With all of the noise Fran Dunphy made with his move across town to Temple, the departure of his former assistants may have been drowned out.
Shortly after leaving West Philadelphia for the North side of the city in late April, Dunphy took all three of his Penn assistant coaches -- Matt Langel, Shawn Trice and Dave Duke -- with him.
The head coach is always the face of the program, but the team cannot do without the assistants' work behind the scenes.
"Coach Dunphy used to say he's there to be your coach, [but] the assistant coaches can act more as friends and mentors," junior guard Joe Gill said. "You can go to the coaches if you're having a personal problem or anything like that."
According to the team, the three coaches complemented each other nicely, as each provided strengths in different areas.
Trice, last year's voluntary assistant and JV coach, was a 6-foot-8 forward for the Quakers who played on the 1994 team that upset 6-seed Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He was a force on the boards, grabbing 6.0 per game for his career, and shooting over 50 percent from the floor.
But he contributed to last year's Penn team through his knowledge on the other side of the ball.
"Coach Trice was a very good asset this year," senior forward Mark Zoller said. "I think he helped the big guys develop a little bit more, and kind of focused more on post defense. We haven't had a strictly post coach" before.
Langel, another former Penn player coached by Dunphy, worked more with the Quakers guards as a coach. Langel -- a first team All-Ivy selection his senior year in 2000 -- was known for his outside shot.
"Coach Langel probably did the most for me basketball-wise," Gill said. "He showed me different little tips, he was great with drills and the little details that can get you an advantage."
But as a coach he has helped his players off the court as well.
"I could just talk to Langel about anything," Gill added.
Duke, a former head coach at Lehigh and assistant at Penn for eight years, works with the team as a whole, shaping practices and designing much of the offense.
And while he may not be an outspoken orator, he provided support behind the scenes.
"He's just an energetic guy," Zoller said. "He lightens the mood in the locker room, he knows his Xs and Os and he's a great offensive coach."
And while each coach had his area of expertise at Penn, they aimed to be a cohesive unit.
"Everybody communicated with the players, everybody recruited, did scouting, broke down film," Duke said. "We split that up and we all worked together pretty well."
And now, as each coach has decided to move on, Penn will need to find a whole new unit, and the team will have to make an adjustment to the new environment.
Coach Dunphy, Langel, Trice and Duke are all gone, but for one day next year they will return to the Palestra -- but this time on the visiting bench.
"It'll definitely be a tough game, just because there will be such emotion involved, but I already told all those coaches over there that we're gonna get 'em this year," Zoller said. "When the Quakers play Temple there's going to be a little extra incentive to win that one."
"I've known them, I know their families," Duke said. "I've watch them develop into guys that have been there awhile, and I'm going to miss them."
