PSU hoops has found it’s replacement for Ed DeChellis. The new man to lead Happy Valley college basketball is Patrick Chambers, who last season led Boston University to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. He was named the 12th head coach in Nittany Lion Basketball history, Penn State Director of Athletics Tim Curley announced today.
Chambers led the Terriers to the America East Conference Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth during the 2010-11 season and posted a 42-28 record in twoyears as head coach at BU. He is the only BU coach to earn 20 wins in each of his first two seasons. Quite a jump though from mid-major to Big Ten.
A native of Newtown Square, Pa., Chambers previously played for and coached with two of the nation’s most successful college coaches. From 2004-09, he was a member of Coach Jay Wright’s staff at Villanova University, serving as associate head coach in 2008-09, helping the Wildcats earn four NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and advance to the 2009 NCAA Final Four. Chambers played for Coach Herb Magee at Philadelphia University, college basketball’s all-time victories leader (922) and a 2011 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.
“I am truly honored and excited to be joining the Penn State family,” Chambers stated. “I’m looking forward to bringing passion, energy and enthusiasm to Nittany Lion Basketball. We will play a style, andbring an attitude, that Nittany Nation can be proud of.”
This past season, Boston University earned a 21-14 mark for the second straight year and fell to No. 1 seed Kansas in the Terriers’ first NCAA Tournament game since 2002.
When Chambers served on Jay Wright’s staff, the Wildcats went 126-45 record (.737), including the school’s single-season win record of 30-8 in 2008-09. The Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament allfive seasons of Chambers’ tenure and posted a 56-28 (.667) record in Big East Conference games.