Georgetown's Knapp comes to Penn; Greenberg heads to BU

Patrick Knapp is coming home.

"Born and raised in Philadelphia Germantown Hospital, 1953," he said Aug. 4 after being introduced as the new coach of the Penn women's basketball team.

Knapp spent the last 18 years as the head coach of women's basketball at Georgetown University. He compiled a 248-264 record in his time in Washington, including two Big East championships.

He said that there are similarities between Georgetown and Penn that will help his transition between the schools.

"At both institutions, both administrations want you to do things the right way, to treat the student athletes with dignity and respect, to be concerned with their academics," he said.

Knapp also said that he would try hard to maintain those aspects of last year's team that brought the Quakers an Ivy League title.

"If the 'two play' works, whatever the 'two play' is, it worked all last year, and the same people are running it, why wouldn't we run the 'two play?'" he said. "It would be stupid not to."

Although Knapp would not make any specific predictions about the upcoming season, he did set some lofty goals.

"We want to repeat in the Ivy League and we want to win the Big 5," he said. "I know that's not easy I know the RPIs of those teams, I've played Villanova twice a year forever."

He admitted that "we have some work to do," but added that "you don't go into a circumstance and not have those goals if you are in a league, your goal is to win the league."

Knapp's predecessor, Kelly Greenberg, won two Ivy League titles but never managed more than one Big 5 victory in a season during her five-year tenure.

Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, speaking about the search process, expressed particular pleasure at being able to find a new coach quickly. Greenberg was announced as Boston University's new coach on July 7, exactly three weeks before the announcement of Knapp's hiring.

Also leaving Penn was top assistant Joe McGeever, who was thought by some to be the top candidate to replace Greenberg. McGeever resigned Aug. 9 to join Greenberg's staff in Boston.

"We definitely moved the search quickly not hastily, but quickly," Bilsky said.

The reactions from Penn's players were equally positive.

"All of us have been really anxious all summer," senior guard Amanda Kammes said. "It's important to us to have someone to go up there and visit every so often."

But she added that "we're the Penn players we're going to be the people that make it happen on the floor."

Sophomore forward Ashley Gray praised Knapp for having "a lot of values that we think are really important."

Now those values get put to the test.

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