| Horizon help: Butler’s run aids Slocum with recruits |
| Thursday, June 3 2010 |
| Courtesy of: Joe Scalzo The Vindicator |
| By Joe Scalzo scalzo@vindy.com west middlesex, pa. Butler’s run to the NCAA men’s championship game this spring did more than uplift the image of Horizon League basketball. It gave YSU a welcome recruiting boost, too. Since losing five seniors to graduation and another four to transfer, Penguins coach Jerry Slocum has added four recruits during the late signing period and five overall. “Anytime your program isn’t where you want it to be, change is a part of that,” said Slocum, who went 8-22 this winter. “We’re really happy with the kids we’ve brought in. We feel like we’ve really helped ourselves in the backcourt with the recruits that we have signed. “With [Warren Harding High graduates] Damian Eargle and Sheldon Brogdon playing next year, we’ve very excited about the upcoming year.” Eargle, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward, sat out last season after transferring from Division I UNC-Greensboro. Brogdon, a 6-0 guard, redshirted his freshman season while rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered his senior year. Two weeks ago, doctors gave Brogdon full clearance to resume basketball activities, Slocum said. “It’s a work in progress,” Slocum said of Brogdon’s recovery. “Our athletic training staff is working with him and we feel probably sometime in the first semester he’s going to be 100 percent.” Brogdon and Eargle will join incoming recruits Devonte Maymon, DuShawn Brooks, Josh Chojnacki, Fred Ford and Kendrick Perry on what will be a very young and inexperienced Penguins squad next winter. YSU’s schedule, which will be released in a few weeks, will feature road games against Akron, Kent State and North Carolina State. Slocum said Butler’s success played a key role in recruiting. “It’s something we all take pride in,” he said. “I think it’s awesome for our conference and believe me, when we were [talking to] Fred [Ford] and some of those guys from major junior colleges, Butler’s run was something we were always talking about.” On the women’s side, new coach Bob Boldon recently completed his coaching staff and has turned his attention to recruiting for next season. “We’re in the thick of it with a lot of other mid-major schools throughout the Midwest, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania,” said Boldon, who takes over a program that went 0-30 last winter. “We’ll see how it shakes out when it comes to sign, but we think we’re on some pretty good kids.” Boldon’s program could get a boost soon when the school names a director for basketball operations. Longtime Canfield High boys coach John Cullen is reportedly close to accepting that job. |