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Calhoun plans to bring up-temp style to YSU
Calhoun plans to bring up-tempo style to YSU
youngstown
Youngstown State’s newest hire, Jerrod Calhoun, was introduced publicly today. He hasn’t done a whole lot of losing in his career and he doesn’t intend for that to change here.
As an assistant coach at Walsh (82-21), West Virginia (120-36) and in taking over as head coach at Fairmont State and compiling a 124-38 record there, Calhoun likes to hit the ground running.
“Five years ago Fairmont State had eight wins, people thought I was a young, cocky, crazy head coach,” Calhoun said. “Five years later we won 124 games and put Fairmont State on the map. We’re going to do the same thing here in Youngstown.”
But with returning talent and a new system in place, YSU Athletic Director Ron Strollo said him, Calhoun and the team are on the same page — winning should happen next season.
“I have not had a discussion with [Calhoun] or with our kids that didn’t not talk about being good next year,” Strollo said. “You talk about a three-or-five-year plan but we’re going to swing as hard as we can.
“Never once did we say these first years will be tough and never once did I tell these kids our expectation wasn’t to be good this next year.”
Calhoun, whose contract spans five years and has a $200,000 base salary, plans to play a very up-tempo style on both sides of the court. And current players like Cameron Morse are excited to hear that.
“With some of our players we’re built for his style, but last year we played like a slow tempo,” Morse said. “We wanted to play fast but we really played slow. Calhoun said we’re going to be flying up and down the court and I feel like that’s what’s going to help us in the long run.”
Plan to see a ton of 3-pointers and athletes who will need to be well-conditioned to play in Calhoun’s system.
“We play different,” Calhoun said. “We’re not walking the ball up, we’re not playing zone, we’re not grinding things out. We need some guys that can step out, make 3’s and guys that can fly around and make athletic plays.”
Paul Molinari, an assistant coach under Calhoun at Fairmont State, said the staff developed that super up-tempo style at a coaching clinic and with a little bit of math.
“We went to a coaching clinic and looked at the numbers from the national champion and the national semifinalists and asked, ‘What did they do that we didn’t do?’” said Molinari, who will be Calhoun’s top assistant at YSU. “They shot a ton of 3’s, so we went in the next year and shot about 900 3’s.
“We wanted to take 3’s away from our opponents and outscore them in that range. We averaged about 10 or 11 threes per game and only gave up about six. So right there you’re getting plus-15 in that category.”
Getting players to execute that style effectively is going to take some work on the recruiting trail. That work starts today after a workout in which Calhoun will see what talent he inherited. Calhoun believes that style of play could equate to more fans coming out to see the new-look Penguins.
“I think fans want fast-paced play,” Calhoun said. “They want to see dunks. They want to see ally-oops. They want to see excitement.”
That exciting style of play could be a metaphor for Calhoun himself, according to Strollo.
“His previous athletic director described him as a rocket ship and that you better just hold on,” Strollo said. “He’s going to go fast and do things the right way.”
By the time Calhoun’s tenure is done at YSU, whenever that is, an NCAA Tournament banner is the goal.
“He wants to get to the NCAA Tournament,” YSU guard Francisco Santiago said. “Cam and me have been talking about it since we lost [in the Horizon League semifinals] saying, ‘Man, I can’t believe we didn’t get in the tournament this year.’ He shares the same goal and that’s what we want.”