Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Penn State Basketball

Penn State Basketball: Meet the 2025-2026 Coaching Staff – Pt. 2 of 2

Welcome to the second part of our “meet the 2025-26 Penn State men’s basketball coaching staff” series. There are six Penn State Men’s Basketball coaches and one general manager who will be introduced in these two articles, all are involved with the day to day operations of the 2025-2026 basketball program. This second article will highlight the last three coaches and the newly hired general manager.

Meet the 2025-26 Penn State men’s basketball coaching staff, part 1

Assistant Coach Talor Battle

Image

This is a familiar name and face at Penn State. Coach Battle played and excelled for the Nittany Lions from 2007-2011. He was a three-year captain and led Penn State to the 2009 NIT championship and a 2011 NCAA Tournament berth. He also holds the scoring record at Penn State with 2,213 points along with the record of the most minutes played (4,799). After playing professionally overseas for seven years, Battle started his coaching career as an assistant at Penn State during the COVID season of 2020-2021. Then he joined Northwestern and Ohio State’s coaching staff as an assistant, before coming back home to Happy Valley in April 2025.

Assistant Coach Joe Crispin

Joe Crispin

This is another familiar name and face to PSU basketball fans. Crispin played for Penn State from 1997-2001. He was part of the dramatic NCAA tournament run that upset powerhouse North Carolina in 2001 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. He played professionally overseas for numerous years and also for the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns in 2001-2002. Before coaching at his alma mater, Crispin turned heads as an assistant coach and head coach for Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. During his head coaching tenure at Rowan (2016-2023), he coached the Profs to a 114-54 record, three NCAA Tournament appearances, and helped guide Rowan to be one of the most dynamic offenses in the country averaging more 80-90+ points per game. Last year at Penn State, he led the Nittany Lions to the highest-scoring offense in program history with a record of 79.1 points per game. Coach Crispin enters his third season on the Nittany Lion staff.

Assistant Coach Clay Conner

Clay Conner

Coach Conner enters his third season on Penn State’s staff and first as an assistant coach. Conner’s playing days were with Shippensburg University who helped lead the Raiders to a 2018 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance. Before calling State College home, Conner served as the director of player development at Virginia Commonwealth University during the 2022-2023 season. He also served as a graduate assistant with VCU two years prior. He helped develop star players such as Ace Baldwin, Jr., had great success in the Atlantic-10 Conference, and helped guide the Rams to their 2023 NCAA Tournament appearance. He was then hired by Penn State to serve as director of player development.

General Manager Scott Pera

Scott PeraWith the ever-changing, fast-paced climate in today’s college sports with the transfer portal and the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Policy, universities are being forced to hire general managers, just like in professional sports. Penn State is adapting to these current trends and hired Scott Pera as General Manager in May 2025. Pera will lead the organization and execution of recruiting and long-term roster management strategies, help develop NIL networks, aid in fundraising and spearhead game scheduling efforts.

He is a native of Hershey, Pa. who also has a solid coaching resume. He was an assistant coach under Rhoades and then head coach at Rice for 7 years (2017-2024), which was preceded by 2 years as an assistant coach at Penn where he was named top assistant in the Ivy League and No. 19 nationally for low-to-mid-major basketball programs. He also spent six seasons as an assistant at Arizona State (2006-2012). At all 3 universities, Pera helped these schools develop a culture of winning.

Penn State basketball seems to be in good hands and the future and hope for PSU hoop fans should be full of anticipation and excitement.

Get NSN in your Inbox

Enter your email address to get notifications of new posts by email.

More from Nittany Sports Now

Penn State Basketball

0 Penn State basketball coach Mike Rhoades and his staff have implemented a motivational piece to their offseason workouts. โ€œItโ€™s called โ€˜The Wild Lion...

Penn State Basketball

0 Another game has been, reportedly, scheduled for the upcoming Penn State menโ€™s basketball season.ย  It’s reported that the Campbell Fighting Camels are paying...

Penn State Basketball

0 Penn State men’s basketball has definitely had moments in history worth celebrating, and being able to celebrate them in front of their home...