Tribune Review with a nice story today:
By Bob Cohn
Published: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 11:12 p.m.
Updated 12 hours ago
Of course you can go home again. Getting there is easy. More difficult is what happens next, but Youngstown State coach Eric Wolford seems to have a grip on that part of the deal.
A Youngstown native, the former Kansas State offensive lineman and well-traveled Division I assistant returned in 2010 to invigorate a program that dropped off since the Jim Tressel era. In 15 seasons under Tressel, the Penguins went 135-57-2 and won four Division I-AA national championships before he left for Ohio State.
Tressel also left behind the residue of a scandal centered on improper payments to a player. YSU football already was in decline, and this didn’t help. The Penguins have advanced to the I-AA (FCS) playoffs once since Tressel’s last season in 2000.
Wolford, whose team plays Pitt at Heinz Field on Saturday in the 2012 season opener, is trying to fix that.
“This is a unique experience because I grew up here,” he said. “I know what the expectations are. Some people might not view it this way, but this is a high-pressure job. Winning six or seven games? That’s nothing. This is like coaching the Steelers or the 49ers. It’s about winning championships.”
After going 3-8 in Wolford’s first season, the Penguins improved to 6-5 in 2011, handing eventual FCS champion North Dakota State its only loss. But YSU blew a 17-point halftime lead in the season finale against Missouri State to miss out on a playoff berth. Four of the losses came by a total of 17 points.
“It was disheartening to lose those close games, including the one at the end of the year,” quarterback Kurt Hess said. “I think we’re very hungry. This team realizes its potential. We got a sense of that last year, and now we know what it will take, day in, day out.”
A fourth-year junior, Hess and senior tailback Jamaine Cook made the All-Missouri Valley Conference first-team last season. They are among 11 starters who return on offense, along with last year’s top receiver, Christian Bryan, a sophomore from Norwin High School.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Hess passed for nearly 2,500 yards, setting school records in completion percentage (64.8 percent) and touchdown passes (26).
“He’s a big kid, smart, he throws the ball well, makes good decisions,” Wolford said. “He’s our leader.”
YSU is 0-9 against recent Division I competition, including blowout losses to Pitt in 2005 and e_SSRq09. But Wolford, who coached Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall at Illinois, enjoys the challenge.
“I love it,” he said. “I think it’s great for our kids. We recruit in Pennsylvania. And how many kids get a chance to play in Heinz Field at 6 o’clock on a Saturday night?”
Hess also likes these kinds of games. His first start as a redshirt freshman came in front of more than 101,000 fans at Beaver Stadium against Penn State in 2010. YSU lost, 44-14, but Hess completed 21 of 25 passes for 189 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
“The whole game week I was nervous,” he said. ‘But as soon as I stepped off the bus I wanted to embrace the moment. And when I stepped on the field I thought, ‘No one in this stadium wants me to do well.’ I was gonna show them. It was definitely a fun moment.”
Read more:
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/2482013-85/state-pitt-season-wolford-ysu-hess-youngstown-division-penguins-tressel#ixzz24wlbcaX2 