Ed DeChellis enters his 14th season as the head coach of the Mids, his 29th year as a head coach and his 43rd season as a collegiate coach in the fall of 2024.
Head Coaching Career
DeChellis begins the 2024-25 season with an overall head coaching record of 400-442 in 28 seasons. This includes records of 105-93 in seven seasons at East Tennessee State (1996-97 to 2002-03), 114-138 in eight seasons at Penn State (2003-04 to 2010-11) and 181-211 in 13 years at Navy (since 2011-12). He enters the season as:
* one of six active head coaches to have won at least 100 games at three or more Division I schools;
* one of seven coaches who has been a head coach on the Division I level for at least each of the last 29 seasons (including 2024-25);
* one of 12 active head coaches to have earned coach-of-the-year accolades at three or more Division I schools.
He guided ETSU to the NCAA Tournament in his final season and took Penn State to the NIT title in 2008-09 and to the NCAA Tournament in 2010-11.
DeChellis was recognized as the 2001 (coaches, media) and 2002 (coaches) Southern Conference Coach of the Year at East Tennessee State, as the 2009 coach of the year in the Big Ten while at Penn State and as the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 2021 and ‘22. He also was honored as the 2021 NABC District 13 Coach of the Year.
He also was named the 2006 National Coaches vs. Cancer Man of the Year for his efforts in raising funds for and awareness of the fight against cancer. A cancer survivor himself, DeChellis was among a group of coaches to lobby members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives at a 2009 American Cancer Society event.
At Navy (2011-12 to present)
“When I did my interview at Navy, Vice Admiral Miller was the Superintendent at the time, and he said, ‘Coach, I want you to recruit very good basketball players who can help us get to the NCAA Tournament. But at the end of the day, you have to recruit young men who are going to be officers in the most powerful military force in the world and we take that very seriously here at the Naval Academy.’ And that really hit home with me and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
- Head coach Ed DeChellis
DeChellis has guided Navy to 161 victories over the last 10 seasons, including 97 wins in league regular season games. This is after the program had totaled 116 overall wins and 51 victories against league foes in the previous 10 years. Also, Navy has advanced to the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament in three of the last eight seasons (2017, ‘19, ‘22) after having not appeared in the round since 2001. This includes Navy’s first appearance in the title tilt since 2001 in 2022.
Navy has posted a 67-45 record since the start of the 2020-21 season, which includes a 43-24 record in Patriot League regular season games.
A staple of Navy’s teams under DeChellis is to surpass expectations. The Mids have improved upon their Patriot League Preseason Poll placement in eight of the last 10 years and matched their position in the other two outlier seasons in that span.
As such, DeChellis was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in both 2021 and ‘22 as the Mids compiled a 36-14 overall record and a 24-7 record in league play during these two seasons.
The 2023-24 Navy team was one of the youngest in the country as the Mids ranked 15th in terms of average age of the roster. With just one starter returning and without its top-five scorers from the previous year, Navy posted a 13-18 record overall and an 8-10 record in league games. The team’s Patriot League Tournament first-round win over Loyola was the 400th in the head coaching career of DeChellis.
Prior to that, Navy’s 2022-23 team compiled an overall record of 18-13, tied for second place in the league standings with an 11-7 record and earned the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament.
Navy’s 2021-22 squad opened the season with a win at No. 25 Virginia to defeat a nationally-ranked team for the first time since 1986. The Mids would go on to win 21 games –– the second 20-win campaign for DeChellis at Navy and the school’s 10th 20-win season –– and place second in league play with a 12-6 record. Navy earned the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament on its way to reaching the tournament final.
The 2020-21 Navy team posted an overall record of 15-3 and not only won the Patriot League South Division with a 7-0 record but also earned the No. 1 seed in the league tournament for the first time since the 1996-97 campaign with a 12-1 record. Included among the wins for the Mids was the first for the program over Georgetown since 1976-77.
