Sure, for many schools an NIT Championship is nothing to be proud of.  For the Dukes, UNCs, Syracuses, and Michigan States of the world, it means a disaster, because it means missing the NCAA Tournament.  But for Penn State, it’s a huge step forward.  It was the first ever post-season tournament for the school, and it gave us a reason to be proud of our team.  We brought 38 buses full of kids to Madison Square Garden and we painted the Garden white.  We beat Florida and Notre Dame and then Baylor, real good schools with more history than we’ve ever had.  We were able to send our seniors off as champions, seniors like Jamelle Cornley, who had experienced a 7-23 (1-15) season in his career.  We set a new Penn State record for wins, last year.  We beat 4 ranked teams.  And we probably deserved to be in the NCAA tournament.

Maybe Ed DeChellis needed a good season last year to save his job.  He was 57-92 heading in to last year with the Nittany Lions, and had one post-season appearance, a first round loss in the NIT in 2006.  Penn State was still the laughingstock of the conference, as DeChellis was only 19-63 against Big Ten opponents.  But if last season was a test, DeChellis passed with flying colors.  Not only did DeChellis turn the basketball team around, but he brought excitement to a struggling program.  We packed the Bryce Jordan Center, and watched the away games on TV.  There was a sense of urgency with this team, and DeChellis was at the helm. And he was rewarded, winning, deservedly, the Big Ten Coach of the Year award.

He’s even brought in some of the best recruits Penn State has ever seen.  Geary Claxton, Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle, and Talor Battle were All Big-Ten selections, Tim Frazier appears to be a stud in the making, and Taran Buie, who we’ll get to see in 2010, picked Penn State over the likes of Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Pittsburgh. 

Well, the university has taken notice, and locked up Ed DeChellis for the foreseeable future, as he signed a contract extension that will keep him on the Penn State sidelines until 2014.  It’s great to see continuity and better to see that DeChellis was able to step up.  By all means, he’s a great guy off the court, and a cancer survivor himself, does work with the Coaches vs. Cancer charity and spoke in front of Congress to discuss cancer research.  He’s led the Penn State chapter of CVC to raise over $1.3 million, among the tops in the nation.  Good for DeChellis, that he’ll continue his tenure at Penn State for another 5 years, but unlike in years before, we actually have some expectations now.  DeChellis will never overshadow JoePa and the football program, but now, we’re “not just a football school” and it would nice to have some NCAA tournament appearances to back that up.

Releated Posts:

1. An Open Letter to Ed DeChellis
2. Basketball team run out of Indianapolis, time for DeChellis to follow suit
3. Forging on with DeChellis and Curley’s Vision: Tre Burke re-opens his recruitment
4. Lady Lions Deserve Support. Men, not so much.
5. Man the lifeboats

Tweet