Penn State Basketball: Steps for Nittany Lions to become winning program

Step 2: Pay the Next Coach

The Penn State basketball coach prior to Pat Chambers, Nittany Lion alum Ed DeChellis, left the program for Navy because he said “the culture was too hard to change.” It was clear to everyone what this meant: the administration did not support the program. Even after leading Penn State to a rare NCAA tournament bid, one of DeChellis’ assistants was the lowest paid assistant in the conference (out of 36 assistant coaches). He also couldn’t get an extension out of the administration after that accomplishment.

While some might say that it was to hold off on an extension, as DeChellis was probably another bad season or two away from being fired anyway, the lack of job security was what ultimately led him to take a pay-cut and depart his alma mater for Navy. Whether or not you believe that DeChellis’ overall body of work deserved the job security he desired, it is undeniable that the school needs to make a much better commitment to college basketball. That is the biggest problem with Penn State’s lack of success, quite frankly.

The formula to success in college hoops is much more dependent on administration and finances than people may think. If a school pays up for a good, rising coach or a long-time assistant to a blue blood (i.e. Duke’s Jeff Capel to Pitt) and maybe invests in facilities as well, recruiting becomes much easier. While the coach still has to develop the players and coach on game day , the administration can do a lot to help the coach build a program.

In college football, the school could build expensive facilities and pay a coach, but it’s still very hard to build a program from scratch through large recruiting classes with the numerous position-groups that may require rebuilding. In college basketball, you can get 2-3 four star commits within the first two years of making a splash hire. Then, if that coach can get wins out of that wave of recruits, suddenly you could be strictly recruiting an entirely new caliber of talent that wasn’t possible under a lesser coaching staff and maybe even compete for some five-star talent.

It is not nearly as difficult to turn around a college basketball program as many may think, but it requires a school-wide financial commitment and a good hire, not just hard work from whatever coach gets the nod.