Penguins coaches remain upbeat as losses mount

Youngstown State plays host to Wright State in a doubleheader tonight at the Beeghly Center.

By Joe Scalzo

Vindicator Sports Staff

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Jerry Slocum, YSU men's basketball coach

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Cindy Martin, YSU women's basketball coach

YOUNGSTOWN — For the past few years, YSU basketball coaches Jerry Slocum and Cindy Martin have learned to deal with something new in their careers: losing.

Slocum has a 49-96 record in five years as the Penguins’ men basketball coach. As one of just 17 active NCAA men’s basketball coaches with more than 600 career victories, it’s not something he’s used to.

“I wake up a lucky guy every day,” said Slocum, whose team is 8-18 and riding a seven-game losing streak. “There are things the last four years I’ve never experienced in my career. But we wake up every day thankful for the opportunity to coach basketball and to be in the gym with young people.

“That’s our focus and not on the negative things.”

Martin was 70-23 before she was hired at YSU two years ago and has gone 3-52 since. Her Penguins are 0-25 this season and have lost 44 of 45 games.

“I’m a big quotes person,” Martin said. “We do a quote of the day every day for practice and there’s a lot I’m stumbling on that I’ve never had to stumble on before about how to stick with a difficult situation and how you can win more sometimes when you lose.

“I think there’s some reason that we’re all here in this situation together and that we have the fan support that we still have and everybody is still so encouraging and positive.”

While the women’s struggles aren’t unexpected — due to injuries and eligibility issues, the Penguins have played most of the season with seven or eight players, compared to 15 that are on scholarship — the men’s team entered the season with big goals.

The men were voted seventh out of 10 teams in the preseason Horizon League poll. But with four starters and 10 lettermen returning, the Penguins felt they could finish in the top half of the league standings.

Over the past few months, they’ve shown they can play with just about any team in the Horizon League. They just haven’t shown they can beat them.

“You can go all the way back to the Loyola game,” said Slocum, referring to a 92-84 loss on Feb. 4. “Our kids have played very, very hard and obviously the disappointing thing for me is they haven’t gotten any reward for their hard work.

“Other than maybe two or three games all year, they’ve been in those games. And we’ll continue to play that way until the end of the year.”

YSU finishes the regular season at home, starting tonight against Wright State and finishing Saturday afternoon against Detroit. The Penguins have lost three straight games by two points.

“We’ve really played well at home this year with really nothing to show for it,” said Slocum. “That’s no consolation for me.

“I know what’s expected of us.”

The YSU women have never finished winless; last year’s 3-27 record was the worst in school history by three games. The Penguins have four more regular season games, including one tonight against Wright State, to get a win before the Horizon League tournament.

“Sure it’s frustrating,” said Martin. “I’m going to be positive, I’m going to be upbeat. I’m going to be realistic though.

“It’s not the season we all wanted it to be when we set out.”

scalzo@vindy.com