Photo Credit: AP Photo/Laura Rauch

Jim Boylen’s name surfaced just hours following a statement released by Jeff Lebo denying the intense speculation surrounding his possible candidacy for the Penn State job.

Despite speculation from various national media reports, East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo confirmed Thursday that he hasn’t been contacted about coaching vacancies at any other institutions.

“My family and I are very happy at East Carolina and I am committed to continuing to build the basketball program here,” Lebo reiterated.

“We made great strides this past season and I’m looking forward to the upcoming season” he added, to bring closure to the situation.

A relief to many Penn State fans closely following the coaching search. Initial reaction over a possible Lebo candidacy was predominantly negative considering his struggles at Auburn. His resume read so much like that of Ed DeChellis’, we might as well have given DeChellis another contract extension. Lebo struggled in conference play, failed to reach the NCAA tournament and only led the Tigers to one season with a winning SEC record. The Tigers eventually terminated Lebo with 2 years still remaining on his contract.

We’ve already seen what happens when Lebo is put in charge of a rebuilding project at a power-conference football school with little basketball tradition. There is no reason why Lebo would fare any better in the Big Ten.

But unlike Lebo, Jim Boylen has extensive experience working and recruiting in the Big Ten and has actually coached his team to the NCAA tournament. The former Tom Izzo protégé is familiar with the league and its nuances having done 2 stints at Michigan State, once in 1987-92 and again in 2005-07. During his second stint with the Spartans he played an integral part in Michigan State’s 45-23 run that also included 2 NCAA tournament appearances.

Boylen began his coaching career as an assistant under legendary Michigan State head coach Jud Heathcote. He would stay there from 1987 to 1992 before accepting a position with the NBA’s Houston Rockets. As an assistant coach with the Rockets, Boylen would go on to win two NBA Championships and helped coach both Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming. After his 11 year stint with Houston, Boylen became an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors and then the Milwaukee Bucks. After 13 years of coaching in the NBA, he returned to Michigan State as an assistant with the Spartans, in part because he wanted to tend to his ill father. As Izzo’s top assistant, he helped lead Michigan State to a 45–23 record in two years, including two NCAA appearances.

He was named the head coach at Utah in 2008 where he compiled a 69-60 record (32-32 in MWC play) in 4 seasons. With the Utes, he utilized the experience and expertise he picked up throughout his career as an assistant in the pros and college ranks.

Unlike many college programs that rely on guard play and 3-pointers, Boylen recruits big men. His teams flow through good center play both on offense and defense, something he learned while assisting former Houston coach and Michigan graduate Rudy Tomjanovich. While there, he worked with Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming and saw how much success the Rockets had running their offense through the big guy. Everything Utah does, from defense to floor spacing, has NBA influence.

Boylen led the Utes to a Mountain West Conference title in his second season with a 24-10 campaign which earned his squad a #5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But his Utes were ultimately hurt by player attrition. After losing several key players from that MWC title squad to graduation, his teams were unable to reload limping to consecutive losing seasons; finishing with 17 losses in 2009 (second worst total in 2 decades for the Utah program), and 18 losses in 2010. Back-to-back losing seasons in MWC play fostered a lack of confidence in Boylen’s ability to lead the Utes as they transition to the more competitive Pac-12 conference next season and Utah eventually fired Boylen in March.

Though Boylen wouldn’t be my pick for the job, his candidacy is a promising sign that Penn State is indeed conducting a coaching search that isn’t limited to the Parkhill coaching tree.