zips merchandise in retail stores or over the Internet. Of course, the university sells merchandise itself at the team stores at Rhodes Arena and the Rubber Bowl. Those ventures earned UA $168,000 in 2006.

Although the football team loses millions of dollars, it recoups plenty through “buy games,” which are road games the university plays against bigger schools for a large paycheck.

The going rate is about $600,000 that a large school, such as the University of Michigan, will pay an institution from a mid-major conference, such as Akron, to travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., for just one game.

With travel expenses rarely reaching higher than $80,000, this can become somewhat of a welfare system to the smaller schools. Akron will play two such away games next season: at Ohio State and Connecticut.

These revenue enhancing methods are nice, but the truth is, UA’s athletic budget sits at $16 million - which is in the lowest third of the teams in the MAC.

Rhoades believes the new stadium can help boost revenue, and thus, increase the budget from which he can draw.

“We have to increase the amount of revenue we generate,” Rhoades said. “That is our focus.”

Baseball

The Buchtelite’s Josh Volchko profiled Akron’s new three hitter, Doug McNulty.

The team got rained out today against Cleveland State. They will play Buffalo this weekend.

Golf

The Buchtelite’s Jeff Thomas wrote about Brad Wright, who quietly has become the anchor of the Zips’ successful season and perhaps the MAC’s best golfer.

The Zips will host the FirstEnergy Intercollegiate this weekend at Firestone Country Club.

Miscellaneous, Pt. II

Do you remember our epic debate about Paul Rodgers versus Freddie Mercury as Queen’s lead singer?

I read something on the Internet that proves me right.

Miscellaneous

I realize this is a sports blog, but I did some digging for my senior honors project about the university’s finances. If you get a moment, it might be worth checking out these PDFs.

The university’s macro budget for FY 2006

College and auxiliary services budgets

Baseball

Akron beat Kent State at Canal Park 3-1 tonight.

More than 800 fans showed up for the game. Proceeds will go to Akron Children’s Hospital.

Football

After watching the Zips play the past month, I have some grades for the offensive positions and some players. Defense will come later.

Quarterback: B. I’m factoring in the injuries to Chris Jacquemain and Carlton Jackson, which dug into the experience they might have gained this spring. Sean Hakes took advantage of that, however. He cut back on his sporadic “whoops” passes and seemed to have his team behind him. Jacquemain played much better after the Blue-Gold Scrimmage. Although I endorsed Hakes for the job, I am guessing Jacquemain might top the coaching staff’s list at this point. Jackson really never showed much. His deep ball that he previewed last season wasn’t there. Wearing the red no-contact jersey, it was too difficult to say if his scrambling would have been effective. Although the QB battle remains, one question is answered in my mind. This position will not be a weakness in 2007 (although I don’t think it will be a strength either).

Running back: A-. This is another position that didn’t get to show its full repertoire. Dennis Kennedy and Alex Allen each missed a handful of practices for various reasons. But Kennedy looked really good. The runners behind he and Allen also proved they deserve carries in the fall. The backs ran hard and broke about one long touchdown run per practice. I was pleased.

Wide receiver: Incomplete. The Zips started camp without David Harvey and Jabari Arthur. Jermaine Lindsey showed off his talent, then he too got injured. The defense picked off a lot of passes, and at least some were the receivers’ fault. In their defense, however, the corps was so thin, the wideouts became very weary after a bunch of 4-WR sets.

Tight ends: C+. It would have been nice to see a few more balls go to the tight ends with the wide receiving bunch being so depleted. The good thing is the team cut back on drops at this position. A few drives halted last season because of butterfingers. Individually, Brian Flaherty made a several solid catches. He has a knack for finding a spot on the field where the defense is not. Kris Kasperek and Merce Poindexter were solid.

Offensive line: C. This might have been the biggest question mark heading into the spring. Who would step into the four vacant positions? Several of the young players showed promise at run blocking, but stopping the pass rush was a real problem. J.D. Brookhart said the team has worked almost exclusively on run blocking so far, so maybe that will improve. Bad snaps from the shotgun are another negative, however. I really think this could be a team strength by midseason. At this point, it is not.

MVP: Dennis Kennedy
Most improved player: Jermaine Lindsey
Biggest disappointment: Carlton Jackson

Golf

Akron resoundingly beat conference rivals Miami and Kent State by 21 strokes in a tri-match this week.

Colin Clemente was the medalist with scores of 69 and 72 at Windmill Lakes Golf Club and Firestone Country Club, respectively.

This should be a huge confidence boost heading into the MAC Tournament in two weeks. This weekend, the Zips will try to win their own First Energy Intercollegiate.

Baseball

Charlie Frye and Joshua Cribbs will throw out the ceremonial first pitches before tonight’s Akron-Kent State game at Canal Park, which begins at 6 p.m. and will benefit Akron Children’s Hospital.