Charles Grove: Getting a feel for YSU’s coach search

As I sit here at my desk casually monitoring Tuesday’s First Four NCAA Tournament games, it’s hard not to think about that large vacancy currently in the Youngstown State athletic offices and who the next coach of the men’s basketball program could be.

After 12 years of the Jerry Slocum product that didn’t produce a whole heck of a lot of winning, Penguins fans are eager for something other than hoping the team happens to catch fire during the Horizon League Tournament and play the role of spoiler.

While I wasn’t here to witness it, I’ve heard plenty of times the past two years about how when the program was successful, the support was there. And the support for the women’s team has been there better than pretty much every school in the league minus the outlier of Green Bay.

So I feel confident saying while Youngstown is obviously a football town, basketball is a nice fix to tide people over before Indians baseball starts and finally football once again.

So who could be the coach to replace Slocum and maybe bring some of those fans down to Beeghly for a game?

The most obvious choice is Rick McFadden. The Akron assistant just completed his 12th season with Zips’ head coach Keith Dambrot. He’s a Struthers native and his wife Christie played basketball at YSU. The opportunity to come back to his hometown and build up the program could be the perfect head-coaching start for the longtime assistant.

What’s more, McFadden told WFMJ in 2016, “I’d love to go home at some point. Coach Slocum has done a great job because to be anywhere in this profession for 11 years you have to be doing some things right.

“But from the standpoint of going home ... it would be a unique situation.”

If McFadden somehow isn’t the guy YSU wants, there are other options out there.

One of the more intriguing options would be former Wright State head coach Billy Donlon. Let go from WSU after the 2015-16 season, the former Horizon League Coach of the Year is now on Michigan’s coaching staff alongside John Beilein. Donlon was 93-87 at WSU with three 20-win seasons (along with a 19-win season) and made the Horizon League Championship game three times, falling each time.

Donlon would be a welcome sight for fans hoping to see more of an emphasis on defense. Donlon eventually turned off fans in Dayton for not favoring a more up-tempo offense and settling for games in the 50s and 60s.

Plus what a rival Wright State would immediately become!

Going a little bit more inexperienced would be someone like Ohio’s Will Ryan. He’s been an assistant for three seasons but has a great coaching bloodline — he’s former Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan’s son. He played for Milwaukee in the Horizon League as well.

Another guy with Horizon League ties is Eastern Michigan’s Kevin Mondro. He’s worked with Detroit and Loyola before the Ramblers bolted to the Missouri Valley. He’s been at EMU for six seasons and primarily works for forwards and centers. Recruiting those types of players is game-changing for mid-majors and would be huge for YSU if he could bring them to Beeghly.

And if YSU does want to go the small-school route again, Mount Union’s Mike Fuline has a record of 86-52 in Alliance over his five years there and is a northeast Ohio native. He could be a low-cost option if YSU is in need of a cheap hire.

No matter who is manning the sidelines next year I think the freshness and potential of something new will be the biggest draw that should bring fans in. Whether it’s a coach with prior experience or having this be a stepping stone for a young coach trying to get to the power conferences, the potential is there with players like Cameron Morse. YSU could be an attractive position now that the job is finally available.

Charles Grove covers YSU sports for The Vindicator. Write him at cgrove@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @cgrovevindy.