Jerry Slocum has been coaching basketball at Youngstown State University for five seasons.  His program has made many leaps forward in that span of time.  A new state-of-the-art weight room, a clubhouse atmosphere in the locker room, and putting his recruits on the court with a little experience will all be telltale signs of YSU basketball’s forward progress.  Slocum is just a cool guy.  I cannot say enough good things about him or the way he processes information.  The guy is a genius of this sport and I think that YSU will make it to the big dance in March under his guidance very soon.  YSU fans take notice, we are lucky to have him here and the fruit of his hard work will become visible this season.

Paneech:  In your five seasons, you can finally put your stamp on this team as they are all your recruits playing with some experience.

Slocum:  I don’t think there is any shortcut to look at that.  Experience is what it is.  What comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Are you good without any experience?  I think you have to go through a process to get it.  Once you have that experience process in place, you start building towards winning.  Last year we had seven new guys, I thought it would come quicker than it did, but by February, we had a pretty good basketball team.  That kind of excitement has led into the Spring and the Summer.  Now we are into early Fall, and we are pretty excited about where we are.  You are what you experience, and I think that the experience we have gained will show this season.

Paneech:  Only losing two players from last year and having all this experience back you have to really be excited with the returning talent, the cupboard is stocked for the future too.

Slocum:  We have a tandem with three of the five with Dallas Blocker, Dan Boudler, and Eddie D’Haiti that I think will really play out and be a positive factor for this team this year.  When this class goes, everyone is going to look and say you lost all of these seniors.  We are going to have Ashen Ward return at the two-guard spot.  You are gonna have both three-men back.  You are going to have Damian Eargle back at the four, and Eddie [D’Haiti] coming back as a five.  We have alredy gotten verbal commitments from some kids, so in my mind, we have got the classes where we want them, we have got the kids coming up that are learning from the older guys and there is just a good attitude and symmetry that the group has taken.

Paneech:  Who is the team to beat in the Horizon League this season?  Did you take offense to being picked 7th in the preseason poll?

Slocum: I think there are two teams that are a cut above with Butler and Wright State.  Then there are four or five teams in the next tier, and I would put us in that group, anywhere between three and seven.  I maybe took a little bit of offense to being picked seventh.  Our league doesn’t respect us.  It’s like I say to our guys – respect is earned.  In the last two years we have finished fourth and sixth.  Did I think we would maybe be in that fourth spot?  Yeah, I thought so.  I think we finish third or fourth.  Being picked seventh shows that the league doesn’t have alot of respect for us and the pressure comes back on us to prove it.

Paneech:  Who are your go-to guys with five seconds left in a game, who takes the shot?

Slocum:  I think there are two guys that are pressure shooters and pressure players for us.  I think a bunch of guys can make the shots.  The two guys who can create a shot, follow their shot, and then maybe pitch it to a shot are DeAndre Mays and Vytas Sulskis.  Both of those guys are guys who can find a way to pick us back up with a big shot. 

Paneech:  When it happens, and it will someday, how big of a shot in the arm will it be for this program to appear in the March Madness brackets?

Slocum:  Obviously, it’s a dream that we all have.  To me, it wasn’t as much of a dream as it was a reality to achieve.  I think we are headed in the right direction.  Everybody talks about how you only have to win three games at the end of the year to get in, and I believe that to be true also, but, in the same breath, you have to be able to get to the end and have the confidence.  The way we finished last year should carry over into this year.

Paneech:  Is your group healthy?

Slocum:  Right now, we are healthy.  Every Fall, we do a little bit of a different approach to get our guys ready.  I’m not a big guy on coming in at 100%  top shape.  I think progressively, we get there.  Across the country, some guys get pushed too hard before their bodies are ready to take that kind of a pounding.  Right now we are healthy, and I am cautiously optimistic about our health.

Paneech:  Have you gotten comfortable with Youngstown as your home yet?

Slocum:  We love the valley and Youngstown.  My wife is a nurse at a local hospital.  This is home.  We enjoy the area, we enjoy Mill Creek Park, we enjoy all of the different things that are unique to Youngstown.

Paneech:  I am a fan, yet there are detractors.  Do you care about criticism or is it just accepted as part of the job?

Slocum:  It is what it is.  If you let those people govern you or disturb your thought process, then you don’t focus on your job and doing it the right way.  We knew when we got here that it would be a great challenge for us.  We knew that the recruiting hadn’t been what it should’ve been relevant to the Horizon League.  We had to learn Youngstown and how to recruit for YSU and the challenges of recruiting in a state with the MAC.  I don’t lose any sleep from all of the people that say things behind my back, or to my face about this criticism or that criticism.  I know that right now, the infrastructure of our program is higher than it has ever been and I know that our talent level is better.

Paneech:  How fun is it to play schools like Xavier, Kent, and Pitt?

Slocum:  I think it is fun for our guys.  In the time since I have been here, we have really changed our profile relevant to our schedule.  When you play schools like Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Pitt, Xavier, and Kent, it gives our guys the chance to play the best teams in the country.  It also gives you a measuring stick to get ready for your conference play.  We will contnue to do that while I am here.  I think it is a great recruiting tool and it allows our guys to dream a little bit.

Paneech:  Talk to me about riding a motorcycle and the trips you take.

Slocum:  I ride a Honda.  My wife doesn’t have a motorcycle, she just rides with me.  It really started in my youth.  I had motorcycles until I was 23 or 24 when we had our first child.  I went away from them for about 25 years.  Now that the kids are gone, I have picked it back up in the last ten years.  It gives us a chance to go and travel and we love being on the road.  We rode to the very top of Nova Scotia.  Next year, we are planning to go to South Dakota.

Paneech:  If you were asked to coach the Olympic Basketball Team, who would be your starting five?

Slocum:  Obviously, your top two guys would be LeBron and Kobe.  Kobe is probably the hardest working guy in the game.  My big guy would have to be Howard because he is so agile.  Bosh and Garnett would be there too.  The point guard spot would probably be Chris Paul. 

One Word Answers

Best All-Time Coach At Any Level:  Dean Smith.

Favorite Flavor of Handel’s Ice Cream:  (long pause)  Black Raspberry.

Mountaineer or Cedar Point?   Cedar Point.

Restaurant In Youngstown That You Have To Get To:  MVR Club.

Favorite Holiday:  Christmas.

Best Boxer At Any Weight Class:  Kelly Pavlik.

Favorite Group Of All-Time:  The Who.

A Short Description Of This Year’s Team:  Mentally Tougher.

Least Favorite Chore To Do At Home:  Clean Up The Dog’s Poop.

Can The Cavs Win This Year?  Yes.

Favorite Fruit:  Peaches

Best Movie Ever Made:  Patton.