Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. Youngstown State's Ethan Faulkner claps during the team's game at Michigan last season. Faulkner recently took over as the program's head coach.

When Youngstown State officially announced the promotion of Ethan Faulkner to head coach for the men’s basketball program on Monday, no one was less surprised than Faulkner’s former coach, David Bezold.

The former Northern Kentucky head coach found out about the hire from a former player who keeps in contact with Faulkner and former YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun.

“He let me know that it was a possibility,” Bezold said. “Then when I found out, I was extremely proud and happy for him because he’s just a fantastic person and you just hope those kinds of guys get opportunities. He’s in the right spot and he’s got a great opportunity.”

YSU may be Faulkner’s first head coaching opportunity, but Bezold is confident Faulkner has what it takes to help the Penguins continue their rise through the mid-major ranks that began under Calhoun.

“He’s got humility, he’s got vision and clarity of who he is and what he wants, and he’s got a toughness about him,” Bezold said. “You’ve gotta have all of that when you slide over 12 inches on that head coaching seat. All of those things are going to allow him to handle all the highs and lows that come with it, and that’s why he’s built for this job. He’s going to do great with it.

“If it starts out slow for him, I hope they’re patient — I know this world isn’t patient anymore — but that young man will get it done and he’ll get it done with good people that (YSU) can be proud of.”

Bezold spent the vast majority of his coaching career at Northern Kentucky. He began there as an assistant coach from 1990 to 2004, before then being elevated to the Norse’s head coach from 2004 to 2015.

During Bezold’s tenure, NKU made the transition from Division II to Division I, which occurred after the completion of the 2012 season.

Toward the tail end of his time with the Norse, Bezold recruited Faulkner to NKU. He saw something in Faulkner that he wanted in his program.

“He was a natural-born leader,” Bezold said. “It didn’t matter what it was, what the score was — you could just tell during the game, if he’s on the bench, wherever he was, people gravitated towards him. He was so genuine and humble, and he was special. I knew we needed to have him in our program, not only because he had all those characteristics, but he’s a winner.”

Faulkner joined the Norse’s roster as a freshman in 2009, but he had to bide his time early on.

During his first two seasons at NKU, Faulkner was part of the Norse’s guard rotation, playing in 57 games, but he only started 16. He averaged 3.8 points and had a 1.6:1 assist-to-turnover ratio as a freshman and then 4.1 points and a 1.84:1 assist-to-turnover ratio as a sophomore.

“The first couple of years, he had to wait his turn because we had some really good players there,” Bezold said. “But he never stopped being a hard-working young man. He was all-in for the team, even though some of his personal goals weren’t being met, as far as playing time and things like that early on. He was never anything but a great teammate and a great leader.”

From there though, Faulkner blossomed as a player. He was a team captain and started all 57 of NKU’s games at point guard over the final two seasons of his playing career with the Norse.

But, his best season came as a junior in 2011-2012 when the Norse went 23-7 overall, finished second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and played in the NCAA Division II tournament. That year, he averaged 10.0 points per game and finished with a 2.17:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. His senior season was NKU’s first as a Division I program.

After the end of Faulkner’s playing career, Bezold gave him the opportunity to continue on with the program as a graduate assistant. Faulkner was a GA for a season during the 2013-2014 campaign, before then becoming an assistant coach on Bezold’s staff in July of 2014.

“He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He thought he was going to go back into high schools and teach and coach at his high school,” Bezold said. “But then when we had a position open, I knew what he was going to be able to bring to that position for the kids. It’s important to surround your kids with great people. His passion for the program, his loyalty, his work ethic and everything else would help enhance our program and help our kids be the best players they could be and the best people they could be. So I was fortunate that he wanted to get into college athletics.”

Faulkner’s primary duties on Bezold’s staff included recruiting, scouting, assisting with daily practices and working with the point guards.

But Bezold gave Faulkner the chance to be involved with everything — he got to learn all the aspects of how to run a men’s basketball program, and in turn, all the things that will entail being YSU’s head coach.

Bezold said when he was an assistant that he was fortunate to work for a head coach that let him do and be involved with everything, so he did the same thing for his assistants, including Faulkner, when he became a head coach.

Faulkner being involved in all aspects of the program is something that continued when he came to Youngstown and joined Calhoun’s staff in 2019, and then when he was elevated to associate head coach in 2022.

“I understood the importance of having your hand in everything,” Bezold said. “(Faulkner) ran segments in practices, he was involved in recruiting responsibilities, all the responsibilities of film, film breakdown, game responsibilities, fundraising responsibilities. His job was to do everything. I thought that was the best way to help young coaches. And he was very good at it all. … I knew once he got into our program, that he was going to be able to be a leader and that would resonate throughout our program.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.