If you were to make a list of players Penn State really couldn’t afford to lose this offseason, Geno Thorpe would have been near or at the top of that list.
He had an infectious energy about him and a swagger that the program could use a lot more of. Stars didn’t intimidate Thorpe and in turn he never backed down from the challenge of defending an opponent’s best player.
If anything, Thorpe seemed to thrive off of being a pest, his defense was on its way to being all-conference, his offense had the to potential to grow into something that made him a threat at both ends of the floor.
But there is little doubt that Thorpe played the game and lived by the beat of his own drum. He has always been, and will likely continue to be exactly who he is, and simply see where that gets him. The Geno Thorpe most of the media met his first few days on campus was not much different than the Geno Thorpe that we saw to close out last season. And maybe that was his undoing.
Why Thorpe is no longer with the team, something that is at least allegedly a mutual split, may never be spelled out in detail. In the end the fact Thorpe is gone is more important than the reasons why.
However, it is not a secret that Thorpe and coach Patrick Chambers likely approach life in very different ways. For all of his laughter and smiles, Chambers is intense, demanding if not occasionally difficult to play for. This is something that he has admitted in his own way, and to his credit has at least attempted to modify as he looks for the winning formula.
Coaches are by their very nature a difficult bunch, excellent teams don’t come from a daily dose of warm feelings and low stress environments. So Chambers is not entirely unique in this regard.
And so, for as enjoyable as Thorpe is to be around, it’s not hard to see how he and Chambers were perhaps doomed to ultimately clash on a philosophical level. Thorpe was not perfect off the court and his performance on it was far from the same every night. Chambers has built a program around a system that requires players to buy-in. It’s a mental approach to how the program acts and perceives itself that leaves little room for interpretation.
Much like Chip Kelly and the Eagles in Philadelphia, buying-in is step 1 to succeeding. Don’t buy-in, and that could spell trouble.
While the specifics are less important, all of this speaks to a much bigger problem Chambers and his staff are facing this summer.
Fit.
Finding players in a crucial recruiting period that not only fill the needs of the team on the court but are willing to fully buy-in to a system. Creating a chemistry within the program that is effective and productive both on and off the court.
All of this comes back to Thorpe, a player who apparently only partially fulfilled those requirements. Not perfect off the court, but never in the headlines, not perfect on the court but slated to be a major part of the upcoming season with even greater potential ahead. At least it looked that way on paper.
Players and coaches clashing is a part of sports. That’s how it works. However this particular departure is going to hurt Penn State more than most have, there is no doubt about that. If the relationship was doomed from start, perhaps there was hope that one young man would mature into something different during his time at Penn State. If the relationship simply soured, the blame likely falls equally to both the player and coach for different reasons.
The specific details of this departure are less important than the ultimate truth Chambers and his staff face. For all of the progress they have made, and they have made much progress, their window for success is rapidly closing.
And with a need for specific talent on the court and expectations in the practice gym as well as away from basketball, there are only a finite number of those players available.
That doesn’t mean Chambers has to change, or lower his standards. But the stakes are high and in turn he is running out of recruiting strikes.
This is something he undoubtedly knows to be true, which is why he and his staff have spent the past week courting recruits, looking for the right fit.
And if he finds those players, there is no reason the “attitude” train can keep chugging along.
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