Greenberg has winning history

When Kelly Greenberg played basketball for La Salle, the Explorers won three consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles and three consecutive Big 5 titles. They went to the NCAA Tournament and defeated Connecticut. "She was just terrific," longtime La Salle coach John Miller said. "She was like another coach out on the floor, so it doesn't surprise me that she continued to be a coach after she graduated." As an assistant coach at Holy Cross, Greenberg went to the NCAA Tournament four times, capturing Patriot League championships in six of her seven seasons there. The Penn women's basketball team has never won an Ivy League title or a Big 5 title. The Quakers have never been to the NCAA Tournament. In Greenberg's first season as head coach at the Palestra, though, Penn is the preseason favorite to win the Ivy League. "I have never been part of a losing team," Greenberg said. "The last seven years at Holy Cross, we averaged 22 wins a season. I'm used to winning and I don't know how I'd be if I lose a lot." Despite Penn's lack of a winning tradition -- the Quakers are 289-440 all-time -- Greenberg may not have to worry. In her debut on Saturday, the Quakers pasted Temple for their first Big 5 win in nearly five years. Tonight at La Salle, Penn will shoot for its first multi-win Big 5 season since 1975. "We can beat any of the teams [in the Big 5]," Penn forward Diana Caramanico said before the opener. "I don't consider us the underdog, but the rest of the city does pretty much. That's more of a detriment to them than it is to us." Playing well in the Big 5 has added significance for Greenberg because of her past experience in Philadelphia. In addition to playing in the Big 5 herself and being from the city, her father, uncle and brother all played in the Big 5. "It's awesome," Greenberg said. "It's great. The other day, during the national anthem, I stood there thinking, 'I can't believe I'm coaching in the Palestra right now.' My mother and three sisters were all bawling their eyes out. It's a big part of my past, and it's nice to be part of it again. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what the Big 5 means. There's no other city in America that can come close to understanding what it's all about, and I'm proud that I could be a part of it." When she was a part of the Big 5 with La Salle, Greenberg knew nothing but success. For the Quakers, Saturday's victory was just the fifth Big 5 triumph of the 1990s. Going undefeated in the Big 5 this year would be more than simply noteworthy. "We wouldn't even need to play the Ivy League," Greenberg joked. "I don't know what Penn would think of that, but that would be a dream world. But [Caramanico's] right, it's doable. It's definitely doable. If we win [tonight], we just keep building on it and getting better." Penn may indeed be able to do that, with Greenberg's coaching style and fast-paced style of play. Last season, under Julie Soriero, something always seemed to be missing for the Quakers. Greenberg has brought a fresh coaching style and a new, faster offense to the Palestra. "It's fun," Greenberg said. "It's a lot of conditioning, and I think people saw it the other day that Temple was tired in the second half and we were just starting to go." The new offense involves the entire team, which means that defenses can no longer simply key in on first team All-Ivy honorees Caramanico and Mandy West. Greenberg's focus has also given the Quakers a new outlook. "It has been wonderful," Penn center Jessica Allen said. "I've enjoyed going to practice. When we practice, we do a lot of drills with running, whereas last year, it wasn't so much, and we'd just do sprints at the end of practice. Now, it's incorporated with the practice and it gives you a good workout, but you're not dreading it because sprints are awful. I couldn't be happier with the coaching switch." Neither could Greenberg, who heeded the advice of a fellow La Salle alum about taking the job at Penn. When interviewing for the position, Greenberg asked Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy if, in her position, he would take the job. Dunphy replied that things at Penn could start to get better if she were to take the job. So Greenberg brought her running offense and pressing defense to Penn, and is now trying to build a winning tradition upon that foundation. "Our challenge is not just to win this year," Greenberg said. "But how do you get it to where you're the team to beat every year, like our men and Princeton's men? Nobody's done that on the women's side, so it's wide open for someone to do it." Incredibly, Penn's future might not look so bright today had Greenberg's past not worked out so well. "I went [to La Salle] for field hockey, but deep down inside, I wanted to play basketball," Greenberg said. "La Salle didn't recruit me -- they didn't like my style of play and didn't think I was good enough. But I went there anyway and figured I'd try out as a walk-on. By the end of my freshman year, they offered me a full ride. I learned a lot from that experience, and really for the first time in my life, I had to prove myself. I learned that nothing comes easy and you have to work for everything you get." It will take a lot of hard work for the Quakers to reverse a long tradition of losing. With Greenberg at the helm and an offense that wears down opponents, however, they may be able to do just that.