World News – US – Penn State AD Barbour addresses Pat Chambers resignation

Penn State basketball coach Pat Chambers resigned under pressure on Wednesday, following a months-long internal probe into what the university called « news allegations of improper conduct « But setting up a press conference for sporting director Sandy Barbour to bring up the subject didn’t take that long

The official Chambers announcement was made via email at 5:56 p.m. EST Barbour held a short press conference starting four minutes later Four beat writers and a national writer have questions

It was certainly a difficult day I announce that I have accepted the resignation of men’s basketball head coach Pat Chambers following an internal investigation into allegations of improper conduct, which has made surfaced shortly after ESPN posted an article on July 6 on The Undefeated website The review was jointly conducted by our Penn State Assertive Action and Athletics Integrity offices We are not disclosing details of personal investigations But I can tell you, as difficult as this news may be, both president (Eric) Barron I think this is the right result

Coach Chambers has made many contributions to the program and to this university, for which we are grateful The team has followed a positive trajectory and has responded well to Coach Chambers’ efforts on and off the field. But as difficult as this news may be, we believe it is in the best interests of Penn State, our program and our student-athletes.

Our main focus right now is squarely on them, our student-athletes in our men’s basketball program, who, as you’ve heard me repeatedly, are our “why”, they are our focus, they are our goal It was difficult and unexpected news for them and we are committed to continuing to provide them with the necessary resources as they focus on their academics, their health and safety and preparation for the season ahead. The young men in our program are talented, passionate and resilient They were the originators of the Penn State men’s basketball renaissance And while I’m sure it will take them a little while, I’m sure they will find their place. and will move forward with confidence and success throughout the academic year, as well as in the COVID-19 environment and competitive season And I can’t wait to support their success

We have appointed assistant coach Jim Ferry as interim men’s basketball coach, and he will be in that role until a permanent replacement can be appointed. Coach Ferry has spent almost 20 years as a college head coach at four different institutions and I have no doubts that he and our talented staff will provide strong, focused and purposeful leadership and guidance to our young men. So let me repeat, we will not or will not disclose the details of personnel matters But I am happy to answer a few questions and answer as I am able to

Dr Barron and I have received the report, I would say within the last two weeks

Coach Ferry… we will definitely do a national research This is what we will always do for head coaches here at Penn State But I would like to see Coach Ferry have the kind of success, that our program has the kind of success this season which would give Coach Ferry a chance

ON IF THE NEW ALLEGATION WAS SEPARATED FROM WHAT HAS BEEN REPORTED BY THE UNFAIR (BEN JONES, STATECOM)

Yes, the allegation was previously unknown to Penn State and was independent, unrelated to The Undefeated article

We won’t go into details But NCAA questions weren’t part of it

Our student-athletes found out around 4:30 p.m. today, and Coach Chambers was the one to deliver the news to them.And as you can imagine, that was hard news to hear You know, Coach Chambers has a lot of current and former players who have praised him And, you know our current players, a lot of them have a really good relationship with him And he’s the one who gave them that opportunity And so they are, they are a little in shock and they are very disappointed

Yes, that’s a great question And that’s obviously something that coaches in general these days really walk a fine line and it’s obviously my job as a sporting director to assess that And it there is a behavior that represents your values ​​and there is a behavior that you don’t… and I speak in a very general way. This is typically what I rely on from a values ​​perspective

You can watch the full Barbour press conference on our Lions pride board. Please share it with your friends at Penn State

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Pat Chambers, Penn State Men’s Basketball Nittany Lions, Penn State University, Head Coach, Basketball, Big Ten Lecture, Jim Ferry