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« Sports News
Coaching change needed
This might just be the most difficult column that I’ve ever had to write since I’ve been covering Youngstown State athletics over the past 30-some years.
It might be time for a change in the Penguins head football coaching position.
Nine years ago when the Penguins named Jon Heacock the new football coach to replace Jim Tressel, I was 100 percent in favor of the decision.
If I had a son of college age, I’d still want him to play for Jon Heacock. I still firmly believe he’s a very good head coach. He’s a players’ coach, a university’s coach. He lives and dies for Youngstown State football. But for some reason, and there appear to be many, he’s just not getting the job done.
After Saturday’s 28-7 loss at Northern Iowa, the Penguins are 4-5 on the season and 2-4 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
This is a team that many, including Heacock and his staff, felt was a team that would contend for the conference championship and possibly even a national championship.
The Penguins are now in a position where they must win their final two games of the year just to avoid another losing season.
Heacock is now 58-44 in his nine seasons as YSU head coach with three losing seasons. A lot of schools would be happy with that mark, but the fact that the Penguins have been in the postseason just once in those nine seasons is something that is just not acceptable to YSU fans.
Heacock’s biggest problem is that he has no luck. His best season was in 2006 when the Penguins won the conference title and reached the Football Championship Subdivison postseason semifinal round. He’s had two other teams that could have qualified for the postseason, but were overlooked by the selection committee in 2001 and 2005 when they posted 8-3 records.
Sharing the conference title in 2005 and winning it outright in 2006 is something that even Tressel never accomplished at YSU.
A year ago, the team was decimated by injuries and players leaving the team, and many felt that this year would be the one that turned the program back on its feet. But it didn’t happen.
College football is a business. It’s the sport that pays all the bills for the majority of the school’s athletic program, and currently the Penguins’ attendance is dropping rapidly to the point where it may not be handling all the bills.
I’ve heard rumors that when the Penguins play their final home game this Saturday they don’t plan to even open all of Stambaugh Stadium’s concession stands because the crowd may be that small.
YSU athletic director Ron Strollo, the man who hired Heacock and who considers him a close friend, is fully aware of what’s going on.
Strollo has said that he will wait until the season is over before evaluating the program and making any decisions, but he may have only one way to proceed.
Heacock is certainly not going to quit. He’s not a quitter and he still firmly believes in his football team.
His present contract runs through the 2010 season, but there is a buyout clause in the contract.
Saturday’s season home final will be against Illinois State (5-4, 4-2) and it will be Senior Day for the Penguins with 12 seniors playing their final home contest at Stambaugh Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Nobody is more dedicated to the senior players on the team than Heacock. He knows all the time and effort these players have put into the program, some of them as many as five years.
Jon Heacock is a defensive genius and if he is let go by the Penguins at the end of this season it won’t take long for somebody to grab him up to head up their defense. It would probably be a major Division I program where he’ll more than likely make a lot more money than he’s making at YSU.
But money isn’t an issue with Heacock. He’s probably the lowest-paid head coach in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, but if the opportunity to stay was there, he’d grab it in a minute.
Right now, Heacock’s only concern is getting his team ready for the final two games. Losing the last three games in a row certainly isn’t going to make his job any easier, especially since the losses were against the top three teams in the conference.
A record of 0-9 and 1-6 recently against the two top programs in the conference doesn’t help, but two wins here at the end would mean a whole lot more to the veteran head coach.
X Pete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write him at mollica@vindy.com.
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Comments
This should be the easiest article you right. this is a long time overdue. I konw that Jim Tressel was a hard act to fiollow but you could see clearly from the start of his tenure that he was not going to come close to maintaining the level of play that the school had become accustomed to. It just surprises me that there has not been more rumbling before this.
Heacock won with Tressel's recruits in his first seasons at the helm of the Penguins. The combined record for the 2008 and 2009 seasons is 8-13. One playoff season out of nine.
As I've stated in prior posts, I'd fire Heacock now and start the rebuilding process now. It will take years to rebuild the program. A decade has been stolen from lifetime Penguin fans such as myself. I believe an investigation should be undertaken to determine how Heacock's contract was renewed in 2005. I suggest that perhaps Strollo should be replaced for allowing this once proud program to deteriorate on his watch.
I've followed the Penguins since I was a boy watching them at Austintown Fitch, and traveled for many of their away games.This is the lowest point for the program that I recall.
I wish Heacock all the best, but not at the expense of the program or University. I bid him a fond farewell, and wish him every happiness and success in the future.
Mr. Mollica did a service to the University and community by writing this article.
Pure unadulterated insider, good ole boy puke! If this was a local high school team like Mooney or Ursuline or Fitch or Harding etc. there would have been 5 AD and coaching changes by now. Again Petey boy you don't get it! The problem is defined in your own words, "YSU athletic director Ron Strollo, the man who hired Heacock and who considers him a close friend, is fully aware of what’s going on.
