Penn State Hockey Program Making Jump to D-I in 2012
They are still buzzing in Happy Valley over the news that Penn State will be elevating its hockey program from the club level to Division I status beginning in 2012.
KYW's Matt Leon reports that Joe Battista (right) spent years as the hockey coach at Penn State and will now serve as the point man for the transition to D-I in his role as associate athletic director.
He says a key for the program now will be recruiting:
"Our number one goal is to get the Pennsylvania kids. You know there's an awful lot of Pennsylvania kids that are on Division I rosters as we speak. There's a lot of Pennsylvania kids in the NHL and in the AHL, and a lot of people don't realize that. We want those kind of kids in the future, to be thinking of Penn State as their first destination."
Now Division I college hockey is dominated by traditional powers like Michigan and Boston University, but Battista thinks Penn State will be able to hit the ground running:
"As long as we do our due diligence and we hire the right coach and the right assistant coaches -- that can hit the road and recruit -- I'm pretty confident that we can have the right set of kids in here and be competitive very, very quickly."
Penn State has excelled during its time as a club program, winning seven ACHA National Championships.
