Penn State men’s basketball’s new head coach Micah Shrewsberry has had a busy first week or so in State College.

After being hired earlier this month, the former Purdue assistant has already gotten a tour of campus, started recruiting, stopped by Penn State football’s Pro Day, and joined the Penn State Coaches Show Thursday night.

The hiring of Shrewsberry was largely considered a huge success by Penn State’s fan base, as his vast experience in the NBA and college basketball truly speaks for itself. He’s spent multiple years alongside Brad Stevens, and helped him coach stars such as Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving while with the Boston Celtics.

While that impressive resume clearly stood out to Penn State Athletics, Happy Valley also seemed like the obvious choice for Shrewsberry and his family.

“Having the chance to talk with Dr. Barron, with Sandy [Barbour]… everyone in the athletic administration that I’ve met with and talked with. There was just a good feeling about it,” Shrewsberry said. “I’m a people person, and this place is full of great people. That was really attractive to me.”

Shrewsberry’s first official move as headman in Happy Valley was the hiring of Adam Fisher as associate head coach. Fisher is a Penn State alumnus and spent time in Happy Valley as a graduate assistant before spending eight seasons as an assistant coach at Miami.

He plans on adding more coaches to his staff soon, but Shrewsberry is plenty excited to have Fisher alongside him as they try to build the program.

“What a stud. When I got this job I really zeroed in on him,” Shrewsberry said. “Our values really matched and aligned the more that we started talking. I was thrilled to try and get him back. He has Penn State blue and white blood running through him, and he’s gonna be a huge part of what we’re doing.

“He’s a rising superstar in this business,” Shrewsberry added.

As he continues to build a staff around him, Shrewsberry’s next pressing task is without a doubt recruiting players. Along with building a class that’s lost multiple stars since Pat Chambers’ resignation, the 44-year old will need to recruit several players back into the program.

Just a day after Shrewsberry was hired, six players reportedly entered the transfer portal, including key leaders John Harrar and Jamari Wheeler, and younger stars such as Izaiah Brockington and Myreon Jones.

That doesn’t mean all of those stars are officially long gone from the program. However, Shrewsberry clearly faces a tall task in convincing at least some of that core talent to return to a university they aren’t necessarily pleased with.

It’s not an ideal situation at the moment, but Shrewsberry remains confident that he can build strong relationships with those players.

“With the new rules it’s gonna be something that comes up every year,” Shrewsberry said. “I’m brand new to them. We’ve had a lot of phone calls, a lot of facetimes. “We’re building those relationships, and I’m hopeful and my fingers are crossed they feel the same way about me that I do about them.

“I told them all that I want them all back,” Shrewsberry added.

As Shrewsberry continues to build his presence here in Happy Valley, along with his team and staff around him, his faith in the program won’t waver. The Nittany Lions are clearly in a much different place than they were last March, as a trip to the Big Dance was locked in and it seemed Chambers’ hard work had finally paid off.

Things didn’t play out that way for Penn State, but Shrewsberry is urging the fan base to buy in to what he’s building.

“I truly am excited,” Shrewsberry said. “Stick with us. We’re excited and we can’t wait to get going. We’re gonna have a great group of guys and we’re gonna make everybody proud. That’s our goal every single night.”