The Mids were one of the youngest teams in the country during the 2019-20 campaign as Navy had just one senior and a combined 16 members of the freshman and sophomore classes on its roster. Navy was tabbed to place ninth in the Patriot League at the start of the year, but ended the year garnering the No. 6 seed in the league tournament with an 8-10 record. That league mark was part of a 14-16 record on the whole.
Navy faced the toughest strength of schedule in the Patriot League during the 2018-19 season on its way to a 12-19 overall record. The Mids were predicted to finish in eighth place in the league at the start of the year, but totaled an 8-10 record during the regular season to end the year in a tie for fifth place. Navy then went on the road and defeated fourth-seeded American in the quarterfinal round of the league tournament before falling, 80-70, at top-seeded and eventual champion Colgate.
That 2018-19 success came on the heels of the Mids posting an overall record of 20-12 and tying for third place in the regular season with an 11-7 record in 2017-18. It was Navy’s first 20-win campaign since 1999-00 and marked the most league wins in school history. Individually that year, DeChellis won his 300th game as a head coach with a 75-72 win over Lafayette on Jan. 17, 2018.
Navy recorded a 10-8 record against league foes –– the first winning record in league play since 2008-09 –– as part of a 16-16 overall record during the 2016-17 season. The Mids reached the semifinal round of the league tournament that year, falling on the road to No. 1 seed and eventual champion Bucknell.
Navy’s 2015-16 campaign ended with it posting an overall record of 19-14 and a league record of 9-9. The 19 wins improved upon Navy’s record by six from the season before, which was the fourth-best improvement from one season to the next in school history. That 13-19 record in 2014-15 included an 8-10 record in league play. Those eight wins doubled the victory total from the previous year and were more than the Mids had won over the three previous seasons (six).
Additionally, DeChellis has been the guiding force behind the creation of the Veterans Classic. Started in the 2014-15 season, the doubleheader of games held annually around Veterans Day plays tribute to our nation’s veterans. The event has hosted teams such as North Carolina, Michigan State, Temple, Ohio State, Marquette, Alabama, Memphis, Maryland, Wichita State, Auburn, Davidson, Virginia Tech and, in 2022, eventual 2023 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 qualifiers Houston and Princeton.
Collegiate Playing Career (1978-79 to 1981-82)
DeChellis played two seasons at Penn State Beaver Campus before transferring to Penn State for his junior season. He graduated from the school in 1982 with a degree in secondary education.
At Penn State (1982-83 to 1983-84)
DeChellis began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Penn State upon graduating from the school. He would spend two seasons in that position at the school.
At Salem (1984-85 to 1985-86)
DeChellis moved on to a dual role at Salem University for the 1984-85 season. He not only served as an assistant coach with the basketball team, he also held the position of director of intramurals at the Salem, W.Va., institution. He expanded what was a four-sport program into 40 activities for over 800 students during his brief two-year stint.
At Penn State (1986-87 to 1995-96)
It was back to Happy Valley for DeChellis in 1986 as he returned to Penn State as an assistant coach. He would serve in that role for a decade at the school, the first nine under Bruce Parkhill and the last under Jerry Dunn.
The Nittany Lions spent five seasons in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the 1991-92 season as an independent and joined the Big Ten Conference for the 1992-93 season.
Penn State would make national post-season tournament trips in six of his 10 seasons. The first was an appearance in the second round of the NIT in 1988-89 when the Nittany Lions posted a 20-12 record and finished A1- play with a 12-6 mark. The following season, 1989-90, Penn State won 25 games in advancing to and winning the third-place game in the NIT. The program’s third-straight 20-win season followed in 1990-91. The Nittany Lions compiled an overall record of 21-11, finished with a 10-8 record against Atlantic 10 foes and won the conference tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament where they upset 16th ranked UCLA in the first round. Penn State would go on to lose an overtime decision to Eastern Michigan in the second round.
The program would tally a 21-8 record during its 1991-92 season as an independent. Penn State would end the year in the first round of the NIT.
