Figure we have just a few games left with Rhoades. Then it’s championship coach incoming.
2025-26 PSU MBB Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
"Who is on your list if we fire the coach? Nobody of any value wants this job"
-every single poster on these boards since 1983-
-every single poster on these boards since 1983-
they aren't wrong. You think Jay Wright wants to coach here? The only guys who do are just trying to use it as a stepping stone like Shrewsberry did. There was a poll of the best/worst power 5 jobs in mens BB and PSU was one of the bottom five.
I'll give two 'local' guys that most will poo-poo but they both have been successful at D2. Danny is from MD and has a bunch of public and private school connections where he could get DMV kids. Also, his son is the best player in WV, who has committed to Liberty, he would be a great building block for the 26-27 team.
Danny Sancomb - Men's Basketball Coach - California University of Pennsylvania Athletics
A proven winner with over 300 career victories, Danny Sancomb enters his eighth year as head coach at California (PA) in 2025-26. Sancomb has reestablished the Vulcans as
calvulcans.com
The second guy is who I really think they should give a shot to. Easton Bazzoli, young, pittsburgh area kid who plays a super uptempo style. Team scores 100/game, shoots a ton of 3's, though not a high %, they play pressure D all game and rotate lots of players. I dont think PSU can win playing standard basketball so I'd like to see this style of ball in the Big.
Easton Bazzoli - Head Men's Basketball Coach - Men's Basketball Coaches - Gannon University Athletics
Easton Bazzoli enters his second season as head coach of the Gannon men’s basketball program and his third year overall with the Golden Knights. ERIE, Pa. –
gannonsports.com
This is a very tough search. I thought Rhoades was a good hire so what do I know.they aren't wrong. You think Jay Wright wants to coach here? The only guys who do are just trying to use it as a stepping stone like Shrewsberry did. There was a poll of the best/worst power 5 jobs in mens BB and PSU was one of the bottom five.
I'll give two 'local' guys that most will poo-poo but they both have been successful at D2. Danny is from MD and has a bunch of public and private school connections where he could get DMV kids. Also, his son is the best player in WV, who has committed to Liberty, he would be a great building block for the 26-27 team.
Danny Sancomb - Men's Basketball Coach - California University of Pennsylvania Athletics
A proven winner with over 300 career victories, Danny Sancomb enters his eighth year as head coach at California (PA) in 2025-26. Sancomb has reestablished the Vulcans as
The second guy is who I really think they should give a shot to. Easton Bazzoli, young, pittsburgh area kid who plays a super uptempo style. Team scores 100/game, shoots a ton of 3's, though not a high %, they play pressure D all game and rotate lots of players. I dont think PSU can win playing standard basketball so I'd like to see this style of ball in the Big.
Easton Bazzoli - Head Men's Basketball Coach - Men's Basketball Coaches - Gannon University Athletics
Easton Bazzoli enters his second season as head coach of the Gannon men’s basketball program and his third year overall with the Golden Knights. ERIE, Pa. –
I think there are a couple routes to go but there could be more.
1) Find a young up and comer like you are suggesting who has ties to an area in our recruiting footprint and a very specific style.
2) Just open the coffers and get the best guy we possibly can that is already doing it at a high level. Richard Pitino is one name. Can we steal a guy from the B10? Go after the Iowa guy? Washington guy? Go for the Clemson guy? Just throwing out names.
I would like to get a coach who specializes in defense and that is a huge priority. I don't think run and gun will work in the B10 with talent not measuring up to a lot of teams.
The definition of insanity. Trying to find a coach to fix the program - we have tried that and we get the same frustrating results. Penn State needs a major commitment to men's basketball, not just a new coach.
I mentioned Richard Pitino last season, as he already had been a head coach in the Big 10 and did a really good job at New Mexico. He’s now at Xavier and is having a rough season.
The PSU job is still a Big 10 job, which makes it somewhat attractive. Also, the previous two coaches showed that at the very least PSU can be a a solid mid tier Big 10 team and even make the Tournament once in a while (PSU would’ve made the Tournament in 2020 and did make it in 2023, so that would’ve been twice in four seasons).
The current head coach just has been a total disaster and has made this job seem worse than what it needs to be. I’m pretty sure that a top assistant at another Big 10 school like Shrewsberry was or some up and comer at a MAC type of school like Chambers was at BU would be interested in this job and might be able to turn it into what it was under Chambers and Shrewsberry, which would be great compared to what we have now. The hiring of Rhoades wasn’t bad under the circumstances, but he’s failed in every respect. That doesn’t mean that the next coach will fail.
