Former Penn State Basketball Coach Johnny Bach dies at 91
- Thread starter francofan
- Start date
DID YOU KNOW that every single PSU basketball coach IN HISTORY had a career winning record with the Lions? Right up until the Dunn/DeChellis comedy years?
John Bach was good. Damn good. RIP Coach.
John Bach was good. Damn good. RIP Coach.
I was a soph on main campus in 1968 when John Bach was hired. I remember all the hoopla surrounding his hire. He was going to be our John Wooten. He was going to turn us into the UCLA of the East. That never happened because the administration had little interest in basketball. Games were still played in Rec Hall when it was a band box. Bach was a fine coach and a gentleman but never turned PSU into the UCLA of the East.
Dunn had an overall winning record up until the last two years. After his most successful season, Curley stopped supporting him; left him with no contract for part of the recruiting period in the offseason. Then Eddie D. came in, and after finally making the NCAA tournament in year 8, also felt that he suddenly had no support from Curley, and left for Navy.
Incompetence is basically the most positive spin you could put on Curley's management of the men's basketball program. Personally I think he did not want it to succeed. If you were following closely, you saw that Curley would always maintain the status quo when the program was doing nothing. In the few years where it started to gain some momentum, Curley seemingly withdrew support. IMO, it was almost surreal; I actually think Curley was more comfortable with a basketball program that did not win or draw any attention.
Lefty Driesell was going to turn Maryland into the UCLA of the East. That never happened either.
This is true. Curley gets a big red F for his management of men's basketball.
That said, Dunn and DeChellis were terrible, rotten, disinterested recruiters who wouldn't know a talented player if one came up and introduced himself. Battle absolutely positively fell into his lap because he was 5'10" and nobody wanted him. It ain't like Eddie went after him. Eddie was best known for recruiting guys with one leg shorter than the other.
Bach was a highly respected coach whose 10-year PSU tenure finished one game above .500. He was a "big name" coach when he came from Fordham in 1968, but the PSU administration never took basketball seriously. Bach was followed by another "big name" coach from Oregon by way of Penn, Dick Harter. After five years, Harter couldn't wait to get out of State College and AD Jim Tarman was happy to hold the door open for him. Harter (d. 2012) also went on to have a long and distinguished NBA coaching career.
Bach had a long career coaching in the NBA, so he knew his stuff. Michael Jordan had great respect and affection for Johnny Bach.
One of Bach's daughters stayed in the State College area. His granddaughter, the former Natalie Berrena ('06), walked on to the Penn State Field Hockey team and ended up winning All-America honors her senior year . Natalie Race is a singer for a local folk group, Pure Cane Sugar Band.
Bach had a long career coaching in the NBA, so he knew his stuff. Michael Jordan had great respect and affection for Johnny Bach.
One of Bach's daughters stayed in the State College area. His granddaughter, the former Natalie Berrena ('06), walked on to the Penn State Field Hockey team and ended up winning All-America honors her senior year . Natalie Race is a singer for a local folk group, Pure Cane Sugar Band.
I'll agree they were not great coaches, but some of what you are saying is just not true. Battle had interest from a number of schools. The reason he fell into PSU's lap is because he had a family connection to PSU (an uncle who played there, or something like that). DeChellis absolutely went after him. (And, he was not even the highest rated recruit in that year.) Dunn was actually quite good, IMO, at identifying players who could develop into major contributors in the B1G. His overall list of players is more impressive than DeChellis'. However, he was totally unwilling to even attempt recruiting Philadelphia, and Ed was only more willing by the smallest of increments. The current staff is correcting that glaring flaw in strategy.
OK, I'll buy it. I'm just glad that both of them are long gone the hell out of here.
I remember taking golf for phys ed, maybe 77 or 78. The instructor was the guy who had coached the women's bowling team to a national championship a few years previously. He was a good guy and a fine gentleman. However, his name escapes me today.
Anyway, the class was standing around ragging about the basketball team and Coach Bach. The instructor, hearing us, chimed in that Bach was a great person and a good coach...and I remember him telling us that Bach had his own plane, which was an impressive factoid to us. We took him at his word about the coach.
Sorry to hear of the passing of Coach Bach.
Right.. TYVM. Obviously played a key mentoring role. He was so laid back.
I remember running into him when a bunch of dorm mates and I went to McD's on College Ave after some victory or the other. We were pretty tuned up, and he knew it. We had a brief, joking conversation, after which he said: "Carry on, gentlemen."
That became an inside joke catch phrase for us after that.
To what would you attribute the motivation in hiring back-to-back "big name" coaches for an administration that never took basketball seriously?
These stories by those of you who were actually there during the Johnny Bach years are a big part of what makes this board so special. He was certainly beloved in Chicago.
As for Don Ferrell, I remember Brandon Short or maybe Ron Graham just raving about the positive impact he had on the lives of student-athletes at Penn State University.
As for Don Ferrell, I remember Brandon Short or maybe Ron Graham just raving about the positive impact he had on the lives of student-athletes at Penn State University.
The stories from the Harter years are kind of disappointing. I think the administration as a whole probably wanted to be good, but not everyone was on board, or understood how to make it work. In the Spanier/Curley era I am not sure they actually wanted to be good.
When Joe Pa was AD he interviewed Jimmy Valvano for the job some time in the late 70s. Never offered him the job.
John Bach failed to recruit Barry Parkhill. Dick Harter failed to recruit Chris Dodds. Both players would have proven to be among the greatest players to every play at Penn State. Both players would have also drawn more interest from the local fan base than at any other time that basketball has been played at PSU. I don't dispute that both coaches were knowledgeable basketball minds. Yet there ability to assemble talent was questionable at best. Rest In Peace Coach Bach.
Rick Pitino recently disclosed during a press conference that he interviewed with JoePa for the Penn State Basketball job, probably when Parkhill was hired. So Pitino was a candidate and not hired, Jim Valvano was a candidate and not hired, and former UNC coach Bill Guthridge was a candidate (when he was a Dean Smith assistant, Harter got the job). Guthridge was on his way to a Penn State press conference and changed his mind during a flight layover in Chicago. That's three pretty good coaches who might have changed the trajectory of basketball in State College years ago.
Did you also know that every single PSU basketball coach IN HISTORY had a career winning record with the Lions? Right up until we joined one of the top 2 basketball conferences in the country?
Think that going from an A10 (or ECAC) schedule to playing teams like MSU/Indiana/Michigan/OSU/Purdue (a lot of the big boys in the college hoops landscape) twice a year instead of Duquesne/Rutgers/St Bonnie's/Rhode Island/UMass might have had something to do with our record? Apples and oranges looking at what everyone before Parkhill/Dunn/DeChellis/Chambers had to deal with.
I remember hearing back in the day that if you weren't from NYC Coach Bach didn't think you could be much of a basketball player. Maybe that was partly the reason that Barry Parkhill was not recruited at all out of high school and went on to be the ACC player of the year.
All true, but what? Are you trying to say that Dunn and DeChellis were anything other than suck?
I tend to put some stock in the view that the PSU athletic administration was extremely concerned about potential recruiting abuses in men's hoops and tended to steer clear of "aggressive" coaches, especially after Harter left.
Sure. I'd say that both of them were average (with a lean towards Ed being a bit better than Jerry, but still not enough to get it done). But we needed a lot better than average to get over the hump and find some success in men's hoops. And I'm saying that it's laughable to look at the record of John Bach or Elmer Gross and somehow compare it to the record of Dunn/DeChellis/Chambers.
