Vargo's article on his interview with YSU athletic director on Slocum & MBB in today's Warren Tribune:
YOUNGSTOWN - Youngstown State University Director of Athletics Ron Strollo agreed to a question-and-answer session about the Penguins men's basketball program.
The Penguins went 11-21 last season and 2-14 in the Horizon League.
YSU coach Jerry Slocum has a career record of 699-514, heading into the 2015-16 season - his 11th season with the Penguins.
Article Photos
Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple
YSU basketball coach Jerry Slocum, who is at 699 career wins, saw his team finish 11-21 and 2-14 in the Horizon League.
Slocum's teams have gone 118-190 in his reign at YSU - second to the late Dom Rosselli, who was 589-388 with the Penguins.
Here are Strollo's answers:
Q: Can you give me an assessment of Slocum's 10 years at YSU?
Strollo: I think he took over a program that was in dire needs, as far as our kids were doing academically, the turnover we were having in kids. Our competitive level wasn't where we wanted it to be. I think he showed some progress. Not including this year, but the three previous years. We were right in the mix going into the last couple of weekends, to be where we want this program to be. We've had a couple of injuries and a couple of things that have happened to us in those couple of years. This year was going to be challenging, but we knew it was going to be challenging. I don't think that came as a surprise.
He's excited about some of the transfers, some of the kids sitting out this year, obviously the recruits. We're excited to get to next year.
Q: Some people have been wondering why a coach with a career record at this university below .500 is being retained when Eric Wolford, who had a pretty good track record, is being let go?
Strollo: I think every program you evaluate based upon what resources are provided. Historically, where has the program been? The facilities you provide, compared to the competition. All those different things. There's a lot of things that build up to the recruiting base, all those things. We're trying to figure out how to put each team into a position to win conference championships. I think you think you've got to evaluate each program differently.
Q: Does Slocum need to have a winning season for the 2015-16 season?
Strollo: I've never sat here and placed wins and losses. We feel good about the basketball program under his leadership and continue to look into the future with him. (Note: Slocum's contract, which is $137,433, will expire April 30, 2016. YSU has the option to pick up the 2016-17 season. So far, it has not.)
Q: What do you envision for the men's program in the next five years?
Strollo: Obviously you want to figure out how you can be competitive in this environment. When I say this environment, you compete against some schools that have much larger budgets than ours and only have basketball. I think that continues to be a challenge for us. Clearly, we want to get this program in a position where we're competing for a conference championship.
Q: Do you think the YSU men's team can remain competitive in the Horizon League?
Strollo: I think so. I do. I think we showed signs there for a three-year period. We've won (at least) 15 games three straight years (2011-14, going 16-15, 18-16, 15-17). (Last time it was done was 1982 to 85, when YSU was in the Ohio Valley Conference.) Doing it in a league where the RPI is 11, 12 or 13, shows we have the capability of getting it there. It takes a couple of good recruiting classes and those type of things. Even though we were down talent-wise, if you come and watch some of those games against some of the better competition, we had some opportunities in some of those games.
Q: YSU takes some flack scheduling a Thiel, Westminster, and other Division II, III teams. Do you see that as a problem? Do you think they should be reaching out to more Division I programs?
Strollo: The challenge we have is we're playing more of the money games and we're trying to get tied into some of these tournaments to help us get into some of those games. Unfortunately, those occur on the road. We then have to figure out how to get home games. I don't know how different we are than some of the other schools in our league. It's no different with us. I'm sure if you go to Ohio State, their fans are wondering why they're paying for eight games against schools that they don't feel that are of equal competition. I think our RPI and stuff like that have shown that we've played a competitive schedule. It's just a lot of those games financially are on the road.
Q: A couple of years ago, there were talks that Cleveland State, Akron, Kent State and YSU wanted to get together for a type of tournament. What happened there?
Strollo: We continue to talk about some kind of an event. Hopefully we're close to getting something like that done.
Q: Do think there should be a push for bigger money games on the schedule?
Strollo: I think you want to balance your schedule. You sure don't want to come out of (non-conference) in the hole, as far as wins and losses. In order to try to play in the postseason, you want to schedule so that you have a winning record toward the end of the year. You'll always have that balance of some non-Division Is. You'll always have those.
Q: Have you enquired about other leagues that would give YSU a better chance of making the NCAA Tournament?
Strollo: I think any other league would be a step back, quite frankly. Right now, we get paid to be in this league because of how well this conference has done in the postseason. We sure don't want to get to the point where we're changing conferences and having to travel a lot, then having to pay to run a conference office. I think, financially, we wouldn't be able to do something like that. This isn't only a basketball discussion. It is all the other sports. Missed class time and all that stuff that is really important to us. The Horizon League is a great fit for us.
Q: What would an NCAA Tournament berth do for this university?
Strollo: That's a great question. I don't think I could put a number to it. It would be significant. It's hard to put a number to something like that. You're able to run the financials of an athletics program. There's clearly a reason universities are able to add athletics programs and continue to move up divisions. It's important to campuses, both in the branding and the recruitment of students.
Q: From a national perspective, would an NCAA Tournament berth be bigger than all four Division I-AA National Championships?
Strollo: I don't think so. You could probably argue it on different levels. Clearly the championships that we won, still resonate throughout the country when we go recruit students or we go recruit coaches. Those have stuck with us. I don't know if that would happen with one basketball tournament bid. I'm not sure.
