Youngstown State Penguins

Youngstown State University is in NCAA Division I. Nicknamed the Penguins, they play in the Horizon League and Missouri Valley Football Conference, and compete in the following sports:


 * Baseball (men)
 * Basketball (men/women)
 * Cross Country (men/women)
 * Football (men)
 * Golf (men/women)
 * Soccer (women)
 * Softball (women)
 * Swimming and Diving (women)
 * Tennis (men/women)
 * Track and Field (men/women) - Indoor and Outdoor
 * Volleyball (women)

In addition to the aforementioned sports, YSU also has a men's ice hockey club, which is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, playing in the College Hockey Mid-America conference. The hockey club isn't considered an NCAA-eligible program due to Title IX-based reasons.

YSU is the only Division I program in the country to have the nickname Penguins for its athletic teams. YSU's mascots are Pete and Penny, two penguins dressed in scarfs and stocking caps. There are two accounts of how the "Penguins" nickname came to be. Both stories come from the same cold evening on Jan. 30, 1933, when the men's basketball team was playing at West Liberty State.

The first account is that a spectator said the team looked like Penguins as they stomped the floor and swung their arms. Without the team having an official nickname, fans took a liking to the word. A second account states that, on the way to West Liberty State with up to two feet of snow on the roads, passengers in Bennett Kunicki's car were discussing possible nicknames. "Penguins" was brought up and was well received by everyone in the car. The nickname was mentioned to members of the team at the gym that evening, and they thought it was perfect.

The nickname was unanimously accepted by the student body that year without a formal poll. The nickname was formally introduced in The Jambar, the campus newspaper, on Dec. 15, 1933.

Football
YSU has been particularly successful in, and is most recognized for, football. The program started in the 1930s and is one of the leading programs in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA), YSU has won four I-AA National Championships, second only to Georgia Southern (5), with all of them coming under former head coach Jim Tressel. Tressel, who left the university following the 2000 season to coach at Ohio State, helped the Penguins claim titles in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997, as well as runner-up titles in 1992 and 1999. His successor, Jon Heacock, did not win a national championship, but still delivered consistent seasons and took them to a national semifinal appearance in 2006 (losing to eventual national champion Appalachian State) prior to resigning following the 2009 season. Eric Wolford, a Youngstown native who has been labeled a top recruiter at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level, was named the sixth head coach in school history on Dec. 15, 2009; a highlight of Wolford's second season was a 2011 victory over eventual National Champion North Dakota State. Overall, YSU has made 11 playoff appearances since Division I FCS (then Division I-AA) was formed in 1978.

Historically, YSU is associated with longtime coach Dwight "Dike" Beede, who, after noticing on-field confusion due to officials using whistles to signal a penalty, invented the penalty flag during a game in 1941. The flag is now standard at all football games.

YSU plays its home games at Stambaugh Stadium, nicknamed "The Ice Castle", which has an official capacity of 20,630, one of the largest in Division I FCS. The Penguins have sent over 20 players to the NFL, three of which (Tim Johnson and Marcus Mason and Donald Jones) are currently playing.

Men's basketball
The Youngstown State men's basketball team began with the 1927–28 season. The team has competed in the NAIA from 1946–47 until joining NCAA Division II competition in 1960–61. The Penguins joined Division I competition in 1981–82, which was also the last season the team was coached by long-time coach Dom Rosselli. Over 38 seasons, Rosselli compiled a record of 589–388 (.600). Upon joining Division I competition, the Penguins competed in the Ohio Valley Conference until the 1988–89 season. After four seasons as an independent, the Penguins competed in the Mid-Continent Conference from 1992–93 until joining the Horizon League in the 2001–02 season. Although the team has competed in NCAA Division I and has been a member of three separate conferences, the men's basketball team has yet to win a conference championship in either the regular season or conference tournament. Since joining the Horizon League in the 2001–02 season, the men's basketball team has never finished higher than a tie for fourth, and the women's basketball squad was the only winless team in college basketball during the 2009–10 season.

Other sports
The Track and Field and Cross Country teams are consistently strong contenders in the Horizon League. The women's team has won five of the last six Horizon League Track and Field Championships.

Also notable are the baseball and softball teams. In 2004, despite having a losing record, the baseball team won the Horizon League tournament and went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The softball team followed this feat two years later by also winning the Horizon League tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Regional Softball Tournament.

The Penguins' primary athletic facilities are Stambaugh Stadium (football and soccer) and the Beeghly Center (basketball, swimming, and volleyball). Horizon League track and field events will soon be held at the new Watson and Tressel Training Site ("The WATTS") located next to Stambaugh Stadium. The WATTS is expected to be completed within the current (2011-12) academic year.