UNIVERSITY PARK — Before Patrick Chambers sat beside Jay Wright on Villanova’s bench at the Final Four, he sold pharmaceuticals to hospitals and medical offices. He worked in sales for his family’s printing company, then went to basketball practice in the evenings.

After successfully selling himself to Penn State administrators, Chambers now turns his attention to a task that few coaches have been able to achieve on a consistent basis — selling Penn State to the nation’s top basketball recruits.

Hope that Chambers possesses that kind of salesmanship flooded the south gymnasium of the Bryce Jordan Center on Monday as the Nittany Lions introduced their new men’s basketball coach to media, fans and a large section of Chambers’ family.

Penn State president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley both mentioned Chambers’ promotion skills — he has a degree in marketing from Philadelphia University — when discussing what made him an attractive candidate.

“You are going to see him, you are going to know him, he’s going to win a lot of games for us,” Spanier said.

“You can certainly see his personality is one of a great salesman,” Curley said.

“That played an important part for us. Much of recruiting is about selling and we felt that with his background of being in the sales business it was a great combination.”

Chambers, 39, believes his business background has helped him on the recruiting trail, as it did for his mentor. Wright worked as a marketer for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL before becoming one of college basketball’s top coaches. Chambers credits his older brothers with helping him learn to be “tastefully aggressive” as a salesman.

“You want to get an account but you don’t want to be in somebody’s face all the time,” Chambers said. “You don’t want to be obnoxious.”

Chambers said Monday that, although he was enjoying his job as the head coach of Boston University, which extended his contract in early May, he’d had his eye on the Penn State job for a long time. When Ed DeChellis resigned and went to Navy on May 22, Chambers started preparing.

“I thought when his time was up here that I would be ready and that I would be a viable candidate,” the Newtown Square native said. “And it just happened sooner than I thought.”

Chambers, 39, is the Big Ten’s youngest head coach and just seven years removed from his first major-college job, which was director of basketball operations for Wright.

“It’s highly unusual the path that I took to a high-major job,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it’s unheard of. I’m very fortunate and very grateful for this opportunity.”

Chambers has heard all the stories about Penn State being a difficult place to coach. The team has made just three NCAA tournament appearances in the last 20 years and has finished above .500 in conference play only twice in 18 Big Ten seasons.

“That’s why they hired me. I have to change the perception,” Chambers said. “And I think we’ve done that. If you look at the tweets and the facebooks and the positive things that have been written so far, we’re slowly changing perception. And that’s phase one.

“Phase 2, you’ve got to get out in the community. You’ve got to recruit the best players you can recruit. And then you’ve got to win some games.”

As of Monday evening, Chambers’ Twitter page, updated with a Penn State background, had added nearly 1,000 followers since his hire on Friday.

Fans are excited, but they also want to know if Chambers, who agreed to a five-year contract, has the full support of the administration, as both Curley and Spanier said he did Monday, and exactly what that means. Curley said that Penn State’s coaches have had access to the university planes for recruiting trips and that Chambers will “have access to those as well.”

The athletic director also answered questions about the handful of practices the Nittany Lions spent in the Intramural Building this past season due to scheduling conflicts with Jordan Center.

“We need to make sure that we don’t get knocked out of the gym for an extended period of time,” Curley said. “We know it’s going to happen on occasion. We’ve worked with the people in the Jordan Center. I don’t think that’s going to happen again.”

Chambers, who told a story about having to share the gymnasium with the softball team at Villanova, doesn’t intend on letting it bother him if it does.

“That might happen again. It could happen again,” he said. “This is the Bryce Jordan Center — they have events here. You know what? I’m a solution-driven guy. Find solutions. What, am I going to sit here and complain? Why do we have to dwell on the problem? Let’s dwell on the solution.

“Every coach in the country goes through something. We’re going to go through some things,” Chambers added. “That’s all right. Let’s not blow it out of proportion.”

Penn State’s new coach knows that, to get the Nittany Lions to the next level, he must improve recruiting. That’s the area in which he believes he can make a difference.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a jet. It doesn’t matter if you have a bus. It doesn’t matter. As long as you have good relationships, and you recruit the right kids for Penn State, you can get it done,” Chambers said. “I firmly believe that, or I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Curley said he planned to meet with Chambers later Monday to discuss how they would fill out the rest of the coaching staff. DeChellis assistant Kurt Kanaskie was on hand for the news conference. Chambers’ staff at Boston included Dwayne Killings, who took a job at Temple last week; Brian Daly, who was named the Terriers’ interim coach on Friday; assistant Ross Condon and director of operations Adam Fisher, a former Penn State manager. Chambers said his goal was to make sure everyone from both staffs wound up with a job.

“I will remain loyal to my staff at BU, because they know what I like they know who I am and they know how hard I work,” Chambers said. “And that’s a seamless transition, when you’ve got guys who know your model.”

Chambers will spend the rest of the week visiting the current players and incoming recruits. Other than Dayton transfer Juwan Staten, who decided Saturday to attend West Virginia, all of the other Nittany Lions still intend to return.

“The prior regime offered them a scholarship for four years. I’m going to stick by that,” Chambers said. “I know I have to win games, I know it’s a business — I get all that. But that’s a decision that was made, and we’re going to follow through with that decision.”

Jeff Rice can be reached at 231-4609.