Micah Shrewsberry comments on lessons he learned at Penn State

Last basketball season, Micah Shrewsberry led the Penn State Nittany Lions to their best season in over two decades. The Blue and White fell just short in the Big Ten title game against Purdue but won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2001. However, they were unable to overcome Texas in the Round of 32. Since then, Shrewsberry moved on to Notre Dame and recently had a chance to reflect on his time in Happy Valley.

Micah Shrewsberry and the Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State basketball was Micah Shrewsberry’s first notable job as a head coach. However, taking over the Nittany Lions was no small task. The Blue and White are primarily known for their football and wrestling programs, with sports like lacrosse and hockey gaining traction in recent years.

Basketball, on the other hand, was not traditionally a sport that Penn State fans were highly invested in or proud of until the 2022-23 season. In just a few years as the head coach at PSU, Shrewsberry elevated the program to a national level. His final Penn State team ended the school’s NCAA tournament drought since 2011 and secured their first tournament win since 2001, finishing with an impressive 23-14 record.

It was a remarkable year for the Penn State Nittany Lions, although the celebration and optimism were short-lived. Shortly after the season ended, Shrewsberry accepted the head coaching position at his home state of Indiana with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Lions swiftly hired Mike Rhoades, a Pennsylvania native and former coach of the VCU Rams, to commence their rebuilding process ahead of the 2023-24 season.

New Notre Dame basketball coach talks Penn State and more

Recently, Micah Shrewsberry reflected on his time with the Penn State Nittany Lions, sharing a breakdown of the major lessons he learned during his tenure as head coach in Happy Valley.

“I think the experiences, right now when you’re a new coach that’s taking over a new situation, whether they were winning or losing, you’re going to have to deal with some kind of roster turnover,” Shrewsberry explained to Jon Rothstein. “Walking into Penn State where we had that before I got there, there was a lot of change, there was a lot of turnover.”

Turning around the Penn State Nittany Lions was a formidable challenge, but Micah Shrewsberry managed to achieve remarkable results in just a few seasons, elevating the Blue and White to national prominence. His success has generated excitement among Notre Dame fans, who are eagerly anticipating a promising future under his leadership.

“The other thing is just the experiences of going against the other coaches in the Big Ten. The Big Ten is a basketball league and you’re learning and every single night right,” Shrewsberry said.

“I wasn’t always perfect, I made mistakes, but just learning through those mistakes and now the things that we can go back and lean on of how we become the best program that we can be at Notre Dame is how I can be the best coach that I can be for our guys is all things that I learned in these two years here at Penn State.”

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