2× Patriot League Coach of the Year (2021, 2022) Big Ten Coach of the Year (2009) SoCon Coach of the Year (2001)
Edward Richard DeChellis (born November 14, 1958) is an American college basketball coach and current head men's basketball coach at the United States Naval Academy. Previously he was the head coach at Penn State from 2003 to 2011 and at East Tennessee State from 1996 to 2003. At Penn State, DeChellis led the Nittany Lions to an NIT title in 2009 and an NCAA tournament berth in 2011. DeChellis' years at East Tennessee State yielded three conference division titles and one NCAA tournament berth. He was named the head coach at Navy in 2011, following the departure of Billy Lange.
DeChellis received the 2009 Big Ten Coach of the Year award and 2006 National Coaches vs. Cancer Man of the Year. He was born in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania suburb of Monaca and has three daughters with his wife Kim.[1]
In 2003, DeChellis inherited a Penn State team that had gone 7–21 the previous two seasons. In his first two seasons, Penn State won only 9 and 7 games, respectively, before finishing 15–15 in 2005–06. During this time, DeChellis recruited Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley to PSU.
Despite DeChellis' widely critiqued decision to release promising sophomore Milos Bogetic from his scholarship,[2] the 2007–08 Nittany Lions entertained hopes of being a dark-horse contender in the Big Ten Conference and possibly even winning enough games to get into the NCAA tournament. Those hopes were quickly disintegrated when senior forward Geary Claxton went down with an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January. The Lions were plagued with more injuries, when junior forward Jamelle Cornley battled a bruised knee all season. The Lions went 15–16 in the 2007–08 season in a team that started four freshman in the end. Highlights included upset wins over top-10-ranked Michigan State and top-20-ranked Indiana.
DeChellis led the Lions to a 21–10 regular season in 2008–09, equaling the Penn State record for regular-season wins. The Nittany Lions were 10–8 in the Big Ten, the most for Penn State since 1995–96.[3] DeChellis was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.[3] The Nittany Lions went on to win the 2009 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), the first national tournament title in Penn State men's basketball history.[4]
In the 2010–11 season, DeChellis' Nittany Lions earned a spot in the NCAA tournament, the school's first since 2000–01. The 10th-seeded Lions fell in the opening round to the 7th-seeded Temple Owls.
On May 23, 2011, it was announced that DeChellis would leave Penn State to become the head coach at Navy.[5]
DeChellis holds a bachelor's degree from Penn State University.[1]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion