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By Cameron Kiszla
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It's perhaps the most viral story of the offseason: An Akron Zips season ticket holder will get to call plays in a real college football game.
Of course, there are some stipulations. It's just for the Zips's season opening offensive drive against lower-tier opponent Robert Morris, and head coach Joe Moorhead will still have final say over the script.
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That said, it's still a unique opportunity for one lucky fan out there, and as Justin Williams of The Athletic detailed, it's a win-win for the fan and the program.
More Than Just a Marketing Scheme
Williams dubbed the plan, which the school calls "Offensive Coordinator of the Game," as "a pure publicity stunt" and "old-school, huckster carnival barking," but to Akron, it's a chance to reinvigorate the program.
"The Zips haven’t been to a bowl game in 10 years," Williams noted. "They had a winless season more recently than a winning one. It had to try something different to get butts in seats."
It appears the stunt has worked.
Football suites are sold out for the first time in program history, Front Office Sports noted, and prominent names in sports media like Dan "Big Cat" Katz, Bobby Bones and Dan Dakich have purchased season tickets.
"It’s early August, only weeks away from kicking off the season, and college football diehards are talking about Akron," he wrote.
The winner of the contest has not yet been named, but if it's one of those celebrities, expect the story to get new life.
And even if it's just a random Joe getting to attend a couple of days of practice and weigh in on the play calls, expect a lot of attention on the Sept. 12 matchup.
Given all of that, it's unsurprising that Moorhead, the Zips' coach, went from "briefly reluctant" to "ultimately encourag[ing] it," Williams said.
“Once the shock value wore away and we discussed some benefits, now you see (the promotion) spoke for itself,” Moorhead told Williams.
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