STATE COLLEGE, Pa., May 10, 2001 - Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn will receive a new five-year contract, athletic director Tim Curley announced today.
Dunn, 47, guided the Nittany Lions to a 21-12 record and their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1996 this past season. The Lions reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tourney with memorable wins over Providence and North Carolina in the South Regional first and second rounds. In his six years as skipper of the Nittany Lions, Dunn has an overall record of 103-79. Dunn reached 100 victories faster than any coach in Penn State basketball history. Terms of Dunn's contract were not announced. "We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement in principle with Coach Dunn to continue his leadership of the Nittany Lions," Curley said. "Jerry has done an outstanding job with our basketball program. The accomplishments of the Nittany Lions this past season and during the six years of Jerry's tenure have been many. In addition to taking the Nittany Lions into the postseason four times, including the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in nearly 50 years this past season, he has demonstrated a sincere concern for the educational well-being of his student-athletes and a zest for the growth and development of the basketball program." "Penn State always has been a special place. My family and I are extremely pleased by the opportunity to continue building on the basketball foundation and success that has been established," Dunn said. "We appreciate the contributions made by every student-athlete who has come through the program and we recognize the role our assistant coaches have had in what has been achieved here." During the 2000-2001 season, Penn State stormed to a 10-1 non-conference record and finished tied for sixth place in the rugged Big Ten Conference. The Nittany Lions won two games in the conference tournament, including a quarterfinal victory over second-ranked Michigan State, before bowing to the eventual champion Iowa Hawkeyes. Penn State was the only team in the NCAA Tournament field to defeat two number one seeds - Illinois and Michigan State - and two number two seeds - Kentucky and North Carolina. The '01 Lions beat eight different conference regular season or tournament champions in the NCAA field of 65. Penn State victims included Kentucky (SEC Tournament and East Regular Season), Temple (Atlantic 10 Tournament), Hofstra (America East Tournament and Regular Season), Princeton (Ivy), Illinois and Michigan State (Big Ten Regular Season), Iowa (Big Ten Tournament) and North Carolina (ACC Regular Season). Of the teams in the 2001 NCAA Tournament only national champion Duke shared that distinction. The Nittany Lions' season ended with an 84-72 loss to Temple in the NCAA South Regional semifinal round at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. Dunn took the Penn State coaching reigns on September 6, 1995, just months before the start of the season when Bruce Parkhill unexpectedly resigned as head coach. Dunn had served as Parkhill's assistant for the previous 12 years, originally joining the Penn State athletic staff in 1983. As an assistant, he helped the Lions compile a string of four-straight 20-win seasons from 1988-92. A native of Raleigh, N.C., Dunn got his coaching start at George Mason where he served as a volunteer, part-time and full-time assistant under John Linn and Joe Harrington. In his first season as Penn State skipper, Dunn took the Lions to a 21-7 record that included a 12-6 mark in the Big Ten Conference and was capped by an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Dunn was voted NABC District 3 Coach-of-the-Year following his 1995-96 rookie season and finished fifth in the Associated Press balloting for National Coach-of-the-Year. His 1997-98 and 1999-2000 teams each won 19 games and reached the Final Four of the NIT postseason tournament. In '98, Penn State lost to Minnesota in the NIT Final, a game the Gophers have since been forced to vacate under NCAA sanctions.
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