When Penn State hired now former coach Rob Cooper to take over its baseball program in 2014, it was a sensible hire. Cooper had been to the NCAA Tournament three times while at Wright State over the course of nine seasons and had a proven track record of identifying and developing players.
For a program like Penn State, Cooper was about as close as it was going to get to the perfect kind of hire. Add in time as a scout with the Dodgers and as a coach with one of the USA developmental teams, and to a certain extent there wasn’t a box Cooper didn’t check.
While at Penn State, Cooper was never able to replicate that success. Although the Nittany Lions showed flashes here or there, it was a challenge to replicate it consistently. A Big Ten Tournament appearance in 2022 was the high point in a 10 season career in Happy Valley.
Why Cooper couldn’t get over the hump is likely a complicated problem to solve. Penn State exists in a state that is plenty baseball-friendly but not a state where baseball can be played year round. The Nittany Lions lack any real history of institutional success, having made the NCAA Tournament once since 1976 (in 2000). Whatever Cooper’s own shortcomings might have been, much like its basketball cousin across the street, it’s a challenge that transcends any one coach.
With Penn State now looking for a new head coach following Cooper’s resignation, it begs the question of what is next for the program. Penn State baseball brings in well shy of $1 million in annual revenues while its expenses are in the ballpark of $2 million per year. If being cash-positive was the objective of all college athletic programs then most of the them wouldn’t exist, but sinking more money — as Penn State looks to spend over $800 million on various athletic facility upgrades over the next few years — is a gamble in its own right.
“You invest everything you can to be great,” Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft told StateCollege.com during a recent interview. “I don’t care what sport it is. We should be in Omaha and I want to go win the College World Series. We absolutely can do that. That is not off the table. We have to do much like basketball, we have to invest and it’s investing in the right things.”
Penn State obviously benefits from the facility it plays in. Medlar Field at Lubrano Park is generally as nice a facility as you’ll reasonably find. The challenge now is getting players to match the view. As of this writing, Penn State is set to add a new weight room and hitting tunnels to the current building. The project on the Office of Physical Plant website reads only as “new addition to the existing building.” with no associated cost for the late July bid.
“We’ve got to make … we can keep Pennsylvania student athletes here and then you’ve got the Northeast,” Kraft said. “So there is a lot of opportunity if you look at some of the schools that have had success. I’m gonna put my chips in on all 31 of our sports and say let’s go win it. But it’s a process and you’ve got to invest in all the way. You’ve got to take care of each individual sport in unique and different ways. It’s not all the same.”
Kraft is not short on bravado, something that might end up being both a blessing and curse for Penn State at large. Nevertheless, there is something to be said for believing that the status quo can change. The question is how that goes about happening.
The first step might be simply expecting it to change.
“I fully expect to get to Omaha,” Kraft said of the College World Series. “Like that’s what we’re in this for. And we got to put the right things and the right pieces in place. And that goes back to health and wellness, the mental health we’ve added the sports performance people we’ve added the training table all of those things go to helping you win and being successful. And in whatever sport, baseball included — we can win at baseball.”
