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MVFC Media Day kicks off football season

YSU picked to finish 5th in conference for highest preseason spot since 2018

Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes YSU junior quarterback Beau Brungard throws a pass during spring practice on March 22 inside the Watson and Tressel Training Site in Youngstown.

This month marked the beginning of a new era for the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the first time since its inception in 1985.

After overseeing the conference for 40 years, former commissioner Patty Viverito retired at the end of the 2024-2025 season and vacated her role on June 30. During MVFC Media Days on Monday, the conference announced that it is renaming its championship trophy in her honor for her decades of service.

Effective July 1, current Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Jeff Jackson took over as the new MVFC commissioner, while Summit League commissioner Josh Fenton was named as executive advisor to the conference.

This marked the beginning of a new joint management model between the MVC and the Summit League, as the MVFC remains a separate entity, distinct from its member institutions’ multisport conferences.

According to the conference, the updated governance model includes a board of directors, executive committee, athletic director council, joint council, head coach council and student-athlete advisory council. Both the MVC and Summit League will play a role in the administrative operations.

Not only did a new administrative structure take hold in the conference,, but four new coaches will roam the sidelines around the MVFC this fall, with Dan Jackson taking over at South Dakota State, Travis Johansen at South Dakota, Eric Schmidt at North Dakota and Todd Stepsis at Northern Iowa.

Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips is now the fourth-longest tenured coach in the conference as he gets set to begin his sixth season with the Penguins.

“One thing I’ve learned is you focus on what you can control,” YSU head coach Doug Phillips said during his media availability Monday morning. “We’re a developmental program. We get kids that come in as a high school player that probably aren’t highly recruited. We develop them and within year three or year four, they’re very good football players and they have opportunities to go elsewhere.”

Phillips then reflected back to the mass exodus of players that the program lost to the transfer portal after the 2023 season in the winter and spring.

He said he learned from that occurrence, indicating how important it is to keep bringing in freshmen to develop in order to maintain a consistent foundation of players within the program. YSU signed roughly 25 freshmen with its 2025 recruiting class.

“I wasn’t ready for that and I didn’t have that foundation built,” Phillips said of the transfer departures. “You’re going against programs whose consistency over the last 10-15 years is incredible. The Dakotas have built their consistency. Back in the day, it used to be Youngstown State, and that’s what we’re trying to get back to.”

Since that tumultuous offseason, the Penguins have been able to steady the ship during the portal era.

YSU went 4-8 last year during a difficult rebuilding season with a young, inexperienced team. But despite that, the Penguins have a sizable group of returners hoping to take a step forward in 2025.

The MVFC’s preseason poll, which was released during Media Day on Monday, reflected optimism in the YSU’s returning group, as the Penguins were picked to finish fifth with 211 votes behind North Dakota State (417), South Dakota State (355), South Dakota (349) and Illinois State (292).

It’s the highest preseason placement for YSU since it was picked to finish fourth in 2018. The Penguins have ended up finishing higher than their preseason projections during each of the last three seasons.

“We’ve got a lot of returning players. It’s the first time in the portal era that we didn’t lose a starter in the spring portal, and for us, that’s a big deal,” Phillips said. “I kind of feel that a lot of the four-year players that have been in the program, it’s a class that’s stuck together and they want to dig themselves out and have a great year this year.”

YSU begins fall camp on July 28 and opens the season on Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. at home against Mercyhurst.

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