Opening Statement by Tim Curley:

This is quite a turnout here and we appreciate everyone being here for this very special announcement. Two and a half weeks ago Penn State started a national search for it¡¯s 11th head men¡¯s basketball coach in program history. We are very pleased that this comprehensive search has resulted in the appointment of Ed DeChellis as the new leader for our men¡¯s basketball program. We are very pleased to welcome back to Penn State, for the second time, Ed DeChellis, his wife, Kim and their daughters Casey, Erin and Lauren. Erin and Lauren are extremely excited to be here today because they get a chance to miss school. They made a specific request early this morning as to whether we could have another press conference tomorrow so that they could delay their trip back to Tennessee. I want to thank a number of people that have been actively involved in this search process. First, Dr. Scott Kretchmar, our NCAA faculty representative, who was very involved in the process and interviewed all of the candidates under serious consideration. I would like to thank members of my staff who provided great research and support during this effort. I would also like to thank members of the team and parents of our players who waited patiently for the process to unfold. Shariff is here today representing the players and I wanted to let them know that I certainly appreciate the way that they have handled this coaching transition. Finally, I would like to express to President Spanier and thank him for his active involvement and support during this past month. He has given the task of hiring a new coach the highest priority and interest. I would like to ask him to come forward to share his thoughts about the process and about our new coach, Ed DeChellis.

Opening Statement by Dr. Graham Spanier:

I am pleased to welcome Ed DeChellis back to Penn State after a remarkable seven year run at East Tennessee State where, with limited resources, he took a program from the bottom of the Southern Conference to the top, amassing of 56-31 record in the last three seasons, earning a bid to the NCAA Basketball Tournament and coaching an exciting brand of basketball. I join with Tim in extending a special welcome as well to the DeChellis family. Following a national search in which Tim Curley spoke with countless athletic directors, basketball coaches, former basketball players and other athletics officials, over and over we heard people say that Eddie DeChellis, already a member of Penn State¡¯s extended family, would be a truly excellent choice for our head coaching position. Tim and I both agree with this assessment. Eddie is the first Penn State alumnus in decades to lead our program. He brings with him a deep affection for the University, a profound commitment to work tirelessly to elevate the program, a strong desire to fill the Bryce Jordan Center and show fans an exciting brand of basketball, a determination to turn our program around so that it enjoys the level of success customary in our other varsity sports and a complete understanding of our expectations and traditions of integrity, fair play and the concept of the student athlete. Eddie played a key role in elevating Penn State basketball under Bruce Parkhill and has since demonstrated further that he can recruit players, motivate players, mentor players and graduate players. He knows how to get a team ready to play and is a superb coach on the floor. The recommendations that we received from his former players and from other coaches around the country were especially impressive to me. Our director of athletics followed a strategy in the search of casting the net broadly and then, through a process of in-person and telephone interviews, narrowing the pool. I had the opportunity to interview some of the top contenders for the position. I was impressed with the level of interest in our head coach position and the caliber of those who were willing to be considered. In the end, it was easy for me to concur with Tim Curley¡¯s recommendation of Ed DeChellis. He is a fine human being with great values. He will be a great asset to Penn State. I believe he has the ability to elevate our program significantly. We will support him in this effort in every way. He is ready to get to work and we are ready to cheer him on.

Remainder of Statement from Tim Curley:

Today is a very exciting time for the future of Penn State basketball. I am pleased that the search process attracted great interest across the country and we were very pleased with the quality of candidates for this position. As we went through the process, one of my overriding goals was to identify a person that had a successful head coaching experience at the college level and met the many criteria that we look for in a Penn State coach. Once we identified that pool of candidates, I was very focused on finding the person that had the burning desire to be at Penn State and the leader of this program. I wanted to have our new head coach to be filled with great passion for the job ahead of him and confident of his vision in elevating the success of this program. I looked for a person that could challenge our players to maximize their athletic and academic abilities in the best interest of our student athletes. I strongly believe we have found this individual in Ed DeChellis and I am confident that he will be very successful in meeting the lofty goals we have set for this program. Ed has served as the head coach of East Tennessee State University these past seven years, improving the program each year, leading to this year¡¯s NCAA Tournament bid and near upset of #2 seed Wake Forest University. His rebuilding effort at East Tennessee State University has been most impressive in all aspects and he is admired and respected by many in the basketball community for his accomplishments. Ed served as a graduate assistant coach at Penn State and then as an assistant in Salem College in West Virginia. In 1986 Bruce Parkhill brought him back to the program as an assistant coach while the program achieved a remarkable five 20-win seasons. He gained valuable coaching experience in the Atlantic 10, one year as an independent and four years in the Big Ten Conference. During this time, Ed demonstrated his ability to identify and to recruit outstanding athletic talent as he was directly involved with the recruitment of Jarrett Stephens, Matt Gaudio, Calvin Booth, John Ameachi, Pete Lisicky and Dan Earl. All of these individuals had outstanding careers here at Penn State. They graduated from Penn State and made us all Penn State proud. These are the types of individuals I want us to continue to attract to Penn State. I am confident that he will continue to recruit top quality student athletes that will have the ability to elevate this program to a consistent winner and then win Big Ten and National titles. Ed has a burning desire and ability to lead this program and I am confident in his leadership, and with all of our support we will have one of the top basketball programs in the country. Ed and his family were valuable members of the Penn State and State College community for many years and it is now my pleasure to welcome them back to Penn State and to officially introduce Ed DeChellis as Penn State¡¯s 11th head men¡¯s basketball coach. Please join me in congratulating Ed and his family.

