YSU Staffer Tim Johnson Banned from Sideline After Contact with UNI Player
Mar 1, 2021
A group of footballs waits for warmups prior to an NCAA college football game between North Carolina State and the Ball State in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Youngstown State director of player personnel Tim Johnson will no longer be permitted to stand on the sidelines during the spring football season following an incident with a Northern Iowa player on Saturday.
The school and the Missouri Valley Football Conference announced the discipline on Monday.
"I apologize to UNI, Youngstown State, the Missouri Valley Football Conference and our community for what occurred on Saturday," Johnson said in a statement. "As a member of the YSU Football staff, my actions are held in high regard and that should have never occurred. Again, I deeply apologize to all who have been impacted by my actions."
As Sam Cooper of Yahoo Sports noted, Northern Iowa's Quan Hampton caught a pass and headed toward the sidelines, where Johnson appeared to lean in with his shoulder and knock the pass-catcher to the ground.
Hampton remained in the game and helped lead his team to a 21-0 victory.
Johnson was a linebacker at Youngstown State and played for the Chicago Bears, Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens during his NFL career. He also played professionally in the Canadian Football League.
This is his first season as a member of Youngstown State's football staff.
The Penguins are 0-2 in the spring season and will face Southern Illinois this coming Saturday.
Ma'lik Richmond Sues Youngstown State After Being Kept off Football Team
Sep 14, 2017
A field goal attempt hits the upright in the second half of an NCAA college football game between Vanderbilt and Missouri Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. Vanderbilt won 10-3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Ma'lik Richmond filed a federal lawsuit against Youngstown State University on Wednesday after he was told he could not play for the football team.
According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Richmond is seeking to be placed on the active roster in addition to attorney fees and damages.
The decision was made to keep Richmond off the active roster after a petition to prevent him from playing was circulated.
In 2013, Richmond was convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio. He served 10 months in juvenile detention.
The Ohio Attorney General's Office released a reply to Richmond's lawsuit in defense of Youngstown State:
The reply said "proving no deed goes unpunished," the school has been "hauled into court by a student that YSU has bent over backward to assist, support and provide a second chance when no one else would.
"The rest of the world had written Plaintiff off as an unrepentant rapist, but YSU encouraged him and integrated him as 'part of the student community.'"
PerWKBN, Youngstown State announced in August it would keep Richmond as part of the team and he would surrender a year of eligibility, but he could only take part in practices.
It noted 10,000 people signed the petition to keep Richmond off the team, and YSU released the following statement regarding its decision:
"Youngstown State University takes the matter of sexual assault very seriously and continues to educate everyone within the campus community about the impact and prevention of sexual assault.
"The University is fully aware of the gravity of the situation and of petitions that are circulating on social media in protest and support of one of our students, Ma'lik Richmond. We value the input of the entire YSU community and are committed to providing a safe learning environment and growth opportunities for all students, faculty and staff."
According to the Associated Press, Richmond was "despondent" over Youngstown State's decision and quit the team.
Prior making the Youngstown State roster as a walk-on, Richmond played at California (Pa.) and Potomac State College of West Virginia University.
Richmond's argument for reinstatement will be heard Thursday in Youngstown, Ohio.
Ma'lik Richmond Not Permitted to Play Football at YSU After Petition
Aug 10, 2017
A field goal attempt hits the upright in the second half of an NCAA college football game between Vanderbilt and Missouri Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. Vanderbilt won 10-3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Defensive end Ma'lik Richmond will not play football for Youngstown State in 2017 following a petition to prevent him from doing so.
According to WKBN, YSU announced Richmond will remain with the team as a practice player and surrender a year of eligibility, but he will not be permitted to play in games.
More than 10,000 people signed a petition started by a Youngstown State student to stop Richmond from playing after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl while she was unconscious in 2012.
As part of a statement, Youngstown State University acknowledged taking the students' concerns into account:
"Youngstown State University takes the matter of sexual assault very seriously and continues to educate everyone within the campus community about the impact and prevention of sexual assault.
"The University is fully aware of the gravity of the situation and of petitions that are circulating on social media in protest and support of one of our students, Ma'lik Richmond. We value the input of the entire YSU community and are committed to providing a safe learning environment and growth opportunities for all students, faculty and staff."
Richmond previously played at California (Pa.) and Potomac State College of West Virginia University, and he was attempting to make the YSU roster as a walk-on.
PerWTOV-TV (via ESPN.com), Richmond served less than one year in a juvenile detention center after being found guilty of sexual assault in Steubenville, Ohio.
