June 3, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; JUNE 3, 2013 - Penn State basketball coach Patrick Chambers today announced the promotion of third-year assistant coaches Brian Daly and Keith Urgo to associate head coach positions in the Nittany Lion program.
"Brian and Keith are tireless workers, tremendously loyal and passionate about our program and Penn State University," Chambers said. "They have demonstrated their excellence both on the court and in recruiting, and I have complete trust and faith in both of them. They are totally committed not only to our basketball program but to the University and this community."
Both Daly and Urgo were among Chambers' first hires upon taking over the Penn State program in June of 2011. In addition to their current coaching, scouting and recruiting responsibilities they will both be involved in overseeing the day-to-day operation of the program including organizing and running staff meetings, coordinating staff operations, organizing recruiting and official visits and representing the program at community events and in various media engagements.
A Philadelphia native, Daly followed Chambers from Boston University where he served two years first as an assistant and then as associate head coach for teams that posted back-to-back 21-win seasons, won the 2011 America East title and reached the 2011 NCAA Tournament. A former Philadelphia Player of the Year at Monsignor Bonner High School who went on to become a four-year letterman at Saint Joseph's helping the Hawks to two Big 5 championships, Daly served the previous four years as the head coach at Monsignor Bonner guiding the team to the Catholic League playoffs in each season. A member of the school's hall of fame and the program's second all-time leading scorer (1,253), he also guided Monsignor Bonner from 1996-2002 before departing to serve as an assistant at Arcadia University (2002-03).
A native of Washington, D.C., Urgo came to Penn State after four seasons on Jay Wright's staff at Villanova. He served two of those four seasons working alongside Chambers on Wildcat teams that reached the 2008 Sweet 16 and 2009 NCAA Final Four. A standout basketball and lacrosse player at Fairfield University, Urgo previously served on the coaching staff at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. from 2004-06. He also developed a non-profit organization, "Playing for Peace, Inc.," designed to advance conflict resolution in countries such as South Africa, Northern Ireland, Israel and Greece.
Penn State will return three of its top five scorers and rebounders from 2012-13 and the top two returning scorers in the Big Ten in guards D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) who will form one of the most potent backcourts in the nation. Newbill, a rising junior, earned honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors while finishing fifth in the conference in scoring posting 16.3 ppg last year. Frazier, a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2012 after finishing second in the Big Ten posting 18.8 ppg, received a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA and a fifth season of eligibility after playing in just four games in 2012-13 after suffering an Achilles tendon injury. Rising junior forward Ross Travis (Chaska, Minn.) is the second leading returning rebounder in the Big Ten after finishing fifth in the conference last year (7.4 rpg). He posted double-doubles in three of his last seven games and will join rising sophomore Brandon Taylor (Tabernacle, N.J.), who made 32 threes in his freshman season, to anchor the frontcourt. Penn State posted a 10-21 record, but knocked of No. 4-ranked and eventual NCAA Tournament runner-up Michigan (84-78) in late February in Chambers' second season at the helm.
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