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Horizon League doubleheaders thing of the past
No doubleheaders
for YSU basketball
By Brian Dzenis
YOUNGSTOWN
For the fourth time this season, both of Youngstown State’s basketball teams will play both of an opposing school’s basketball teams on the same day in two different locations on Thursday.
This time, the YSU women host Oakland in Beeghly Center while the men face Oakland on the road.
“Why not do doubleheaders? Why not do it every game? Think about last Saturday, our fans stayed to watch not a good, but great women’s basketball team play Cleveland State and then get in the cold and drive and go to Cleveland to watch us play,” YSU men’s coach Jarrod Calhoun said. “We played the same team — the same school. Why not make it a Youngstown day and they come here and a Cleveland day when we go there?
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
YSU has played just one doubleheader this season and it was a non-conference back-to-back on Dec. 8. It isn’t just a quirk in the schedule that none have happened while the Penguins are in Horizon League play, it’s what the League mandated.
“They’ve kind of outlawed doubleheaders,” YSU athletic director Ron Strollo said. “Doubleheaders is something that we’ve always been supportive of. It’s something that we thought is good for our student-athletes. We think it helps attendance for both games and in turn it’s good for our fans.”
The decision came down from the League in the offseason. Both Calhoun and women’s basketball coach John Barnes were in favor of doubleheaders in addition to Strollo, who got a vote with the League’s other ADs. Strollo said he couldn’t recall what the final vote came to for dropping doubleheaders, but said it wasn’t close.
“What I don’t like about the non-doubleheader rule is that it’s forced us to play more on Fridays and Sundays. I really liked giving the players a complete day off from school and practice where they can just relax and do whatever they want,” Barnes said. “When we play on that Friday or Sunday, that day is taken away. They get the Monday off basketball, but they’re going to school and doing what they have to do on a regular weekday.”
Barnes’ Penguins (15-5, 7-2) have fared well so far this season even with a less-than-ideal schedule.
“We are really busy. Sometimes it’s nice to have that Sunday to get caught up on homework and whatever else we have to do,” junior forward Mary Dunn said. “We know we’ve had to really prioritize school and basketball and we’ve done a really good job with that.”
The thinking behind YSU’s peers for ditching the games was some schools, like IUPUI and Green Bay, use separate facilities for men’s and women’s basketball. Strollo said there was also some grumbling among the League’s men’s basketball coaches that playing in the latter half of a doubleheader makes preparation difficult.
“There was frustration about that second game not knowing when the tip would be,” Strollo said.
Strollo said the athletics finances haven’t seen any impact from the League’s decision, but that hasn’t made it any better.
“It’s more efficient. All the people who work your games — your ticket takers, ticket sellers and people working the scorers table and setting up the ESPN broadcast — you only do it one time even if your getting two games out of it. You’re driving to campus once for two games,” Strollo said. “Now you’re doubling the times you’re setting the facility up and your staff has to come down more, so there’s some efficiency lost, but financially, you’re still paying people for two games.”