With the opening for a men’s head basketball coach at Penn State the focus of the athletic department at the moment, many names have been floated on who could and should replace Micah Shrewsberry.
Assistant coach Adam Fisher has been a popular name among the former players. Recently, a report surfaced that Penn State might be eyeing Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry.
Longtime Penn State assistant Keith Urgo was highlighted as someone to keep an eye on regarding the open position. Urgo was an assistant for nine years in State College, coaching under Pat Chambers for the majority of the time.
In 2021, Urgo left to be the associate head coach of Fordham and was eventually named the head coach for the 2022-23 season after Kyle Neptune left for Villanova.
However, rumors about him returning to State College were put to bed on Friday after he signed a long-term contract extension with the Rams that keeps him in the Bronx until at least the 2027-28 season. Urgo led Fordham to a 25-8 record, the second most wins in program history. This earned him Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year honors.
Sources: Fordham is finalizing a contract extension for Keith Urgo through the 2027-28 season.
Urgo was the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and led the Rams to 25 wins.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 15, 2023
Urgo may have never been a realistic candidate for the job. Even with his past ties to Penn State, he doesn’t have a connection with the current athletic department.
Big picture, this might be a good thing for the program overall. It would have been easy for it to go back to something familiar, such as a past assistant to take over the program. That’s not a shot at Urgo. He proved he has the ability to be a great coach this past season at Fordham.
But this is an opportunity for Penn State’s athletic department to show it is actually committed to building a basketball program by devoting finances and resources to improve the current infrastructure.
This hire has to be the right one, not the easy one.
