Times story on YSU's move from Mid-Con to Horizon

[TD]

nwitimes.com/articles/2007/07/03/sports/college_sports/docb028e10f5b922b7c8625730c00777aac.txt

I don't think Valpo will go through the same free fall that the Penguins did when they moved to the Horizon in 2001. Their Mens basketball team was on a free fall down under John Robic(??) in 2001. YSU is much much better in 2007-08 than they were in 2001.

The YSU women's team was excellent in the Mid-Con going to the NCAA tournament many years under their older coach with the Italian name (anybody remember him?). In 2006-07 the Lady Penguins were 5-11 in conference and 7-21 overall.

[valpo89]

Youngstown State was on its way down when they moved to the Horizon, particularly after Dan Peters left. The women's program also suffered a hit when its long-time coach (his name escapes me) retired. The guy was about 70, it seems, in the late 1990s.

Youngstown is a football school. It's nice that both papers took a look at Youngstown since it was the last school to leave the Mid-Con for the Horizon, but it's not an even comparison as far as basketball. Both Valpo programs are in much better shape than Youngstown was at the time of its move to the Horizon.

[rlh]

Ed Degregorio

[valpo89]

That's the guy. I remember the mug shot they used of him, made him look like a composer from the 1800s or something.

[valporun]

Degregorio was always someone the pep band had reason to poke fun at, because we didn't know when the Grandpa of the Mid-Con would cause himself to have a heart attack as this little man who was old enough to worry all of us. He was a good coach though, we experienced one Mid-Con finals loss in 2000 to YSU, back when we had players like Megan Newcomer, Sarrah Stricklett, Jill Campbell, and others whose names passed me by as I didn't get to see them play beyond my freshman year...

[rlh]

One of the things forgotten about those Youngstown State Women's teams is that the day of "the Shot" for VU....the Youngstown State women won a NCAA Tournament game too. They got almost no recognition for it around the conference because of Valpo's achievements against Mississippi.

[goguins]

Take it from a bealeaguered YSU fan (one of about nine left on the planet, I'm afraid), it's a tougher leap than you think. I noticed this story on the new Horizon League blog -- when we made the switch, it eventually cost Robic his job (not that it'll happen to Drew, obviously).

www.post-trib.com/sports/451111,Horizon.article

I was a student then. It was a long couple of years. You guys might be better off now than we were then, but don't expect much. Good luck, though! Happy to have you!