"Good afternoon everyone and let me just add my appreciation to all of you for being here on such short notice. I know that it's difficult to rearrange your schedules and so we're sensitive of that and we thank you for being here today for this important announcement. As all of us in this room know, we announced earlier today that we accepted Coach [Rene] Portland's resignation as the head coach of the women's basketball program I'd like to make some brief comments and then answer some questions.

On behalf of the University and the Athletic Department, I want to sincerely thank Rene for her tremendous contributions to our University and our women's basketball program over the past 27 years. All of us in this room know of her many coaching accomplishments and the impact that she has made on the sport of basketball, Lady Lion basketball, women's athletics and the many outstanding student-athletes she has positively impacted during her coaching career here at Penn State. Rene Portland has been more than a coach and I've always admired the dedication to our community with her involvement in the many charities and activities that have made a big difference for so many people and for the quality of life in our community. I know the Penn State community will join us in expressing our deepest appreciation to Rene for all that she has done for us throughout her Penn State career. We wish her nothing but the very best for the years to come.

I would be remiss if I did not publicly thank the entire Portland family for the special team they have been together. I have great personal admiration for the Portland family and want to thank them and wish them the very best. To me they are indeed a very, very special family.

Our attention will now turn to finding the very best coach to lead this program into an exciting and promising future with our current student-athletes and our incoming recruits. We remain committed to having a top-level program and believe all of the pieces are in place to attract a top-flight coach that will continue to build upon the solid foundation and the tradition of excellence that Coach Portland built over many years. We will conduct a national search beginning tomorrow and we will identify the best coach for Penn State. I will rely on members of my staff to assist in this process, which will include Dr. Scott Kretchmar, our NCAA faculty representative, in the total search process. We do not have a time frame for the completion of this process and the process will remain confidential in order to attract the best candidates possible. We do not plan to use a search firm at this time."