Tony Joy
Head Coach
25th Year
(Youngstown State, 1974)

     Tony Joy is in his 26th year as the head coach of the Youngstown State men's golf program. Joy took over in the fall of 1983 and has been in charge of the Penguins ever since.
    Under his tutelage, Youngstown State has had 15 first-team and six second-team all-conference selections. YSU has competed in the Ohio Valley and Mid-Continent Conferences and is now currently a member of the Horizon League.
    In 2009, the team finished in seventh at the league meet, while junior Tim Morrow and sophomore Spenser Sulzner led the way for the Penguins.
    At the 2008 Horizon League Championships, the Penguins took third place, and the team shot the lowest second and third rounds.
    Freshman Michael Turner led the Guins with a sixth place finish and was named to the All-Tournament Team.  Also cracking the top 10 for the Penguins was freshman Spenser Sulzener who finished in ninth.
    The 2007 Horizon League Championship tied the Penguins with Wright State after a strong total team finish on the second day of play. 
    Sophomore Ryan Stocke improved on his previous year finish, leading the team and finishing eighth for a First-Team All-League spot. Freshman Tim Morrow had an impressive first showing at the league meet placing 13th. 
    At the 2006 Horizon League Championship, the Penguins had their most impressive showing since joining the league and posted their best team finish in six years.
    Nate Komsa was the top finisher for YSU placing sixth while Jim Powers had a solid performance placing eighth and Stocke, then a freshman, was 12th.
    At the 2005 Horizon League Championships, Komsa finished ninth and Josh Zarlenga placed 10th to helped he Penguins to a sixth-place finish.
    At the 2004 Championships, Komsa became just the second Penguin to earn medalist honors at the conference meet. Komsa won the event by one stroke earning the school's first individual conference crown since 1994.
    In 2002, in their first campaign in the Horizon League, the Penguins placed fifth. Jonah Karzmer led the team placing fifth and earning all-tournament honors.
    In YSU's last Mid-Continent Conference Tournament in 2001, Matt Kempe and Brian Newell posted top-10 finishes to help the Penguins place fifth. Kempe placed third, while Newell was ninth.
    In 2000, Joy guided the Penguins to a second-place finish at the Mid-Continent Conference Men's Golf Championship. Leading the squad to its best finish since the 1997 season, was Ryan Harmon, who was named the league's Newcomer-of-the-Year Award. Harmon shot a 219 for a third-place finish and first-team all-conference honors. Two other of Penguins received all-conference accolades as Zach Krichbaum and Matt Kempe finished fourth and eighth, respectively. Krichbaum closed with a score of 220, while Kempe, who had 10 Top 10 finishes in 2000, fired a 222.
    During both the 1999 and 1998 seasons, Joy led his squad to two consecutive third-place finishes as Kempe, Bill Lowry and Jesse Wilkin all earned second-team all-conference laurels. Kempe placed ninth in 1999 to earn second-team all-league honors, while Lowry and Wilkin were also tabbed second-team in 1998.
    In 1997, Joy led the Penguins to what was then their best finish in the Mid-Continent Conference Championships with a second-place finish. During the 1994 campaign, Jim Perry was named the Mid-Con's Co-Golfer of the Year while tying for first place at the conference meet.
    A former standout golfer at Youngstown State, Joy was named the head men’s golf coach at YSU in the fall of 1983. He is also the Head Golf Professional and Director of Golf at Avalon South and Avalon Lakes Golf Courses.
    Joy was a four-year letterwinner at YSU and helped the Penguins to a school dual-meet record of 22-4 (a .846 winning percentage) in 1972. Joy finished that season with an average round of 78.6 and competed in the NCAA Division II National Championships. For his efforts he was inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.
    A 1974 graduate of YSU, Joy earned a bachelor’s degree in financial management. He and his wife, Susan, have three children.

Penguin Individual Accomplishments Under Joy