Along the road that turned him away from becoming a physical therapist, but put him on the right track to earning a Masters Degree in exercise science, Jake Szczecina never stopped hearing the sound of a bouncing basketball inside his head.

The former Summit Hill resident and Panther Valley hoops’ star has set his sights on coaching college basketball at the highest level. To take another step up the ladder, he recently accepted the position of Video Coordinator at Penn State University, following stints at East Stroudsburg University and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jump shots

As a student/athlete at Misericordia University, Szczecina was named the school’s basketball scholar athlete three times while helping the Cougars earn three Mid-American Conference Freedom Tournament appearances.

“While I was playing basketball at Misericordia, I was taking courses that would have led to a doctorate in physical therapy,” Szczecina explained. “But then I decided that wasn’t for me. At the time, I was unsure about where I wanted to be moving forward with my education.”

Szczecina’s made an educational pivot and earned a degree in business administration before completing his Masters in exercise science. But while the education change worked out well, there was another pivot move that Szczecina was about to make.

This one took him to East Stroudsburg University where he joined the basketball staff as a graduate assistant.

“After five years of college, I had just started to look for a job in my major - and then the opportunity to join the staff at ESU opened up and I changed my mind,” he explained. “I wanted to stay in the game of basketball that has been such a big part of my life.

“It turned out to be a great decision for me. I was inspired and learned a lot from Jeff Wilson - the head coach at ESU. He ‘sees’ the game like I had never done.”

Born to coach

At Panther Valley - where Szczecina was the salutatorian of his graduating class - he was an outstanding player, who specialized in three-point shooting.

Current Panther coach Pat Crampsie was Szczecina’s coach during his entire high school career. Crampsie isn’t surprised that Szczecina’s career path has him back on the basketball court.

“Jake was the manager of our high school team when he was in the fourth grade and all through middle school,” Crampsie said, “and then he was a volunteer coach with us after his playing days were done.

“It was obvious he loved the game of basketball.”

Crampsie called Szczecina “one of the hardest working athletes” he’s ever had.

“In the offseason and all through the basketball schedule, he worked on his game,” Crampsie said. “He also has a super basketball IQ and was a great leader for us from time he worked his way into our starting lineup as a sophomore.”

Szczecina had held the Panther Valley school record of nine three-point baskets in one game that was broken earlier this year. He did it twice, both times against Jim Thorpe. In one of those games against the Olympians, he knocked down 33 points.

Film study

After a couple of years on the ESU staff, Szczecina’s next step following the bouncing ball took him to Virginia for the position of Video Coordinator at VCU.

“My job was to set up cameras and record our practices and games and code offense, defense, and individual player’s performances. I also created a data base for scouting reports where we can watch athletes from the transfer portal for recruitment purposes.”

At VCU, Szczecina got a chance to work with someone who was very familiar to Schuylkill League basketball fans - Rams’ head coach Mike Rhoades. Rhoades was a former star at Mahanoy Area High School a little over two decades prior to Szczecina’s time playing in the same league in a lot of the same gyms that Rhoades also starred in.

A little over a week ago, Rhoades was named the head coach at Penn State and he asked Szczecina to come along with him. It was an offer too good to turn down, so Szczecina is now back in Pennsylvania.

Crampsie is excited about his former player’s trajectory in the coaching business.

“Jake’s got all the qualities needed. He has a blue- collar work ethic and as he was a great student and was very coachable at Panther Valley, he’ll learn what it takes to coach at the college level.”

As a member of the support staff at Penn State, Szczecina can’t recruit or travel with the team, but he will plenty of opportunities and a huge responsibility to contribute to the Nittany Lion’s success.

“There’s no job too small in building a successful program,” explained Szczecina. “What I do might seem to be routine and meticulous, but analytics is significant to preparation. I take pride in my work. I also realize that the most important aspect of coaching is the relationships with the players. The ultimate reward for a coach is to see his players succeed.”

But the new job closer to home isn’t the only life changing event Szczecina has going on the spring.

Next month he is going to be married next month and he said his bride-to-be loves the game of basketball - “as if she had much choice,” he added with a laugh.

Together they will continue to follow the bouncing ball.

A ball that Szczecina hopes will someday lead to him fulfilling his dream of being the head coach of a Division 1 college basketball team.