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Penguins unveil Calhoun

YOUNGSTOWN — Most coaches come in with a three- to five-year plan, time for them to implement their coaching style, time of them to get acclimated with their players, and time for them to get in new recruits.

Jerrod Calhoun is not most coaches.

The 35-year-old was introduced as the 13th Youngstown State University men’s basketball coach at the Coaches Court inside the Beeghly Center.

The East Liverpool native spent the last five years rebuilding a Fairmont State program into a national Division II contender – even guiding the Falcons to a 34-3 record and the D-II National Championship game before falling to Northwest Missouri State.

The Falcons were 8-19 the year before Calhoun arrived.

Fairmont State president, Maria Rose, hired him when he was 30.

The new coach wants to bring that same vision to Youngstown State, a program which has at least 20 losses in 11 seasons since the Penguins joined the Horizon League in the 2001-02 season.

“Most people thought I was a young, cocky, crazy coach,” Calhoun said. “Five years later we won 124 games. We put Fairmont State on the map. We’re going to do the same thing here at Youngstown.”

Calhoun, who signed a five-year deal worth $200,000 per season, credits Jerry Slocum’s team for getting the momentum started — making the Horizon League semifinals and upsetting top-seeded Oakland in the quarterfinals. Slocum made around $140,000 per season when he retired on March 7.

“There’s a real possibility of getting this thing turned around sooner than later,” Calhoun said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

They’ll have to do it with the right kind of players.

Calhoun adopted a full-court style when he was an assistant at West Virginia under coach Bob Huggins, affectionally known as Press Virginia.

Dunk, ally-oops and an exciting brand of basketball. YSU Director of Athletic Ron Strollo is aware of the change.

“Most teams play fast on offense or fast on defense,” Calhoun said. “We’re going to play fast on both. It’s a unique style. You have to be in really good shape. I told these guys, anybody who doesn’t want to run, they ought to go up Ron’s office tonight and see if they can get a release because this team is going to run.”

He said the Penguins, which went 13-21 last season, need a deep bench to play this style.

The late period for basketball signings starts April 12, which means Calhoun is out recruiting the next couple of weeks.

“This is where I recruited Fairmont State to get to the national championship game,” he said. “This where I recruited at West Virginia. This is where I recruited at Walsh. It’s the perfect storm. You have coaching changes at Cleveland State, Youngstown State, Akron. We’ve got to capitalize on some of these changes and build a foundation really, really quick.”

He’s going to work out his team today, so they can get a feel of the Penguins new style of play, and run – a lot.

Calhoun said he has to win his current players over as well.

“I’ve got to recruit them,” he said. “I’ve got to build relationships with these guys. They’ve got to be able to trust me. They’ve got to understand our language. They’ve got to understand our technique. They’ve got to understand it’s about details. We’ve got to build with those guys back there. They have to be our biggest recruiters.

“Coach Calhoun can bring them to the table, but Braun Hartfield, Cam Morse and Francisco Santiago and some of those guys back there, they’ve got to close the deal. I think they’re willing to jump on board. I think they’ve seen what they’ve been able to do at other places. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Neither does building a coaching staff. He said he’s received more than 200 calls and text messages.

Calhoun is heading to the Final Four in Arizona in a couple of days to conduct some interviews, and try to have a complete staff in the next two weeks. Former Fairmont State associate coach Paul Molinari came with Calhoun, but is not officially on staff.

“You got to have guys you can trust,” he said. “There’s a trust factor. You have to have guys understand your style. If they don’t understand, they have to pick up that style quick. I can’t get guy out there watching guys that don’t quite understand how we’re going to play.”

The YSU coach is making a full-court press in the community as well, getting out and trying to fundraise for this program.

“I’m excited,” Calhoun said. “I’m ready to go. I’m going to be out in the community. I’m going to ask the fans. We need some time. We need energy. We’re going to need some money. When coach Calhoun comes a knockin’, we’re going to need some help here. I’m going to approach this really, really fast, but I’m going to approach it with a lot of excitement.”

Strollo got out in front of the coaching search when Slocum announced his retirement. He had a short list of candidates he spoke with. Calhoun was near the top.

There was mutual interest between the two parties, but Strollo waited until Fairmont State’s season was complete.

“I give Ron credit. That was one of the biggest factors in me coming here,” said Calhoun, who had 20 or more wins in each of his five seasons. “He waited. He allowed me to coach my team. We were chasing a dream. There was other calls.

“With Ron’s vision and he allowing me to finish the job at hand at Fairmont State, that meant a lot to me.”

Strollo said Calhoun starts his rebuild of YSU’s program, which might not take as long as some other reclamation projects.

“I’ve not had a discussion with him or our kids that didn’t talk about being good next year,” Strollo said. “You talk about a three- to five-year plan. I don’t know if we’re there. We’re going to swing as hard as we can. Doing it the right way. Never once did we say these first couple of years might be tough. Never once did I tell these kids our expectations wasn’t to be good next year.”

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