Historically, YSU is associated with longtime coach Dwight "Dike" Beede, who, after noticing on-field confusion due to officials using whistles to signal a penalty, invented the penalty flag during a game in 1941 against now-NAIA member Oklahoma City.
•
His successor, Jon Heacock, did not win a national championship, but still delivered consistent seasons and took them to a national semifinal appearance in 2006 (losing to eventual national champion Appalachian State) prior to resigning following the 2009 season.
•
The program started in the 1930s and is one of the leading programs in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA), YSU has won four I-AA National Championships, second only to Georgia Southern (6), with all of them coming under former head coach Jim Tressel.
•
Eric Wolford, a Youngstown native who has been labeled a top recruiter at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level, was named the sixth head coach in school history on Dec. 15, 2009; a highlight of Wolford's second season was a 2011 victory over eventual National Champion North Dakota State.
U.S. state | Georgia (U.S. state) | São Paulo (state) | Secretary of State | Washington (U.S. state) | state | United States Department of State | Moscow State University | United States Secretary of State | Ohio State University | Michigan State University | New York State Assembly | State Senator | New York State Senate | Rio de Janeiro (state) | Louisiana State Legislature | Iowa State University | Pennsylvania State University | Louisiana State University | Santa Catarina (state) | Florida State University | Paraná (state) | Vienna State Opera | Oregon State University | California State Assembly | Arizona State University | University at Buffalo, The State University of New York | Wayne State University | Tyrol (state) | Washington (state) |
While Iceburgh's name is a play on both iceberg and Pittsburgh, not reviving the Penguin Pete name was likely done to avoid confusion with the mascot of the same name at Youngstown State University in nearby Youngstown, Ohio.