New Penn State men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry has challenges ahead

Shrewsberry, who spent the last two seasons as Purdue's associate head coach, has five potential returnees to his roster now in the NCAA transfer portal. He said he's trying to get them back

by Joe Juliano

Published March 30, 2021, 5:03 p.m. ET

Micah Shrewsberry formally was introduced Tuesday as the new head men’s basketball coach at Penn State, taking over the leadership of a team that has earned just two NCAA Tournament berths since 1996 and finds five players from its 2020-21 roster in the transfer portal.

Shrewsberry, 44, who comes to Happy Valley after spending the previous two seasons as associate head coach at Purdue, said his immediate task is to build the character and culture of the program, then establish a strong defensive identity on the court.

To achieve those objectives, however, he needs to find out who’s going to be playing for the Nittany Lions, who finished 11-14 overall and 7-12 in the Big Ten. After Shrewsberry’s hiring was announced on March 15, six players announced they had or would submit their names in the NCAA transfer portal.

One player, junior guard Izaiah Brockington, an Archbishop Ryan graduate, announced last week he will return to the team. But junior guard Myreon Jones said in an Instagram post he would not be back, and the status of sophomore Seth Lundy (Roman Catholic) and seniors John Harrar (Strath Haven), Jamari Wheeler, and Trent Buttrick is uncertain.

Harrar, Wheeler, and Buttrick can return for a fifth season under NCAA guidelines.

“It’s a unique time to come in as a head coach,” Shrewsberry said Tuesday. “I’ve talked to every single one of the guys that have entered [the transfer portal]. We are actively trying to get them back. We’re talking about them. We’re talking to them. We’re having face-to-face conversations over Zoom and FaceTime. We’re actively recruiting as well.”

He added that he wants players “who are two feet in for Penn State, that bleed Penn State, that believe in our vision.”

A recruiting pipeline bringing in players from the Philadelphia area was built during the nine seasons Patrick Chambers was head coach of the Lions. Chambers resigned last October after an athletic department investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct.

While admitting Philadelphia “has been a good place for Penn State lately,” Shrewsberry made it clear the program’s recruiting reach could go anywhere if a recruit “fits my values and fits the values of Penn State and fits with the guys in the locker room.”

At the time of his hiring, Shrewsberry was the second African American head coach at a Big Ten school, joining Michigan’s Juwan Howard. Since that time, two other African American head coaches — Ben Johnson and Mike Woodson — have taken over at Minnesota and Indiana, respectively.

“It’s my responsibility to do everything I can here to elevate this program, but also provide an opportunity for the next coach to get a chance,” he said. “That’s the weight I have on my shoulders, but I take on that responsibility with a lot of pride. I want to reach out and help as many people as I can. People don’t get an opportunity if I don’t do well here.”

Shrewsberry’s only prior head coaching experience came at Indiana University-South Bend, an NAIA school, from 2005 through 2007. Before his two seasons at Purdue, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, and also was an assistant at Butler.

In her introduction of Shrewsberry, vice president of intercollegiate athletics Sandy Barbour said she hoped men’s basketball would grow to enjoy the same success as other athletic programs at the university.

“We can and will do in men’s basketball at Penn State what we’ve done almost entirely across the board in Penn State athletics,” she said. “That is, to compete for Big Ten titles and to get to the NCAA Tournament consistently.”