Basketball Preview | Return of Red and Blue royalty

This season, one of the greatest basketball players to ever wear the Red and Blue will return to the Palestra.

Jerome Allen — who led the Quakers to three undefeated Ivy seasons from 1993-95 — joined the men’s basketball coaching staff as an assistant just before the school year began following a professional career in the NBA and Europe.

“I’m appreciative and fortunate for this opportunity,” the Big 5 Hall of Famer said. “It’s a two-way street and as much as I know about the game and I’m able to share with these guys, I get the opportunity to learn from them everyday and just improve not only as a coach but as a person and a teacher.”

Allen was the MVP of the three Quakers teams that went 14-0 in Ivy play. In his junior year, he led Penn to its most recent NCAA Tournament victory and first since the 1979 Final Four team, as the 11th-seeded Quakers upset sixth-seeded Nebraska, 90-80.

Though the teams he played for were full of talented players, Allen was unquestionably the go-to guy for coach Fran Dunphy, who now coaches across town for Temple.

“He was certainly a terrific basketball player, but more importantly he was a great guy and a great leader,” Dunphy said. “Those four years I had a chance to coach him were four of my favorite, no question about it. I can pretty much tell you that without Jerome Allen I don’t think that I would have stayed in coaching as long as I have.”

After graduation, Allen was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 20th pick (49th overall) of the second round of the 1995 NBA Draft. He played a season with the Timberwolves and then another with the Denver Nuggets and then the Indiana Pacers after a midseason trade. He appeared in 117 games, starting one, and averaged just under three points and two assists per game.

Following that stint in the NBA, he moved to Europe, playing professionally in Italy — where he spent his most successful years — as well as in France, Turkey, Spain and Greece.

But no matter where he was playing, Allen returned to Philadelphia to train over the summer, where he would coach inner-city youth and, in later years, Penn players. In 2007, Allen had his first major foray into coaching when he had an internship with the San Antonio Spurs during the NBA Summer League.

So it was only natural that when former assistant coach — and fellow legendary Penn basketball player — Perry Bromwell decided to take a position in development, Allen was the first candidate on head coach Glen Miller’s list of replacements.

“We had conversations while he was still playing overseas about what he wanted his future to look like after he got done playing; did he want to be a basketball coach?” Miller said. “He articulated that he did over the years, so he’s always a guy I had on my short list.”

Since accepting the job, Allen has been involved in all aspects of coaching, from player interactions to recruiting.

He had developed a relationship with many of the players by coaching and training with them over the summer. Sophomore Zack Rosen — who played under him this past summer in the Delaware Country Pro-Am League — says that the entire team was excited to hear that Allen would be joining the coaching staff, as his personality allows the players to develop a close relationship with him.

“I think he keeps things light,” Rosen said. “He’s almost like a psychologist; he knows what you’re thinking and he knows how to pick your brain and get you in the right frame of mind. … He can tell if guys are down or guys are up. … He can pick you up or put you in your place.”

Allen also helps to convey the history and tradition of Penn basketball. He believes that the players that have worn the Red and Blue are part of a “brethren,” and so he can help the current players to understand where they fit into the larger tradition of Quakers basketball.

“You never know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from,” he said. “The tradition that preceded me was instrumental in me implementing the daily approach I took to become a better basketball player and I think its important that these guys understand that also.”

As he continues to learn the intricacies of coaching at the collegiate level from Miller, he is enjoying his return to his alma mater, but does not yet aspire to rise up the coaching ladder.

“I’m happy to be home and I’m happy for the opportunity,” Allen said. “I’ve never really thought about going to another level or trying to be a head coach; I’m just appreciative for the opportunity I do have and I’m going to try to make sure whatever’s needed of me, whatever I can bring to the program, I’m just trying to do my best.”

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