Ed Puskas: Penguins are already winning

Jerrod Calhoun wins everywhere he goes.

Youngstown State’s new basketball coach was winning before Charlie Sheen appropriated the term.

And Calhoun — who took Fairmont State to the Division II national championship game on Saturday and was introduced as the Penguins’ coach on Tuesday — hasn’t needed tiger blood to get it done.

So it came as no surprise that Calhoun won his first presser as the Penguins’ head coach. It was — as they say — a slam dunk.

What else did you expect?

Perhaps most encouraging to YSU fans was the promise of aggressive, fast play at both ends of the floor. This is a program that is about to have an identity.

“Most teams play fast on offense or fast on defense — we’re going to play fast on both,” Calhoun said. “It’s a unique style and you have to be in really good shape.”

Calhoun had a message for any players who don’t want to play with the gas pedal on the floor.

“I told these guys, ‘Anybody who doesn’t want to run, they ought to go up to Ron’s office tonight and see if they can get a release, because this team is going to run,’” he said. “These kids all like to play fast.”

The formula worked at Fairmont State and Calhoun is confident it will work at YSU, too, and it figures to bring people to Beeghly Center.

“Not only do the kids like to play the way, I think fans want to see it. I think fans want a fast-paced game. They want to see the ball go through the basket. They want to see dunks. They want to see ally-oops. They want excitement and that’s how we play.”

Calhoun hit all the right notes in a debut that was as much as home run as YSU athletic director Ron Strollo’s hiring of him has been perceived everywhere.

Nod to the Valley’s blue-collar toughness? Check.

Appreciation for YSU’s football reputation under then-coach Jim Tressel and current coach Bo Pelini? Check.

Recognition of players he has inherited with the Penguins — including seniors-to-be Cameron Morse and Francisco Santiago — and their surprising Horizon League Tournament run under the now-retired Jerry Slocum? Check.

“I didn’t recruit these guys, but they’re my guys,” Calhoun said.

Youngstown — starved for a winning basketball program — is now his town. YSU basketball has been the football program’s far less accomplished little brother for far too long.

“The Valley is crying out for a basketball team it can be proud of,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun was 124-38 in five seasons — averaging 24.8 wins — at Fairmont State. YSU hasn’t won 20 games in a season since 1997-98, when the late Dan Peters’ Penguins went 20-9.

Calhoun mentioned Peters on Tuesday, in another nod to why he feels so comfortable here. Peters was Huggins’ top assistant at Cincinnati when Calhoun was finishing his studies there and working as an assistant with the Bearcats.

But that’s not why hiring Calhoun is a home run for Strollo and the YSU athletic department.

It’s because Calhoun is a coach on the rise. His reputation is strong in Ohio, West Virginia and beyond. To a man, everyone I’ve spoken has called this a brilliant hire for YSU.

Calhoun clearly had other options, but he decided this was where he wanted to be.

It was a win for the Penguins. Calhoun’s track record suggests there is more to come.

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