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On Tuesday, Patrick Chambers put out a press release announcing that Jim Ferry has been officially hired as an assistant coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions. It was significant news for a program that appears to be on the rise.
Most recently, Ferry served as the head coach at Duquesne. During his five seasons with the program, the team went 60–97 (.382) overall. However, the team did have go 17-17 in Ferry’s fourth season, earning a CBI bid in the process.
Along with his time at Duquesne, Ferry served as the head coach at LIU Brooklyn. He went 150–149 (.502) overall with the program and earned NCAA Tournament bids in each of his final two seasons with the team. He also previously coached at Adelphi and Plymouth State.
Chambers had positive things to say about Ferry.
“We absolutely seized the opportunity to bring a person and a coach of Jim’s caliber into our Penn State basketball family,” Chambers said. “We’ve been good friends for a long time and his extensive experience, perspective and ability to develop and recruit players will have an immediate impact on our program.”
There’s still a long way for Chambers and Penn State to go, if the program is ever going to compete with college basketball’s elite. However, it’s easy to see why Ferry could help in that process.