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Wednesday, January 24, 2001

Let Youngstown State's search for a football coach and athletic director officially begin.

Youngstown State President David Sweet was scheduled to meet with the university's board of trustees last night to set the ground rules to find a replacement for Jim Tressel, the coach/athletic director who became the Ohio State coach last week.

"We're going to go over strategy and define the procedure," said Sweet, who is in his first year as the school's president after spending the previous 22 years as dean of the College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State.

"We're cognizant of the Feb. 7 signing date for football and we're going to move as quickly as humanly possible. We're committed to try to bring stability to the football program as soon as we can. The wheels are in motion. We'll start the interview process today."

Sweet said his priorities are to hire a football coach first, then an athletic director.

"We have two big shoes to fill," he said. "We're going to do it with two people."

Tressel had a 135-57-2 record in 15 seasons at Youngstown State and guided the Penguins to NCAA Division I-AA national championships in 1991, '93, '94 and '97.

Sweet's phone has been ringing off the hook from numerous coaching applicants, ranging from Division III head coaches to NFL assistants. He expects Youngstown State to benefit from the national publicity Tressel has received at Ohio State.

"Youngstown State isn't necessarily a household name, nationally or even in Ohio," Sweet said. "We're looking for a halo effect from Tressel's move to Ohio State. Jim was the most popular individual in the entire Mahoning Valley."

The two most prominent names to surface are Jon Heacock, the defensive coordinator at Youngstown State, and Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres. Heacock was the coordinator at Youngstown State from 1991-96 and at Indiana from 1997-99 before returning to Youngstown State last season. Kehres has won five NCAA Division III national titles in the past eight seasons and has a 152-16-3 record in 13 seasons.

"We're looking for someone who can bring the same level of enthusiasm and commitment as Jim Tressel," Sweet said. "Jim Tressel was a teacher of the first order. We want to carry on our winning tradition in football and our tradition of academic excellence."

Sweet will make the final decision, with input from the board.

"I'm a big football fan," he said. "I understand how much a winning football team can benefit the university. When Tressel said he was going to Ohio State, I told him to get down there and beat Michigan."

After he hires a football coach, Sweet will turn his attention to the athletic director's job. There are five associate athletic directors in Youngstown State's athletic department.

"We have some big decisions to make," Sweet said. "It won't be easy to replace Jim Tressel, but I'm confident the program won't miss a beat because he left us in great shape."

The Bowers watch

Grove City's R.J. Bowers continued to boost his NFL stock with a solid performance Saturday night in the Hula Bowl at War Memorial Stadium in Maui, Hawaii.

Bowers, a 6-foot-1, 245-pound fullback who was the seventh Division III player to participate in the 55-year history of the all-star game, rushed for 21 yards on six carries and caught a 3-yard pass from Purdue's Drew Brees on the North's first play from scrimmage. Bowers produced the longest run in the game, a 15-yarder in the first quarter.

Bowers, college football's all-time leading rusher with 7,353 yards, started for the North squad coached by Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer. A three-time All-American who turns 27 Feb. 10, Bowers recently won the Melberger Award as the Division III Player of the Year.

After a five-year stint in the minor-league system of the Houston Astros, Bowers, who grew up in West Middlesex, enrolled at Grove City.

Nearly two-thirds of the players in last year's Hula Bowl were either drafted or signed as free agents by the NFL. Bowers also played in the Blue-Gray Classic.

Game of the week

California (10-5, 1-2) at IUP (8-7, 0-2), 8 p.m. Saturday -- Always a huge rivalry, the teams are battling to stay in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division race. Both teams were expected to challenge for the league title. IUP has lost three in a row.