Joe Battista’s successor as head coach for the ACHA runner-up Penn State Icers will be a familiar face to Icer fans. As was expected, the Icers made the hire from within and introduced Scott Balboni as Penn State’s head coach at a press conference this afternoon. On top of his coaching duties Balboni will take on the position of Program/Marketing Coordinator of Ice Sports and the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
Balboni was a long-time assistant to Battista, Penn State’s all-time winningest coach (512-120-27), and was part of the staff for three of PSU’s national championships. He takes over for "JoeBa" after Battista left the team to assume the position of Executive Director of the Nittany Lion Club.
Coach Balboni inherits a team that went 27-10-2 last season, good enough for the third seed in the ACHA National Tournament last March. Penn State eventually lost in the championship game to Rhode Island, a team the Icers were 0-3-1 against in the regular season. When asked about what he thought his biggest challenge this season would be, Balboni said it would be trying to fill the shoes of the winningest coach in school history.
Talking about his first game Balboni said, "As a joke, I think I might have to wear clown shoes to try to fill the ones Joe left."
A large theme that stood out through the whole press conference was one of family, one that is very prevalent in Penn State’s history. Balboni spoke at length about how he wanted to maintain a family atmosphere in the program,something that isn’t as easy to achieve at the NCAA D-1 level because of what Balboni described as a "turn and burn" mentality regarding the players. In speaking about his decision to pursue the head-coaching position, Balboni said it was a family decision.
"The first thing I asked my family was ‘Could we do this?’ I wasn’t willing to jeopardize my family for this position."
And when asked about how his assistant coach turned head coach will treat his players now, sophomore defenseman Andrew Magulick said, "He’s made it clear it’ll be a family atmosphere."
Coach Balboni also spoke about how his new position will affect the relationship with his players saying, "I’m going to be very fair and also very hard." He said he wanted to use a style similar to the one that was portrayed in the movie "Miracle" that worked so well for Herb Brooks and Craig Patrick, a style where the head coach is tough on the players and the assistant is more of a friend.
Stylistically, Balboni said, "Idealistically we will be aggressive, an aggressive forecheck, penalty kill, everything. We will want to continuously move and continuously hit."
Another important aspect in the coaching change was how it would affect this year’s recruits. Balboni said that no recruits, to his knowledge, were lost in the coaching transition, but a goalie recruit was lost due to financial considerations. The Icers will only have three seniors on next year’s team, provided Mike McMullen, Chris Matteo, and Dan McKeen all return, so youth will once again be a factor with the 2006-07 Icers.
The Icers also released their 2006-07 season schedule to the media at the press conference. Some highlights of the schedule include another trip to NCAA D-1 team Robert Morris University (PA), a game against Navy on October 15, a home series in late January against Pittsburgh, and a season-ending game against the University of Maryland on February 23.
Perennial ACHA foes Ohio University and Rhode Island will also make trips to University Park, as will 2006 Nittany Lion Invitational champion St. Clair College from Windsor Ontario, Canada. The season will get underway on Saturday, October 8 against Washington and Jefferson University in Pittsburgh, PA, and will wrap up with the National Tournament in Youngstown, Ohio during March 1-4.
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