Homeward State: A prodigal son takes on a hometown job

[DrMcAwesome]

Local standout returns home to take Penn State job
April 30, 2021

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WS) – Growing up as a son of a Penn State University employee while enjoying a standout scholastic career in town at State College High School, Elijah Smead never imagined that he’d one day be the coach of the Penn State men’s basketball program.
It’s not that Smead’s credentials were lacking. Smead, a 1998 graduate at State College, received a fair amount of Division I interest while guiding the Little Lions to the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals as a sophomore.
After his collegiate career, Smead bounced around as a high school coach, finding moderate success at nearby Hollidaysburg Area before latching onto his brother’s staff overseas with Élan Sportif Chalonnais in the French pro basketball pyramid.
When Lucas Smead was recently hired as a coach by the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, Elijah was almost assured a spot on his brother’s bench, likely as the team’s video coordinator.
Then Penn State came calling.
It was a shock to the 41-year-old, who grew up cheering for – and eventually walking on at – the University of Pittsburgh, shunning the Nittany Lions’ offer of a spot on the team over 20 years ago. Smead never made an appearance on the court for the Panthers, but he was on the proverbial observation deck to witness the program’s rise in the early 2000s.
The university introduced Smead to media and friends of the program on Friday, in what the new Nittany Lions bench boss – and birthday boy – called a “surreal event.”
“My late father, Geoff, who worked at the university for over 30 years, would have laughed at me taking this job after I made such a big deal to the local media about walking on at Pitt when I was a kid,” Smead said. “But Penn State made the phone call, I listened to what they had to say and I did two interviews over Zoom. They called me again to tell me that I was a finalist for the job, and Luke gets hired in New Orleans. I’m thinking that they’d see the writing on the wall and back away knowing that I’d follow him there, but then I get offered two days after Luke’s press conference with the Pelicans.
“I figured that I couldn’t turn down Penn State again if I wanted to keep getting invited to family events, even if most of my recreational wear is Pitt gear.”
Smead, who was sporting a navy blue fleece quarter-zip over a white shirt and Penn State logo tie when meeting the media, has an ambition that exceeds what the university expects from him during the terms of his first contract at Penn State, reported to be a three-year deal with an average annual value of $600,000.
“The Big Ten is a tough place to win and win consistently, but I think our path to joining the conference’s best can be made pretty short with what we have here and if we can build some excitement in this program,” Smead said. “Penn State isn’t exactly a sleeping giant in terms of basketball, but I feel that we can get to where we want to be in a short amount of time, even if the university isn’t expecting that from us right now.”
Penn State – 11-14 this past season – likely won’t be listed very high in preseason conference predictions, the Nittany Lions rarely are. That reality hasn’t deterred Smead’s optimism as few experts in the country could even explain what type of team that Penn State will be under its new coach.
“We’re going to be ourselves,” Smead said when asked about the team’s philosophical approach. “I’m going to meet with the team to break down what we have coming back and what identity we can build. What you’ll see when we get deep into the season might differ from what we’re showing in non-conference games. There’s going to be a lot of learning in these next few months.”
His brother, who joined on conference call from Louisiana, offered some insight as his surprised younger sibling laughed.
“‘E’ is going to mess with the throttle stick so much,” Lucas Smead said. “One night, it might be the old '40 Minutes of Hell’ treatment, and on other nights they might keep it to 60 possessions or less. He’s got a weird brain when it comes to basketball and the hidden numbers in the game, and someone back home actually gave him the keys. He’ll certainly keep things interesting.”
The younger Smead, while still grinning from his brother’s unwarranted scouting report, noted that fluctuating tempos aren’t an indicator of potential changes in intensity.
“Effort is going to be a big part of what we do,” Smead said. “We’re not going to have some social-media motto to reflect it, but it’ll be woven into everything that this team does on and off the floor. We’re not trying to win Twitter with some preachy coach nonsense about doing something in a narrow-minded idea of ‘the right way,’ we’re out here to win enough basketball games that we can start hanging some banners around this place that say ‘champions’ and not ‘appearance.’”

[Wayne23]

Welcome! I look forward to following this!

[PointGuard]

Haven't ever seen a Penn State dynasty report here...nice start.

