New assistant brings much needed Penn State postseason history to basketball program

The transformation of Penn State basketball continues this offseason as head coach Mike Rhoades continues to try to lay a foundation for sustained success for a basketball program that has rarely enjoyed such status.

Perhaps bringing in one of he few notable players to come through the program will help provide some insight on what it takes to make Penn State a winning program.Penn State announced he addition of former Penn State basketball standout Talor Battle to the coaching staff this week, and it was a move that made many Penn State basketball fans happy.

Battle was one of Penn State's best players in program history, and certainly one of the most accomplished players.

During his time with the Nittany Lions, Battle was a first-team All-Big Ten player and the first Big Ten player to ever record 2,000 points, 500 career rebounds, and 500 career assists.

He left Penn State as the program's all-time leading scorer and he was instrumental in Penn State winning an NIT in 2009 and reaching the NCAA tournament in 2011.Since leaving Penn State, Battle spent time playing across Europe with stops in France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Hungary, and Slovenia.

He also spent a brief amount of time in the NBA summer league.

He then went into coaching, first with Penn State as an assistant and then with stops at Northwestern and Ohio State, his most recent position.

It was as an assistant at Northwesern that Battle helped guide a team into the NCAA tournament twice in his four seasons on the staff in Evanston.Now Battle is coming home, and he will hope to help Rhoades create a program that could expect to play in the postseason routinely.

This is a coming home moment for Battle, a former program standout with a mission of once again helping to deliver postseason success where it is typically rare to find.

But it's Battle's background in the program that Rhoades can lean on with his players and on the recruiting trail.

Battle came back to Penn State knowing what it takes to play in March in a Penn State uniform.Now it is time to go out and lay that next brick for this program.Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X, Facebook, and Threads.This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Talor Battle returns to Penn State in new assistant coaching role.

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