Strollo has said that he will wait until the season is over before evaluating the program and making any decisions, but he may have only one way to proceed."
Need I say more? Strollo is the problem! Doesn't the saying go "Nice guys finish last"? not "Nice guys in the press get access" not "Nice guys to Ron Strollo keep their jobs" This is a broken administration top to bottom and waiting any longer just means next year will be more of the same. LISTEN! If you're on YSU's bench thinking you're next years QB you need to run now and run fast to a school where you might get to play. These guys are out to protect each other. Just read Petey's article it exposes the truth about these nice guys! And Petey sounds like he's their mom.
Boycott Nov 14th Illinois State if you love Pete the Penguin!
The problem at YSU has been and continues to be that the athletic program does not want to recruit local talent - the kids who grew up here and want to stay here - but can and will get scholarships other places. The AD and coach do not want to spend scholarship money on those athletes. A great example of this is Dan Gerberry - deemed too small to play at YSU - got a full ride to Ball State and is now with the NFL. Until that mindset changes, YSU will remain a small program - recruiting students who are not committed to this area - and who won't stay.
Who's recruiting? Who's going to recommend which recruits? Shouldn't it be the new AD and new coach with enough time to make a meaningful difference? Really Petey would you send your kid here to play football right now? Is there anybody out there who is aware of anybody in the area being seriously recruited or seriously considering a YSU football future? Really isn't it more honest to say that this YSU administration has done a horrible job at attracting some of the outstanding local talent. I've had parents tell me that top local talent being recruited by big schools who wanted to stay home and play at YSU have been ignored and/or insulted. Ask any D IV V VI coach if they get visits or calls from any recruiters from YSU? Ask any upper D schools if they'd recommend their kids to stay now. The entire Administration from Strollo down is broken. They're aware but just don't care, except about their own butts. They're too busy building Facilities to honor their own ineptitude! Championships are built from over-achievement not indoor practice facilities or elevators. Fans live in the cold wet parking lots for 4 hours before a game and 2 hours afterwards spending and cooking and recruiting new fans with free beer and tickets. This next game might have 19,000 free tickets and a Chevy Colbalt for every fan and after 22 years and 1 missed home game I won't be there recruiting any new fans because there isn't any to recruit. And I'm boycotting Nov 14th Illinois State and every game that has Strollo as AD and Heacock as Coach! What's up with that? Petey going to send your kid here now?
OK Petey, I have an idea and I'm going to run with it.
Read this and say it out loud in your head:
Ron Strollo must go!
Ron Strollo must go!
Ron Strollo must go!
Ok, stay with me, now grab a crayon or whatever you write with and turn over your Happy Meal bag and write this down:
RON STROLLO MUST GO!
OK, we're getting close, Now that thing in front of you with the screen and alphabet, push the little window symbol (picture) and have someone point out WORD and highlight it and click enter.
OK, now Type this while holding the shift key:
R O N S T R O L L O M U S T G O !
OK, now at the top of the screen, there's a picture of a printer that says: Print. Stay with me, a machine will begin to make noise, that's where you should head. (to the machine that makes noise, take my advice Petey, ALWAYS head to the machine that makes noise!)
A piece of paper will begin to appear that says like a real news story headline:
RON STROLLO MUST GO!
Now find the Sports Editor (You know the guy who is currently evaluating you) and go to him and say this:
"Hey, I had a novel idea, what if we've been on the wrong side of this YSU Football thing and we really should be on the right side of history and I make this tomorrows headline for my next story?
Now give him the piece of paper that says:
RON STROLLO MUST GO!
And if you don't I still think the girl inside The Pete the Penguin suit has more brass the you!
There is no way a change will come about if the local paper does not engage in objective jounalism. I do not live locally anymore so my access is limited but this is the first even remote hint from this paper of criticism of the YSU football program that at one time was the pride of the community
Here some possible recruits from Pa: Danny Odem and Dion Eilam neither have been recruited by YSU but Eilam has been by Cincinnati. Robert Trudo from Farrell 6'5 275lb jr. GPA OVER 3.3. From Sharon Louis Brown, and Ronnie Howard. From Wilmington how about Sutton Whiting and Josh DeMedal? Just some thoughts from some one who has seen all of them play and are better than players at YSU who are starters.
Strollo is a good A.D. He is the reason our basketball program is, dare I say it, in better shape than our football program. His fire of Jerry Slocum makes me believe he will hire a top notch candidate for the football head coaching position this December.
Great YSU Website that has commentary on Heacock:
http://www.letsgoguins.com
I don't know about Heacock going or what Strollo will do...but being a local educator...I do know local athletes ARE recruited. The problem, is---the local athletes want to go somewhere else...maybe to a bigger school; or away from home..or to be on TV...or to play in the MAC...or whatever. But, to say YSU is not recruiting local kids is WRONG!
When you lose the support of the Vindicator, your a goner.