Former Bucknell Coach Pat Flannery Joins Penn State NIL Collective

Flannery, who guided Bucknell to two NCAA Tournament wins, will serve as Happy Valley United's GM for men's basketball.

Pat Flannery, the former Bucknell men's basketball coach who guided the Bison to two NCAA Tournament victories, has a long history with Penn State coach Mike Rhoades. Now, the former coach-player will work together with the Nittany Lions.

Flannery, an advisor to Rhoades during his first season at Penn State, has joined the Happy Valley United NIL collective as general manager of its men's basketball initiative. Flannery will guide the collective's fundraising and development programs specifically for men's basketball. The initiative is called "More to Give," a phrase former Penn State star John Harrar referenced often during his five years with the program.

“I’m thrilled to join Happy Valley United and help these student-athletes maximize their name, image and likeness opportunities,” Flannery said in a statement. “Growing up and working close to Penn State, I know how special this place is. To make an impact on players in this way and work alongside one of my former players and a longtime friend in Coach Rhoades to help build his program, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Flannery is a long-time head coach in Pennsylvania, and Rhoades was among his star players. Flannery coached Rhoades at Lebanon Valley College, where together they won the NCAA Division III national championship in 1994. Rhoades was named the tournament's co-MVP and won the USA Today Division III national player-of-the-year award a year later.

A Pottsville, Pennsylvania, native, Flannery is in the Bucknell Hall of Fame as a two-sport athlete (basketball and baseball) and head coach. He returned to his alma mater as the men's basketball coach in 1994 and won 234 career games in 14 seasons. Flannery is best known for his three-year coaching stretch from 2004-07, when his teams won 73 games, including two in the NCAA Tournament.

In 2005, 14th-seeded Bucknell upset No. 3 Kansas 64-63 in the first round for its first NCAA Tournament victory in school history. Bucknell earned a No. 9 seed the following year, beating Arkansas in the first round. 

Flannery retired from coaching in 2008 with an overall career record of 329-221. He went on to serve as Bucknell's Senior Development Officer.

“NIL is an incredibly important part of building our program to win championships,” Rhoades said in a statement. “We have made our program better with the addition of Pat Flannery. He knows what it takes to build a winning and sustainable program on and off court. His leadership in the area of program building and fundraising will be game changing for our program. I’m more than excited to get back with Pat and use our shared Pennsylvania ties to build something special.”

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