[DrMcAwesome]

Penn State lands three verbal commits
Sept. 21, 2021

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WS) – Led by a highly regarded point guard, Penn State has reportedly landed three recruits in the past week, filling Elijah Smead’s first recruiting class two months before his on-court debut as the Nittany Lions coach.
All three commitments hail from Pennsylvania. Per a source within Penn State’s athletics department, Smead focused all of his recruiting efforts within the commonwealth in an attempt to make State College a destination for in-state recruits. Three seniors – guard Victor Groves (New Oxford, Pa.), Rashun Cullen (State College, Pa.) and Jermaine Woodward (Johnstown, Pa.) – have reportedly accepted scholarship offers from Penn State.
Per NCAA rules, Smead cannot comment on recruits until they submit their National Letters of Intent.
A New Oxford High School senior, Groves is a projected four-star talent. He tweeted on Monday that he had accepted a scholarship offer from Smead and Penn State. The 12th-ranked point guard in the country according to the WSSN recruiting rankings, had wowed the Penn State staff at July’s Big Apple Showcase in New York. Smead had even traveled to high-level AAU tournaments to get a look at Groves during the summer.
“#WeAre building a winner,” Groves said in his announcement tweet.
The 6-foot-4 point guard has averaged 13.1 points per game during his varsity career with the Colonials. Scouting reports have Groves pegged as a jump shooter with a silky touch. Groves is the nation’s 83rd overall recruit in the Class of 2022 and the top-ranked point guard in the Atlantic East Region.
Woodward, a 6-7 power forward from Bishop McCort Catholic High School, is a three-star recruit who averaged 13.7 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game for the Crimson Crushers as a junior. Shooting guard David Robinson is a Bishop McCort graduate and played a key role in swaying Woodward according to the department source.
Cullen is a senior at State College High School, Smead’s alma mater, has posted 11.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. While listed by WSSN as a project center, the 6-9, 257-pounder has a highlight reel of devastating post moves and dunks, which made the rounds on social media after the Little Lions standout announced that he had chosen Penn State.

[DrMcAwesome]

Welcome! I look forward to following this!

Thank you for the welcome. I'm hoping that I can stick with this.

[DrMcAwesome]

Haven't ever seen a Penn State dynasty report here...nice start.

Much appreciated. The funny part is that as a Pitt fan, I'm supposed to denounce all things Penn State, but I have no beef with the hoops program.

[PointGuard]

Pennsylvania has so many really good Division I basketball programs.

[DrMcAwesome]

Penn State unveils 2021-22 schedule
Sept. 18, 2021

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WS) – Just two days after Penn State’s season-opening clash at home against Cleveland State, the Nittany Lions will be tipping off a visit in Lahaina, Hawaii as part of the field in the 2021 Maui Invitational.
The long trip to Hawaii and a much shorter commute to Pittsburgh to take on rival Pitt will highlight an out-of-conference schedule that Penn State coach Elijah Smead calls “filled with big tests.”
“I think that we’re going to be ready for the Big Ten with what we’re doing in these first few games,” Smead said. “As a coach, I think we expect to win all of these games. Realistically, I think we’ll still be in great shape by the time that we go to Michigan (on Dec. 30) to open the conference schedule.”
Cleveland State (Nov. 16), Tulane (Nov. 23), California Polytechnic (Nov. 30), Liberty (Dec. 3) Southern Illinois (Dec. 7) and Tennessee State (Dec. 21) will visit the Bryce Jordan Center as part of Penn State’s non-conference slate while the Nittany Lions will travel to face in-state rivals St. Joseph’s (Nov. 26) and Pittsburgh (Dec. 14).
Penn State opens in the Maui Invitational with Louisiana Tech. Arkansas, Arizona State, Murray State, Northern Iowa, St. Joseph’s and Texas Tech are also headed to the islands.
“This is going to get eyeballs on the program and we have to produce on this stage.” Smead said. “We’re going to let the kids relax a little bit, but this is a trophy we’re looking to bring home. A lot of good teams are heading to Hawaii, and we’re one of them.”
The Nittany Lions will take on Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State and Purdue twice in conference play in home-and-home series while hosting Northwestern, Rutgers and Iowa in their lone conference meetings. Penn State will play Maryland, Wisconsin and Indiana on the road.
“This is a schedule we want in the Big Ten,” Smead said. “We want to be in hostile gyms. We want our gym to be hostile, too. We’re not here to be in junior varsity environments once the ball gets rolling in the conference. We can’t get to where we’re headed without going through these teams.”

