America East Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)
By Joey Loose
6. Pat Chambers – Boston University (2009-2011)
Like Pikiell, Chambers is certainly more known for his work recently in the Big Ten, but we’ll be limiting our focus to the early days in his coaching career. He was an assistant under Jay Wright at Villanova when he got the chance to start his head coaching career. Boston University was not in bad shape when he joined the program in 2009, but Chambers certainly made matters better for the Terriers.
In each of his two seasons, the Terriers put up matching 21-14 records, though 2011 was a much better end result. His first year resulted in a fourth-place finished and a run to the CBI semifinals. In 2011, the Terriers won the America East Tournament and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years.
After that quick success, Chambers took the head coaching job at Penn State, a job he has held onto for the last nine seasons. He led the Nittany Lions to a surprise fifth-place finish in the Big Ten this past season, tying with Pikiell’s Rutgers squad and putting themselves in great shape for a return to the NCAA Tournament. However, our focus was on the America East, and he certainly did enough in those two seasons to warrant inclusion on our list.