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YOUNGSTOWN - Exactly why Jon Heacock decided to resign on Sunday from his job as Youngstown State University football coach did not become any clearer on Monday.

Heacock did not attend a press conference with executive director of athletics Ron Strollo discussing his resignation and the future of the program. He also did not return a message left at his home seeking comment.

Heacock resigned following a 6-5 season and a nine-year tenure in which he accumulated a 60-44 record, two conference titles and one playoff appearance. His resignation, which came a day after the team's dramatic 39-35 victory over North Dakota State in the season finale, came through a statement released by YSU's athletic department.

In it, he said: "When we became a part of Youngstown State University and, specifically, the YSU football family, excellence was defined in 'wins' and success defined in 'making a difference. On behalf of my family, through 16 years, the last nine as head coach, we have been blessed to share in both. Thanks to everyone who made that possible."

Strollo shed little light on his departure on Monday. He did not say Heacock would have been fired if he had not resigned, but he insinuated that was the case.

''I don't think that's a true statement,'' he said when asked if he would have fired Heacock. ''The best way to answer that question is ... there's no secret what the expectations here are, and that's postseason play. With any of our coaches, we do evaluations at the end of the year, and those discussions are part of it, are what the expectations are. I don't want to try and foresee the future on what my final decision would have been because I never really got to that evaluation process because I had said that we were going to make that evaluation at the end of the year.''

Heacock made no indication during the season that he intended on quitting. The Penguins, however, did enter the season with national-title aspirations, yet a three-game losing streak to the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference ended any postseason possibility. Heacock's best season came in 2006, when the Penguins won two playoff games at home and advanced to the national semifinal, where the Penguins lost to eventual national champion, Appalachian State.

Strollo, who played at YSU in the early 1990s under then-coach Jim Tressel and Heacock who was the defensive coordinator, said the departure of Heacock has been especially difficult for him.

''I've known Jon almost half my life now,'' Strollo said. ''I've watched his kids grow up, and feel like Jon is a great personal friend. Not only that, there are 15 assistants there, too. When you spend as much time in the office as we do, you get to know them better than you do your family at home. So this has been a very difficult process. This morning, talking to the assistant coaches was very difficult.''

He was selected as a two-time conference coach of the year after taking over the program in January 2001. In 2005 and 2006 he was named the American Football Coaches Association's Region IV Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the AFCA Coach of the Year and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year awards.

He was named the Bruce Craddock Coach of the Year in 2005 when Youngstown State tied UNI and Southern Illinois for the school's first MVFC crown but was left out of the playoffs after finishing with an 8-3 overall record. YSU also finished 8-3 in 2001 but did not make the postseason.

jsimon@tribtoday.com