Florida Gulf Coast Hires Pat Chambers as Head Basketball Coach

The former Penn State head coach spent this season as an assistant at La Salle.

Pat Chambers, the former Penn State basketball coach who resigned in 2020, has accepted the head coaching position at Florida Gulf Coast University. The program introduced Chambers on Tuesday, 10 days after releasing former coach Michael Fly from the remainder of his contract.

Chambers, who spent this past season as an assistant at La Salle, won 148 games in nine seasons as Penn State's head coach, guiding the program to one of its best regular seasons ever in 2019-20.

Penn State went 21-10, reaching No. 9 in the AP Top 25, and expected to receive its first NCAA tournament bid since 2011. However, the 2020 Big Ten tournament was canceled before Penn State played its first game. The Lions found out that the NCAA tournament was canceled during its flight home to State College.

In October 2020, Chambers resigned a week into practice after the athletic department conducted an internal investigation into alleged inappropriate conduct toward players. Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said that she initiated the investigation after a story in The Undefeated (now Andscape) detailed allegations against Chambers by a former player.

After Barbour's announcement, Chambers said he was "taking a step back to prepare myself for the next 20 years."

"I am so proud of all our program has accomplished these past nine years, and I'll always be grateful to the Penn State community for its ongoing support," Chambers' statement said in part. "... This has been an incredibly difficult year for me and my family, and we are in need of a break to re-set and chart our path forward..."

Chambers' resignation, and the circumstances surrounding it, left the players on Penn State's 2020-21 roster searching for answers.

"I felt a very strong emotion, just having that full feeling of, wow, he’s not my coach anymore," the Nittany Lions' Myles Dread said in November 2021. "I just wanted to be there for my teammates, wanted to be there for the staff, because it was shocking and very upsetting for everybody on our staff and in our program. He was very loved and he is still very loved and appreciated."

During his introductory press conference, Chambers said he spent the past 18 months "continuing to grow and educate and self-reflect," adding that Florida Gulf Coast will "be getting the best leader, the best teacher and the best coach."

"I've learned a lot from my past," Chambers said. "I promise you that and I'm confident of that."

Ken Kavanagh, Florida Gulf Coast's athletic director, said two of Chambers' references were former Penn State player Lamar Stephens and Villanova head coach Jay Wright. Kavanagh said that Stephens told him, "coach [Chambers] made me a better player on the court. But more importantly, he made me a better man through my four years."

"As we looked at it, high integrity, family man, knew the game, relates to his players, connects with donors and a proven winner who's a great ambassador," Kavanagh said in describing Chambers. "Check, check, check, check, check."

Chambers, who has spent his entire career in the Northeast, said he and his family moved four times in the past 18 months, spending a year in south Florida before returning to Philadelphia.

Prior to Penn State, Chambers was the head coach at Boston University, compiling a 42-28 record. Chambers spent five seasons on Wright's staff at Villanova and coached at Episcopal Academy and Delaware Valley College outside Philadelphia. Chambers also played at Thomas Jefferson University, then known as Philadelphia University.

Florida Gulf Coast plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference and has reached three NCAA tournaments since 2013. The Eagles are best known for that 2013 tournament, in which they reached the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed after beating Georgetown and San Diego State.

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