I agree with you about the commitment, but both Chambers and Shrewsberry were getting this program headed in the right direction; I wouldn’t consider them to be failures.
Rhoades has destroyed what Chambers and Shrewsberry were beginning to build and has made this program the worst Power 4 program in the country. At least under Chambers and Shewsberry, this program was solidly mediocre and capable of beating the big boys on any given night. I don’t expect PSU to be Duke, but it never should be this bad, which it wasn’t under Chambers and Shrewsberry.
One last thing: Shrewsberry’s tenure at ND also has been a disaster and I have to believe that his time is almost over there; ND might not even make the ACC Tournament. If he had stayed at PSU, it probably would’ve been the best thing for him and it definitely would’ve been the best thing for the program. After he gets fired from ND, he’ll probably have to be an assistant again or take a low level job.
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Yes we need a commitment but obviously we also we need a coach. The problem which is what we are mired in now when we have a poor product then the commitment wanes and wavers and any good coach doesn't want to walk into that.
This is a big deal for Kraft. Yes, Penn State hoops will never get close to Penn State football status but we need to make it a priority and get some funding/support. This is on Kraft. He needs to galvanize donors, the board and all other key stakeholders around the program. Not easy but he is paid to do it. No one can be satisfied with where we are. We cannot finish last in the conference every year. Kraft has to gain support for the program, set a vision then go out and sell that to a good coach who hopefully can see through the current dumpster fire and see there is potential at a B10 university. No place to go but to improve.
They never should have fired Chambers. He had things improving slowly but improving. On top of that his teams always played hard even when they were clearly outclassed in talent. Occasionally beating a team they had no business beating. No matter what when you tuned in you knew you were going to get 100% effort. I'm not seeing that these days.
I forget what he did to get him canned but you can't do that and be an average at best coach. People on this board make Chambers out to be John Wooden. Move on he wasn't that good.
Said something about a noose to Myles Dread I believe. PC was not very good with X/o’s or time management. I don’t think he ever ran a baseline or sideline inbound play to try and score. Everything was just to get the ball in bounds. he also had no idea how to execute a two for one situation late in the half or end of game.
IIRC. It wasn't Myles Dread. It was a player who did multiple transfers. He was a starter but I can't remember his name.
I don’t think it was Wheeler I think it was a kid who eventually ended up at Gonzaga I used to root for Gonzaga before this
I believe his name was Rasir Bolton. He originally transferred to Iowa State then to Gonzaga
You can't say that and expect to keep your job. Dumb and beyond insensitive.
It was the Bolton kid Chambers said that to. Compliance/Barbour were after Chambers nearly his entire tenure here. This gave them the ammo they needed to fire him. Off topic, but hoops related, is anyone a member of the discord message board? Don't know if I got locked out or the page got shut down?
The "kid" in question was Rasir Bolton.
He had, IIRC, spent time at five different high schools in his prep career - then 3 different universities (PSU, Iowa St, then Gonzaga). So, for all intents and purposes never unpacked his bags. Maybe that is important context.
When he was here, Chambers felt he was playing too tight and tense, and needed to just relax and "play". He reportedly said something to him along the lines of [EDIT, see link below]
Obviously, absolutely nothing of any ill-intent. Just trying to work with/help the player.
This taken from the ESPN article at the time:
"Bolton told The Undefeated that he recalled Chambers saying, "I want to be a stress reliever for you. You can talk to me about anything. I need to get some of this pressure off you. I want to loosen the noose that's around your neck."
Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball coach Pat Chambers resigns after internal investigation - ESPN
He had, IIRC, spent time at five different high schools in his prep career - then 3 different universities (PSU, Iowa St, then Gonzaga). So, for all intents and purposes never unpacked his bags. Maybe that is important context.
When he was here, Chambers felt he was playing too tight and tense, and needed to just relax and "play". He reportedly said something to him along the lines of [EDIT, see link below]
Obviously, absolutely nothing of any ill-intent. Just trying to work with/help the player.
This taken from the ESPN article at the time:
"Bolton told The Undefeated that he recalled Chambers saying, "I want to be a stress reliever for you. You can talk to me about anything. I need to get some of this pressure off you. I want to loosen the noose that's around your neck."
Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball coach Pat Chambers resigns after internal investigation - ESPN
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One of the topics was Tony Carr's transportation, but there were many instances that put him in the crosshairs. Chambers was a complete 180 from the PSU coaching tree of Parkhill, Dunn, and DeChellis.
If penn state tries to recruit and play like the big boys, they will always lose and always have an empty arena, think the quotes from Moneyball.
