The University of Akron Athletics
Read the Latest Edition of Zips Line – February 13, 2015
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THE DEAN’S LIST
Congratulations to the 300-some student-athletes, spirit squad and band members who we honored Tuesday at halftime for earning Dean’s List honors during Spring 2014 and/or Fall 2014 semesters. This is always one of my favorite nights of the year, and I’m so glad it worked for us to showcase the academic success of so many of our student-athletes before the largest Men’s Basketball home crowd of the year – and a great 9-point win over our arch rival.
UPCOMING ON YOUR CALENDAR …
-After our 81-70 win Wednesday over Buffalo, Head Coach Jodi Kest has our team in second place in the MAC East with six games to play. Join us at the JAR at 2 p.m. tomorrow as the Zips play host to Toledo! It’s our annual Play4Kay game, so you’ll see pink everywhere (including our website) as we help raise money for this cause that means so much to so many in Women’s Basketball. Click here for tickets.
-Varsity “A” Hall of Fame banquet: Friday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. at Quaker Station, with recognition at halftime of the Men’s Basketball game on Feb. 21
-Women’s Basketball and Men’s Basketball Alumni Weekends: Feb. 20 and 21
-Don’t forget, the MAC Basketball Tournament will be held at Quicken Loans Arena from March 11-14. We need you there to support our Women’s and Men’s teams! For tickets, please call 888-99-AKRON – it benefits our school to have you purchase directly from us, and we only charge you per round as we advance.
-Our next Zips Trip will take off on Saturday, March 7, at 11 a.m. from the JAR for our 2 p.m. Women’s Basketball game at Bowling Green.
CONGRATS TO …
… Shawn Barber, Claudia Garcia Jou and Clayton Murphy, named MAC Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Athletes of the Week. Barber also who was named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week after setting the all-time collegiate indoor pole vault record at 19-3.5 …
… Men’s and Women’s Cross country and Head Coach Lee LaBadie, who were recognized for their efforts in the classroom as 2014 Division I All-Academic squads …
… the seven newest members of our Women’s Soccer program …
… former Zips Men’s Soccer stars DeAndre Yedlin and Perry Kitchen for helping the U.S. Men’s National Team to a 2-0 friendly victory over Panama …
… Baseball’s Kris Simonton and John Valek, for being named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-MAC Second Team …
… 18 Zips named to the MAC’s Distinguished Scholar Athletes List …
FOOTBALL SURVEY
If you attended one or more home football games in 2014, we would love to hear about your experience … please click here for a quick online survey. One person who enters will win two (2) tickets to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament Regionals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, to be held March 26 and 28!
OUR CONDOLENCES …
Sad news to share, as former Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kenneth G. “Coach” Cunningham passed away Monday at the age of 71. He coached us for four years and helped transition our program to Division I. We send our condolences to family and friends.
ON THE ROAD …
… Men's basketball travels to Eastern Michigan on Saturday to face a tough Eagles defense. Tip off is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich. …
… Baseball has Opening Day today. Read the season preview and help wish Head Coach Rick Rembielak and the team well as first pitch is 4 p.m. at Furman. We were picked to finished third in the MAC East …
… Softball returns to Florida starting today for five games in three days in the Jacksonville Invitational after finishing last weekend 2-3, including wins over Michigan State and Rhode Island …
… Track and Field, ranked No. 14 (Women) and No. 19 (Men) nationally, splits up the squad to compete in Fayetteville, Ark., and in Geneva, Ohio, this weekend …
… Women’s Tennis travels to Wisconsin …
… Women’s Golf is in Fort Myers, Fla., for the FGCU Eagle Invitational, following its fifth-place finish in the MAC Match Play Challenge last week …
… Rifle competes for a conference crown in the WIRC Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. … good luck!
TIMEOUT WITH MEGAN BROWN
First-year Softball Assistant Coach Megan Brown, PhD, integrates vast intercultural knowledge and an educational background as she oversees the Zips' softball pitching staff. Dr. Brown has a PhD in kinesiology and is a former collegiate and professional softball athlete. Her playing and coaching careers have taken her to the likes of Italy, Holland, and England, allowing her to fuse her passions for travel and softball.
Softball has taken you all over the world. Was that by design, or was that just where your opportunities took you?
Travel is my weakness; I love to go places. If you give me a free afternoon, even on a recruiting trip, I'll go see whatever sites are around. That is definitely my weakness that I spend too much time and money on. It's not shoes or clothes; it's travel.
I wanted to continue to play, and the level over there is very good. It's cool to see softball in different cultures, because sport is a definite extension of culture, so softball is played differently all over the world and a lot of people don't know that. It's neat to see the different culture of sport. Plus, who doesn't want to spend a summer in Italy and be paid to do it?
What has seeing the game in action cross-culturally brought to your coaching philosophy?
I think it's allowed me to have a better understanding of people and realize that everybody comes from a different place; even cultures within the U.S. are so drastically different. I was born and raised in the South, so living up here is a little different, culture wise. I think it helps me understand people and gave me multiple perspectives for the same skill sets.
Similarly, you have a strong educational background. How has that helped you in your coaching career?
I knew I wanted to be a coach. I didn't just want to be a coach, I wanted to be a good coach. I knew the education background would help me with the pedagogy side of coaching as far as the actual methodology of teaching, so that was a lot of the driving force. Teaching kinesiology and anatomy and physiology helps to keep my mind fresh with all the biomechanics I use with our pitchers. The more I can learn about how our body actually works, the more efficient our pitchers can be and the more we can get power production and execution and put those pieces together.
Read the full feature story on Megan Brown, PhD, visit the Zips Insider blog.
A QUICK STORY I WANTED TO SHARE
Our 13th-ranked Rifle team competed Saturday at the University of Mississippi, earning a hard-fought and -shot 4.601-4,591 victory over the No. 17 Rebels. That’s a great win for our program, but what made this trip particularly memorable was a man in the crowd wearing a Zips shirt.
Although there are Zips fans all over the world, Oxford, Miss., is not exactly a hot-spot for UA alumni, so it was a pleasant surprise to see someone there wearing our gear. After 36 years as our Head Coach (following his time as a UA Rifle team member), Newt Engle knows everyone associated with our program. Since this gentleman wasn’t related to one of our current student-athletes or a former Rifle letterwinner, Newt walked over to introduce himself to a smiling stranger who was waving and cheering for our team.
His name is Perry Arrington, and he’s the brother of our late Football Assistant Head Coach, Alan “Tank” Arrington. An Ole Miss grad, Perry is from Mississippi and lives there today. He told Newt that it was the first time he ever attended an Ole Miss event wearing the colors of another school, but he wanted to cheer for the Zips because of how much our school and athletics department meant to his brother and family.
We all miss Tank every day, and we think often about Perry, Tank’s wife Gail, Tank’s mother Gale, and their entire family … it means a lot to us that we still have a Zips fan in Mississippi, especially because all of us here in Akron who had the honor to know Tank always will be lifelong Arrington fans.
ASK THE AD
As always, if you have a question or want to comment about Zips Athletics, click here now or at any time on the "Ask the AD" button on the home page of GoZips.com.
Go Zips!
Tom Wistrcill
Director of Athletics
