Money is definitely an issue, and here are a few things to consider.
1 - The Tressel and Watson families alone can afford the $150,000 buyout. The Youngstown area has enough people doing well enough financially, who support YSU money wise, for the $150,000 to be raised through donations. Not too mention people no longer living in Ytown area, but who still support the University and Athletic Dept with money.... Cafaro, York's, Eddie Jr, Covelli, Muransky, Jeff Wilkins, Ron Jaworski are just a few names that come to mind. Heck, start a campaign on "kickstarter" or some other site, and those of us who are not the "money people" would likely donate several thousand $$$ combined. I'd pledge $25 to the "Fire Wolford Campaign".
2 - YSU is losing fans left and right. People who buy tickets, pay for concessions at games, pay to park. If you have a Facebook account, check out the comments on the YSU Football Alumni page. I have been to the page a few times in the past, and the overwhelming consensus was former players do not like Wolford. I've also read people post here on this board if Wolford is kept on, they will not attend any more games. And, there was last weeks article by Scalzo, where he mentioned receiving multiple e-mails and comments from people who say they have stopped going to games, and will not return again until Wolford is replaced.
3 - As far as I'm concerned, the so called "weenie games and the "money game" do not count in Wolf's record. The exception is the win in 2012 at PITT. So, here is the record over the past 5 years, with this method:
2010... 1-7
2011... 4-4
2012... 5-4
2013 ... 5-3
2014... 4-4
OVERALL: 19-23
4 - Wolford has had 5 years. He did not inherit a program that was a perennial playoff participant like Heacock, but he also did not inherit a program like Indiana State. 5 years is plenty of time. Wolford has changed assistant coaches several times. Players have come and gone. Yet, the team keeps making the same mistakes year after year after year. Yes, players play the game, but there are obviously things being done that result in the kind of mistakes that keep a team from going to the playoffs, and team from finding a way each of the past 4 years to miss the playoffs by one game. People have been saying "next year is the year" since at least 2011. Well, 12, 13 and 14 were NOT "the year", so why expect 15 to be "the year with Wolford as HC?". THE MVFC has gotten stronger with the addition of NDSU and SDSU. But, only NDSU has been dominant, and that is just these past 4 seasons. Heacock was 2-0 against NDSU. Also, to their credit, Indy State has vastly improved with their 2 most recent HC's. Other programs now appear to be doing what is needed to raise their level of play. NDSU did not waltz through the MVFC this season. They beat WIU 17-10, by scoring 14pts in the 4th qtr. Lost 23-3 at UNI. Trailed SDSU 10-6 at halftime. Early in the 3rd qtr, SIU only trailed 17-10. Then, YSU, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, went into the Fargo Dome and was never in the game. 31-0 before YSU finally scored with about 5 minutes left in 3rd qtr. Worse, it was obvious the game was over after the 1st qtr in terms of which team was going to win.
5 - While it is true most FCS football schools lose money when making the playoffs, these schools also get 3+ hours of advertising, now that all playoff games are at the very least on ESPN3. Also, while the NCAA gets the ticket revenue from playoff games, the team hosting gets to keep money from parking, concessions, souvenir sales. And, when hosting, that is yet another opportunity for a school with an on-campus stadium to get people to the campus, who otherwise may not go to said campus
6 - If the YSU athletic department can come up with the money to host basketball games in the CBI or CIT, then they can find a way to come up with the money to pay the $150,000 buyout.
7 - As has been pointed out, Missouri State fired their coach, and that is a "basketball school" in terms of the primary sport. YSU is supposedly a "football school".