Youngstown State's Kevin Rader Traps Ball on Defender's Back for Game-Winning TD
Kevin Rader used his opponent as leverage to send Youngstown State to the FCS national championship game.
Heavily guarded in the end zone during the semifinal's closing seconds, the tight end wrapped his arms around Eastern Washington linebacker Ketner Kupp and trapped the ball on his back. He maintained possession, giving the Penguins a 40-38 victory.
The improbable catch sends Youngstown State to Jan. 7's title contest against James Madison, which knocked off the top-seeded North Dakota State Bison on Friday.
Bo Pelini Takes Multiple Shots at Nebraska, Insults Athletic Director
Dec 17, 2014
Bo Pelini was introduced Wednesday as the new head coach at Youngstown State, where he was hired by former Ohio State head coach and current YSU president Jim Tressel.
In his first public appearance since being fired as head coach at Nebraska, Pelini wasted no time taking a shot at his former chancellor, Harvey Perlman, per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com:
Pelini calls Jim Tressel “a president who understands football, who's going to support me, something I don’t know if I've ever had.” Zing!
Pelini's public comments might as well have been "I love you" compared with what he said behind closed doors.
When Pelini left Nebraska, he called a players-only meeting to say goodbye to his team. Pictures from the meet-up surfaced quickly, but we didn't know until Wednesday what he said to his players.
On Wednesday, however, Dirk Chatelain of the Omaha World-Herald acquired an audio recording of Pelini's final speech. There was a lot—I mean, a lot—of NSFW language, which has been censored below.
Here is what Pelini said about athletic director Shawn Eichorst:
A guy like (Eichorst) who has no integrity, he doesn’t even understand what a core value is. And he hasn’t understood it from the day he got here. I saw it when I first met with the guy.
To have core values means you have to be about something, you have to represent something, you have to have something that is important to you. He is a [expletive] lawyer who makes policies. That’s all he’s done since he’s been here is hire people and make policies to cover his own [expletive].
…I didn't really have any relationship with the A.D.. The guy, you guys saw him (Sunday), the guy is a total [expletive]. I mean, he is, and he's a total [expletive].
But Pelini did not stop there.
According to Chatelain, he says he saw anger in administrators' faces after Nebraska beat Iowa in the regular season-finale. They didn't want the Huskers to win—the implication being that they knew Pelini was a goner and would have preferred to fire him after a loss.
This is how Pelini described his final exchange with Eichorst:
He goes, I disagree that I haven't supported you. I said, 'Hey bud, you can't support someone under a [expletive] rock.' I said, to do your job at this level, in a place like this, you gotta be a grown-[expletive] [expletive] man...to lead something. I said you can't lead anything under a [expletive] rock. I said you don't spend any time with us. Our players don't even know who you are. That isn't leadership.
And he said, 'Well I appreciate (your) advice.'
I said, 'I suggest you take it, but see you later.' And that's how it went down.
There's a lot more if you're inclined to keep reading. My personal favorite quote concerns Eichorst's "team of people," to which Pelini says: "I’d rather [expletive] work at McDonald’s than work with some of those guys.
"Not that there is anything bad about working at McDonald’s."
Pelini was fired in November after seven seasons with the Huskers, all of which were more or less the same.
An optimist would argue that he never won fewer than nine games. A pessimist would counter that he never lost fewer than four.
Regardless, the move was met with mixed reviews, especially once Nebraska hired former Oregon State head coach Mike Riley. Riley won nine or more games just four times in the past 11 seasons.
Nebraska released the following statement in response to the comments leaked Wednesday, per Brent Yarina of Big Ten Network:
Pelini is a divisive figure who at one point dared Nebraska to fire him. His playful, charming, cat-loving persona is contrasted with his sometimes-hot temper. He is not afraid to say what's on his mind, which in many cases makes him more endearing.
But it also sometimes lands him in trouble.
One has to wonder, then, if Thursday will play a role in Pelini's coaching future. Nothing he said at the presser is factually untrue—Tressel won a national title with OSU and almost certainly knows more about football than Perlman—but he still probably shouldn't have said it. And he definitely shouldn't have said that stuff to his players.
Youngstown State is a not a destination coaching job, even for a Youngstown, Ohio native such as Pelini. One has to assume he plans on coaching at the FBS level again in the future.
The question is whether any FBS president will ever want to hire him. At this point, his chances look bleak. What school would hire a guy with a reputation for bashing administrators (and a nasty little habit of being recorded)? Why would they risk ending up on the wrong side of one of his diatribes?
