Recalling a packed Beeghly Center

February 19, 2020

YOUNGSTOWN — Feb. 10, 2001. The date was significant as Youngstown State University and Valparaiso were vying for first place in the former Mid-Continent Conference. YSU revealed a month later its exit strategy to the Horizon League, a newly formed conglomeration with teams like current rival Cleveland State, Butler and Wright State. Teams like Valparaiso, Oakland and Northern Kentucky soon followed to the Horizon. The YSU-Valparaiso matchup drew the interest of area fans back then as the teams sought supremacy in the MCC. The Penguins were looking to tie the Crusaders, the elite ...

Penguins must embrace journey

February 12, 2020

Matt Manley and his crew of student assistants had those cases of water, Gatorade and other snacks stacked and ready to go into the storage compartments of the tour bus parked behind the Beeghly Center. Some were heading for overhead compartments in the middle part of the bus that was being prepared to carry the 30-or-so people traveling with the Youngstown State University men’s basketball team. The trip is one of the shorter ones of the year, heading to southeastern Michigan, about four to five hours away. Most on the bus are concentrating on a variety of things — game film, ...

Student section needed at Beeghly

February 8, 2020

YOUNGSTOWN They come in, look around and take their seat. It’s in the upper level of the Beeghly Center. Some sit on the hard, wooden benches on the ends behind the baskets, other take refuge on wooden bleachers. They are students, Youngstown State University students. They come for the free food, which I’ll never pass up myself. Others are curious about the men’s basketball team. The Penguins play tonight at 6 against Cleveland State (9-15, 5-6 Horizon League). YSU (13-11, 6-5) is in fourth place in the Horizon League, a half-game behind Green Bay, which lost at the ...

MLB issues return with sign stealing

February 5, 2020

History tends to repeat itself, especially in the sporting world. Take Major League Baseball. It was during the 1919 World Series that a band of Chicago White Sox players — back then the best team money could buy— conspired with a group of gamblers to throw the championship to a team of inferior Cincinnati Reds. In 1920, the commissioner of baseball — Kenesaw “Mountain” Landis — cracked down on the perpetrators of the scandal and banned eight players from the game for life. Say it isn’t so, Joe? Now almost a century later, the question turns into “Say it ...

Despite negatives, Pelini will be missed

January 31, 2020

The news was a little hard to believe. A high-profile coach who had been successful leading one of the nation’s storied programs was coming to Youngstown State. Bo Pelini, the intense and oft-criticized Nebraska coach who won more than 70 percent of his games with the Cornhuskers, decided to come home. Not many saw it coming. Heck, days before he made the decision, back in December of 2014, a department head within YSU athletics laughed when I brought up the “rumor” that Pelini might come to YSU. “Who else is coming, (Michigan State coach) Mark Dantonio?,” he quipped. Days ...

Intensity key part of push by YSU

January 30, 2020

YOUNGSTOWN — Intensity, it’s easy to say, hard to display when exhaustion runs through your being. School and other factors can affect the all-out intensity in preparation. It’s about being ready for 40 minutes of dribbling, shooting, rebounding and boxing out on a hardwood surface with a Penguin embossed on the floor. On Wednesday, the Youngstown State men’s team was preparing for tonight’s game against Illinois-Chicago starting at 7. Defense is YSU’s calling card, with a focus on rebounding, making those box outs, keeping the opposition out of the paint. Offensively, ...