Talor Battle and Nick Colella Staying with Penn State Basketball

Penn State Basketball kept two key members of the program around as part of Micah Shrewsberry’s coaching staff

Cue Big Ten Network’s “The Journey” theme cause Talor Battle and Nick Colella are “coming home, coming home, tell the World their coming home,” as key members of Penn State Basketball’s staff.

Ok, so they never left, but today Penn State Basketball announced the official positions of Talor Battle and Nick Colella.

Battle, the four year starter for the Nittany Lions from 2008 to 2011, is the Lions all time leading scorer (thanks to COVID-19 runing Lamar Stevens chances) and was the Lions best player on their last NCAA Tournament team (2011).  He also led the Lions to an NIT title in 2009.  He was signed by Pat Chambers a month before Pat was “fired”, as an assistant coach.

Nick Colella, a fan favorite, was a practice player for the Lady Lions team before walking-on to the men’s team in 2010.  He started 6 games in 2011-2012 and was awarded with a scholarship for his final season.

Talor Battle’s official title will be the Assistant to the Head Coach and Nick Colella the Chief of Staff.  What these positions means is somewhat unknown but great to see these home grown guys sticking around.

Penn State Basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry also announced the hiring of Mike Farrelly as an assistant coach.  Farrelly was most recently an associate head coach for Hofstra and was named one of hte top 50 mid-major assistants by Silvery Waves mdeia in 2020.

"“My fiance, Aly, and I are beyond excited to be a part of Coach Shrewsberry’s visiion for Penn State Basketball,” Colella said of his hiring, in a statement. “Since the beginning of my playing career here in 2020, followed by eight years on staff for the program, Happy Valley has been my home.”"

Colella also got shoutouts on twitter from ESPN’s Jay Bilas and former PSU QB Christian Hackenberg!