Penn State 2021-22 Schedule
Nov. 16 - Cleveland State
Nov. 18 - at Maui Invitational, vs. Louisiana Tech
Nov. 19 - at Maui Invitational, vs. TBD
Nov. 20 - at Maui Invitational, vs. TBD
Nov. 23 - Tulane
Nov. 26 - at St. Joseph’s
Nov. 30 - California Polytechnic
Dec. 3 - Liberty
Dec. 7 - Southern Illinois
Dec. 14 - at Pittsburgh
Dec. 21 - Tennessee State
Dec. 28 - at Michigan*
Jan. 4 - Northwestern*
Jan. 6 - at Maryland*
Jan. 11 - Rutgers*
Jan. 13 - at Purdue*
Jan. 16 - Illinois*
Jan. 20 - at Nebraska*
Jan. 23 - at Wisconsin*
Jan. 27 - Purdue*
Jan. 30 - at Michigan State
Feb. 1 - at Ohio State
Feb. 6 - Michigan
Feb. 8 - at Illinois*
Feb. 13 - Nebraska*
Feb. 17 - Minnesota*
Feb. 20 - Michigan State*
Feb. 24 - at Indiana*
Feb. 27 - Ohio State*
March 1 - Iowa*
March 3 - at Minnesota*

*-Big Ten game

[DrMcAwesome]

Pennsylvania has so many really good Division I basketball programs.

Very true. And to think that there was a time when some of the smaller Div. I programs in the state (Duquesne, St. Francis, etc.) were pretty much national powers. I almost grabbed St. Francis to start a save to chronicle here. and I still might once I get my land legs underneath me.

[DrMcAwesome]

Penn State opens practice with energetic jam session for fans
Oct. 2, 2021

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WS) – There’s 45 days between Penn State’s opening midnight practice and their much more schedule-friendly opener against Cleveland State at 7 p.m. on Nov. 16 at Bryce Jordan Center.
The only practice that Elijah Smead’s squad will have open to the public, however, was quite the memorable show from the second that Smead, isolated with a spotlight on the center-core logo sent a two-handed chest pass to freshman forward Jason Williams, who caught the ball just as the arena lights popped back on to throw down a thunderous two-handed dunk on an alley-top from his new coach.
The 6-foot-7 freshman seemingly became a folk hero through the remainder of the practice by connecting on a dozen straight 3-pointers during a 3-point shootout eventually won by reserve shooting guard David Robinson, a 6-2 sophomore, who had to hit 12 straight of his own to top Williams.
“That pass from Coach was a dart,” Williams said of Smead’s long-distance assist. “We didn’t practice it at all. He just told me to get up for a pass after he took a dribble and he got it up to me. Maybe the best pass I ever took before a dunk.”
While the session was more of a celebration than serious work, Smead’s message of maintaining energy throughout was clear in almost everything the Nittany Lions did during drills or contests.
“I liked the attitude these guys showed tonight. I also liked their moxie,” Smead said. “It wasn’t a packed house, but we have to earn those. We’re not a Duke or Kentucky or Kansas. Yet. This was a great way to show our guys that there is a passionate fanbase at Penn State when it comes to basketball. As the program grows, so will those numbers.”
Robinson, who Smead deemed “Admiral Buckets” after claiming the shootout crown, pushed his coach to put up a few shots with wind sprints on the line.
After a pair of double-or-nothing misses, Smead sank a 3-pointer to get himself out of eight trips up and down the floor at the team’s next practice.
“We’re going to work our tails off,” Smead said to fans after his triumphant make. “But I get that these are college kids playing a game. We have to do things like this to keep it light. We’ll have fun when it’s the proper time, but we’ll always be working.”
The Nittany Lions’ season-opener against Cleveland State should have a rambunctious atmosphere as Smead declared that it will be a students-only game, save for families of Penn State and Cleveland State players wishing to attend.
“We want this place on its ear when Cleveland State steps on this floor,” Smead said. “I grew up in this town and remembered games in Rec Hall when the student section was as much a factor as the players. It can be that way again. The student section is getting the start on November 16, and we expect 40 of your best minutes.”