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scorer. But Penn State's postseason ended on the day it was supposed to begin. Shortly before the Lions were set to face Indiana in their Big Ten tourna- ment opener, conference officials can- celed all remaining games, and the NCAA tournament was also called off. Having lost Stevens to graduation, along with seniors Mike Watkins and Curtis Jones, Penn State was a team in transition this off-season, and Cham- bers' sudden exit has added an even more destabilizing element to the program's future. Barbour acknowledged it may take time for the Nittany Lions' returning players to regroup. "Our main focus at this moment is squarely on our student-athletes in our men's basketball program," she said. "They are our purpose. They are our focus. This was difficult and unexpected news for them, and we are committed to continuing to provide them with the nec- essary resources as they focus on their academics, health and safety, and prepa- ration for the season to come. "The young men in our program are tal- ented, passionate and resilient. They have been the authors of the rebirth of Penn State men's basketball. And although I'm sure it will take them a little time, I'm certain that they will find their footing and move confidently and successfully through the academic year, through the COVID-19 environment, and the com- petitive season, and I look forward to supporting their success." Ferry, 53, served as head coach at Long Island University before his stint at Duquesne. He went 150-149 in 10 seasons with the Blackbirds, guiding them to Northeast Conference championships and NCAA tournament appearances 2011 and '12. In his five seasons at Duquesne, Ferry went 60-97. His best season with the Dukes was in 2015-16 when they went 17-17 and reached the quarterfinals of the CBI. Barbour said that while Penn State will conduct a national search for its next head coach, Ferry could be considered for R ust Cohle, hair unkempt, shirt unbut- toned and the life drained from his face, leans back and lights a cigarette next to his empty can of Lone Star beer. A lead character of HBO's "True De- tective," Cohle explains his overtly pes- simistic perspective on the life he's lived, is living, and will continue to live. "Someone once told me time is a flat circle," he says. "Everything we've ever done, or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again." For the Penn State men's basketball program, the sentiment could not be more true. On the heels of their best three-year stretch of the Big Ten era, a period in which they notched 61 wins, the Nittany Lions are without their head coach just days before the start of the 2020 season. On Oct. 21, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour announced abruptly that she had accepted the resignation of Patrick Chambers, ending a nine-year tenure only weeks ahead of his 10th sea- son at the helm. The reason? An internal investigation conducted jointly by the Penn State Affirmative Action and the Athletics Integrity of- fices turned up information that, at least to Barbour university president Eric Barron, necessitated Chambers' exit. New allegations of "inappropriate con- duct" leveled against Chambers, but not specified by Barbour or Chambers' camp, were brought in the aftermath of a July 6 article in The Undefeated detail- ing racially insensitive remarks directed by the head coach toward Rasir Bolton in early 2019. The interaction reportedly caused Bolton and his family deep dis- comfort and led to an immediate apol- ogy from Chambers that is disputed by the Boltons. It ultimately resulted in Bolton's decision to transfer to Iowa State after the season. In a statement issued immediately after the story's publication, Barbour set a public standard seemingly dictating the terms of his ongoing employment as the program's head coach. "Patrick Chambers deeply regrets the words he chose and understands the pain he caused Rasir Bolton and his fam- ily," Barbour said. "Patrick has stated that he is committed to educating him- self and he is actively working to learn and grow, which will be imperative to his future success at Penn State." At that point, the issue was seemingly resolved, even if it created a tenuous precedent for Chambers moving for- ward. But the findings of the internal in- vestigation provided to Barbour and Barron in October upended that stabil- ity. In a hurried virtual press conference on Oct. 21, Barbour three times reiter- ated the department's policy to "not disclose details of personnel matters," but offered some small level of insight while answering a hypothetical posed by a reporter. "There's behavior that you know rep- resents your values, and there's behav- ior that you don't," she said. "I'm speaking very generally. That's typically what I lean on from a values perspec- tive." The team, meanwhile, has been left to regroup as it continues to progress through its preseason practice sessions, which had already started when Cham- bers resigned. Penn State handed the reins of the interim head coaching posi- tion to assistant Jim Ferry, bypassing Chambers' lead assistant Keith Urgo in the process. The harried set of circum- Chambers' exit forces PSU basketball program to regroup... again A N A L Y S I S B Y N A T E B A U E R

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