They need someone that is going to do something different. 40 minutes of hell from arkansas, run and gun of loyola...maybe find someone that can combine them both. Have a 12 man rotation and just go go go go.
They need someone that is going to do something different. 40 minutes of hell from arkansas, run and gun of loyola...maybe find someone that can combine them both. Have a 12 man rotation and just go go go go.
Agree that’s why I brought up the young coach from Gannon. Play up-tempo, shoot a lot of threes, change defenses, often, etc. Plus, it gives them an advantage because it would be completely different than what most teams in the conference do. And when I say advantage, I mean, because you generally don’t practice to prepare for it. Teams aren’t going to spend more than the two days between games preparing to play a team with this kind of special offense or defense.
You mean like Rhoades tried to institute here already with the defensive trapping system he brought from VCU?
I have been saying for 20 years that they need to get Johnny Dawkins in there. Nobody has listened yet…
Exactly. Rhoades promised that PSU would be "bold, different, and aggressive." Think this primarilly meant the full court pressure and trapping D from VCU. Problem is, except for his first season, he never really had the athletes needed to make that work in the B10.
He did win 9 B10 games his first season, primarily because he caught the rest of the league off guard for a while forcing a lot of turnovers and had Baldwin to spearhead the D. He has no one like that now.
Even his predecessors at VCU Smart and Wade realized they needed a different D approach as they moved up the competition ladder. Rhoades seems like he's stubborn and unwilling to change his approach to match his talent. Most B10 coaches know how to counteract what he does.
Rumor mill was Chambers said something inappropriate and it was directed at Sandy Barbour. The Bolton thing was just an excuse. Say what you want about Chambers. He was a bit of a hothead.
When he left, pretty much the entire team was upset, and when he left PSU had a competitive B10 team. He is the only coach since Parkhill that left a team that had B10 talent on it.
When he left, pretty much the entire team was upset, and when he left PSU had a competitive B10 team. He is the only coach since Parkhill that left a team that had B10 talent on it.
Supposedlty $3 mill. in NIL was available to keep YKN. When he entered the NBA draft in late May it was too late to use it to build a roster. So a good chunk of that went to McKenna in June. Tough situation for Kraft and Rhoades.
Is it because in 17 years as a head coach, he has made the ncaa tournament exactly twice?
When you watched the team when he first came here and still today did you sit there and think " wow, Ive never seen the game like that before"?
Well, what he (supposedly) said about Barber wasn't a lie or mischaracterization. Life is what it is.
Full disclosure. I dislike basketball in general. With that said, PSU bball will never be relevant unless they make a splash hire and hire a BIG TIME coach. Also, they made a big mistake by firing Pat Chambers. He worked diligently to turn things around and he had them headed in the right direction and wasn’t costing them a mint for a coaches salary. Big mistake by PSU.
What's funny is that when Shrewsberry left three years ago, he basically destoyed two programs at the same time, one by leaving and the other by arriving. I wonder if he would like to have that decision to do all over again because he was beginning to build something at PSU; his ND tenure has been an unmitigated disaster.
nd lost to DOOK. 
by 44 points last night. Oof.
by 44 points last night. Oof.They also lost to Pitt last Saturday, which I believe ended a five game losing streak by Pitt. I can't imagine that he'll be ND's coach for much longer.nd lost to DOOK.
I really thought he would be great at ND. He is a midwest guy and should have had success but I am wondering if he put too much faith in his son and the others in his recruiting class. Njie has not developed at all, Imes has been bad and his son is only so-so though he plays the most minutes
That team was okay at the beginning of the season but just has collaped as the season has progressed.
they aren't wrong. You think Jay Wright wants to coach here? The only guys who do are just trying to use it as a stepping stone like Shrewsberry did. There was a poll of the best/worst power 5 jobs in mens BB and PSU was one of the bottom five.
I'll give two 'local' guys that most will poo-poo but they both have been successful at D2. Danny is from MD and has a bunch of public and private school connections where he could get DMV kids. Also, his son is the best player in WV, who has committed to Liberty, he would be a great building block for the 26-27 team.
Danny Sancomb - Men's Basketball Coach - California University of Pennsylvania Athletics
A proven winner with over 300 career victories, Danny Sancomb enters his eighth year as head coach at California (PA) in 2025-26. Sancomb has reestablished the Vulcans as
The second guy is who I really think they should give a shot to. Easton Bazzoli, young, pittsburgh area kid who plays a super uptempo style. Team scores 100/game, shoots a ton of 3's, though not a high %, they play pressure D all game and rotate lots of players. I dont think PSU can win playing standard basketball so I'd like to see this style of ball in the Big.