Tuesday, November 25, 2014
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
In August 2011, as Eric Wolford was starting his second season as Youngstown State University’s football coach, he made it clear that he knew what was expected of him.
“There’s a standard around here and that standard is postseason play and championships,” he said at the time. “Period.
“That’s what the expectations are. We have to embrace it and go find a way to get it done.”
He didn’t. After missing the playoffs for the fifth straight season, Wolford was fired Monday with one season left on his contract. Sources said YSU will officially announce the move this afternoon after meeting with the team.
Wolford, who did not respond to an interview request, sealed his fate with Saturday’s 38-14 loss at North Dakota State, which gave the Penguins (7-5, 4-4 Missouri Valley) a season-ending three-game losing streak for the second straight year.
After the game, he admitted: “You always have concerns about your job. I don’t make those decisions. That’s the reality of it.
“We’re all measured on wins and losses.”
The Brookfield native and Ursuline High School graduate was on the last year of his original five-year contract, although he signed a one-year extension just days before this season began. That contract called for YSU to pay him a $100,000 buyout if the team finished 7-5 or worse and missed the playoffs, although that amount will be offset by Wolford’s salary if he coaches elsewhere in 2015.
The contract calls for him to make “reasonable efforts to ... obtain comparable employment such as a coaching position at a college or university or with a professional team.”
Wolford went 3-8 in his first season as Jon Heacock’s replacement in 2010, then missed the playoffs by one game in each of the next four seasons.
In 2011, the Penguins defeated eventual national champion North Dakota State only to blow a 17-point halftime lead to one of the league’s worst teams, Missouri State, in the home finale to finish 6-5.
In 2012, after defeating Pitt and perennial league power Northern Iowa, Wolford’s Penguins lost four straight games in October and finished 7-4.
Last season, YSU started 8-1 only to lose its last three games, including a 42-13 blowout in a blizzard in the home finale.
Overall, Wolford went 31-26 with an 18-22 mark in conference play. His .544 winning percentage is the lowest of YSU’s six football coaches.
Youngstown State has made the playoffs just once (2006) since Jim Tressel left for Ohio State after the 2000 season. YSU will begin the search for Wolford’s replacement immediately.