'A great deal of potential': Coach Joe Moorhead ready to lead Akron to football wins

Job security and winning more games than you lose have not been attached to the description of a University of Akron football coach for a long time. 

First-year coach Joe Moorhead is committed to changing that, starting with the 2022 season with a mixture of returning Zips players, transfers and incoming freshmen. 

The UA football team has a losing record since becoming a Division I-A program in 1987, but there have been bright spots along the way with sporadic winning seasons, a Mid-American Conference championship in 2005, MAC East Division titles in 2000, 2005 and 2017 and bowl game appearances in 2005, 2015 and 2017.

More:Quarterback DJ Irons sharp in University of Akron Zips Blue & Gold Spring Football Game

The past four seasons have not been pretty. The Zips sputtered during Terry Bowden's final year in 2018 and the program regressed during Tom Arth's three-year run.

Moorhead left his post as Oregon's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the past two seasons to return to UA where he was an assistant under former Zips coach J.D. Brookhart for five seasons from 2004-2008.

"We were coming off of a [MAC] championship for the spring game we had in here in '06. Not so much right now," Moorhead said Saturday at Stile Athletics Field House after UA's Blue & Gold Spring Game.

"I think people who have played here, people in the town and people in the state have always felt that Akron possessed a great deal of potential. To come out here and see the stands full and have over 50 football alumni here at the game along with our signees is very gratifying. It makes me feel great about the direction of the program and validates the decision to come here."

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Moorhead is trying to rebuild a Zips football program that went 3-27 during the past three seasons, including 3-24 under Arth and 0-3 under Oscar Rodriguez Jr., who took over after Arth was fired last season.

DJ Irons, Bubba Arslanian excited about potential turnaround at Akron 

Red-shirt junior quarterback DJ Irons and sixth-year senior linebacker Bubba Arslanian are two of the returnees that Moorhead inherited.

Arslanian, an Aurora High School graduate, joined the Zips in 2017 when Bowden was the coach. Irons came to Akron in Arth's 2021 recruiting class.

"The vibe is there," Irons said Saturday after leading the Blue Team to a 27-20 win over the Gold Team. "We definitely get along together on the field and off the field. We are getting better talking to one another outside of football. We are coming together as brothers. It is a real brotherhood within the team. I feel like we really are on the right track to being great."

Irons was one of the standouts in the spring game with three touchdown passes — one apiece to sophomore Alex Adams, senior Shocky Jacques-Louis and sophomore Blake Hester. Irons completed 13-of-21 passes for 112 yards.

Multiple players took snaps on each team in the spring game, including Cory Smigel, a junior kicker who made a total of four field goals and five extra points.

Adams is a transfer from Louisiana State University and Jacques-Louis is a graduate transfer from the University of Pittsburgh. Defensive backs Kerry Martin Jr. (West Virginia) and Cam Threatt (Mississippi State), running back Cam Wiley (Minnesota), offensive lineman Anthony Whigan (Penn State) and tight end and Archbishop Hoban graduate Caden Clark (Alabama) are among over a dozen new transfers at UA.

Irons added that he and his teammates "are going to lock in" and fans should "tune in and watch."

UA has had its share of stars through the years, including future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor, Super Bowl champions Dwight Smith, Domenik Hixon and Chase Blackburn and former Browns quarterback Charlie Frye.

More:Players return looking to establish winning culture for University of Akron football

Joe Moorhead brings head coaching experience to the University of Akron

There is excitement around this Zips team with Moorhead in charge. His resume  includes a 14-12 record as coach at Mississippi State in 2018 and 2019 and going 38-13 as coach at Fordham from 2012-2015.

Moorhead was UA's wide receivers coach and special teams and recruiting coordinator in 2004, assistant head coach, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2005 and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Moorhead was on Brookhart's staff in 2005 when the Zips earned a 35-3 regular-season finale win over Kent State at the Rubber Bowl and a 31-30 win over Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit. The Zips returned to Detroit for the Motor City Bowl that year and lost 38-31 to Memphis.

Brookhart compiled a 30-42 record during his time as coach from 2004-2009. UA turned to Rob Ianello as its next football coach and the Zips went 2-22 in his two seasons.

The Zips went 1-11 in Bowden's first season in 2012 after going 1-11 under Ianello in 2011 and 2010. Bowden revived the program to a certain extent during his time as coach through the 2018 season, but went 35-52 overall.

Bowden led UA to an 8-5 record in 2015, a season that featured a five-game winning streak, including a 20-0 win over Kent State at InfoCision Stadium and a 23-21 victory over Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise.

Bowden's 2017 Zips won the MAC East title, ending its regular season with a 24-14 win at home over Kent State and then losing to Toledo 45-28 in the MAC championship game and to Florida Atlantic 50-3 in the Boca Raton Bowl.

UA hasn't played in a postseason game since 2017 and has struggled to compete.

More:'No level of compromise': Akron football opens spring practice under new leadership

Moorhead is tasked with trying to make UA a winner in football like the Zips men's soccer, men's basketball, men's and women's track and field and rifle teams are.

The glory days for UA football from a winning perspective were before the program was Division I-A when Jim Dennison and Gordon K. Larson became the Zips' all-time winningest coaches. Dennison compiled a record of 80-62-2 from 1973-1985 and Larson posted a record of 74-33-5 from 1961-1972.

Gerry Faust went 43-53-3 from 1986-1994 as UA transitioned to Division I-A and Lee Owens went 40-61 from 1995-2003.

Owens led the Zips to the 2000 MAC East title with a 34-6 season-finale win at Kent State, and to their only win over a top 25 foe (34-20 over No. 25 Marshall in 2002).

Arslanian is an All-MAC player that can help Akron rebuild. He was a red-shirt freshman on the Zips 2018 team that earned a 39-34 win over host Northwestern.

"Bubba is the consummate student-athlete," Moorhead said. "He is a great leader, very instinctive and plays with great physicality. The guys all respect him — offense, defense and special teams. To have a guy like that, he could have maybe moved on with his life's work and got a job. After a few tough years, for him to be able to come back and want to do this thing one more time — I feel great about him."

Arslanian saw development in the 15 spring practices, and said players are more in tune with "accountability" and "making growth in the game."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.