Ed DeChellis Needs To Go

CORNLEY SMASH!

I looked this up just because I remember the news, but Ed is signed through 2014. Probably at something like $600-$700/year. I’m in total agreement with Mike, but I wonder if—on a Penn State team that doesn’t appear to have a single serious doner—they’d be willing to part with that much money.

and wrestling isn’t even a revenue sport. Maybe Curley is starting to change his line of thinking; maybe he’ll be willing to buy out DeChellis at the end of this or next year.

And maybe he’ll make a splash hire. It’s possible, but ultimately, it’s unlikely I think.

Another thing… do you think the potential upheaval of the football coaching staff in the near future will have Curley leaning towards holding onto ED through the contract as to have one less thing to worry about?

If you build a winner people will show up. College hoops is all about the coach, 1 or 2 players can make a program…you need a great coach to get those guys on campus.

I don’t feel bad to Ed, he made a s-load of money for central PA and he didn’t succeed…he deserves to get canned…its real world reality.

I didn’t hate DeChellis, I hated Curley for allowing the program to become a joke. Why did Ed have to waste 3 years doing Tim’s work?

If Curley points at DeChellis to go, he’s got to look at the three fingers pointing back at him too.

Jerry Dunn was perhaps the worst coach in major basketball history yet he somehow managed to take PSU to the tourney, twice.

When DeChellis was hired, it sent the message that Curley did not take PSU basketball seriously. Nothing I’ve seen has changed in that regard.

Unlike football..we have no bball tradition and there are few people that are willing to sit through lousy basketball games/seasons where as they would for football. That’s me…and maybe I’m a bad fan, but still it gets old fast.

I think they need to pony up and throw some money at a coach with name recognition who could bring in some recruits.

The BJC has so much revenue potential that bball could be a much more profitable program. Consider me stunned that its profitable in its current state.

The question should be what big name coach would want to come here?

Three reasons.
1) There is no Fanbase.
2) Nobody who really matters really gives a damn.
3) See one and two and repeat.

but I don’t.

Penn State has a basketball team? I thought we disbanded that program after we beat Purdue (featuring Glen Robinson, aka the “Big Dog”) at Rec Hall in ‘94. The plan was to go out on a high note and focus on volleyball, fencing, football and wrestling. I’ve been deceived.

It’s been a good run, but I think the time is right. Over the past 2 seasons, it sure looks like 2009’s NIT was the peak of things for the basketball team with DeChellis. Ample time has been given to the program and I agree that it was NCAA’s or bust this season before a change needs to be made.

Making a change after this season may be one of the last chances for basketball to dominate winter sports at Penn State. Getting a new coach in for next season gives them 2 years to get something together and build some momentum before the 2012-13 season.

Do you know why momentum BEFORE the 2012-13 season will be important to the basketball program? Ask Terry Pegula. In the 2012-13 season there will be a new game in town. It will be interesting to see what the honeymoon period looks like for the hockey team. It may be short as I don’t know how competitive the team will be, but the first year or two it probably wont matter. A ton of attention will be diverted from a middling basketball team to a shiny new building/program.

If there is any time to make a change for basketball it is coming quickly.

I can’t really comment on the coaching, but i do know we shot 38.6%, and unless something CRAZY happened, Ed DeChellis took none of those shots (in fairness, he scored zero points).

Brooks had 2 points.

The one thing I will say about DeChellis is this: Sure, he’s probably not the best coach in the Big Ten, but he’s proven that he can get to the NIT and win. He recruits classy guys, and he puts people in the program that help him win. That NIT team wouldn’t have won without Stanley Pringle, and Stanley Pringle wasn’t even on the radar 2 years prior (JUCO transfer).

So you have a choice, Penn State, and in my opinion, it’s one of three.

A.) You can go out and hire a big name who’s going to want TONS of money, if he comes here at all, and hedge your bets that he can actually do anything with the program.

B.) You can fire Ed, and bring someone similar in here who hasn’t won anything here, hasn’t recruited anyone here, and the program will probably actually regress more than stay the same (and yes, I realize we lost to Maine last night… I still believe we can regress)

C.) Keep DeChellis and see if he can pull another Stanley Pringle out of his hat next year.

None of those options is incredibly desirable to me, but honestly, the one with the greatest chance of actually happening, without the program regressing is option C. Does DeChellis deserve more chances? Nah, probably not. But is he still our best option? Yeah, I think he is, mainly because whoever would qualify in option A probably isn’t going to come here.

We’re an eastern school in a Midwest conference that:
    A. cannot pry Midwestern recruits from Indiana, Purdue, MSU, OSU etc.
    B. cannot tap into the fertile NYC-North Jersey-Philly areas because we’re not a Big East school (like Pitt can)
     I had the pleasure of hearing Bob Knight speak at Eisenhower Auditorium a year or two ago, and he more or less articulated the above points. He praised DeChellis for being able to do as much as he has, in consideration of the reality that PSU never was/likely never will be a basketball powerhouse and does not naturally attract high school and AAU basketball stars to come here. Knight also compared the circumstances surrounding DeChellis and past PSU b-ball coaches to his own time in Texas Tech, when he was stranded in Texas in an area without a fertile recruiting base, competing with programs with more prestige (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas etc.). Some might think that Knight was apologizing for his relative shortcomings at Tech, but I tend to think he’s got a point, and tend to defer to the authority of the all-time leader in wins.
     I’m a second generation Penn Stater, had the pleasure of going to the Garden my sophomore year for the NIT run, and am months away from being an alum. I love this school and the athletic program, but am I the only one who’s okay with our basketball program being perpetually mediocre? Reality dictates that we should expect no more than mediocrity. Call me crazy.

