Source: Former player, staff member Scoonie Penn interested in Ohio State coaching job
He was in the building Sunday afternoon. When the 1998-99 Ohio State men’s basketball team was recognized during a first-half timeout during an eventual win against No. 2 Purdue, the loudest applause came for the final name to be called out: Scoonie Penn, team captain and lynchpin for the team’s success.
Those Buckeyes inhabited Value City Arena for its first-ever season. Now, 25 years later, Penn is hoping to be a part of returning the program to that level. As Ohio State searches for a head coach following last week’s firing of Chris Holtmann, Penn is on a list of candidates interested in the job, The Dispatch has learned.
Penn is in his fifth year as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies. Before that, he spent two years on Holtmann’s staff as the director of player development before joining the Grizzlies and coach Taylor Jenkins in 2019.
Prior to that, Penn began his college career at Boston College, where he was Big East rookie of the year in 1995-96 and first-team all-league in 1996-97 before following coach Jim O’Brien to Ohio State. After sitting out 1997-98 due to the transfer rules at the time, Penn was Big Ten player of the year in 1998-99 as Ohio State went 27-9 and reached the Final Four for the first time since 1968. Penn was a captain in each of his final two seasons with the Buckeyes and finished with 1,076 points (15.8 per game). He was named a consensus second-team all-American in 2000 before starting an 11-year professional career.
He was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013 and joined Holtmann’s staff prior to the 2017-18 season. Penn graduated from Ohio State with a degree in sociology and a minor in African-American studies, and it was his ability to connect to players both past and present that got him the job with the Buckeyes.
“I always had a feeling I’d go into coaching,” he said in 2018, “especially college, and to do that I knew you had to have a degree as well. I think a lot of guys may not realize that. They talk about wanting to go into coaching and you can’t coach until you have a degree. It’s something I felt I had to do for myself.”
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While with the Buckeyes, Penn helped them come up with their postgame victory celebration where they chant some of the lyrics to “Buckeye Battle Cry” in a crescendo. He spearheaded the school’s annual recognition of Black History Month, helped players with off-court professional development and relied on his background and experiences to help further motivate players and emphasize what it meant to play for Ohio State.
“As players and alumni of this program, that’s what we want, ultimately: We want to be on top,” Penn said as the 2018 postseason approached. “We want Big Ten championships. We want NCAA Tournament runs that are deep into it all the time. That’s why we’re here.”
It is not clear if Penn’s interest in the job is or will be reciprocated by Ohio State. Newly hired athletic director Ross Bjork will officially start with the university on March 1, and he will lead the coaching search with some assistance from the man he’s replacing, Gene Smith. Former Ohio State assistant coach and four-year player Chris Jent is also interested in the job.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Is Scoonie Penn interested in Ohio State basketball head coaching job?
