The Youngstown State Penguins are the athletic teams of Youngstown State University of Youngstown, Ohio. The university is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, and the Penguins compete in football as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Most other sports compete as members of the Horizon League.
History
Nickname
YSU is the only Division I program in the country to use Penguins as its athletic nickname. 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 January 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 December 15, 1933.
Informally, YSU is often called Guins for short as a rallying cry (e.g. "Go Guins!"), which is also used for hashtag purposes on its various social media accounts.
Teams
A member of the Horizon League, Youngstown State University sponsors teams in nine men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports:
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 FCS national championships, third behind North Dakota State (7) and Georgia Southern (6), 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 and later returned to YSU as president from 2014 to 2023, helped the Penguins claim titles in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997, as well as runner-up finishes 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. Youngstown native Bo Pelini was announced as the seventh head coach in school history on Dec. 16, 2014. 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 against now-NAIA member Oklahoma City. 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. Brandian Ross spent the 2014 season with the Oakland Raiders, and Donald Jones, who played three seasons with the Buffalo Bills, was forced to retire in 2013 due to non-football related health reasons. The most notable Youngstown State alumni to play in the NFL are Jeff Wilkins, Ron Jaworski, Paul McFadden, and Cliff Stoudt.