Nobody believes in it.

You want to fire Ed fine. I only have two qualifications for his replacement. First, he has to have something on his resume to indicate that an actual basketball program thinks he’s worth a damn.

Secondly, and more importantly, if he sat down across a table from me he would need to be able to convince me that he believes that we can have a winning basketball team.

I say that rignt now, Penn State has a sweet deal.
Shared Big10 Basketball Revenues are considerable.
Costs are very low. The program is a cash winner.
Nobody really cares about the results on the floor.

Now, Say they hire a great coach plus assistant coaches for $3million per year.
They still owe DeChellis $700K for three years.
 
Filling Rec Hall for every game, 15 home games, $20 per seat, 10,000 more seats per game than they now do, adds 3 million in revenue per year. Assume that filling the building regularly takes two years, with an immediate and gradual increas in ticket sales. .

Bottom Line, You are guaranteed to lose $3 to $4 million compared to today’s revenue.
There is no guarantee that the new coach will be successful.

Even if you are successful, the amount extra cash generated would not be much more than the added coaching costs.
Am I missing some revenue here?

Most people have confessed that they actually don’t like PSU basketball, or Big Ten basketball, or just don’t care about the team that much. That’s fine, I don’t begrudge you that at all.

So why don’t we pretend that we don’t have a basketball team? The university magically gets $6 million a year, for some reason, and no one knows why.

I think everyone would be much happier.

Apologies to the 17 people who ARE PSU bball fans and would like to see DeChellis get fired

as Mike pointed out above, PSU should be scheduling some of the Big East teams. There is no reason PSU shouldn’t be playing in MSG every year against St. Johns. They could probably get Seton Hall to agree to play them there every once in a while too. You might find Villanova agreeable to playing PSU in the Wells Fargo Center (nee Wachovia Center).

Hali forever.

WINNING. Winning draws fans. It draws recruits. It brings name recognition. Any winning team, regardless of location, Division, sport, mens or womens; will draw fans. Its that simple.

This is why a women’s volleyball game at Rec Hall draws more fans than a men’s basketball game. This is why wrestling matches at PSU are a sellout. This is why people cram into the 1,500 seat Pavilion to see the CLUB hockey team. WIINNING. Winning brings recruits in no matter the location. Its that simple.

All the excuses about the BJC, recruits not wanting to play here, fans don’t care….is simply cause our team sucks. I know that seems maddeningly obvious, but if we start winning games everything will change.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME. It sounds corny, but it is very true. That should be the new Athletic Department’s motto. Of course finding a way to actually WIN is not so simple. I do not know exactly what to do. But for all the people who are scratching their head why we can’t draw fans, recruits, interest, its because we are unwatchable. No other reason.

Winning will solve everything. Fans will trudge 2 miles uphill to see the game. They will drive dead tired on a Wednesday night from Wilkes-Barre to see the game. Recruits will pick State over the other schools. People will care about the program.

As for Ed, I feel bad for him. He is a good guy. A Penn Stater through and through. He is just a terrible basketball coach. He did make improvements, that I am giving him credit for. But he can do no more. He will not take us any further.

I agree with Jesse. I just want to see the Athletic Department care more than anything else. If we tried and failed I can live with that. We just never tried. That is what really gets me. Its embarrassing to see the program look like such a blatant after-thought.

We have potential to be a Top 50 team. This is PENN STATE for cryin out loud. How many national championship winning teams do we have here? They draw top recruits from all over. We have more more titles that any other Big Ten team. Why can’t we do this with hoops?

We have the resources. We have the alumni. We have the money. We have the pride and passion to support all out teams. To simply not even try is a sham.

Now I don’t want a corrupt program. I would rather have a top 50 “honor” team than a top 25 festering Ohio State squad any day of the week. So that has to continue to be our top priority. But I find it hard to believe we can’t find a young, energetic guy to build a program around. Look at Boston College and Steve Donahue. Great hire. That is the type of coach we need.

I know know Josh Pastners do not grow on trees, but they are out there if you look hard enough. It just requires some digging. So get digging Curley. And get your checkbook ready.

Do we know that St. John’s or Seton Hall won’t play PSU? If ‘Nova moves up in football, there might be room for a gentlemen’s agreement that the two schools play each other in football and basketball. ‘Nova is going to need some pay days to help the football program. 2 for 1 in football with ’Nova’s one being at the Linc and a 2 for 1 in b-ball with both games at the Wells Fargo center?

Yes, everybody wants NYC exposure, but even St. John’s needs a cupcake or two on the schedule. I kid. I trust that part of the problem is that PSU is or could be a real blow to a team’s RPI.