Penn State must ‘Kraft’ an answer for Shrewsberry exit
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Micah Shrewsberry, we hardly knew ye.
After just two years that included a late-season surge and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, Shrewsberry is going to Notre Dame, Penn State is looking for a new basketball coach, and many Nittany Lion fans are disappointed and feeling scorned.
The online headlines have been predictable. Such as "We got Shrewed."
Really, no one should be surprised.
Shrewsberry is a native of Indiana. He attended Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and spent two years coaching at IU South Bend -- a branch campus of Indiana University located in the shadow of the Golden Dome.
He and his wife, Molly, have four children, and she, too, is an Indiana native. He has a personal connection to Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick.
He's 46 years old, and this will be his 10th coaching stop in 24 seasons -- an average of 2.4 years per assignment, which includes six years as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
So he's used to packing. That's presuming he unpacked.
In addition to this move making sense, other than breaking a contract that happens in sports nearly every day, Shrewsberry shouldn't be blamed.
He's going home to a state where basketball is celebrated more than it is at Penn State, which uses upper-deck curtains, even for key late-season weekend games - let alone a dreaded 8:30 tip on a Wednesday night.
Shrewsberry did the best two-year job of any coach in Penn State's not-so-rich basketball history and in storming to the Big Ten championship game, dominating a higher-seed (Texas A&M) and scaring the heck out of second-seeded Texas, he proved the task can be done and be done quickly.
For that, he deserves praise.
And it's not like he did it all with Pat Chambers' players. They were mostly gone.
Shrewsberry pretty much inherited a bare cupboard, but instead of making excuses, he stocked the roster with transfer-portal gems and presented an entertaining team.
Most of all, he restored hope for the program's future.
At the same time, he also knew he was facing a significant rebuild for 2023-24 as the Lions -- in part because Shrewsberry relied so heavily on the portal for upperclassmen -- are losing practically all of their scoring.
Jalen Pickett, Andrew Funk and Cam Wynter -- all senior transfers -- will be gone, along with holdovers Myles Dread, who is out of eligibility, and Seth Lundy, who declared for the NBA Draft on Wednesday afternoon, presumably knowing Shrewsberry was gone.
Now the onus shifts to athletic director Pat Kraft, who gets a chance to make his first marquee hire at Penn State.
Kraft has alluded to improving the school's commitment -- he reportedly offered to double Shrewsberry's salary to $4 million per year, which is what ND reportedly will pay him - along with boosting available NIL dollars and addressing the at-times inflexible relationship with the Bryce Jordan Center.
Kraft also has Indiana roots, having played football for the Hoosiers. He supported but didn't hire Shrewsberry -- Sandy Barbour did -- and also has previous AD stops at Temple and Boston College.
So it's not like he's limited to a Penn State tree, not that it's ever been overly fruitful.
Typically, the path to a new coach for a non-blueblooded Power-5 team is an up-and-coming head man from a low- to mid-major -- shucks, Tobin Anderson was snatched up by Iona the minute Rick Pitino bolted for St. John's -- or an established assistant, a Tom Izzo-type disciple, from an established program.
Maybe Kraft can find somebody with name recognition, perhaps with Pennsylvania roots, who is looking for this level of a challenge.
Or maybe, he'll just have to settle for someone most have not heard of -- say the next Micah Shrewsberry -- and convince him to stay a little longer.
Rudel can be reached at 814-946-7527 or nrudel@altoonamirror.com.