Ron Strollo
Now in his 11th year as Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and 16th as a member of the athletic department, former Penguin student-athlete Ron Strollo, has worked diligently to ensure that today's student-athletes have the support system in place to succeed not only at Youngstown State, but also in their future.
His vision for successful broad-based programs and providing student-athletes tools to succeed on and off the playing fields is coming to fruition.
Strollo has concentrated his priorities on facility improvements; full compliance of NCAA regulations; fiscal management and budgetary maintenance; streamlining department organization; increasing visibility and fundraising efforts of the Penguin Club; and enhancing the overall experience and competitiveness of student-athletes and programs.
Strollo is also very involved on the regional and national level serving on several prominent committees. He is in his third of four years on the NCAA Division I Football Championship Selection Committee, he is on the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee, he serves as the Central Region Chair of the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee while he is also serving as the vice president on the Executive Committee of the FCS Athletic Directors Association. He previously served a two-year term as the Chair of the Horizon League Executive Committee.
During his tenure, Strollo has placed a priority on the construction and enhancements of athletic venues. The Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS), a $12.3 million indoor athletic practice facility, was completed in the summer of 2011. The WATTS includes a state-of-the-art 300-meter indoor track, a full-length football practice field, baseball and softball batting cages, netting and a chipping and putting green for golf, and locker rooms and office space.
In a continued effort to enhance gateways to campus and facilities for all University departments, Strollo spearheaded property acquisition to construct a new on-campus facilities for the softball, soccer and tennis programs. Construction on those venues is expected to begin in 2012.
During the summer of 2011, Beede Field at Stambaugh Stadium underwent a new turf installation. YSU is one of four Division I football programs to play on the Shaw Sportexe PowerBlade HP+ synthetic turf system, which combines the appearance of natural grass with the engineered performance of modern synthetic turf. It is specially designed to enhance player speed and performance while providing for maximum player safety.
Other improvements to Stambaugh Stadium in 2011 include: renovations to assistant football coaches offices, new softball and soccer locker rooms, north-stadium scoreboard enhancements with new signage, lighting, and advanced safety precautions for videographers.
Within the auxiliary gyms in Stambaugh, 18 new glass blackboards were mounted, and the courts were refinished. Three full-length courts were created during the process providing the basketball programs with additional practice and workout space.
Within the past four years in Stambaugh Stadium, office space in the athletic marketing and ticket offices and football suite received an enhancement, the football locker room, weight room and athletic training offices were renovated, and upgrades were made to the baseball locker room. Other recent upgrades include chair-back seats (2009), a south-stadium scoreboard (2009), a concourse-level elevator (2005), and a scoreboard and a Mitsubishi DiamondVision videoboard (2004).
The Beeghly Center has undergone more than $4 million in renovations. In the past four years, Youngstown State has acquired the 2009 Men's Final Four basketball hoops, installed new strobe lighting, refurbished the volleyball, swimming and diving, and men's and women’s basketball locker rooms and renovated the men’s and women’s basketball office suite. In 2008, a new Dom Rosselli Court was installed and a weight room was built for the men's and women's basketball, volleyball and swimming and diving programs.
Strollo has also secured agreements for Eastwood Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians' Class-A affiliate, and Cene Park to be the baseball team's home fields and McCune Park, which will serve as the softball team's home venue until moving to campus in the near future.
Thanks to the benevolence of the Andrews Trust and the priority Strollo places on academics, the academic counseling center underwent a significant renovation and expansion and continues to receive technology upgrades.
In the past 10 years, the department, which has been recognized as a national leader for its graduation rates, has had many successes on and off the playing field.
Under his leadership, Youngstown State earned full NCAA certification in 2007. This review of governance and commitment to rules, academic integrity, and equity and student-athlete well-being showed YSU athletics operates in substantial conformity with the operating principles adopted by the NCAA Division I membership.
In spring of 2011, Youngstown State student-athletes posted a record-setting semester in the classroom. They set all-time program highs for combined cumulative grade-point average and number of athletes with a cumulative GPA above 3.0 while a record 59 percent had a semester GPA above 3.00.
Overall, YSU's 16 athletic teams posted a combined cumulative GPA of 3.06 during the 2011 spring semester. Thirteen programs had GPA's above 3.00 while two more were above 2.95.
On average, half of the 300-plus student-athletes maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Of the 18 sports programs, 75 percent boast an overall GPA of at least 3.0. YSU's Academic Progress Rate is well above the national average for public institutions, and its 93 percent graduation rate is at an all-time high.
Eleven student-athletes have captured 12 Academic All-America accolades while a total of 46 have been named to Academic All-District teams.
YSU has won 13 Horizon League titles, and it won back-to-back Gateway Football Conference (now the Missouri Valley Football Conference) championships in 2005 and 2006. Most recently, YSU added the 2009 Horizon League Women's Outdoor Track and Field and Women's Golf Championships to its trophy cases.
In Strollo's role as the Executive Director of the Penguin Club, the organization has increased athletic endowed scholarship contributions annually. Annual events keep improving every year, and the growth of the Football Alumni Club has had a positive impact on the department.
Strollo returned to his alma mater in 1996 as athletic business manager. In March 2000, he was named the school's Associate Executive Director of Athletics. In his short time in that capacity, he helped spearhead the transition into the Horizon League.
He has strong ties to the local community and to the athletic department. He grew up in nearby Austintown and attended Fitch High School. He played football for YSU from 1988 through 1991 for Coach Jim Tressel and was named captain of the first National Championship team in 1991. He earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from Youngstown State in June, 1993.
Ron and his wife, Nicole, reside in Austintown with their two children, Ryan and Rachel. Nicole is a former YSU student-athlete who competed in track and cross country from 1989 through 1993.
