YSU Sports: The Year in Review

[Wick250]

Three years ago, I posted the collective results of all of our teams in league play.  It was a sad picture that supported the argument that we operated one of the worst DI programs in the country.  Today I will do the same thing.  The continuing failure in football and the lingering mediocrity in men's basketball sort of disguise the fact that we have made dramatic improvements in some areas, especially on the women's side.  Here are the records for all 18 sports.  I used our finish in the regular season for those sports that played full schedules; post-season tournaments or meets for the others.  Only the softball team performed better in the post-season than the regular season.  I will comment on this in a day or two, but I am most interested in your reactions to our collective performance in the 2012-2013 academic year.

Men's sports

6th out of 10   football
7th out of 8     cross-country
5th out of 9     basketball
3rd out of 6     indoor track
3rd out of 7     tennis
6th out of 7     golf
3rd out of 6     outdoor track
5th out of 5     baseball

women's sports

4th out of 8     soccer
6th out of 8     volleyball
3rd out of 9     cross-country
2nd out of 9    basketball
6th out of 7     swimming
3rd out of 7     indoor track
2nd out of 8    tennis
2nd out of 7    golf
2nd out of 7    outdoor track
6th out of 8     softball (runner-up in tournament)

[ysuguins4]

Wick,

Are you able to post your previous results for comparative purposes?

[Wick250]

guins4,

Sorry.  I checked my posts and they do not go back that far.  I do remember that we were in the bottom half in just about all sports except for women's track and golf.  In five or six sports, we were dead last, led by the women's basketball team that was something like 0-31.  What is remarkable now is that, although we failed to win a single league championship, we finished 2nd or 3rd in nine of the eighteen sports.  I am hardly an apologist for this athletic department, and none of us will be happy until the football team is fixed.  But real progress has occurred, and I am trying to be fair.

[IAA Fan]

I think the evidence is clear, in that we have made progress in non-football sports

Women's:

-4th out of 8     soccer: prior to this year, we were not even scoring points in half of our games. New coach.
-6th out of 8     volleyball: Too new, but three very good recruits. New coach.
-3rd out of 9     cross-country: Our best performance in a while, in a sport we do traditionally perform well.
-2nd out of 9    basketball: Obvious & lost the coach because of it, New coach
-6th out of 7     swimming: We have expanded the program, and hired a few new coaches. I personally preferred to be as we used to be with a concentration on top-notch divers, but that will never "fly" in a conference.
-3rd out of 7     indoor track: I was actually disappointed in this finish. I expect to win indoor track each year. Second on "off" years. I know that sounds bad, but just what we are used to. Nice expansion on the coaching staff here as well.
-2nd out of 8    tennis: in my opinion, Penguin coach-of-the-year. Phenomenal recruiting in Europe & home. We are back where we should be ...competing well.
-2nd out of 7    golf: Another lady-pens sport we do well in traditionally. Let's hope that does not go away with the new coach.
-2nd out of 7    outdoor track. Right where I expect to be 2nd with regular #1's.
-6th out of 8     softball (runner-up in tournament). Big disappointment after last year's regular season.  We performed terrible at the Rebel Games, and never improved. Last year we were the "talk of the games". New coach.


Men's:

-6th out of 10   football: Still have yet to see an improved team over any previous coaches. Change in style. We should see more NFL success at the least. Nice win over Pitt.
-7th out of 8     cross-country. Under-performed, but we have to share track scholarships, and it is hard to justify so many distance runners on scholarship.
-5th out of 9     basketball: I am happy with the improvement, but still feel we drastically under-performed.
-3rd out of 6     indoor track: Nice improvement, but there are really only 2 good men's programs in the conference, so this is somewhat under-performing.
-3rd out of 7     tennis: Again coach of the year. Great improvement with 2 big upsets.
-6th out of 7     golf: we have gone backwards a little bit here.
-3rd out of 6     outdoor track: Where I expect to be.
-5th out of 5     baseball: Brand new coach, but drastically under-performed here. New coach.

[Wick250]

Just a few more comments.  IAA Fan, I agree softball was disappointing until the tournament run.  But Campbell just finished his fifth season, so he is not new.  It really bothers me that he has recruited only one true DI pitcher during his tenure.  Perhaps the new state-of-the-art stadium will enhance his recruitment.

Loyola burst on the scene and dominated track this year, but I learned from one of our coaches that they pumped big bucks into their program.  Leads one to think that they knew that MVC invite was coming well in advance. 

We are always rather weak in men's distance running.  But Loyola and Butler were so dominant, that it made little sense for Gorby to divert too many resources there.  With both schools now gone, it will be interesting to see if he rethinks his strategy.

I agree that the tennis coach turned in the best job while handling both teams.  Euros dominate tennis today so his hiring and his recruits make perfect sense.

I would also give credit to the new volleyball coach.  6th out of 8 seems bad until you understand what a terrible program he inherited.  For the first time in many years, we were competitive against league opponents and most players return.  Looks like the right hire.

Finally, does anybody know why we are not competitive in swimming?  Seems like the program is old enough now to show results.  I assume our pool is satisfactory.  No local talent base?  Coaching?  I have no clue.

[IAA Fan]

Great points Wick. I did not realize that Campbell has been here so long.

As to swimming. I still think we are making great strides. Just a  few years ago we only had divers, and they were highly-successful. In 2009, almost all of our points were diving, as we were so dominating. Now we are slowly bringing in an entire team ...no short order. We went from less that 260 points in the league championship (in 2003, last place) to 376-points this past season. In the past our points were all off of diving, as we were deep. However, I am not sure this will look good for us in this, or any future conference. The concern is the number of scholarships has increased dramatically. Also we are not as dominant in diving these days.


Gorby is a smart coach, he uses his scholarships very well. I consider Track at YSU to be primarily a women's sport. Our success has always been in field events ...weight in particular. Our weakness has always been distance. This year we had two sprinters (Jarrett and Grambling) running all of our short, middle-distance and jumps. Both of these girls are phenomenal athletes, but they are sprinters first and foremost. In the mid-2000's (2003-2006) the ladies dominated all short and middle distances.  2009, through 2011 we had a couple of great jumpers. I am hoping we just came-up short on our scholarships. I will add that the men have made great progress during that time.