It seems clear from Fran Dunphy's words Monday that the biggest reason he left Penn for Temple University was that he can now give recruits athletic scholarships.
Which means that he has the opportunity to take the Owls back to being "among the nation's elite programs," as he said in a statement released by Temple.
You can't blame Dunphy for basing his decision on that. While he may not have done everything he could at Penn -- maybe a Sweet 16 trip or even a George Mason-esque Final Four run would have been everything -- he's certainly done a whole lot.
And while the Patriot League is fully ready to give out scholarships, the landscape looks dim for an Ivy League team to continue to compete on a national level. So it makes sense for Dunphy personally to try to achieve more as a coach.
It's too bad that Penn has to lose a coach and a man of Dunphy's caliber as a result of the Ivy League not being able to pay for their players' education.
But short of offering scholarships, you have to wonder if there is anything at all that Penn could have done to keep Dunphy in West Philadelphia.
Only Dunphy and athletic director Steve Bilsky really know the answer to that question. But if it is yes, Bilsky has to live with seeing his former coach once a year on the opposing bench and may have to live with seeing Dunphy upstaging his own program's success.
Bilsky has a clear interest in the basketball program. Aside from being the athletic director, he was a star on some of Penn's greatest teams.
Now Bilsky must embark, for the first time in his 13 years as assistant director, on a search for a coach of a "revenue program" -- men's basketball or football.
Dunphy's successor can come from one of three basic groups.
First, he could be a big-name coach who, for whatever reason, is currently out of coaching or at a lower-profile job. Some examples are former Utah coach Rick Majerus or former George Washington and St. John's coach Mike Jarvis (who Bilsky hired at G.W.).
Second, he could be a coach with Penn ties, like former assistants Steve Donahue and Fran O'Hanlon.
Or third, he could be a complete outsider, like Brown's Glen Miller and Lehigh's Billy Taylor.
Whichever group Bilsky picks his new coach from, hopefully he will be able to put his personal connections to the basketball team aside and just pick the best man for the job.
For now, I have to trust his (and his selection committee's) judgment and look forward to what will hopefully be another successful season of Penn basketball.
Josh Hirsch is a junior urban studies major from Roslyn, N.Y., and former Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is jjhirsch@sas.upenn.edu.
