The farther Penn State Basketball has advanced in the Big Ten Tournament, the more head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s name has been floated for other Power 6 jobs.
Georgetown has made Shrewsberry a top candidate for their coaching vacancy after he has led the Nittany Lions to the NCAA Tournament, in just his second season.
Shrewsberry would be foolish to leave Penn State Basketball for Georgetown. Especially at a time that new Athletic Director Pat Kraft has made significant investment in the football program, and just might be able to replicate that spending for basketball.
It may surprise some people based on the history of each program, but going forward Penn State Basketball is going to be a better job than Georgetown and it would make sense for Shrewsberry to stay in State College.
There isn’t a question that Georgetown has been the more dominant program in the past.
The Hoyas won a National Championship in 1984, and have been to 5 Final Fours in their 31 trips to the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, Penn State on the other hand, has made the Final Four just once in 9 NCAA Tournament Appearances.
However, the future of the sport and potential of Penn State leads the future over Georgetown, which is why Shrewsberry should stick around.
Penn State Basketball is also now uniquely positioned to take a monumental leap forward in the immediate future.
Shrewsberry is fresh off signing the highest-rated recruiting class in program history, and with Jim Boeheim Jay Wright, and Mike Brey retired, there is no reason Penn State Basketball can’t emerge as the dominant northeast program on the recruiting trail which could lead to transcendent success on the court.
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There are also a couple key reasons Penn State Basketball is a better job than Georgetown
TV Revenue
Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it will continue to be successful.
The landscape has changed immensely in the last decade since Georgetown was a perennial power in the NCAA Tournament. Starting with conference expansion, the Big Ten and SEC have been setting themselves up for future domination in football but that is going to shift into basketball as well.
The conferences recently have signed massive TV deals that will pay upwards of $62.5 million per school annually.
The Big East is a basketball only conference that does its TV deals separately. The current TV deal with Fox for the conference is set to expire in 2025 but many experts are expecting payout annually per school to be somewhere in the $6-8 Million range which is up from the current contract that gives $2-$3 million.
That is a far cry from the revenue that Big 10 schools will be pulling in at that time. Penn State would have the ability to give that $6-8 and still have $50+ million leftover to go towards football. They could also put more into basketball by giving $10 million and blow the Big East teams out of the water.
If it gets into a money battle, there isn’t much Georgetown could do to keep up with a team like Penn State.
Alumni Base
There isn’t a question that Georgetown alumni are some of the wealthiest alumni bases in the country.
Plenty of graduates enter the business or political world and end up giving money back to the school.
From the size of an alumni base and passion for sports, Penn State has the edge.
Penn State has 750,000 living alumni around the world, while Georgetown has 215,000. Strictly from a numbers side Penn State has more people to ask than Georgetown.
The passion of Penn State sports is something that the athletic department could tap into for basketball. The popularity of Wrestling, Ice Hockey, and Women’s Volleyball prove that if you can win, the primarily football fanbase will back your sport.
Penn State hasn’t made an effort in the past to push the basketball program, but the time seems to be changing with the hiring of new Athletic Director Pat Kraft.
If the department can tap into the massive alumni base the sky’s the limit for Penn State.
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