Aki Collins, Mike Farrelly Hired As Penn State Basketball Assistant Coaches
Update, 11:50 a.m.: Penn State men’s basketball officially welcomed Mike Farrelly to its coaching staff Monday morning.
After spending eight seasons at Hofstra, Farrelly will now join Aki Collins as an assistant coach and will serve under newly hired associate head coach Adam Fisher.
Along with that trio, former Penn State stars Talor Battle and Nick Colella will return to the coaching staff. Battle, the program’s all-time leading scorer, served as an assistant coach last season and will now work under Micah Shrewsberry as assistant to the head coach.
Colella, who already has eight years on the staff under his belt, will work as the program’s chief of staff.
Original Story: New Penn State men’s basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry has reportedly filled out his coaching staff.
Aki Collins has joined Shrewsberry’s staff for the 2020-21 hoops season and is reportedly joined by Mike Farrelly. Farrelly and Collins join Adam Fisher as the new assistant coaches to join the program this offseason.
Collins was officially announced as one of the new assistant coaches last Wednesday. He was most recently the director of basketball operations for the University of New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference. He was previously an amateur scout for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA, and an assistant coach at Memphis and Marquette.
Collins brings an impressive recruiting resume to State College. He helped recruit a top-five class to Memphis back in 2013. He also worked together with Shrewsberry back in the early 2000s when they were on the same staff at Marshall.
According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Farrelly will reportedly join the Nittany Lions soon. Farrelly was at Hofstra for the last eight seasons, including a stint as the interim head coach this winter. He led the Pride to a 13-10 record in the 2020-21 season.
The New York City native is an alumnus of St. Joe’s and played under legendary Red Hawks coach and current Michigan assistant Phil Martelli. Following his college career, Farrelly was an assistant at Niagara, Mount Saint Mary, and Wilkes University.
Collins, Fisher, and Farrelly round out Shrewsberry’s full-time coaching staff as the new head man of the Nittany Lions’ program will try to rebuild a Penn State program that has seen a majority of its players enter the transfer portal.
Your ad blocker is on.
Please choose an option below.
Purchase a Subscription!