Correspondent Photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State football helmet in the snow at Stambor Stadium.
Youngstown – This fall, the Youngstown State football team came across a 4-8 record after making the FCS playoffs last season.
Despite the Penguins being below expectations, athletic director Ron Beritro told the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator that YSU is committed to head coach Doug Phillips.
“There are higher standards than coach (Philips) and no one cares.” Stollo said. “This wasn’t the season we wanted. The previous two were really good seasons for us, and sometimes that happens. But we’ve got a really good hand with Coach Phillips. I feel like I’m doing that.”
Bretollo said he had no consideration for changing head coaches when evaluating the football program at the end of the 2024 season.
Phillips signed an extension in January 2023 and is signed with YSU until the end of the 2026 season. YSU also has the option to extend trading by one season until 2027.
“We’ve been committed to coaches and feel better about those directions.” Stollo said. “We understand how difficult the competition we play against is and how the margins of errors are very few. There will be years when we are really excited about, and there will be, and there will be. – Hopefully they are few and we will be a year when we are not.
“But people close to our program – our board of trustees, our president, are very supportive of what he can do in the community and what he can do on the football field. .”
Still, since the end of the November season, Phillips has chosen to make some changes to the coaching staff. Over the past few weeks, YSU has begun officially announce new adoptions for them.
After saying goodbye to former offensive coordinator Troy Rotenbler, Phillips hired Mike Yursic to oversee the offense and coach the quarterback. Yursic has spent 25 years coaching at the college level and previously served as an offensive coordinator in Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma.
The Penguins also hired Chris Parry as a wide receiver coach, Justin Heecock as a running back coach and Michael Zoldicch as a cornerback coach.
“I feel good about the new staff we bring in. I feel really good about the recruitment classes we went to last fall.” Stollo said.
Penguins are scheduled to start spring football on March 11th, and will reach their peak at 11am on April 12th at the annual Red White Spring Game
Revenue sharing
The national athletics division is preparing to address future changes brought about by the pending settlement agreement in the House vs. NCAA lawsuit, and YSU is no exception.
The historic settlement changes the university’s sports landscape, allowing schools to share their income directly with athletes, allowing athletes to benefit from schools previously banned by the NCAA. The settlement also removes scholarship restrictions for all sports and changes the size and limits of the roster.
Some schools, such as North Dakota, who are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, have opted out of the settlement, but Stollo said YSU will opt out.
“We’ve already opted in because we’ve started offering partial scholarships in volleyball.” Stollo said. “Our feelings are the only reason we don’t opt in is the limits on the entire roster. However, there are many benefits to opting in because you get legal protection and other things. We register. I really feel that I can influence registrations just as much as I have an impact on them.”
The settlement will allow schools to share about $20 million in revenue, but these figures apply to schools with most Power 4.
Naturally, small schools like YSU have a much lower revenue share, and in some cases it does not exist. So Stollo said that overall it won’t change things about how YSU operates in NIL programs like Penguin Collective.
“We don’t have that revenue share, so we don’t know if that will necessarily change what we’re doing.” Stollo said. “Even in some (Power 4) schools, it’s going to be a stretch for them too. I’m guessing, but I don’t have to spend on scholarships or anything like that on student-athletes yet. There’s no real income to share.”
YSU uses track and field as a way to supplement the number of enrollments and bring additional tuition revenue to the university.
So, despite the university as a whole continuing to decline in registration and budget cuts, YSU’s budget situation is not as disastrous as Horizon League rival Cleveland State. The university’s overall budget lacks.
“I think we’re very cautious here. We’re actually taking a Division III approach in that there’s athletics to bring students to campus.” Stollo said. “These sports are intended to make facilities positive numbers, so you don’t want to affect registration by dropping sports.”
Facility updates
Bretollo has stated in the past that YSU facilities need to be strengthened to compete with other similar schools in order to allow Penguins to recruit and retain student-athletes and maintain coaches.
The university took a major step in that direction last summer with a renovation of seats inside the newly named Zidian Family Arena at Bealy Centre. YSU also installed a new video board on the main scoreboard that is hung over the court and recently completed a renovation of the men’s basketball locker room.
“That’s a credit to (men’s basketball chief staff) Rocco Norphye and (former head coach Jerrod) Calhoun.” Men’s basketball coach Ethan Faulkner spoke about the renovation. “I’m giving them all the credits in the world for that. Our players are now going to enjoy that advantage. This is a big time, we’ll be renovating here at Beely Center. Complete the gamechanger.
“In the last two years, the whole new athletic training room, obviously the gym has been renovated with new seats, new scoreboards and everything we’ve done this summer. Now, to confirm our locker room, it’s It’s as great as the people I’ve been to in the mid-year basketball season and it’s really trying to help us in terms of recruiting.”
Then, a few months ago, YSU swapped a lawn stadium at Farmers National Bank Field, Penguin’s soccer and lacrosse field, located at the Coveli Sports Complex, adjacent to Stambor Stadium.
But it was all just the beginning.
Strollolo then said YSU will add a booster room at the northern end of the Beehive Center and replace the Stambaugh Stadium video board. He then added that his next major project would be renovating the locker room for the soccer team at Stambaugh Stadium.
“We’re going to keep picking up and try to improve what we can.” Stollo said. “This community is extremely supportive of all these projects. We are fortunate enough to be financially able to do that.”
