Micah Shrewsberry says it was gut-wrenching to tell Penn State players he was leaving

Micah Shrewsberry made a difficult call when it came to his coaching future this offseason. Choosing to leave University Park for Notre Dame might have been considered as the next step up in his career. However, he says leaving Penn State and the bonds that he forged there was even harder than one might imagine.

Shrewsberry discussed his departure during an interview with Jon Rothstein on ‘College Hoops Today’. He described the process as ‘gut-wrenching’ considering all that his players gave to him over his two years as head coach,

“It’s kind of, like, a little bit gut-wrenching. Because they’ve put so much into how we built that up,” Shrewsberry said. “Our staff was great. And those guys did a lot of work to, in two years, get us to an NCAA Tournament, win a game in the NCAA Tournament. But the players were a huge part of that. I had to make sure I thanked them for everything that they did.”

During the entire process, Shrewsberry said he tried to be mindful of the other people that his decision would impact. Still, although he elected to move on to South Bend, he made sure to let each one of his players know that his door, or his phone rather, is always open to and for them.

“Like I said, it’s not an easy decision when you make these. One decision affects a lot of people’s lives,” continued Shrewsberry. “And the one thing that I hope that they left with and feel some solace in is, no matter where I am, they’re always my guys. If you played for me at Marshall, at IU South Bend, at Penn State, at Notre Dame? You’re always my guys.”

“I don’t change my phone number,” said Shrewsberry. “You can call me whenever you need me and I hope I left them with that message and they felt that message. Because I do care about them, what they did, and how they’ve helped me.”

Shrewsberry’s second and final season at Penn State was very substantial for everyone involved. He led them to their most wins since 2018 and to their first NCAA Tournament appearance and victory since 2011. That success played a large role in his ability to end up in South Bend.

Even so, Shrewsberry made sure to underline just how difficult this decision was for him. In the end, he just hopes that the respect and appreciation that his players have for him goes both ways considering how he feels about them too.

“This isn’t a one way street,” Shrewsberry said. “That part was really hard in letting those guys know. But I think there was some appreciation from me to them with what they accomplished while we were there.”