Calhoun: Time is now to invest in YSU hoops | News, Sports, Jobs

Employees file photo / Greg Macafee
Youngstown State men’s basketball coach Jerrod Calhoun shouts out path to his players throughout their road matchup against Cleveland State.

YOUNGSTOWN — Fresh off his most effective season considering that taking more than Youngstown State men’s basketball, Jerrod Calhoun currently is turning to what’s subsequent.

The Penguins wrapped their season up Wednesday evening, finishing 24-ten all round and generating their debut in the NIT by way of a Horizon League standard season title.

But, Calhoun says, sustaining that achievement and taking additional measures will demand investment.

“I assume there’s got to be a commitment,” Calhoun mentioned. “It begins correct now — we do not have time to waste. We need to have to upgrade this arena (the Beeghly Center) in the worst way. The portal is open. … We have to get players, we have to retain players. And I assume the subsequent factor is the NIL — name, image and likeness.”

To that finish, Calhoun mentioned he and his employees have met with a handful of potential newcomers currently, and 1 factor continues to lead the conversation.

“The initial factor they ask is, ‘Where’s your (NIL) collective cash? Exactly where do you guys stand in your league?’” Calhoun noted. “So we need to have help. And the help often is cash, and that is the bottom line. So we’ll be one hundred miles an hour raising cash for an arena, but the initial factor is we have to attack this portal, simply because we did a heck of a job final year with it. So it can be performed once again.”

That, of course, is the new age of collegiate athletics and recruiting. And regardless of whether fans like it or not, each the NIL and the transfer portal are right here to keep.

As of Friday evening, 576 Division I players have entered the portal, according to VerbalCommits.com, a website which tracks recruiting and transfer portal movement. That is more than the course of much less than a week, as the portal opened Monday. YSU had not however lost any players to the portal, but has shown interest in numerous.

“Everybody says we’ll be in a rebuild, but I assume all 11 teams (in the Horizon League) will be in a rebuild,” Calhoun mentioned. “We’ll see what takes place more than the subsequent two or 3 days with the portal. You will have players that you do not assume will leave you, identical factor with other teams. The complete landscape has changed.”

For the most component, Calhoun says YSU has a lot to sell potential student-athletes. The Penguins have constructed a winning plan, had the third-most effective attendance mark in the Horizon League this season and played an fascinating, higher-scoring style.

“There’s a lot of issues involved in the recruitment of student-athletes,” he mentioned. “Here, we can sell that we have the most effective fanbase in this location. We draw extra than a lot of MAC schools, we draw extra than (a majority) of the Horizon. So if I’m a player, why would I not want to come right here? It is free of charge-flowing — we score 82 points a game. We treat these guys excellent. The coaches and the administration are leading notch.

“We fundraise, and we run this factor as close to a higher key as we can, so I do not know why you wouldn’t want to come to Youngstown, Ohio, correct now.”

But, of course, facility upgrades and steady NIL cash never ever hurt, either, in what’s turn out to be an arms race across collegiate athletics.

As far as NIL funds go, a new collective referred to as The Penguin Collective has formed to help in these efforts. Youngstown State also is conducting an NIL townhall six-7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the DeBartolo Stadium Club inside Stambaugh Stadium to support spread awareness and information and facts about how the NIL landscape can be constructed at YSU.

“Somebody’s got to commit financially, regardless of whether that is a donor or whoever, to support us get to exactly where we need to have to go,” Calhoun mentioned. “Whether that is via a new arena, regardless of whether that is via the NIL cash, that is what it is, simply because we have every little thing we need to have right here. We’ve got to see if we can get it performed.”

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