Ed Puskas; Is change on the way to Beeghly?

I remember a time when it wasn’t easy to get a seat for a game at Beeghly Center.

Bad news: It was just that one time and it had zero to do with Youngstown State men’s basketball.

The first steps toward perhaps changing that are expected this week. But first, a look back:

A friend and I acquired tickets for a regular-season high school game between LeBron James’ Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary team and George Junior Republic on Feb. 17, 2002.

The Vindicator reported an overflow crowd of 6,700 watched. We were two of them, standing just off the floor at one end of the court.

YSU athletic director Ron Strollo stood nearby as George Junior Republic and star Benson Callier shocked everyone by beating SVSM 58-57 in overtime.

But this isn’t a LeBron story.

It’s about 6,700 people showing up at Beeghly Center for a YSU game.

Why hasn’t it happened for so long? The easy answer is the Penguins haven’t won consistently in forever.

We know YSU is a football school with a basketball problem. Part of that problem has been that the university spends less on men’s basketball than any other Horizon League school.

We know YSU football has historically been able to recruit locally in what then-head coach Jim Tressel often referred to as “The state of Youngstown.” We still grow football players.

We also know that this area has not been nearly as adept in developing big-time basketball talent, so YSU basketball has to recruit elsewhere.

That isn’t easy when you’re recruiting against Akron, Kent State, Toledo, Bowling Green, Ohio and Cleveland State — among others in northern Ohio — and even Duquesne and Robert Morris in western Pennsylvania.

So let’s not dump on recently retired YSU head coach Jerry Slocum for the fact that the Penguins are — again — spectators of March Madness instead of participants.

Slocum actually recruited well during his time here and the fact is that YSU has never been in the men’s NCAA Tournament.

YSU made the jump to Division I for the 1981-82 season, Dom Rosselli’s final season. He didn’t get the Penguins into the tournament. Neither did Mike Rice Sr., Jim Cleamons, John Stroia, the late Dan Peters or John Robic. Among the post-Rosselli YSU coaches, only Rice — 75-67 (.528) in five seasons — had a winning record. Peters (78-87, .473, six seasons) was close.

It’s Jerrod Calhoun’s turn.

YSU’s new hire is fresh off a five-year run at Fairmont (W.Va) State, which was 124-38 on his watch and was this season’s NCAA Division II runner-up.

Calhoun doesn’t have to become the basketball version of Tressel at YSU. But competing in the Horizon League and getting the Penguins into the NCAA Tournament should be the goals. Slocum’s final team showed it is possible with a surprising weekend in Detroit

It won’t be easy, for some of the reasons outlined above. But if YSU plans to put more money into the program, that’s a start.

And if Calhoun wins more than he loses, Beeghly Center will be a hot ticket.

The next step? Keeping the Penguins’ uniforms out of mothballs for a few more weeks each spring.

I know, I know. It sounds like Madness. But it’s the kind we all look forward to every year.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.