Thursday, December 18, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- With concerns raised over the health of Youngstown State University's budget and resources allocated to the athletics department, the financial impact of the hiring of new football head coach Bo Pelini is already audible.
Within hours of the first news outlets reporting that Pelini would be named coach, the phones in the athletics department rang almost incessantly.
“I've already received an influx of phone calls on ticket sales and things like that, which will help our bottom line,” said YSU's athletics director, Ron Strollo. “We don't have a number to put with it yet but once this news got out, our phones started ringing.”
Attendance at YSU's final home game of this season, Nov. 15 against Indiana State University, was reported at 9,642, well below the capacity of Stambaugh Stadium, 20,630. The highest-attended game last season was a nonconference game against St. Francis University, where 16,378 watched the Penguins win.
Beyond the improved finances of the department, Pelini emphasized that full stadiums are attractive to recruits.
“You have to make it appealing and make the type of culture surrounding the program something that [players] want to be a part of. A big part of that is getting the community behind it,” Pelini said Wednesday at a news conference at the stadium's president's loge (READ STORY). “Kids want to play in front of crowds. They want butts in the seats and people who are excited to come watch them play.”
YSU trustee John Jakubek said there's little doubt that a coach the caliber of Pelini -- who combines a high level of success with a local history -- will be good for the university.
“This is a great thing for the university and a great thing for the football program. Bo had his beginnings here and with the experience he has, coming home will invigorate this community,” Jakubek declared. “When you bring somebody like Bo Pelini here, who many people feel will be very successful here, it can bring the crowds back and fill up the stadium. From a financial standpoint, that helps.”
Jakubek also pointed out that the board of trustees isn't considering an increase in the athletics budget and that Pelini's contract, which remains to be worked out, will have to fit within existing constraints.
“When you look at YSU compared to other teams in the Horizon League and Missouri Valley Football Conference, we're not the highest in respect to budget [regarding] our coaching salaries,” Jakubek said. “I think we're right where we need to be, but at the same time, we need to be competitive and we're at that point. We're not going to be putting more into the budget.”
When asked about his contract at his introductory press conference, Pelini joked that he “just signed a 20-year deal.
“We haven't even finalized anything. We haven't talked at length about contracts. We've talked about the framework and decided we're going to iron out the details [later],” he said.
Since Pelini first approached YSU, Strollo said, most of the conversations between the two parties focused on the future of the program and the budget challenges the university faces.
“He was so excited to come here and more of the discussion was on what we do next, what we do with our staff, how we communicate with student-athletes. He hasn't been overly concerned with his contract, but we'll dive into that later,” Strollo said. “Hopefully we're going to be able to decrease our expenditures for the program while adding to the revenue. Our hopes are that with coach Pelini, here and the support he has in Youngstown, that we'll be able to increase revenue.”
Pelini, a graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School, is the second consecutive YSU football head coach to have roots in the Mahoning Valley. Former coach Eric Wolford, dismissed Nov. 25 after late-seasons collapses three years in a row, graduated from Ursuline High School.
“It's been a crazy couple of weeks looking at opportunities and trying to figure what's the best thing for my career and, first and foremost, my family,” Pelini said. “There were a lot of things being thrown at me and a lot for me to take under consideration about what where I wanted to work and where we wanted to live. Youngstown was appealing because of family, friends. And it's a great place for my kids.”
Pelini reached out to YSU, he related, because he wanted to provide a stable environment for his family and to see his children graduate in the area -- most likely from Mooney.
“This is not a stepping stone for me. If I was looking to move, I would've taken one of the other opportunities,” he continued. “I don't have a crystal ball and I don't know what's going to happen down the line. At the end of the day, I didn't come here to move my kids out here for a year or two.”
There's little doubt that Youngstown has changed since Pelini left in 1987 to play football at Ohio State University. He hasn't spent much time here since except for visits to family and friends, the new YSU coach said. But still, he says, he's seen some changes, most notably downtown.
“[What's changed] will be a lot more apparent after I spend some time here. The population has shifted more toward the outskirts, obviously, and the downtown is growing and there's a lot of great things down there,” he said. “There are things that have shifted. But the kind of people that are here, that's always stayed the same.”
As he wrapped up his introduction, he asked one thing of the fans: Show up.
“Let's go put a championship team together and let's do it together. Let's get excited about Youngstown football,” Pelini said. “I'm jacked up to be back and about the challenges that lie ahead. We're going to have a lot of young men who come out and play with passion and they're going to play the right way. They're going to represent this community the way the community deserves to be represented.”
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Pelini Praises Community for His Decision to Come Home
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