Have not posted in a long time, but reading the non-sense on this board has become too much
1)The continual Strollo bashing - I confess, I have known Ron since middle school. He is far from perfect as an AD, but alot of people overlook all of the improvements made to facilities with him as AD. They also overlook the success of some of the "Olympic Sports". As for hiring of Hill and Martin, peole who pay attention will know Hill was not the first choice. And, on paper, her resume looked pretty good. Just turned out she is a much better assistant than HC. With Martin, on paper she seemed like a very good hire. While that turned out not to be the case, she did recruit Brandi Brown. How good would the Boldon teams have been without Brandi Brown? My guess is not very good.
2) As far as Slocum the guy can coach. He may or may not be at the top of D1 HC's, but with the piddly budget, and insistence on YSU as a football school, not sure Rick Pitino could do much better. Slocum is doing the best he can with a limited budget. YSU is unlikely to get quality inside players, unless they find a diamond in the rough, and those do not come along often. So, he is doing the best he can do. Run an up tempo style with guards who are athletic and can score. When the team is on, they are as good as any team in the HC, many top mid-majors, and even bottom tier "BCS" conferences. When off, they can be hard to watch. But, they play hard EVERY game, and the program is light year improved from the Robic days.
3)Getting back to Strollo, at the time he was hired, he was the most qualified candidate. The pool of aplicants was pretty slim. And, I really do not see anyone being willing to come to YSU and deal with all the garbage for the salary Strollo is paid. Are there better AD's, sure. But, none of them are going to be interested in a job at YSU, and none will work harder than Strollo.
4)As long as basketball is an afterthought at YSU, then it is hard to expect more than 4th or 5th place finishes in the HL, and plenty of disappointing losses. I saw a discussion about YSU changing conferences for football. So, how about this? Join the NEC for football only, but with the reduced scholarship level of the NEC. Play the same kind of OOC conference as YSU has been playing, then set the goal of winning the NEC and making the playoffs? YSU can schedule 7 home games, which makes the lodge holders happy. YSU gets in the playoffs, and most fans only care if YSU wins, not who they play. Then, with the money saved from less football scholarships, use the money on basketball. YSU is not far from being a legitimate top 2-3 team in the HL, but it is going to require more money and emphasis from the administration. I know Ron fights for this with basketball, but it falls on deaf ears at the top
5)Losses to KENT and APU were disappointing, but they just had overall more athletic teams, and much more strength inside. YSU has a solid starting 5. Marcus Keen and Kyle Steward have alot of upside, but they are guards. Hahan, Webber and Belin are nice players, but none of them are truly suite for playing inside. And, YSU has nothing off the bench inside. No offense to Larson and Chojnaki, as they seem like great kids, and play hard. But, they are not D1 players in terms of basketball talent.
