And the search for Penn State’s next basketball coach is officially underway. Those within the program have reported that Tim Curley has retained the services of Eddie Fogler in his search for Ed DeChellis’ replacement.

Though the former North Carolina point guard is probably more recognizable as the former coach at Vanderbilt and South Carolina, he now serves as an advisor to schools searching for a head basketball coach. There is plenty to like about Penn State soliciting his services in the search for Ed’s replacement. First and foremost, Fogler is one of the best search consultants for basketball coaches in the country. He has been involved in numerous high profile hires the past few years including; Tony Barbee to Auburn, Tom Crean to Indiana, Darrin Horn to South Carolina, promoting assistant Frank Martin for the Kansas State job and most recently, finding and hiring Brian Gregory to replace Paul Hewitt at Georgia Tech.

Secondly, by bringing in Fogler Penn State makes a strong statement that they are truly conducting a legitimate search and financially willing to find the right fit. You don’t hire a major consultant to eventually lowball coaching candidates. More importantly, this is a definitive message to Penn State fans that Tim Curley and the administration is taking a different approach from the previous hires of Jerry Dunn and Ed DeChellis. Both Dunn and DeChellis were former assistants under previous Penn State head coach Bruce Parkhill and were disappointing hires from the outset. Eventually both ended in abject failure.

Fogler has absolutely no ties to Penn State, never played here, never coached here and never lived in Pennsylvania. He represents a breath of fresh air the program truly needs to finally separate itself from it’s middling past and search outside the Penn State box for a head coach. Let’s just say Dunn and DeChellis were clear examples the Nittany Lions should stay far away from the Parkhill coaching tree. With Fogler’s connections and track record, Penn State should be well positioned to do just that.

Early indication out of Happy Valley is that Jeff Lebo, the current head coach of East Carolina is now considered an official candidate for the Penn State job.

According to multiple sources, Penn State will consider East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo, who is from Carlisle, Pa. Lebo was also recruited to play at North Carolina by Fogler (Who is leading the Penn State coaching search) when he was an assistant to then coach Dean Smith. Lebo’s father, Dave, was a longtime coach at Carlisle High.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Jeff Lebo is an unsurprising name to come up for the job as a result of his relationship to Fogler himself and his strong ties to Carlisle, PA. Though currently the head coach of the East Carolina pirates, Lebo was more recently known for his abysmal 6 years at Auburn which ended with his termination last year with 2 years remaining on his contract.

Lebo led the Auburn Tigers to a DeChellis-esque 36-61 record in the SEC, a considerably weaker basketball conference than the Big Ten and just 1 NIT appearance failing to reach the NCAA tournament. Even Ed DeChellis managed to lead East Tennessee State to the NCAA tournament before landing at Penn State.

In 6 seasons under Lebo, Auburn consistently finished at or near the bottom of the 6-team SEC West averaging just under 6 conference wins a year. Facing issues of probation and player attrition Lebo only managed to put together 2 winning seasons, but just 1 with a winning SEC record. There is a reason the SEC conference as a whole is not known as a bastion of basketball, that’s because it isn’t. It’s hard to imagine how much better he could fare in the Big Ten from his weak SEC record.

Sorry, but Penn State fans did not endure 8 years of DeChellis just to see him replaced with an equally unqualified coach. Auburn fans couldn’t get rid of him fast enough.

Jeff Lebo might be an impressive mid-major head coach (he led the ECU Pirates to 18 wins, most since 1997 and was 40-20 at Chattanooga and 75-43 at Tennessee Tech), but if Penn State learned anything from Ed DeChellis it’s that we need a coach with a proven track record in rebuilding programs. With the finance and resources that would dwarf most mid-major programs, Penn State has to avoid being that experimental destination for coaches to test their abilities in a quality conference.