The decision by Penn Admissions not to consider Keenan Jeppesen's transfer application -- effectively keeping him at Brown for the time being -- was a routine decision complicated by Glen Miller's move from Brown to Penn earlier this year.
When Miller accepted the job several months ago, he became the first man ever to lead two Ivy League programs.
And when Jeppesen applied to transfer to Penn, it became the first case where a transfer would follow his coach within the Ivy League.
The twist was that Jeppesen had filed his application well after the March 15 transfer deadline. According to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Stetson, that fact, coupled with a disinclination towards 'stealing' a fellow Ivy student, combined to kill the potential transfer.
Stetson also said that President Amy Gutmann's office had no say in the actual decision, but had previously expressed a desire to firm up admissions deadlines. "We have [accepted late applications] in the past," Stetson said, "but the Ivy League's been trying to be more conscious of deadlines."
"This just is not the right time for a transfer," he said. "We don't feel across the league that we should take students beyond the deadline from the other Ivy League schools. So we're trying to keep that at a zero level."
Jeppesen's bid, then, may have been doomed from the beginning. His interest in Penn was likely based on Miller taking over the program, and the former Bears coach was not formally introduced until April 25, more than five weeks after the deadline.
Other transfers within the League have not been as problematic.
"There's no precedent at all, because the precedent would be set if we did accept the application," Stetson said. "Apparently the student really wanted to come to Penn a while ago," he added, implying that the contact was initiated by Jeppesen. That statement echoes what Miller had said on the subject, insisting that he has not tried to "actively recruit" any of his former players.
The fact that Jeppesen appeared to be making the move in response to an athletic concern might normally buy his application some time. But in this case, the view held by administrators that such a transfer would be inappropriate ruled out any extra consideration his case may have otherwise received.
Although the circumstances surrounding the situation were unusual, the admissions department did not treat them as such.
"I think that the Ivy League institutions feel that students are first and foremost a student," Stetson said. "If they have ambitions to follow somebody, they would apply the following year, not now."
In scholarship programs, the issue is more cut-and-dry because players must ask to be released from their scholarships and can only apply to other schools afterwards. Normally when a coach leaves, a school grants full or partial releases for incoming recruits, such as when Kelvin Sampson left Oklahoma for Indiana after the 2006 season.
Programs do, though, sometimes try to assert control over a players' decision to leave. After this past season, Siena guard Kojo Mensah expressed a desire to transfer, but the university refused to release him to certain schools, including Duquesne, which he had expressed interest in. Siena effectively allowed him to either transfer where he wanted but pay his own way or remain with the Saints.
But such a dispute between programs is virtually nonexistent within the Ivy League, where scholarship issues are moot and showcasing oneself for an NBA future is rarely a concern. Stetson pointed out that the transfer of Dominick Martin from Princeton to Yale several years ago did not cause any problems, as his desire was simply based on a preference for his new school. His application was also filed on time, Stetson noted.
Penn did not want to cause a dispute within the league and may also have been thinking of future cases where a player may want to follow a coach. Given the Ivy League's historical commitment to academics, reflected through such institutions as the ban on postseason football, the decision did not represent a real change in philosophy or doctrine.
No one within the athletic department was available for comment, and Brown coach Craig Robinson declined to speak on the matter.
There are indications, though, that Brown knew about Admissions' decision before it was first revealed last week by The Summer Pennsylvanian. Just one day before that disclosure, the Bears athletic department released its 2006-07 basketball preview, becoming only the third Ivy League team to do so.
The preview featured a prominent picture of Jeppesen and described him as "headlining the returning players in the front court."
