Jackson to stay at Penn next year as asst. coach

The Penn men's basketball team will lose four of its current starters next year to graduation.

But another important member of the Quakers lineup -- assistant coach Gil Jackson -- will be staying at Penn.

"I wasn't desperate to move," Jackson said. "I'm happy here at Penn."

Jackson interviewed for the head coaching position at Columbia three weeks ago; however, Villanova assistant coach Joe Jones was given the job.

"I thought the interview went very well," Jackson said. "That was the feedback I got from the selection committee.

"They checked out all of my references and [they gave] very positive feedback."

Jones will have some Wildcats company in the Ivy coaching fraternity, as Harvard men's basketball coach Frank Sullivan was also an assistant coach at Villanova before becoming head man of the Crimson.

Jones replaces Armond Hill, who joined the Lions staff in 1995 after serving as an assistant coach at Cornell.

Hill suffered through eight straight losing seasons -- including an 0-14 Ivy record last season -- at the helm of the Lions before being fired in March.

But Jones' resume -- which includes positions at Hofstra and Villanova -- contains no prior coaching experience in the Ancient Eight.

Traditionally, many Ivy head coaches -- including five of the current eight head coaches -- were former Ivy assistants.

One such example is Jones' brother James, who is in his fourth year as head coach at Yale. James previously spent three years as a Bulldogs assistant.

"It's going to be pretty interesting with two brothers coaching in the Ivy League," Jackson said.

"It seems they wanted to try something different," Jackson added. "They decided they wanted to go away from an Ivy League assistant and instead went with the Big East assistant."

Indeed, the Lions have little reason not to try something new after 10 straight losing seasons and an 0-14 Ivy League record last season.

Among the coaching candidates was NBA's all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul Jabaar. However, Jabaar was not selected as one of the three finalists.

In addition to Jackson, Jones and Jabaar, Iona assistant coach Tony Chiles, former North Carolina assistant Bob MacKinnon, New York Knicks coaching associate Mike Malone and former Duke star Bobby Hurley were also considered for the position.

Jones' advantage over other candidates, according to Jackson, may have been his experience under Villanova head coach Jay Wright.

From 1994 to 1997, Jones served as an assistant coach at Hofstra. In 1997, he was hired as an assistant at Villanova. In 2001, Wright was hired as Villanova's head coach, and he served as one of Jones' references for the Columbia job.

Before arriving at Villanova, Wright was an assistant coach at University of Rochester from 1984 to 1986. Columbia Athletic Director John Reeves was Rochester's A.D. during that span.

While Jones is busy trying to revamp a struggling Columbia program that hasn't won an Ancient Eight title since 1968, Jackson appreciates his own challenge in the upcoming season -- coaching a somewhat depleted Quakers team.

"It's a new era for us," Jackson said. "We've lost so many guys."

After back-to-back Ivy championships, "it's often hard to maintain that level."

With seemingly less talent than years past, it will be up to Jackson and Penn's coaching staff to help guide the team to what could be the first Ivy three-peat since Princeton accomplished the feat between 1995 and 1998.

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