Opening Statement by Ed DeChellis:

I really look forward to all of that energy and enthusiasm you have in the Bryce Jordan Center next December, hopefully. Obviously, this is a very, very special day in my life and a special day in my career. I feel like I am very, very blessed. I know how important it is to be the head coach at Penn State. It is something that I have dreamed about my whole life and I would really like to thank Dr. Spanier and Tim Curley for such a tremendous opportunity. As I met with the team last night, one thing that I really tried to get across to them in our conversation was how passionate I am about the University and how passionate I am about the basketball program. I worked extremely hard for a number of years to try and elevate our program under Bruce Parkhill¡¯s direction to the level that we attained. I want to get back to that. It is very, very important to me. So when I spoke to the players last night, I hope they saw the passion, energy and enthusiasm that I have for this university and for our program. Our goals that I spoke to Tim Curley and Dr. Spanier about are, quite frankly, to be the best. We want to have the best program in the Big Ten Conference. That is our goal. I think that Penn State strives for excellence in everything that we do regarding academics, research, athletics and our basketball program is going to, obviously, hear the same goals that we have set forward. It is very, very important to me that we achieve those goals. I really frown on using the word ¡®rebuilding¡¯. I think that sends the wrong message. I have talked to Tim about the fact that we need to get healthy as soon as we possibly can. I use that word more than a rebuilding word. I think we need to get healthy and it is my responsibility to get us healthy. Recruiting is, obviously, a focus of mine and the lifeblood of any program, but I think that here at Penn State we have everything we need to be successful. We have a great academic institution, a beautiful campus setting and a beautiful community. We have the Big Ten Conference and a wonderful facility. I really believe that all of those things together enable us to compete on a national level year in and year out. We are going to recruit quality young men who can graduate from here and fulfill the dreams that I have for Penn State basketball and Dr. Spanier has and Tim Curley has and hopefully all of our fans across the country. In saying that, I think that my ultimate dream is to see us year in and year out as a team that plays in the NCAA Tournament, a team that is a top 25 program and a team that can one day, hopefully, compete for a national title. As I watched the games last Sunday on TV for the teams to get to the Final Four, it is my dream and my goal that it will be us. When, I can¡¯t promise that, but I am going to get this thing healthy and get it healthy very, very quickly by working very, very hard to do that. Again, I am very, very passionate about this job. I understand the level that it takes to win in the Big Ten. I hope my players will completely understand the passion that I have. They will understand how special it is to wear the blue and white, compete and have the Penn State name on the front of their jerseys. My players will play with a passion, a purpose and play extremely hard. I think we will all be very, very proud of them once you see the product on the floor. How we want to play and how do we want to get there? We want to play fast if we can. We want to be exciting. I think it is very important for us to play an exciting style. I think it is very important for us to, obviously, get fans in the Bryce Jordan Center. Our students are very, very important to us. We need to reach out to our student body and have them join us in the Jordan Center for a great evening of basketball. I have to get out into the community and into the student body and work extremely hard to get them to come to all of our games. Saying that, I would like to introduce my wife-my bride, Kim and our three daughters --Erin, Casey and Lauren--who have stuck with me through thick and thin. I took them to Tennessee seven years ago and now they have returned with accents. I don¡¯t know how that all happened. It is a dream to come home for me and I welcome the challenge. I would like to thank Coach Bruce Parkhill for all of his guidance and support for the last seven years. I think I have burned the phone lines to State College and to Columbus when he was there on advice and a sounding board. I would like to thank him for all of his help regarding my career.

Beginning Questions from Media:

After a couple of down seasons, what is it going to take to get this program healthy again?

It is going to take a lot of work and it is not going to be a lot of work just for me. It is going to be a lot of work for everybody associated with the program. That is something that Tim and I talked about of me coming into this building and coming into the lockerroom and really trying to relay my energy, emotion and enthusiasm; but, obviously, we need to increase the level of play. We need to increase our talent level every year. We will be recruiting the top players in the country and the top players, obviously, in the state of Pennsylvania to stay home to play for the Pennsylvania State University. I think that is very important for us.

