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

Pat Kelsey

There are a few names that are on the lists for all of these jobs this season and this is certainly another one of them, but there’s another interesting and perhaps unimportant reason why Kelsey could work well at Penn State. He’s been a successful head coach, but would he work out well in the Big Ten?

A former Xavier point guard, Kelsey was a longtime aide at Wake Forest and Xavier before starting his coaching career with success at Winthrop. After taking the Eagles to four Big South regular season titles and a pair of NCAA Tournaments, he was hired by the College of Charleston in 2021. This past year has been monumental in Charleston, with the Cougars winning 31 games and getting to the NCAA Tournament.

The interesting connection here is that Penn State Athletic Director Patrick Kraft actually hired Kelsey’s predecessor Earl Grant at Boston College two years ago; would he look closely at another Charleston coach for another important coaching hire? Either way, Kelsey is a phenomenal young coach who’s rising in the coaching ranks and deserves his shot at a higher level. Whether it comes this season and with this program may be up to how Kelsey feels, having just received a long extension to stay with the Cougars.