UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Following six enthusiastic stops last week, the Penn State Coaches Caravan will embark on Week 2 with five more stops starting Tuesday, May 13. The Caravan will make a total of 17 stops through May 22.
Football coach James Franklin is headlining the bus tour of many Penn State alumni strongholds across Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic. Franklin is participating in all 17 Coaches Caravan stops and being joined by nine more dynamic Penn State head coaches and all nine assistant football coaches during the tour.
The second week of the Coaches Caravan begins Tuesday with an evening event in King of Prussia, where a crowd of more than 700 is expected. On Wednesday, May 14, the Caravan will stop in center city Philadelphia and Scranton, and on Thursday there are events in Northern New Jersey and New York City.
Cael Sanderson (wrestling) and Erica Walsh (women’s soccer) will join Franklin at all five Coaches Caravan events this week and field hockey coach Char Morett will attend the King of Prussia and Philadelphia stops. Assistant football coaches Josh Gattis (King of Prussia), Ricky Rahne (Scranton) and Herb Hand (New York City) also are scheduled to participate in Coaches Caravan events this week.
The final week of the Coaches Caravan will begin on May 20. On Wednesday, May 21, Nittany Lion Basketball coach Patrick Chambers will attend the evening reception at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in the Lehigh Valley. Chambers also attended the Caravan kickoff event in State College on May 1. Franklin, Guy Gadowsky (men’s hockey) and Mark Pavlik (men’s volleyball) also will attend the Lehigh Valley event.
Nearly 6,500 Penn State alumni and fans signed up for caravan events, with crowds of 200-plus registered at 15 of the 17 events. Eight events have surpassed 350 registered guests thus far and six have sold out.
More than 2,600 energetic and engaged Penn State alumni and fans attended Coaches Caravan Week 1 events in York, Hershey, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Uniontown and Pittsburgh last week, including a crowd of more than 725 at the Hershey event.
Penn State Coaches Caravan registration remains open at www.alumni.psu.edu/coachescaravan. Advance registration is required for all events on the Penn State Coaches Caravan, which is jointly sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association and the Nittany Lion Club.