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Wolford keeps chopping, logs big W
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
On Oct. 13, just a few days after arguably the most frustrating loss in his 17-game tenure at Youngstown State, Eric Wolford talked to his former college coach, Kansas State’s Bill Snyder.
“He said, ‘Wolf, if you’re that close in all those games, you’re doing the right things. Keep sawing wood, keep chopping and it’ll happen,’” Wolford said. “And it happened on Saturday.”
Saturday’s win over Southern Illinois did more than salvage YSU’s season, it provided evidence that, less than two years after dismantling the program, Wolford’s team is headed in the right direction.
“To be as frank as I can be about it, we inherited a program that probably wasn’t up to the standard as far as the Missouri Valley and the level of players in this conference,” Wolford said. “I think you have to recruit Division I players and we had to go out and sign some players since we’ve been here to raise the level of talent.
“I’ve said it before, You can’t win the Daytona 500 driving a John Deere tractor. No offense to John Deere.”
Through the first six games this season, Wolford has gone out of his way not to use his team’s youth, particularly on defense, as an excuse for losing. This week, he finally seemed willing to acknowledge it, if only because his young defense (particularly the linebackers and defensive backs, who are all first-year starters) played its best game of the conference season.
“I’m trying to think how exactly I want to say this without it sounding like an excuse,” Wolford said. “The more you see things over and over, the more familiar you become with them. If you’re a guy with 1,000 reps, you feel pretty comfortable, whereas if you’re a guy that doesn’t have that many reps, [you’re still seeking] a comfort zone.”
YSU defensive coordinator Rick Kravitz installed some more complicated schemes for the Southern Illinois game and this weekend’s game against St. Francis (1-6) gives his defense a chance to practice some new looks against an opponent that would need a Biblical outbreak of locusts (or, failing that, turnovers) to have a chance of winning.
That won’t be true down the stretch, particularly in road games against conference unbeatens Northern Iowa and North Dakota State.
“I think we can play with anyone,” Wolford said. “We can win or we can lose to them.
“We’re still in the infant stages of building a program for the long haul. We’re not at the point where we can look at the schedule and circle games and say, you guys are going to win these 5-6-7 games.
Maybe Wolford can’t, but most YSU fans are mentally circling this weekend’s game, along with home games against Western Illinois and Missouri State, as victories. That would put the Penguins at no worse than 6-5 at the end of the year.
That’s a far cry from where they were last week, when the South Dakota State loss seemed like a season-killer.
“I know some of you guys thought the season was over but this team is going to fight and scrap,” Wolford said. “I’ll let you know when it’s over. Trust me.”