What are your plans for your current staff and for your staff here? Are you going to bring anyone with you or do you know yet?

I am currently at East Tennessee State, which has been very, very good to me. It has been a wonderful place for me to work for seven seasons. They are in the process of a search. I spoke with their president yesterday, Dr. Stanton, and he asked for my input. He is going to let me know in 48 hours what direction he wants to go, regarding a possible internal candidate from my staff. Once that is decided, I will make the necessary moves. I plan on talking to all of the assistant coaches here in New Orleans in the next three or four days just to get their input into the program and have a conversation with them as well.

Do you have a timetable about turning the program around?

I can¡¯t stand up here and make promises. We want to be healthy and be as good as we can be as quickly as we can be. No one wants that more than I do. I don¡¯t enjoy not being very successful in basketball. The timetable started last night at 9:30 in the lockerroom with a team meeting and we will continue today and from here on out. Today, obviously, is very, very important to me, but I am also concerned about day 365 and all of the days following those. A timetable I do not have other than I am going to work extremely hard to get us where we want to be and where we need to be.

Can you assess the personnel in the program and talk about what you have seen of them from afar the past seasons?

I really haven¡¯t seen a lot of games. My wife bought me a satellite dish for Christmas, which was nice. I have seen two or three games on television. We lost a couple of players off of this past year¡¯s team. I haven¡¯t had an opportunity, obviously, in one day here to work out the guys individually. That will all occur starting next week when I will have a chance to visit with each player individually and have a chance to work out each player individually and let them have a feel for me and then we will go from there. I don¡¯t have specifics on each player.

After talking to the players last night, are you confident that all of them will be coming back?

We are going to meet with each guy next week individually. We have already started that process. I think those meetings will be very, very important. I think the guys understood completely last night, I hope, that the bar is going to be raised substantially in every aspect of our program. Those guys, I think, understand that and where I am coming from. Hopefully, they all jump over the bar. That is important. We will meet with each guy and have an opportunity to have a great conversation. I want players who want to be at Penn State and who will follow my dream and want to win a Big Ten Championship. I am very, very hopeful that all of these players do. We will take it from there one day at a time.

How much do you think the Big Ten and the Bryce Jordan Center have altered the potential of Penn State basketball?

I think this is a great opportunity, a great job and the Jordan Center is, obviously, a wonderful building. My last year here was our first year in the building. It was a filled up building, exciting and a great time. That is what I vision and what I am going to work to get to. When I recruited some of those guys, we were in Rec Hall and I used to walk them through the hallways, and Coach Parkhill will be able to relate to this, and say, "Don¡¯t mind the fly-fishing class out there on the floor right now. When this place gets filled up, it is a great, great college atmosphere." The Jordan Center is also a great college atmosphere. It is my job to play a style that the people want to see and my job to touch our students and get our students to the games.

Have you had a chance to speak yet with the recruits who signed with Penn State in the fall and will you be doing any recruiting in the spring as well?

I spoke with both young men last night, John Kelly and Ben Luber and both of their parents. I plan on meeting them later next week when we are allowed off the road. I will be going to visit both young men toward the latter part of next week. We will recruit in the spring and will be out after it very, very actively looking for additional help.

You touched a little bit on attendance. Are you going to do anything that maybe you did at East Tennessee to try to get out into the community and try to sell the program a little bit? Specifically, what are you planning on doing to achieve those goals?

I think that is very, very important. At East Tennessee State, the community was somewhat similar to State College. We had about 60,000-70,000 people in our community. I tried to speak at every civic organization that would let me come in and tell my message. I would walk on campus and have my jog and talk to students. Our players did a great job at East Tennessee State of selling our program. They were very, very good guys and it was a constant effort in talking with them regarding what kind of people we are. When you are sitting next to a guy in class, it is nice to say, "hello, I am so and so on the basketball team and you should come out to a game because we are going to be good this year." I think our players need to do that and sell. I need to do it as well.

You talked about this being your dream job. How did you look at this in terms of when you were interviewing in places like Duquesne and Charleston in past years in terms of the possibility of landing here sometime down the road?

That really didn¡¯t enter into each situation as those folks called me. I have been called and talked to a few other folks that you don¡¯t know about. Every job is different and every job is special. I think the guy upstairs puts you where he really wants you. I think that seven years ago he said to me, "You need to go to East Tennessee State." I thank the Lord for bringing me back here today and putting me here.

Can you tell us a little bit about your days as a manager at Penn State?

