UNIVERSITY PARK — Patrick Chambers took another step toward opening the pipeline from Philadelphia to State College on Thursday.
Six days after becoming Penn State’s men’s basketball coach, Chambers added Eugene Burroughs, a Philadelphia native and former Navy and Hofstra assistant, to his staff.
“I am excited to be a part of the Penn State basketball family,” Burroughs said in a university release. “Having the opportunity to work with coach Chambers is exciting. His passion and energy is unbelievable. I’m very confident that Penn State will be a consistent contender in the Big Ten under his leadership.”
Burroughs spent the last seven seasons coaching with Billy Lange at Navy, working specifically with guards. Lange’s decision to become associate head coach at Villanova in early May opened the door for Ed DeChellis to leave Penn State for Annapolis.
Burroughs was a prep teammate of Chambers’ at Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia. He was a point guard at the University of Richmond, serving as co-captain as a senior, and made assistant coaching stops at American (1996-97), Hofstra (under current Villanova coach Jay Wright from 1997-2000) and Marist (2000-04) before going to Navy.
“I have known coach Burroughs for over 20 years,” Chambers said in the release. “He has experience, knowledge and great passion for the game. Being a former player, he will be able to relate to the players and the challenges they will endure on and off the court.”
Chambers expressed a desire earlier this week to ensure that everyone on his staff at Boston University as well as the holdovers from the DeChellis staff (assistants Kurt Kanaskie and Dan Earl) wound up with a job.
