Sunday Column: Firing Halts Penn State Hoops Momentum … But The Right Replacement Could Make it Moot

It’s hard to argue that Penn State’s administration could have handled Patrick Chambers’ ouster much worse, and that we haven’t seen the last of its effects.

 The encouraging thing? In the grand scheme of things, it won’t matter much.

When athletic director Sandy Barbour chose to part ways with Chambers last October, it not only left Penn State’s players and remaining coaches scrambling to get ready for the season, without any real answers, but it also cast a pall over the Nittany Lions’ future, effectively putting the parking brake on recruiting. Jim Ferry and the remaining staff and the players deserve a lot of credit for a collective effort that won’t put Penn State in the NCAA Tournament but did earn the respect of fans and Big Ten peers.

Poorly timed as it may have been, though, Barbour’s decision also opened a door of opportunity for a program that can still count the highlights in its 29-year Big Ten history on one hand: The Nittany Lions now have the chance to hire a difference-making coach and, perhaps more importantly, the chance to pay him like one.

Chambers led the program to one of its best seasons ever last winter, but there was just as much evidence to support the theory that it was his tenure’s zenith as there was to support the thought that it was the latest in a slow and hard-won climb of steps toward consistent success. The departures of Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins left big holes in the lineup but also represented the end of a short but impressive run of four-star recruits (Stevens, Watkins, Josh Reaves and Tony Carr) in the 2015 and 2016 classes; no player who has joined the roster since has had the same kind of pedigree nor made the same type of on-court impact.

Could Chambers, given the chance, have led this team, as currently constructed, to a few more wins and a legit shot at landing the NCAA spot it should have had last year? Maybe. Could he and his staff have had a resurgence on the recruiting trail? Perhaps. It’s just as likely, though, that neither would have happened, and Barbour would have been conducting a coaching search this spring anyway.

Instead, the search is here now, and the question that matters isn’t how many of the current players will return or how many recruits are waiting to see who the new boss will be.

No, the lone pertinent question left is whether or not Penn State’s willing to add an extra comma to next basketball coach’s contract. 

Chambers was making less money than any of his Big Ten peers, reportedly around $900,000, consistent with how the university has paid its men’s basketball coaches throughout its history. It’s not being cynical to think that trend will continue; it’s (sadly) common sense. But it’s also not unreasonable to ask Penn State to pony up somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million per year, which is at the low end of market value for a major-conference head coach in 2021.

It would be unfair to expect the next coach to start contending for Big Ten titles immediately; this is going to be a rebuild. But it’s going to be a rebuild regardless of how many of the current players – which could, if they’re so inclined, include current seniors Jamari Wheeler and John Harrar, thanks to the NCAA’s decision to give winter athletes an additional year of eligibility – decide to return. And that’s OK – one of the few benefits of being perpetually on the precipice means the expectations aren’t as high as they are at more established places.

The new coach will need some time and should be granted it, as both Chambers and Ed DeChellis were. But recently history has shown that, even in places that were basically basketball outposts, the turnaround time doesn’t have to be that long.

Steve Pikiell won six conference games in his first two seasons at Rutgers, one of the few Big Ten programs with less hoops tradition than Penn State. In the past three seasons, the Scarlet Knights are 27-31 in Big Ten play and counting.

Nate Oats took over an Alabama program that, under former NBA boss Avery Johnson, had been about what Penn State has been recently – a middle-of-the-pack power conference program – and after a 16-15 debut season, currently has the Crimson Tide at No. 6 in the country.

Scott Drew won a total of 12 conference games in his first four seasons at Baylor. In the 12 seasons since (not including last year), the Bears have been to the NCAA Tournament eight times and were undefeated and ranked No. 2 headed into Saturday night’s game against Kansas.

None of these men took over programs that had any sort of winning tradition or had blue-chip players already in the fold. They’re not paying regular visits to the Final Four, but they’re playing well into March, and doing so (well, all but Pikiell anyway) at schools where football is still top dog.

Drew makes around $3.5 million but was earning roughly half that until three years ago. Oats earns around $2.5, Pikiell $1.7. If Penn State doesn’t want to compensate in the $2.5-3 million range, that’s fine – even though the bulk of the Big Ten coaches it competes against receive at least that each year – but $1.5-2 million should be enough to attract a quality assistant or low-major head coach looking to prove themselves in what is perennially one of the nation’s best conferences. And hiring a coach at that salary helps ensure that the pool of candidates for the coach after that is wider and deeper.

If Barbour is willing to pay, and the Nittany Lions get the right coach, a mass exodus of players after this season won’t be a disaster. A new coach will most likely bring a different style and a different system, not to mention a different set of recruiting connections. College basketball’s transfer market has never been more fluid. 

If she isn’t and they don’t, all the players coming back won’t get Penn State where its fans would like to go. It’s hard to cripple a program – even with an ill-timed and still-mysterious breakup with the latest head coach – that was never running at full speed to begin with.