YSU claims third McCafferty trophy

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University earned the Horizon League’s 2025-26 McCafferty Trophy after posting one of its most broadly successful years in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics’ history.

The conference’s all-sports award was presented to YSU President Bill Johnson, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Ron Strollo, Deputy Athletic Director for Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator Rebecca Fink, Faculty Athletics Representatives Chet Cooper and Barbara Flinn and student-athletes Rylee Sorrell (women’s soccer) and Reid Withey (men’s swimming and diving) at the Horizon League’s annual meetings in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

It’s the third time that Youngstown State has claimed the trophy for success across the Horizon League’s 19 championship sports. The Penguins shared the McCafferty Trophy in 2020-21, and they won it outright in 2022-23. YSU has now finished second or better in each of the last six seasons.

Youngstown State finished as the runner-up by 2.5 points in 2024-25, but it won convincingly in 2025-26. The Penguins outscored second-place Oakland by 19.5 points, creating the widest gap between the top two teams in a decade. YSU is also the first school since 2021-22 to sweep the men’s and women’s all-sports awards, and the Penguins’ 56.5 total points tied for the most since 2015-16.

“We set our sights each year on winning the McCafferty Trophy, and it takes a total group effort from so many people in our department to achieve the success we had this past year,” Strollo said.

“First and foremost, we appreciate the time, energy and dedication from our student-athletes and coaches to help us compete at a high level across the board. To place as highly as we did in so many sports is also a result of an incredible support staff that includes our athletic trainers, sports performance coaches, academic advisors, compliance officers, communications staff, revenue generation group, facilities staff and equipment room.”

Wilson retires from NFL to join CBS

NEW YORK — Ten-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson confirmed Wednesday in a video posted to social media that he’s retiring from the NFL to take a job with CBS Sports.

Wilson’s announcement came two days after news broke that he was finalizing a deal to become an analyst on CBS’ Sunday NFL pregame show.

“As I enter this next chapter with CBS Sports and ‘The NFL Today,’ I’m so blessed to continue doing what I love most — being around the greatest game in the world,” he said in the video.

Wilson played 14 seasons after being taken by Seattle in the third round of the 2012 draft out of N.C. State. He spent his first 10 seasons with the Seahawks, leading them to their first Super Bowl championship in 2013. He was traded to Denver after the 2021 season and spent two rocky years with the Broncos before playing one season in Pittsburgh and another for the New York Giants.

Wilson threw for 46,966 yards, with 353 touchdown passes and 114 interceptions.

He joins Peyton Manning and Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to throw at least 20 touchdown passes in each of their first three seasons and is one of seven quarterbacks to be selected to 10 Pro Bowls.

Wilson is the only player in NFL history with at least 30 touchdown passes and fewer than 15 interceptions in four straight seasons. He also had three seasons with at least 30 TD passes and 500 yards rushing, which is the most in NFL history.

Wilson is the shortest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl.

Wilson will replace Matt Ryan, who joined the Atlanta Falcons as president of football.