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YOUNGSTOWN – Youngstown State University football coach Eric Wolford has been fired, according to multiple media reports.
Brett McMurphy of ESPN first reported the news Monday night via Twitter. YSU athletic director Ron Strollo said he could not comment on the matter when contacted by the Tribune Chronicle.
“I can’t confirm or deny (that report),” Strollo said. “I can’t comment on that right now.”
A press conference is scheduled for this afternoon.
Speculation of Wolford’s firing picked up after the Penguins, who finished 7-5 and 4-4 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, lost their final three games – for the second consecutive season – and missed the playoffs. YSU did not qualify for the postseason during Wolford’s five-year tenure, coming one game short each of the last four years.
He admitted job security was on his mind after YSU lost to North Dakota State, 38-14, in the season finale last Saturday.
“You always have concerns about your job, but I don’t make those decisions,” Wolford said at the postgame press conference. “All you can do is bust your tail, make sure kids are disciplined – doing what they need to do – and continue to try and get better and close the gap on the premiere teams. Sometimes, that’s easier said than done.
“We’re all measured on wins and losses. That’s part of this business.”
Wolford finished with a 31-26 record at YSU. The Penguins tied for second in the MVFC with an 8-4 overall record, 5-3 in the conference in 2013, but a three-game skid to end the year resulted in YSU missing the playoffs. The program earned its first victory over a BCS school by beating Pittsburgh in 2012, but a four-game losing streak in October of that year kept them out of the postseason, a place they visited seven out of 10 years in the 1990s, under then-coach and now-university president Jim Tressel.
Jon Heacock took over for Tressel, who won four national championships before leaving to coach Ohio State in 2000, and Heacock went 60-44 from 2001 to 2009. He led YSU to one playoff appearance in 2006, when the Penguins reached the national semifinal before losing to eventual national champion Appalachian State, 49-29.
Heacock missed the playoffs each of the next three years and resigned after the 2009 season. Wolford was hired in December of that year, and after a 3-8 campaign in his first year, he showed gradual improvement in 2011 (6-5), 2012 (7-4) and 2013 (8-4) before slipping to 7-5 this season. YSU needed to win one of its final three games in 2013 and 2014 to reach the playoffs and went 0-6. The Penguins have one postseason appearance since Tressel’s departure.