That was a time long ago. I don¡¯t think I ever apologized from where I came from. I think it was a very, very important part of my life. I played at a branch campus of Penn State because I wasn¡¯t fortunate enough to be able to play at a higher level or have the funds to play at the Division III schools that I was recruited by. We didn¡¯t have the money to do that. I came to Penn State hoping to be able to walk-on and play. My junior college coach brought me up here from the Beaver Campus and I went out there one day and was with the guys and watched them and thought to myself, "there is no way I can compete with these guys." I might not look real smart, but I am smarter than that. So I went up to the office and talked to Dick Harter and Dick Stewart and said, "Here I am and I want to try to help." They said, "You need to do this if you want to help." I didn¡¯t really want to do that. I thought, "Hey, I want to coach. My passion is coaching and I want to learn any way I can." So I stood around for a year and threw balls around and did what they told me to do. A year or two later a graduate assistant position opened and they offered it to me. I think they saw something in me that, maybe, was special and offered that to me. Then I was very, very fortunate when, obviously, Bruce came and let me be a part of his staff. That is where I really started to grow as a coach and learn the game.

This has not been a year in and year out top 25 program. Why do you think that you are going to be able to take it over the hump? Did you get assurances from the university that you would have full support to get that done?

I don¡¯t think there is anything negative about Penn State. I have been here so long and have recruited against other programs across the country that you don¡¯t use negative recruiting against Penn State. I don¡¯t think there is one thing negative about Penn State. I am going to be as positive as positive can be. That is the only way I can be. I think we have everything in place to be a top 25 program year in and year out. That is my dream. How long it takes to get there? I can¡¯t tell you. That is my dream, that is my goal and that is what I am going to strive for. We will have the full support of Dr. Spanier and Tim Curley to do whatever we need to do to be successful. It comes down on me. I have to go do it and I will do it. My staff will work extremely hard to do it. I put a note on Pam¡¯s desk last night. I was in here at 11:00 p.m. last night and I wrote a note on Pam Byron¡¯s desk stating, "Are you ready to win the Big Ten Championship?" That is everyday for me. I walk in and motivate my staff. I motivate my players. I motivate everybody around me. Every day is a great day, just try missing one. We are going forward and I have energy and enthusiasm for this. I think that if you were to talk to a former player that I had an opportunity to recruit and touched their lives somewhat, I think they would all say, "There is nobody who loves the place more than him." When I walk into a young man¡¯s home and talk to him about Penn State, I think he can see the passion in my eyes and feel the passion in the room that I have for the university. That is what I bring and that is what we are going to try to do. That is why we are going to be successful.

Is it Ed or Eddie?

Just don¡¯t call me names. (laughter) Ed or Eddie, just don¡¯t call me names.

The kind of kids you recruited before under Bruce were basically kids that were not in any kind of academic trouble that I can remember. Do you have any sort of template in the kind of kid that you want independent of their basketball skill and will you follow that?

When I worked for Coach Parkhill, he made it very, very simple to us. He said, "We want good kids that can graduate from this institution and can represent this institution." I followed that template at East Tennessee State. I wanted good kids who worked extremely hard who were good people and who were going to graduate from the university. I don¡¯t think that changes. What happened to us years ago when I was here is that we got we good players that happened to have all of those other things. My first priority is that type of kid. He has to have a heart. I have never been a guy that looked at a recruiting list and said, "He is rated this and that is the guy for us." To me, it is my own eye and my own evaluation that I have always followed through on my gut. Some guys have taken me to see players who are rated this and that and I just don¡¯t like him. He doesn¡¯t have that sparkle that I am looking for. That is the thing that you don¡¯t see in any kind of list. That is very, very special to me.

Are you willing to take risks with a kid who may have academic problems?

I am not going to do that. I am going to recruit kids who can graduate. I am not going to take risks. This is my life, my family¡¯s life and the university. We are not going to take risks on young men. I think somewhere along the way those kind of guys can get you in trouble. To me it is very, very solid kids. Some of the guys that, obviously, we recruited here weren¡¯t some stature high profile guys. Calvin Booth wasn¡¯t a high profile guy. Calvin Booth had a sparkle and he battled. Matt Gaudio wasn¡¯t a high profile guy, but those kids just competed. That is the thing that I am fortunate, I think, that I have in that I can see that fire in kids and that competitive spirit that they have. We are not going to take any risks and there aren¡¯t any shortcuts. I have never found a shortcut to success. Usually, with my family, when we take a shortcut, we get lost. I don¡¯t want to get lost. I think one of the most important things you can do when you are trying to get this thing, you have to stay the course. I think sometimes coaches get sideways. I am not going to get sideways. I didn¡¯t get sideways at East Tennessee State. It was a tough situation. I walked into a real mess, but we never got sideways. I have always felt that what I believed was right and kept with it and there weren¡¯t any shortcuts.

How tough was it for you to face your players at East Tennessee State, especially the younger kids like Timmy Smith?

I told my wife afterwards, "You know my dad died 22 years ago and talking to the ETSU players was the hardest thing I had to do since then." They were just a great group of kids that worked extremely hard. They gave me everything they possibly had throughout the year. I am very, very emotional about them.