After Penn State’s Big Ten semi-final victory over Indiana on Saturday in Chicago, head coach Mika Shrewsberry He talked a lot about his team’s efforts, facing Purdue in Sunday’s Big Ten Championship game, and more. As Penn State prepared to take on the Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon, the rumble and reports of Shrewsberry generates interest in filling vacancies at other schools surfaced, leaving him to answer questions about his future at Penn State.
“I’m a complete narrow minded person on our team,” Shrewsberry said in his post-match media release after 77-73 victory over Indiana when asked about reports linking him to potential opportunities elsewhere. “That’s all I’m focused on. I’m happy to be here.”
Shrewsberry’s name is associated with the search for coaches in Georgetown and Our Lady. Georgetown fired their head coach Patrick Ewing after he was eliminated from the Big East tournament. Notre Dame is looking to replace the retiring Mike Bray.
Shrewsberry’s shares as a coaching candidate are as hot as ever. In just his second season as head coach of the Nittany Lions, Shrewsberry assembled a roster based on transfers, returning players and recruits that would end an 11-year NCAA tournament drought and play in the Big Ten championship. For Shrewsberry, this was a real breakthrough, and the fans of the University of Pennsylvania hope that it does not end so quickly.
Penn State should be able to keep Shrewsberry in Happy Valley. When it comes to money, Penn State should be more than capable of matching or surpassing any offer that comes to mind. Penn State is making too much money from Big Ten media rights deals to be the reason Shrewsberry is leaving town. But if Shrewsberry wants to seize the opportunity to coach a program that has a bit more basketball history behind it, the University of Pennsylvania will have to sell Shrewsberry the opportunity to create a similar history at State College.
It’s an enterprise that Penn State has brief glimpses of accomplishment every ten years or so, but has never been sustainable for one reason or another. But it’s time to get Shrewsberry interested in continuing what he started with the Nittany Lions.
Penn State is under pressure because the more Shrewsberry wins, the hotter his name will be in the coaching market.
The story originally appeared on the Nittany Lions Wire channel.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
