The shirts in the crowd read “Experience The Attitude”, as if every Penn State student, fan, media member, and employee in attendance wasn’t already chomping at the bit to do so.

A new era of Penn State basketball began yesterday at the Bryce Jordan Center when head coach Pat Chambers was introduced to fans and media in attendance and all those watching live on the Big Ten Network.

Penn State announcer Steve Jones, President Graham Spanier, and Athletic Director Tim Curley spoke before handing the show over to Chambers.

And that’s when it became official.

This is what we’ve been waiting for, Penn State.

A coach who wants to get his hands dirty to build the Penn State basketball program by standing on tables in campus dining halls and pounding the pavement on the fertile recruiting trails of Philadelphia.

A coach who greeted the students at his last school by jumping on the scorer’s table and screaming the school’s name.

A coach who played for the winningest coach in college basketball history in Herb Magee and coached under one of the Big East’s best in Jay Wright, learning what it takes to create a winning basketball program.

A coach who promotes himself and his basketball program through community interaction, social media, and even a personal blog.

A coach who once survived a life-threatening stabbing, and who uses the bloody clothes from that incident as a reminder of the man that he has become.

A coach who demands that his team to scrap on defense and push the ball on offense, playing all 40 minutes with attitude and mental toughness.

A coach who sees what he calls a “sleeping giant” at Penn State and is ready to wake that giant up with dynamite.

A coach who “gets it”.

Our coach.

Welcome, Coach Chambers.