Penn State athletic director Tim Curley spoke with the Associated Press in a piece published this evening, and in it, he lays out what the athletic department is looking for in a new head basketball coach to replace the departed Ed DeChellis. Here are some of the comments via ESPN.com.
"Our program is built on certain values and tradition, a certain way of operating," he said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon with The Associated Press. "Ultimately, it's my responsibility to make sure we identify a coach who identifies with our system and the Penn State way."
Though not necessarily someone with Penn State ties, like DeChellis.
"We're conducting a national search, so we're open to the best candidate that we can find," Curley said. He said there was no timeline, though he hoped to move quickly to find a replacement.
Curley also says later on in the the piece that Penn State will pay the new coach a "competitive salary." What that might be, there's no way of knowing right now. It's important to note, however, that DeChellis, a Penn State alumnus, made just over $700,000 this past season.
That, if you believe ESPN's Andy Katz, probably won't be enough to woo many candidates.
At Penn State, the salary structure would have to change to attract a big-name coach. Paying shy of $1 million will limit the pool and not only price out power-six coaches, but also plenty of other coaches at the top of leagues like the Colonial (someone like Old Dominion's Blaine Taylor) and Missouri Valley (can't touch Wichita State's Gregg Marshall).
With that in mind, it'll be interesting to see what kind of cash Curley and Co. take out on the market to attract a new head man.