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Pelini, Penguins comfortable together
By Brian Dzenis
As Bo Pelini enters his third season in charge at Youngstown State, the football team is truly his.
While there are holes to fill and roles to figure out when camp opens on Aug. 3, everyone involved in the program knows what the expectations are and they’ve bought into the culture.
“I guess I’m a little bit more comfortable now knowing what the challenges are and a couple years in, your culture has got stronger,” Pelini said. “The players have a better understanding of where I’m coming from and where the staff is coming from.
“It’s a never-ending thing where you continue to work and continue to try and develop your team and your culture. I think where we are now, we’ve got the chance to compete on a yearly basis in this conference.”
The Penguins are coming off a 12-4 campaign that ended with a 28-14 loss to James Madison in the Football Championship Subdivision national championship game.
They made it to the title gamelast season after a 10-year postseason drought.
Despite those accomplishments, the Penguins are ranked No. 3 with no first-place votes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s preseason poll. Pelini was dismissive of the poll itself and said wasn’t inclined to compare his team to the two sides above his: South Dakota State at No. 2 and top-ranked North Dakota State.
Where the Penguins have seen a more tangible impact from their postseason performance is on the recruiting trail and when scheduling out-of-conference opponents. YSU’s national championship run left the coaching staff with just 25 days, to National Signing Day, but the team was able to sign 19 players and add a few transfers.
“I think it certainly helped, there’s a lot of competition for players in this region,” Pelini said. “Kids want to win, when you have the success we’ve had, maybe you have a chance to get in on kids that you previously couldn’t get in the past.
“I thought we had a good recruiting year and our success had a lot to do with that. Hopefully we build on that and keep the momentum going.”
On the scheduling side, Pelini and his MVFC coaching peers have noticed FBS teams have been reluctant to schedule any MVFC teams, lest they end up like Iowa, which saw its No. 11 rank fall after losing to North Dakota State, 23-21, last season.
“Teams don’t necessarily want to play teams in our conference. They may want to play an FCS team, but they don’t want to play our conference because of the challenges that come with that,” Pelini said. “We have some things for the future — open dates that we we’re working to fill — and we’re not getting a lot of takers.”
The Penguins open their season Sept. 2 at Pittsburgh. Now more than ever, the head coach thinks the foundation is set.
“Hopefully some of that success we had last can carry over while we continue to build on our culture,” Pelini said. “You do that and I think we have a fighting chance.”