My note to Penn State men’s basketball Coach Pat Chambers — from a coach of young athletes for more than 30 years. “Why would you ever use that word with a young black athlete?”
Pat Chambers, AP photo … a puzzling approach by a veteran coach [First, though I am a Penn State graduate, I have not been following men’s basketball much for many years. This piece, though, has more to do with dealing with human beings than with coaching.] Penn State coach Pat Chambers to star freshman Rasir Bolton in January 2019: “I want to be a stress reliever for you. You can talk to me about anything. I need to get some of this pressure off you. I want to loosen the noose that’s around your neck.” The Undefeated, July 6, 2020 Pat Chambers is now the ex-men’s basketball coach at Penn State after he resigned on Wednesday. Chambers has done a reasonably good job bringing the Nittany Lions into respectability over his nine years at the helm. The program has never achieved long-term success, so it is a tough job. However, he worked his way up through the Div. I coaching ranks after having played Div. II basketball. He became the associate head coach at Villanova, th