Penn State Basketball: 12 candidates to replace Micah Shrewsberry as head coach

John Becker

While Penn State isn’t the most prominent basketball job in the world, it’s still a great school in a great conference in the Big Ten. It would also certainly be a step-up for virtually any mid-major head coach and we’ll be looking at several of them today, starting with one who’s certainly proven he’s ready for that shot at a higher level.

Becker was previously head coach at Gallaudet in Washington DC but has done his best work in New England on the staff at Vermont. He originally joined Mike Lonergan’s staff in 2006 and became the Catamounts’ head coach five seasons later. In the twelve year since, Becker has led Vermont to five NCAA Tournaments, including the last two, and has won seven consecutive America East regular season titles.

Becker’s work has been dominant in one of the weakest conferences in the nation, but would he be able to have successful with the big boys in the Big Ten? That’s one of the biggest questions facing Penn State, as Becker doesn’t have any power conference experience in his coaching career. Vermont is the only D1 school he’s worked for and he’s spent nearly a decade there. A bigger question might be if he’d even leave, even for this Big Ten job.