Penn State announced on Monday that Micah Shrewsberry will be the next head coach for the Nittany Lions. This comes after Jim Ferry led the team to an 11-14 record as interim head coach in the 2020-21 season.

Fans were generally excited to hear about Shrewsberry’s hire. But people still may have concerns over experience or lack of knowledge of who he is.

To get a better idea of what he’ll bring to Happy Valley, here is what you need to know about Penn State’s newest head coach.

Shrewsberry was a point guard at Hanover College from 1995 to 1999. After he graduated, he immediately went into coaching, joining the staff of Division III Indiana-based Wabash College for a season. He got his first head coaching job at Indiana University South Bend, where he went 15-48 as head coach in two seasons.

His time there managed to get the attention of then-Butler head coach Brad Stevens, who invited Shrewsberry to join the staff in 2008. While he was there, the Bulldogs had the best stretch in their basketball program’s history.

Every year Shrewsberry was a part of Butler’s coaching staff, it made the tournament. In 2010 and 2011, he was a major factor in the two teams going to back-to-back NCAA Tournament Championship Games. Unfortunately, Butler was unable to win either, falling to Duke in 2010 and UConn in 2011.

Shrewsberry would leave the Bulldogs in 2011 to join Matt Painter’s staff at Purdue for two seasons. In his first campaign, the Boilermakers made it to the second round of the Big Dance before losing to No. 2 Kansas. In his second season, they would finish with a losing record and not qualify for the postseason.

When Stevens got hired by the Boston Celtics to be their new head coach, he called Shrewsberry to join his staff. In 2013, he was officially an NBA coach. working on the defensive side of the ball for the Celtics until 2019.

During that time, he was able to work with stars of the game such as Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, Isaiah Thomas, and more. He played a key role in developing those players, especially Smart, who became well known for his defensive performances.

By 2019, Shrewsberry missed the college game. He returned to Painter’s staff at Purdue as an assistant coach. In his return, the team went 16-15. However, during the 2020-21 season, the Boilermakers are back in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed largely thanks to his skills as a coach.

So what does all this experience mean for the Nittany Lions? For starters, Shrewsberry has a great recruiting pitch as he has worked with some of the best young stars in the NBA. But he also has Big Ten experience. He knows the level of competition and he knows what it takes to win in the conference. He also has tournament experience, which may pay off if he does a good job recruiting and developing the team.

Overall, Penn State fans should be excited about this hire. There’s a lot of work to be done. But on paper, Shrewsberry seems like the man for the job.