In the video game NCAA Football you have the ability to build a program, recruiting virtual prospects to attend your college of choice and help build a team into a national powerhouse. As you go along through the season you get to pitch to these “recruits” different aspects of your school; be it coaching prestige, media exposure, conference prestige and so on. For Penn State football, pitching tradition is associated with an A+ grade, the highest rating you can get for any given area of a recruiting pitch.
Across the street from Beaver Stadium, Penn State basketball coach Patrick Chambers is trying to do the same thing, only he’s pitching to real prospects. He wants recruits to feel the same kind of pride when they put on a uniform for hoops as the football players do. A lot of that pride comes from tradition and if Chambers were to use the NCAA Football recruiting ratings, Penn State basketball’s tradition would be graded “incomplete.” Not because Penn State basketball doesn’t have tradition, but because for your average fan it’s relativity unknown.
Chambers wants to change that.
Former players have started to help run summer camps attended by many of Penn State’s top recruiting targets. Former head coach Jerry Dunn attended the Coaches Versus Cancer golf tournament several months ago in State College and former head coach Bruce Parkhill can be seen at practice or roaming the Bryce Jordan Center hallways.
In fact, Parkhill joined Chambers and athletic director David Joyner earlier this week as part of an announcement that the team would be playing a game in Rec Hall this December.
“(Players and Fans) need to understand, these guys have been there,” Chambers said. “They need to understand the history of the program. They need to understand they’re not just playing for themselves. They’re playing for all the guys who have worn that jersey before. And they’re playing for an incredible university.”
“I think people need to know there’s a 117 year history, now 118, going on 118. Our players, our current players need to know about that. They need to know of the guys that came before them.
“And know that they’re playing for them, too. They take great pride in Penn State basketball, and we just need to continue to bring that out. We need to continue to talk about the history, the tradition, and the winning ways of coach Parkhill and the other coaches that have coached here, and the great players that have come through here. So I think it’s really important, I’m a student of the game, but I’m also a historian. And I think they need to know what Penn State basketball is all about.”
How you define Penn State basketball tradition isn’t a simple task. Winning has to play a factor but the Nittany Lions went 514-183 while playing in Rec Hall before making the jump from the A10 to the Big Ten. It’s really only in the past 15-20 years that the program has struggled to stay afloat in the nation’s toughest conference.
Even then Penn State has seen its fair share of All-Conference players make their way on to the Jordan Center floor wearing blue and white. Acknowledging the program’s history won’t turn losses into wins, but Chambers is hoping it gives players a little something extra to fight for down the stretch.
“So let’s meet the old coaches, let’s meet the ex-players. Let’s tap into their wisdom, their knowledge, of their experiences, what they went through. And if they can understand that then maybe that just gives us a little bit extra in a game. Maybe that’ll just push us over the edge here and there.”
How Chambers’ whole history lesson campaign goes remains to be seen, but if fans and players buy into his pitch like they have his other ideas, Chambers likely won’t go unrewarded in his quest to slowly change the culture surrounding the program.
“I want men’s basketball players to come back, I want them to see and feel the tradition, feel that they’re wanted, welcomed back for everything that we do. And if they feel that they’re a part of it, I think that you’re building something special.”
