John Heacock is your classic great assistant and coordinator, bad head coach. He is a follower, not a leader. Never comfortable dealing with all the other parts of being a head coach; media, fans, boosters, public appearances, speaking and so on. But is very good in a dark room looking at video and putting together a great defensive game plan. Not a criticism, just a fact.
As for why players go to MAC schools over YSU, it is Division 1 FBS, you get to play on national TV, the MAC has a weeknight ESPN package, you get to play in bowl games. As for attendance, we don't draw much better, and we played two road games this year with less than 250 people.