Youngstown State University Football Camps
Football Support Staff
Mike Tomczak
Advisor to the Head Coach
Former NFL quarterback Mike Tomczak is in his fourth season as a member of the YSU coaching staff. Tomczak, who played for the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers in his 14-year NFL career, serves in a volunteer capacity for the Penguins and Head Coach Doug Phillips.
Tomczak was a starting quarterback for the Bears, Packers and Steelers during his career. He played in Chicago from 1985 through 1990 and started 31 games at quarterback. As a rookie, he won a Super Bowl title serving as a backup quaterback with the Bears.
In 1991, he started seven games in Green Bay where he threw nine touchdown passes. After a brief stint in Cleveland, he finished out his career in Pittsburgh. He played for the Steelers for seven seasons and led the team to the playoffs in 1996.
For his career, Tomczak made 73 starts as an NFL quaterback, completing 55.4 percent of his passing attempts while throwing for 88 touchdowns and 16,079 yards.
He was a standout quarterback at Ohio State from 1981-84. For the Buckeyes he completed 376 passes for 5,569 yards and 32 touchdowns in his career. As a senior in 1984, he led OSU to an appearance in the Rose Bowl playing for Coach Earle Bruce.
Jeff Wilkins
Special Teams Advisor
Hunter Krause
Assistant Football Coach - Graduate Assistant
Kyle Hazell
Assistant Football Coach - Graduate Assistant
Tom Phillips
Director of Football Operations
Tom Phillips has joined the Youngstown State football staff in April 2022. He is in his third year as the Director of Football Operations.
Phillips has experience as a high school head coach, most recently spending four seasons at Stow-Munroe Falls. He had previously served as the football head coach at Pickerington North High School for 10 seasons and Bexley High School for three campaigns. He has served a coach, administrator and educator at a number of institutions in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
At Stow-Munroe Falls he compiled a 25-14 record with two Division I playoff appearances. Stow went 5-5 in 2018, 6-4 in 2019, 5-2 in 2020 and 9-3 in 2021 under Phillips. The 2021 Bulldogs team won the Suburban League National Conference championship.
Phillips had a career mark of 116-62 as a head coach, won or shared conference titles in 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2021 while qualifying for the state playoffs six times and earned a berth in the state semifinals in 2012. He served as president of the Central District Football Coaches Association from 2013-14. The Central District Football Association named him Division I Coach of the Year for three-straight years from 2011-13.
At UC, he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the recruiting program including database management, organized all official and unofficial visits, coordinated special events associated with recruiting, managed the roster and recruiting budgets while serving as the compliance liasion.
Phillips, a three-time Ohio Capital Conference Coach of the Year, was 70-39 in 10 years at Pickerington North. He helped develop almost 50 players who went on to play collegiately at the division I and division II levels, including 2016 Rimington Trophy Award winner Pat Elflein (Ohio State) and 2016 John Mackey Award winner Jake Butt (Michigan). Six players he coached - Alex Bayer, Jarius Campbell, Pat Elflein, Alex Huettel, Butt and Godwin Igwebuike - went on to play in the NFL.
He worked for the Pickerington Local School District for 10 years as an assistant athletic director at Pickerington North from 2007-11 and as the Pickerington Community School Administrator from 2011-17.
Phillips was the head coach at Bexley High School in Columbus from 2004-07 going 21-9 and also working as the district’s drug and alcohol prevention coordinator.
He was the dean of students at two schools, Westerville North in Columbus and Mercer Area Junior-Senior from 2002-04 and 2000-02, respectively.
Phillips started his career as assistant football coach and physical education instructor at Boardman High School in Youngstown from 1988-2000.
The New Middletown, Ohio, native earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Akron in December 1987 and a master’s in sports science from Ashland University in August 1995. He received an administrative certificate from Westminster College in 2001.
Phillips and his wife Paula have three children, Eric (Kristen), Paige (Hayden - two grandsons Easton and Kash) and Jake.
Tony Chiaro
Director of Player Development
Tony Chiaro is in his second season as the Director of Player Development for the Penguins.
Chiaro assists in all day-to-day activities of the program.
He graduated from Youngstown State in December 2022.
Rollen Smith
Assistant Director of Football Operations
Rollen Smith, a mentor of young men and community leader, is in his sevenh year with the Youngstown State Athletic Department.
Smith, who has been assistant coach for the Penguins and worked with the strength and conditioning staff, now is an assistant Director of Football Operations.
After spending his first two years at YSU as a member of the football coaching staff he moved into a role as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach. For four years, Smith helped coordinate the strength and speed training for the football program and worked with other Penguins athletic teams.
In 2011, he worked with a group of eager cornerbacks in a ever-changing secondary. The Penguins had two freshmen starters at most times during the season with three corners missing the campaign because of injuries. YSU posted a 6-5 mark, including a win over top-ranked North Dakota State in November.
In 2010, Smith worked with the Penguins' defensive line. During the season, he helped coach second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference defensive tackle Torrance Nicholson.
A Youngstown native, Smith was an assistant high school coach in Youngstown from 1980 until he joined the YSU staff in January 2010. He was at Youngstown South from 1980 through 1988 and spent the next 20 seasons as an assistant under five different head coaches for the Ursuline Irish. At Ursuline he coached the running backs and cornerbacks while also handling the strength and conditioning duties for the program.
In his final two years, Ursuline won the state's Division V Championship. The Irish were a perfect 15-0 in 2008 and went 11-3 in 2009. He was also a member of the staff in 2000 when the Irish won the Division IV crown posting a 14-1 mark. While with the program, he coached for Dick Angle, Scott Niedzwicki, Jim Vivo, Dan Murphy and Dan Reardon. Ursuline qualified for the state playoffs 13 times during his tenure.
He has worked at the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center since 1983 where he has been a group leader, supervisor, behavior specialist and director of programming. He is also a prevention specialist for the Mahoning County Chemical Dependency Program of Youngstown.
Smith has served on the Mahoning County area AIDS task force since 1988, been a volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown since 1988 and been on the Mahoning Valley task force against crime since 1990.
He has been involved with the Mahoning County Joint Vocational School, the Mahoning County Chemical Dependency Program, served as a case worker in Community Corrections and worked as a teacher and mentor at the Tod Vocational School.
Smith was a standout defensive back in his two seasons with Arkansas. As a junior, he was a first-team All-Southwest Conference selection for coach Frank Broyles. He was a team captain in 1974 and following the season, played, in the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic.
He was a sixth-round draft choice by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1975 and later signed with the St. Louis Cardinals before returning to Youngstown in 1980.
He earned his degree from Arkansas in 1976 after earning an associates degree from Garden City Community College in 1973. A Youngstown native, he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.
Smith has two sons, Rollen III, and Trevor.