Jennifer Wasson was hired yesterday as the new Penn assistant women's basketball coach.
If this isn't earth-shattering information for you, you're probably not alone. But for the women's basketball team, its importance lies in that the hiring represents the first major decision by new head women's basketball coach Patrick Knapp, who was hired July 28.
Knapp is replacing the popular Kelly Greenberg, who left Philadelphia after five seasons to take the same position at Boston University.
The new head of the women's basketball program is no spring chicken -- he spent the last 18 seasons as the coach at Georgetown -- but he has a long way to go in making the Penn community forget about Greenberg.
This is no knock on Knapp. To be able to get a coach to come over from a conference like the Big East is quite unusual, and to call it a coup, as Hall of Fame coach Cathy Rush said, might not be an overstatement.
It's just that Greenberg had so much success, so much class and had become as synonymous with the Penn women's basketball team as dissatisfaction is with Penn Student Health Services.
Before Greenberg's arrival at the Palestra in 1999, the Quakers had never been to the NCAA Tournament. The only postseason tournament of any kind that Penn participated in before Greenberg was the 1978 version of the now defunct EAIAW Tournament. The Quakers were promptly blown out, 110-44, by Maryland in their first game.
In more recent history, the Red and Blue enjoyed just one winning season in the 16 years before hiring Greenberg.
This tradition of futility ended almost immediately upon her arrival. In her first season, Penn set a school record with 18 victories. In her second, the Quakers ran the table in the Ivy League en route to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The team made it to the NCAAs again last year.
Greenberg had the Red and Blue well-positioned for the future, returning most of the core of the Ivy League championship team, save for Jewel Clark and Mikaelyn Austin. Promising players Joey Rhoads and Monica Naltner are only sophomores.
But the program got turned on its ear when Greenberg left for BU. This was a move that nobody expected. As a Philadelphia native and a graduate of La Salle, most people assumed that Greenberg was satisfied with her gig roaming the sidelines of the Palestra.
And while Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky expressed pleasure that he was able to replace Greenberg in a timely manner, the Quakers squad had to feel a little devoid of leadership these past few weeks. Not only were Clark, Austin and Greenberg gone, but the rest of Greenberg's staff left with her, including well-respected assistant Joe McGeever.
Greenberg was reportedly upset when the job went to Knapp instead of McGeever, who resigned a few days after Knapp was hired and became an assistant at BU.
Since then, there have been more questions than answers surrounding the program. Other than the substantial persona of Knapp, it was unclear who would step into the leadership void.
The hiring of Wasson was the first step in answering this question. But many more steps will be necessary to quiet the skeptics.
Harry Berezin is a senior history major from San Francisco and sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is harryb@sas.upenn.edu.
