Youngstown State Offseason News Update
by Nick Dettmann
Underwood, Baumann co-MVPs
Junior Adam Baumann and sophomore Doug Underwood were recognized as the team’s co-Most Valuable Players at the team’s annual awards banquet on May 3.
Underwood averaged a team-high 14.7 points per game, while Baumann led the team rebounds at 7.7 a game.
Underwood picked up the team’s Jeff Covington Award as the top scorer and tied the Baumann for the free-throw percentage award. Baumann was the Leo Mogus Leading Rebounder and was the Four Square Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Senior captain Marlon Williamson picked up the Assists Leader Award with 144 assists on the year. Williamson also set a school single-season record with 64 assists during conference play and averaged 2.2 steals per game.
Rounding out the awards was TeJay Anderson (Most Productive Player), Khari McQueen (Penguin Club Most Improved Player), Jonathan Mends (Tony Vivo Hustle Award), Derrick Harris (Bill Dailey Leadership Award) and Andy Jahnke (Coach’s Award).
Two new coaches added to Penguins
Youngstown State head coach John Robic used old ties to capture his two new additions to his staff.
Winston Smith, a former player at the University of Massachusetts played for Robic during his final three seasons as an assistant, and Bill Pope, a former manager on Kansas’ 1988 National Championship team when Robic was a graduate assistant.
Pope had spent the last six seasons as the head coach at NCAA Division II Lincoln (Mo.) University while Smith was an assistant at Fairleigh Dickinson the past two.
“I am very happy to have Bill and Winston join my staff,” Robic said. “I have known Bill since I was at Kansas and I coached Winston at UMass and look forward to continuing my relationships with both of them.”
Pope, a native of Kansas City, Kan., led the Blue Tigers to a 13-13 record last season, marking the third consecutive year that Lincoln had finished with a .500 or above record. During his tenure, he had nine all-conference selections, two all-region performers, an All-American, a conference newcomer of the year and a conference player of the year.
He also served as an Assistant Athletic Director and Compliance Coordinator the past four years.
Smith, a native of Summit, N.J., had a very vital role at Fairleigh Dickinson. He was the overall manager of the program, assisting in film exchange, camps and clinics.
Prior to becoming an assistant at FDU, he was a four-year letter winner for the Minutemen and was part of John Calipari’s final recruiting class in 1996. He spent five years with the program, earning a medical red shirt in his second season. Smith was a part of two NCAA Tournament teams and one NIT participant. As a senior, he was the team captain and started in 26 games. He earned his degree in Sociology from UMass in 2001.
