Dwight "Dike" Beede was the first coach in YSU history. He became the head coach of Youngstown College in 1938...his retirement in 1972 gives him the longest tenure of any head coach, consistently with the same collegiate program. Although spending 35 years a head coach, he is officially credited with 32 seasons, as the college did not have a team from 1943-1945 (WWII).

     Dike came to Youngstown from, then perennial power, Carnegie Tech (Carnegie-Mellon University). A legend in the game, coach Beede led the Penguins to their first winning season in 1940 at 7-1-1. In 1941, Beede led his Penguins to their first undefeated season, a feat not matched again until 53-years later (1994) under Jim Tressel. In 1957, the Football Writers Association of America voted him the “Small College Coach of the Year” following his 25th season with the program. In 1966, he was named to the Helms Athletic Foundation's "College Football Hall of Fame".

Coach Beede is credited with the development of football's "penalty flag" which is now used in every football game in the world. Two of the original flags are on display in Mosure Hall on the fourth level in Stambaugh Stadium.

Off the field Dike was a self-made expert in forestry and taught the subject at Youngstown State. He was named to the Ohio Forestry Advisory Council by the governor and his farm home near Lisbon, was recognized throughout the state for being exemplary of tree farming and land management. Just months shy of the state’s mandatory retirement age of 70, he drowned in the swollen waters of the Little Beaver Creek on his Columbiana farm. He was a charter member of the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame, given the Distinguished Professor award from the University, and the field at Stambaugh Stadium is named in his honor.