How Tom Hovasse Is Bringing Penn State Basketball to the Paris Olympics

Hovasse called his time at Penn State with coach Bruce Parkhill a "tough four years." Now, Hovasse is shaping Japan basketball with lessons from Parkhill.

Tom Hovasse coaches the Japan women's basketball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

At the 2023 FIBA World Cup, as he led the Japan men's national basketball team through a morning practice, Tom Hovasse glimpsed someone taking video with a phone. The head coach wasn't happy. Hovasse remembered playing basketball at Penn State's Rec Hall, with its running track circling above the court and bleachers, and how his coach Bruce Parkhill would ask joggers to leave practice. So Hovasse did the same during the World Cup practice — quite loudly and firmly.

"And I was like, 'Oh man, this is my Parkhill moment,'" Hovasse said in a recent interview. "And, yeah, I was proud. It wasn't on purpose; it just happened. That's what I was taught."

Penn State basketball will have a major impact on one team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where Japan carries big dreams and a bit of the Nittany Lions' program. After earning an auto bid as host of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Japan men's national team has qualified outright for the Olympics for the first time since 1976. At the helm is Hovasse, the Penn State graduate who coached the Japanese women to an improbable silver medal in Tokyo.

Following that success, Hovasse became head coach of the Japan men's program, which tasked him with turning around a team that went 0-3 in Tokyo and has not won a game at the Olympics since 1972. But Hovasse is bold. He predicted that the Japanese women's team would beat the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics, where they gave Team USA a challenge. Now, Hovasse says the Japan men's team is poised to "shock the world" by emerging from group play and finishing top eight in Paris.

His former coach at Penn State can't wait to watch.

"From what I understand, he's kind of a hero in Japan," Parkhill said. "I'm just so proud of him."

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Former Penn State men's basketball coach Bruce Parkhill in the huddle of a Nittany Lions' game. / Courtesy Penn State Athletics

Penn State's influence on Japanese basketball

Hovasse played basketball at Widefield High, near Colorado Springs, and sought a challenge in college. He also wanted the chance to play as a freshman. Penn State offered both opportunities.

When Parkhill became head coach in 1984, Penn State men's basketball had not been to the postseason since 1966. Football dominated the campus, recruiting was a challenge and the airport was tiny. So Parkhill cast a wider recruiting net. He learned about a Colorado prospect from his assistant Jerry Dunn, who learned about the prospect from his twin brother Terry, then a high school coach in Colorado Springs.

"We had a tough time recruiting, and sometimes we got frustrated," Parkhill said. "We needed to go find guys with grades who had an interest in Penn State. Tommy was one of the first guys we got involved with. Guys who came here were really taking a chance."

That was Hovasse. He loved the idea, the challenge, of going to Penn State. Then Joe Paterno called, and he was sold even more.

"I'm in high school in Colorado, and my mom's like, 'Joe Paterno's on the phone,'" Hovasse said. "I thought, 'What?' Because I loved Penn State football. And then I said, 'Man, Penn State's not very good, but I have a chance to play my freshman year, and I love that. Yeah, I want to do that.'"

In 1986, Hovasse and Parkhill began their up-and-down relationship. Parkhill was demanding, and Hovasse didn't always take that well. For instance, Hovasse thought he played pretty good defense in high school. Parkhill didn't and broke down every aspect of the 6-8 forward's defensive game as soon as Hovasse arrived in State College.

"Yeah, it was hard," Hovasse said. "It was a tough four years. He wanted me to redshirt my senior year [because of an injury], and there was no way I was redshirting my senior year. I was not staying five years."

Yes, Parkhill said, he was tough. He thought he had to be, since Penn State could not recruit the high-profile players and McDonald's All-Americans. Still, Hovasse flourished with the Nittany Lions. He led the team in scoring and rebounding from 1987-89, was named first-team all-Atlantic 10 in 1989 and was a two-time team MVP.

In Hovasse's final season, Penn State went 20-12, reached the Atlantic 10 title game and made the NIT Tournament. That helped set the foundation of Penn State's next three seasons, when the team averaged 22 wins, made two NIT Tournaments and upset fourth-seeded UCLA in the 1991 NCAA Tournament.

"I was very demanding," Parkhill said. "We were in a situation where, in order for our guys to win, they had to play at such a high level. ... With Tom, I really felt that if he had another year of weight training [by redshirting], he would be even better than he was. But I totally understand where he was coming from."

Over time, of course, they became "great friends," as Hovasse said, though Parkhill didn't necessarily see his former star following him into coaching. But there were a few signs.

"His feel for the game is very impressive," Parkhill said. "Some guys are mechanical, and some guys have a feel for when to make a play, when to push it a little bit. Those are the instinctual things you can't really teach. And he did have that. Plus, his personality. Tom's an engaging guy and he's really funny. He has an unbelievable sense of humor."

Hovasse also is a skilled motivator, which Parkhill saw first-hand. Parkhill attended a Japan-U.S. exhibition game before the Tokyo Olympics and marveled at how intensely the Japanese women played for their coach.

“After the game [Hovasse] said, ‘If I asked them to, they would run the stairs to the roof up and back for 15-20 minutes,’” Parkhill said. “And they would have. That team had a great work ethic.”

Hovasse said there's plenty of Parkhill and Penn State in the way he coaches.

"A lot of people who knew Parkhill and Penn State basketball, even though the game has changed, could see it," Hovasse said. "The way we're a 3-point shooting team, the way we spread the court, and our defense and the way we get after it reminded everybody of Parkhill's basketball. So Parkhill still lives on in what we're doing, for sure."

"A tremendous tribute'

Penn State has a history in Japanese basketball. Parkhill and former teammate Ed Fogell played professionally there at the same time (Fogell still lives and teaches in Japan). D.J. Newbill currently is one of the top players in Japan's professional B. League, where former Nittany Lion John Harrar is playing as well. Parkhill recently saw Harrar, who marveled at Hovasse's impact on the Japanese basketball culture.

"It's a tremendous tribute that [the Japan Basketball Association] wanted him to take over the men's team," Parkhill said. "Seeing what he did with the women was just fantastic, and they were smart. They wanted him to take over the men and do the same things. I have no doubt he will."

If playing for Penn State was a challenge, so is coaching the Japan men's team at the Paris Olympics. But Hovasse already has achieved plenty. Japan first had to qualify for the Olympics, which it did by placing 19th at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Japan beat Finland along the way, its first win over a European team in international competition.

Also along the way, Hovasse earned a reputation for being loud and demanding. Some fans and media in Japan refer to Hovasse as the Oni coach, a reference to a demon in Japanese folklore. Sometimes, that will remind him of Parkhill.

"And I tell people now that I'm not even a tenth of what Parkhill was," Hovasse said. "He was the Oni coach. ... But I’m part of his coaching tree, 100 percent. And every now and then I’ll just tell a player to get out of the gym, which is what he did a lot."

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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.