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We spoke that night. We had a long talk and he offered me a position there, and again, we were so caught off-guard. We were getting ready to sign our lease in Miami on Tuesday, so the timing was good, but he was great. When you talk to him, and you hear his core values and how he didn't have a plan to be a head coach, he had a specific plan for Penn State, I think the community and the alumni will see that here soon as he continues to spend time here. That was special to me, and the family atmos- phere. He talked about my wife, Re- becca, and daughter Alivia by name on the first phone call. Those were little details that are special to us that we were like, "Wow, we want to be a part of this." BWI Had you ever envisioned returning to Penn State when you left? FISHER No. Probably not, especially after the winters in Miami were 80 de- grees. But no. The old staff did an amaz- ing job. Great, great coaches, all those guys. But I did not see myself, to be hon- est, coming back. BWI In what ways is that prior experi- ence and familiarity with the program helpful in this transition? FISHER I think it's been big. It's the lit- tle things like, hey, let's go downtown, where to go to lunch. Now, a lot has changed since I've been here downtown, but… the thing that makes Penn State special is the people. So a lot of the peo- ple I knew, whether it be the athletic de- partment or the community, or for Coaches vs. Cancer, are all the same. So I think that's where I can help Coach with those relationships, because it's genuine in State College. This is a great town. People know when you're fake and when you're real, and that's why I think they're going to love Coach Shrewsberry. But I think that transition, seeing some of these familiar faces who knew me when I was a student when I was 18, 19, then came back to work, and now here I am with a family, I think that's special for me. To see Steve Jones get to see me, and finally hopefully meet my daughter and wife, those kinds of people, that's special to me. BWI Penn State fans have endured re- builds many times. What's your expec- tation for where this program is currently against the vision and goals Micah Shrewsberry has set? FISHER We're not looking to rebuild. We're looking to win. Do we know that's difficult, that this isn't Disneyland and poof, here comes Coach Shrews and everything is perfect? Yes, we get that. There's a process. But I think when you have a guy who has won everywhere he's been, he's got a great formula for it. And honestly, I think with all the guys coming back, that was big for us. There are really good players here. You've seen how close they've been in recent years, and to have those guys back, and this portal is changing the landscape of college basketball. It al- lows you, in my opinion, to get better quicker. We want to win. That was something we talked about in the first phone call. We don't want to be in a rebuild situa- tion. We want to win, but we also know this is the best conference in college basketball in the last five years. It had nine teams in the tournament last year. You don't have to go 27-4 here to get in the tournament. It's not a one-bid league. We've got to be good. And we know this is the best league in the country. If we're competitive and we're in that top seven, eight, nine, you get in. We want to be one, two, three, four, we get that, but we also realize, hey, you've got to build to get there. ■ S iena guard Jalen Pickett announced on April 25 that he intends to transfer to Penn State, becoming the Nittany Lions' second addition in a three-day span after Jaheam Cornwall's com- mitment. Pickett is a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 12.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game for the Saints last season in the Metro Atlantic Ath- letic Conference. "I think I'm a very good playmaker," he told BWI. "I think that's one of my biggest attributes. Being able to make plays for others, get others involved as well as playing the pick-and-roll and shooting the ball." Pickett said Penn State was never really on his radar until he entered the transfer portal earlier this spring. But he struck up a good relationship with Micah Shrewsberry, and the Nittany Lions' new head coach was persistent in his recruit- ing efforts. Pickett bought into Shrewsberry's idea for how he wants Penn State to play, which Pickett said is based on playing with pace and using ball screen concepts. He said Shrewsberry generally wants to give him the opportunity to make plays and attack the rim. "He was on me every day," Pickett said. "Him and [assistant coach Adam] Fisher did a great job when we were talking and explaining what they wanted to do with our team and how they wanted to change the program around." A Rochester, N.Y., native, Pickett was the MAAC Player of the Year in 2019-20, becoming only the second sophomore ever to win that award. That season, he shot 46 percent from the field and aver- aged 15.1 points, 6 assists and 4.6 re- | Pickett, Cornwall are first transfers to join Shrewsberry's Nittany Lions PICKETT

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