Micah Shrewsberry tapped for Penn State Nittany Lions Head Coach

The Penn State Nittany Lions have found their head coach moving forward in announcing the hire of Micah Shrewsberry. A native of Indianapolis, the 44-year old arrives in State College after spending the last two years as associate head coach at Purdue University under Matt Painter.

Shrewsberry went to Hanover College and earned a master’s in sports management from Indiana State. He began his coaching career at the University of Indianapolis in 1999, and he also was the director of basketball operations at Marshall from 2003-05. Shrewsberry got his first full-time role as a coach in 2005 at Indiana University South Bend, essentially building the program from scratch.

After IU Southbend, Shrewsberry took first the role of coordinator of basketball operations, and then his final three years as an assistant coach under Brad Stevens at Butler from 2008-2011. During that timespan, the Bulldogs saw the program reach back-to-back Final Fours under the now Boston Celtics head coach.

Shrewsberry then took an assistant role under Matt Painter for the first time in 2011 until 2013 before leaving to take an assistant role under Stevens again, this time in the NBA with the Celtics. He helped in the Celtics five playoff appearances during that six season span, including two NBA Eastern Conference semifinal appearances.

In his past two seasons under Matt Painter in West Lafayette, Shrewsberry has been a shrewd offensive mind for Purdue. In their path to a No. 4 seed, he helped guide the team, down three starters from the previous season, to a top-50 national rank in offensive efficiency. The Celtics also ranked second in the league in three-point percentage his final season.

Shrewsberry will take over for interim head coach Jim Ferry, who guided Penn State this season following the abrupt resignation of Pat Chambers last October. Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour had the following to say on narrowing the search to Shrewsberry:

Micah was a name that immediately jumped to the top of our list with his experience in the Big Ten and the NBA. He has had success at all levels and knows what it takes to develop a program into a consistent national contender. He has learned from and worked under some of the most respected coaches in the country in Brad Stevens and Matt Painter. Micah will be an exceptional leader for the young men in our basketball program and I can’t wait for him to get to know our student-athletes.

Since his hire, one of the six players that had announced plans to transfer has changed his mind. Izaiah Brockington announced that he will return to Penn State next season after pursuing feedback from the NBA Draft process this summer.