A familiar face is about to take over the Penn State men's basketball program. Ed DeChellis, a Monaca native and a 1982 Penn State graduate, will be introduced today as the program's 11th head coach. He will replace Jerry Dunn, who resigned three weeks ago. "I'm very excited about the opportunity to return to Penn State," DeChellis said in a prepared statement. "Having spent a decade at Penn State, the university has always held a special place in my heart." DeChellis, 44, worked at Penn State as a graduate assistant from 1982-84 and as an assistant coach from 1986-96. He spent the past seven seasons as coach at East Tennessee State, where he went 105-93 and twice was named Southern Conference coach of the year. This season, the Buccaneers went 20-11, won the SoCon championship, and lost to Wake Forest, 76-73, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. "We are thrilled to welcome Ed DeChellis back to Penn State," Nittany Lions athletic director Tim Curley said. "Ed was instrumental in the recruitment of some of the greatest players to plat at Penn State." Several former Penn State players -- including All-Big Ten picks Pete Lisicky, Dan Earl and Matt Gaudio -- lobbied university president Graham Spanier to hire DeChellis. "Coach DeChellis had a great relationship with all the players, knows the game of basketball, was a great teacher and can recruit," Earl said. "I don't know what else you could want from a coach." Said Gaudio, "I cannot think of a better person to be Penn State's basketball coach." After graduating from Center Township High School in 1977, DeChellis played two seasons at Penn State-Beaver and two at the main campus. As an assistant, DeChellis worked under the Lions' past three coaches: Dunn, Bruce Parkhill and Dick Harter. Among the half-dozen all-conference standouts DeChellis recruited were Lisicky, Earl, Calvin Booth, Jarrett Stephens and John Amaechi. In 1997, DeChellis moved to East Tennessee State. He inheirited a team that was coming off a 7-20 season and had no returning starters. In 2000-01, the Bucs went 18-10 and won the league's regular-season title. This season, they nabbed their third straight SoCon North Division crown and earned their first NCAA tourney bid since 1992. Under DeChellis, East Tennessee State has been among the highest-scoring teams in the Southern Conference. The Bucs averaged 82 points per game this season. "Ed has demonstrated the ability to recruit and lead student-athletes, playing an exciting brand of basketball," Curley said. "He has developed a strong program across the board (at ETSU)." Despite his success at East Tennessee State, DeChellis seemed eager to move on. He was considered for the job at Duquesne two years ago, but lost out to Danny Nee. A year ago, he interviewed at the College of Charleston. DeChellis is the fourth Penn State grad to coach the Lions baksetball team, joining Burke Hermann (1916-17, 1920-32), Elmer Gross (1950-54) and John Egli (1955-68).

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