1. At Monday's Curbstone Coaches luncheon, an ex-YSU baseball player asked YSU president Jim Tressel if the school would ever build a baseball stadium on field.

"Is that a donation offer?" Tressel joked, then looked at YSU board of trustee member Harry Meschel and added, "Harry, go grab him before he leaves."

The Penguins play baseball at Eastwood Field in Niles — one of the few athletic venues not on campus. (The golf team plays off campus at Mill Creek, while the tennis team often plays and practices at Boardman Tennis Center.) In the last two years, YSU has added a softball field and a track/soccer complex across from Stambaugh Stadium. But just as the university isn't going to increase the Penguins athletic budget, it's not going to build a baseball field.

YSU just doesn't have the money.

"There's no way we would fund that from a university standpoint," Tressel said. "It would certainly be a wonderful opportunity to showcase our campus and our downtown, but it would take private funding."

2. YSU isn't the only school dealing with budget issues.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/kent-state-university-hires-consultant-to-assess-athletics-program-1.559799#.VL6AZK7l3QQ.twitter" target="_blank">Kent State just hired a consultant to assess its athletic programs and whether the school should cut any of them. Kent has 18,158 students and has an athletic budget of $26 million. That number could rise if the Mid-American Conference schools choose to cover the cost of attendance of its student-athletes, http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2015/01/17/ncaa-convention-cost-of-attendance-student-athletes-scholarships/21921073/" target="_blank">a provision the Power 5 conferences passed last week.

YSU, which has 9,361 students, has a budget of about $14.5 million and Tressel made it clear that the only way that's increasing is if the athletic department generates more revenue on its own.

3. Tressel is worried that if schools/conferences adopt the cost of attendance policy, they're going to end up dropping non-revenue sports (track, cross country, wrestling and, yes, even baseball), which has already happened over the past few decades, although it's usually blamed on Title IX.

"I'm kind of like an old-timer and I worry that our young people playing sports now at the high school level or college level are getting too focused on simply playing sports," he said. "Do they have time to go out and get an internship? Or a co-op with a company? Or a relevant part-time job [affiliated with their major]? Not too many student-athletes are going to be athletes forever.

"There's a whole lot you learn in athletics — hard work, discipline, teamwork, getting up when you're knocked down — that would be good for people who don't play sports to learn."

But, Tressel said, there's life beyond sports, too. And as colleges spend more money on athletics, it's only going to increase the incentive for athletes to spend more time on their sport.

4. Tressel knows new facilities are good for YSU — after all, http://www4.vindy.com/content/local_regional/298399715528409.php" target="_blank">he donated $1 million of his own money to help build the Watson and Tressel Training Site — and http://66.232.150.6/news/2015/jan/20/tressel-pleased-by-downtowns-resurgence/?newswatch" target="_blank">he appreciates how far the campus has come since he left after the 2000 season.

"When I was here from 1986-2000, that area [across from Stambaugh Stadium was not quite … as nice as it is now," he said, getting big laughs when he paused in the middle of the sentence. "Anytime you have venues that get people onto our campus, we've got an enhanced chance of them wanting to be a part of us."

YSU gets a ton of use out of the WATTS — not just from its own programs, but also from area high schools using it — but a baseball field doesn't make much sense. The Penguins play most of their early baseball games on the road and it seems like half the home conference games get rained (or snowed) out.

Besides, Eastwood is a terrific facility. The games don't draw a lot of fans, but I'm not sure that's because it's so far off campus. College baseball isn't much of a draw in the north.

5. I've said this before, but YSU's baseball program was in danger of getting dropped a few years ago when the team was struggling. But it's safe now.

The Horizon League recently passed a rule that its member schools must have two of the three major men's sports: men's soccer, men's basketball and baseball. (YSU and Valparaiso are the only two schools that have football and Valpo doesn't offer scholarships.) If YSU dropped baseball, it would have to add soccer, which isn't going to happen.

I've been covering YSU athletics for more than five years and I've yet to hear anyone complain about not having a men's soccer team.

6. One of Monday's best questions came from Belleria owner/YSU booster Frank Frattaroli, who asked Tressel how the school can keep women's basketball coach John Barnes.

Barnes is only in his second year but it's pretty obvious that, like Bob Boldon (who left for Ohio after three seasons), he's not going to be here long. Barnes is 13-3 this year (2-1 in the Horizon League) after going 15-16 and 10-6 in the Horizon last year.

"My opinion about coaches is, I'd rather keep the players," Tressel said. "I haven't seen a coach score any points or score any touchdowns."

Tressel said Barnes isn't out looking for his next job, but he knows there's going to be plenty of bigger (and wealthier) schools who look at him, something Tressel knows from personal experience.

"If the future holds that he goes elsewhere, our job is to make sure we carry on that tradition," Tressel said. "We're not going to get into a nuclear arms race from a finance standpoint. People are going to take the career opportunities that they take. That's part of being in mid-major athletics. One of the feathers in our cap is when you have folks who do a great job for you and take that next step."