Penn State basketball: How Jay Wright’s Retirement could affect Nittany Lions
By Evan Smith
Villanova head coach Jay Wright surprisingly announced his retirement, and that could have a domino effect on Penn State basketball.
How does the stunning retirement of Jay Wright from powerhouse Villanova affect Penn State?
Jay Wright shocked the college basketball world last night when he announced he was retiring as the Head Coach of the Villanova Wildcats basketball program. Villanova has unparalleled success under Wright, including two national titles in the last decade as the Wildcats have dominated Pennsylvania basketball.
Wright has moved Nova multiple rungs above the other big five schools in Philly as the rest of the state has been left to pick at Villanova’s recruiting scraps.
The only school to make a small dent was, surprisingly, Penn State. Under Pat Chambers, after years of building a Philadelphia pipeline, Penn State was able to successfully sign prized recruits like Lamar Stevens, who has become the heart and soul of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Tony Carr, Mike Watkins, and the man who started it all, Shep Garner.
With the arrival of Micah Shrewsberry, recruiting has somewhat shifted from all Philly all the time to a midwest focus, but incoming recruit and former Purdue commit Jameel Brown hails from Norristown and two incoming transfer portal players have Philadelphia connections, Andrew Funk from Bucknell and Cam Wynter from Drexel.
Even with Wright’s well-choreographed departure and immediately named successor — Kyle Neptune from Fordham, who had former Penn State assistant Keith Urgo on staff and transfers Abdou Tsimbila and Patrick Kelly — does this transition give Penn State an opening?
Penn State basketball recruiting could get a boost from Jay Wright’s departure
Villanova’s 2022 recruiting class includes Cam Whitmore, the 20th-ranked player in the nation. The 6’6 small forward was offered by Penn State. Shooting guard Brendan Hausen (6’4″ from Teas) was also offered by Penn State and Micah Shrewsberry.
While neither visited the campus and with letters of intent already signed, the Nittany Lions couldn’t get either Whitmore or Hausen on campus for the 2022-2023 season. But in the current climate of college basketball, as the transfer portal continues to play further significance, it’s worth keeping an eye on both of these players to see if they may want to find different locations next season.
And speaking of that transfer portal, more players keep entering every day. Could any current Wildcats be thinking about looking at other options? How about 6’7 power forward Eric Dixon, a Philadelphia native who Penn State offered coming out of Abington High School. Or perhaps Germantown Academy (Philadelphia, PA) shooting guard Jordan Longino, whom Penn State also offered?
Temple, Drexel, Lasalle, Penn, and St. Joseph’s are also hoping this Villanova transition is an opportunity for them, especially for Lasalle with Fran Dunphy now the elder statesman of the city. But Penn State must also look to use this as an opportunity to regain the Philadelphia pipeline that was crafted under Pat Chambers and try to get some of the best PA kids to come to Happy Valley.
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