Penn State’s third season in the Big Ten saw the return of post-season play for the squad. The Nittany Lions posted a 21-11 record in 1994-95 and once again advanced to and won the third-place game in the NIT. The ensuing season, what would prove to be the last for DeChellis as an assistant coach at the school, saw the Nittany Lions again win 21 games (21-7), tally a 12-6 record in Big Ten play and receiver an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
At East Tennessee State (1996-97 to 2002-03)
DeChellis accepted the head coaching position at East Tennessee State following the 1996 NCAA Tournament. The Bucs had won seven games in all and three Southern Conference regular season games in the season before his arrival, but tallied records of 11-16 overall and 6-9 in conference play in his second year (1997-98) at the helm.
ETSU would hover around the .500 level in SoCon play the next two years (17-11 / 9-7 in 1998-99; 14-15 / 8-8 in 1999-00), then totaled records of 18-10 overall and 13-3 in the 2000-01 campaign when it won the North Division of the conference.
DeChellis guided his charges to a share of the division title as part of a season that saw ETSU post marks of 18-10 overall and 11-5 in conference play. The program would enjoy its best season under DeChellis in 2002-03 as the Bucs won their division outright with an 11-5 record, won the Southern Conference Tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament. In the program’s first foray into March Madness in 11 years, ETSU lost a 76-73 decision to Wake Forest in the first round of the event.
The Bucs posted records of 56-31 overall and 35-13 in conference games over the 2001-02 through 2003-04 seasons under DeChellis. After winning two outright division titles and sharing a third in that three-year span, DeChellis left the school to return to his lama mater as head coach.
DeChellis was inducted into the East Tennessee State Athletic Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2013.
At Penn State (2003-04 to 2010-11)
DeChellis inherited a rebuilding situation at Penn State as the program had totaled five Big Ten wins over the two seasons prior to his arrival. His third season (2005-06) saw the Nittany Lions win nearly as many games overall (15 vs. 16) and surpass their Big Ten win total (6 vs. 4) over his first two years at the school. This is despite a roster featuring 12 underclassmen, one senior and just one player in the regular rotation who surpassed 6-feet, 6-inches
.
Penn State would tally a 15-16 record overall and a 7-11 record in conference play during the 2007-08 season. Both the 15 wins in all and seven in Big Ten play were the most, respectively, for the program in eight years. This is despite Penn State losing two starters for most of the season which forced four freshmen into the starting lineup.
Those marks were bettered the ensuing year (2008-09) when Penn State tallied records of 27-11 overall and 10-8 in Big Ten play. The season culminated with the Nittany Lions winning the NIT. Additionally, the 10 conference wins marked just the second 10-win Big Ten season for the Nittany Lions (12, 1995-96), the 27 total victories broke the school record for the most in a season and Penn State defeated four top-25 ranked teams.
Two years later, 2010-11, Penn State set another milestone for the program when it advanced to the championship game of the Big Ten Conference Tournament for the first time. Though the Nittany Lions fell in the game, they did receive an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, their first trip to the event in a decade. Penn State ended the year with a 19-15 record overall and a 9-9 record in Big Ten regular season play.
Keying the team’s success in what would be the final season with DeChellis on the sideline was Talor Battle. He would finish second in the Big Ten in scoring as a senior that season (20.2 ppg), became the school’s career scoring leader (2,213 points) and was the first in school history to be named the team’s MVP in each of his four seasons.
In addition to earning Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2009, the only Penn State coach to garner the accolade, Jamelle Cornley was selected as the 2006 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the only Penn State play to receive the award, and Cornley was the third player in a span of three years to be named to the conference’s all-freshman team. This is after Penn State had not yet had a player named to the squad prior to the start of that span.
Personal
The native of Monaca, Pa., and his wife, Kim, have three daughters –– Casey McKeehan (Andrew), Erin DeChellis, Lauren Buntz (Austin) –– and three grandchildren –– Sophia and Nathan McKeehan and Ellie Buntz.
