Lions look to retool attitude:
“Ed DeChellis vividly remembers the line of students extending from Rec Hall, all the way down Burrowes Street to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. Fans waited for hours and some even camped out overnight in Rec Hall — for basketball tickets.
“Back then, from 1986 to 1996, DeChellis served as a Penn State men’s basketball assistant coach, first a nine-year stint under Bruce Parkhill and then a year under Jerry Dunn.
“In that 10-year span, Penn State had seven winning seasons, an Atlantic 10 tournament title, and four NIT and two NCAA tournament appearances.
“Back then, students supported a winning basketball program.
“But since DeChellis left Penn State nine years ago to accept a job as head coach at East Tennessee State University, something changed. In fact, a lot changed, and when DeChellis returned to his alma mater to accept a head coaching job in April 2003, after seven years at East Tennessee State, Penn State basketball wasn’t what he remembered. …”