Blue White Illustrated

LAST WORD D A V I D E C K E R T | D A V I D E C K E R T 9 8 @ G M A I L . C O M he Bryce Jordan Center was full, and it was loud. The students had lined up outside more than an hour be- fore tipoff to watch the Nittany Lions play basketball. Someone arranged for commemorative posters to be handed out to those who attended a Penn State win over Minnesota – an occasion that felt a lot more like a jumping-off point than a culmination of head coach Patrick Chambers' work. Basketball, for once, was the talk of the town. It was more than something only a few daring souls turned to in order to hold themselves over until spring football. The Nittany Lions were ranked. They were rolling, winners of six in a row against real life Big Ten teams, not nonconference cupcakes. That February afternoon was such a stunningly flattering image of a histori- cally maligned program, that it some- how makes the deluge of misfortune that has come since seem even worse for program die-hards. Let's recap. The coronavirus pandemic halted college sports. There was no NCAA tournament appearance for Penn State, a shoo-in to make the field of 68 teams for the first time since 2011. As a result, Lamar Stevens, one of the pro- gram's all-time greats, saw his career end without so much as a taste of the glory he played such a crucial part in earning. Then, in July, ESPN's The Undefeated published a story containing allegations from a former Penn State guard who transferred after just one season, Rasir Bolton, that Chambers had referenced a noose around Bolton's neck while talk- ing to him about relieving some of the pressure he was feeling. Chambers and Penn State athletic director Sandy Bar- bour both issued statements of apology. Just over three months later, Cham- bers resigned, following allegations of inappropriate conduct that were unre- lated to those published by The Unde- feated, according to Barbour, but found in an investigation sparked by the Bolton incident. After nine years of slow progress that had brought Cham- bers – and Penn State men's basketball – to the brink of their goal, that prize was ripped away by a coronavirus pan- demic, and Chambers' alleged behavior sent him crashing down. So, what now? This coming season, Penn State will turn to assistant coach Jim Ferry as the interim head coach. You could certainly do worse than Ferry, who has plenty of head coaching experience, having won the Northeast Conference with Long Is- land University twice before failing to achieve a winning season in five years at Duquesne. But Ferry's promotion is the easy part. Coming in the next several months for Barbour, Penn State's brass, the boost- ers – everyone who has a say – is a fun- damental decision about what they want for men's basketball at Penn State. The current financial realities pre- sented by the same pandemic that kept the Nittany Lions from hearing their name called on Selection Sunday will likely place some limitations on the fi- nancial strength Penn State can call on when making its hire. But, in a sense, the Penn State men's basketball coaching job has scarcely been more appealing than it is at this very moment. For starters, the roster the new head coach will oversee is hardly barren, even when you make the assumption that Ferry will hold the job for the entirety of the 2020-21 season – which seems likely, though not guaranteed, based on Barbour's press conference following Chambers' resignation. Myreon Jones is a star. Myles Dread is a sharpshooter. Seth Lundy has bags of potential. Sam Sessoms is a former American East rookie of the year. Izaiah Brockington is among the most athletic players in recent program history. All of those names will be assets to the next head coach when he takes over, barring transfers or early exits for the pros. And, certainly, there is some proof of concept evident in what Chambers achieved last season. A few wins on the bounce were all it really took to turn the Bryce Jordan Center from a mortuary into an atmosphere worth getting ex- cited about. All of that is to say, Penn State does not have to make the kind of men's bas- ketball head coaching hire that it usually makes. Penn State does not have to re- sign itself to picking from the scraps, after the huge, big, medium-sized, and – sometimes – even the small programs scoop up the best candidates. Maybe that is the optimist's view. Maybe the stress that COVID-19 has placed on Penn State's wallet will force the university into prioritizing other things, as it has often done even when the world hasn't been in the middle of a global pandemic and athletic depart- ments around the country haven't been hurting for cash. Maybe the Lions will have to latch onto an energetic, hungry, unproven coach like Chambers was when they hired him, in the hope that over time he can build what Chambers managed to tear down in just a few short months. If that happens, though, it should be taken as just that – prioritization. Penn State can make the kind of hire that can help sustain and build on the success of last season. It just has to decide whether it wants to. ■ Shoot for the moon T

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