Just a few weeks before the men’s college basketball season was set to begin, Penn State head coach Pat Chambers suddenly stepped down after nine seasons as the leader of the program. That put the athletic department in quite the pickle.

Rather than attempt to hire someone from the outside in a hurry, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour named assistant coach Jim Ferry the interim head coach. He will continue in that role through the conclusion of the 2020-21 season, but will he be the permanent head coach after this season?

Meeting with the media on Tuesday, Barbour said her plan is to wait until the end of the season and quickly make a decision.

“My evaluation of Coach Ferry has been very outstanding,” Barbour said, per Audrey Snyder of The Athletic. “The Big Ten is an absolute beast…gotta give Jim a lot of credit.”

Penn State currently sits at 5-6 overall on the season with a 2-5 record in B1G play. The Nittany Lions have won their last two conference games, defeating Rutgers 75-67 and taking down Northwestern 81-78. Next up is No. 13 Ohio State in Columbus on Wednesday.

There’s a chance that Barbour makes the decision to name Ferry the permanent head coach of the Nittany Lions moving forward. But it seems pretty clear that a decision — one way or the other — won’t come until the final buzzer sounds on the season.