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Positive vibe felt by YSU, its fans
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
If you had driven past Stambaugh Stadium this week, you might have seen a line of people outside the door waiting to buy tickets to Youngstown State’s home football opener against Valparaiso.
Or you might have seen the women’s soccer team practicing as it looked to build its 4-0 start.
Or you might have seen bulldozers moving dirt as construction began on the new soccer and softball fields across the street from the stadium.
Or, if you had driven just a little bit farther, you might have seen people heading into Beeghly Center to watch the Penguins win their sixth straight game in their home volleyball opener against Robert Morris, a streak that reached eight on Friday.
The soccer (4-0) and volleyball (8-2) teams are off to their best starts in school history. Both have already passed their 2011 win totals. The football team is fresh off a win over Pitt and appears playoff-bound for the first time since 2006.
In short, it was a good week for an athletic department that hasn’t had very many in recent years.
“It’s been really exciting,” said athletic director Ron Strollo. “I’ve been getting teased by some of the guys because I’m not a big Facebook or Twitter kind of guy, but it’s been fun to see the explosion of ‘likes’ and other things on social media.
“And just the national media exposure we’ve been able to receive [because of the Pitt win], and the questions about what Youngstown’s like, it’s given us an opportunity to tell people our story when, quite frankly, they might not have cared if we didn’t have a victory like that.”
When YSU entered the Horizon League in the fall of 2001, Strollo had just been promoted after the previous athletic director, Jim Tressel, left to become Ohio State’s head coach. Strollo knew the Penguins were starting from behind other league schools — “in some sports farther than others,” he said — and he has spent the past decade working behind the scenes to upgrade the facilities and budgets in order to become competitive.
He thinks YSU has finally turned a corner, and this week proved it.
“We’ve been able to reinvest in programs and in facilities and we feel like we’re at least at the point where we’re on a level playing field,” said Strollo, who also believes the cross country teams and swim team are ready to take steps forward. “It’s one thing to get it turned around but our hope is to build something where we can maintain our competitiveness.”
YSU had sold 12,300 tickets for today’s football game against Valparaiso — decent numbers considering the weak opponent and the rainy forecast — and the team will likely make a bigger push for the conference opener against Northern Iowa in two weeks. It’s all part of what YSU fans are hoping is a big fall sports season.
“That ballgame last week was for the community,” YSU football coach Eric Wolford said of the Pitt win. “We want to show them we’re making progress.
“I know in the past the football program hasn’t been up to the standard they expect, but I think we have a lot of potential get back there.”
So far, the fans seem to agree. Penguin Club president Guenther Hladiuk said booster club memberships grew this week and that several boosters will be walking through the tailgate lots today trying to recruit new members.
“The vibes this week have been great,” Hladiuk said. “I can tell there’s a positive feeling in the community after that win. It’s like a good church sermon. You feel vibrant and you’re ready to do missionary work.”