basketball

A month after abrupt resignation, Penn State players still seek explanation

Four weeks after the abrupt resignation of Penn State men’s basketball head coach Patrick Chambers, the program’s players are still searching for answers.

As of yet, they’ve found none to their satisfaction.

Preparing for their first game of the 2020-21 season next week, the Nittany Lions spoke out for the first time in a virtual media day Wednesday afternoon. And from the jump, senior point guard Jamari Wheeler made crystal his dissatisfaction with what transpired and the lack of clarity surrounding its justification.

“There's been some ups and downs obviously,” he said. “It’s just like a loss of words. Confused. Not understanding. Trying to see the reason why he's not coaching with us. Why did he get fired instead? Why did he step down?

“I know there's a bunch of things about him being a racist. And for me, I've been here four years, a black athlete that plays for him, and that's all the way from Florida, and I didn't get questioned not one time, was coach racist, anything like that. So it's just confusing.”

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Jamari Wheeler spoke out Wednesday, saying Penn State players still do not understand the abrupt resignation of head coach Patrick Chambers last month.
Jamari Wheeler spoke out Wednesday, saying Penn State players still do not understand the abrupt resignation of head coach Patrick Chambers last month.

Wheeler was not alone in his assessment.

Junior shooting guard Myles Dread also laid bare his displeasure seeing the head coach with whom he’d had a relationship for nearly six years dismissed, and the lack of transparency from Penn State’s decision-makers as to why.

“No, I'm not at peace with it,” Dread said. “And I will not be at peace with it until everybody has answers to why.”

Shortly after the acceptance of Chambers’ resignation on Oct. 21, Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour indicated that the department would not disclose the details of its summer personnel investigation into the head coach. Coming in the wake of a July 6 article at ESPN’s The Undefeated alleging racially insensitive comments that lead to the transfer of guard Rasir Bolton, the investigation’s conclusions were enough to prompt Barbour and Penn State President Dr. Eric Barron to seek Chambers’ resignation.

"As difficult as this news may be, we think it's in the best interest of Penn State, our program, and our student-athletes," Barbour said in October. "Our main focus at this point is squarely on them."

That intended focus has not met the satisfaction of Penn State’s players to this point, though.

Asked whether or not he’d sought out any answers to the many questions that had come in the wake of the decision, Wheeler explained his lingering confusion regarding the situation.

“Nah. We haven't gotten any answers,” Wheeler said. “It was hard because earlier that day before he announced it, we had a meeting with a couple of people on the staff at Penn State asking them because we knew something was kind of off during two weeks leading up to it. We just felt the vibe, so me and a couple of guys on the team just had a private meeting with a couple of staff members that are up above, and we (were) told that everything was good.”

While the Nittany Lions have since relied on adapting to their new situation, crediting the efforts of interim head coach Jim Ferry and his staff to keep the program moving forward, Dread said that the group has worked to push past its frustrations and adjust.

With many citing Chambers’ influence in their approach to the season at hand, both as a coach as well as their relationships which remain to this day, the result has been a collection of players still emotional, still in shock, still upset, and now attempting to play hard for him in his absence.

“The day we got the news, it was tough. It's been a long month,” guard Myreon Jones said. “But the team, it just made us closer. We have been working harder in practice because we don't want to let coach down and the coaching staff, they've been working their butts off too and we really appreciate that.”

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