 After his last Overbrook season , over 200 universities wanted to recruit the basketball prodigy . Among others , UCLA offered Chamberlain the opportunity to become a movie star , the University of Pennsylvania wanted to buy him diamonds , and Chamberlain 's Panthers coach Mosenson was even offered a coaching position if he could persuade the center . In his 2004 biography of Chamberlain , Robert Cherry has described that Chamberlain wanted a change and therefore did not want to go to or near Philadelphia ( also eliminating New York ) , was not interested in New England , and snubbed the South because of segregation ; leaving the Midwest . In the end , after visiting the University of Kansas with renowned college coach Phog Allen , Chamberlain then proclaimed he was going to play college basketball at Kansas . 
