Bilsky: search in ‘final stages’

The search for Penn’s next basketball coach is in its “final stages,” according to Athletic Director Steve Bilsky.

Though Bilsky would not offer a timetable for an announcement regarding the next coach, he did say that in his mind, he is down to a few finalists.

The hiring process, which began shortly after former coach Glen Miller was fired Dec. 14, intensified over the past month, as Bilsky has been in contact with several candidates.

After a search in which “hundreds” of names have surfaced, he said he has “narrowed that down to a group of nine who have actually had personal contact.”

Of the nine, six are Division I head coaches, one is a D-I assistant and two are from “the professional ranks” which Bilsky clarified to be the NBA.

He would not offer names due to the private nature of the search.

“The commonality of it is that they all would understand what Penn is,” he said. “I’m not saying that they all would take the job, but they’re interested.

“That will be whittled down and has been whittled down to the point where I think we’re pretty much at the end,” Bilsky added. “In my mind, I’m down to a couple people.”

Throughout the coaching search, Bilsky has been collaborating with an advisory committee that he formed in order to hear alumni input as well as a sounding board for his own thoughts on the weighty process.

The core of the committee consists of former Penn basketball players Ed Stefanski, now president and general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Harry Rosenberg; Bruce Lefkowitz, who won two Ivy titles with Penn in the mid-1980s; Scott Kegler, three-time conference champion in the early 90s; and Jeff Schiffner, who played with the Quakers in the beginning of the last decade.

“There’s different opinions because there’s different generations,” Bilsky said. “Any time you have a horse race, people are going to be on different horses.”

The athletic director emphasized the importance of bouncing ideas off of alumni and university officials — including Penn President Amy Gutmann, whom Bilsky said has given him great support.

“I speak to College Hall folks several times a week saying … ‘here is how I feel on Tuesday,’ and I feel very different on Friday, and so forth. They’re very in tune.”

Bilsky has also spoken to sophomore point guard and co-captain Zack Rosen, an outspoken proponent of hiring Jerome Allen.

After taking over the coaching responsibilities from Miller in December, Allen has emerged as a popular candidate in the minds of players, students and many alumni.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a search — and I’ve done a lot of searches — where the team doesn’t support the incumbent or an internal person, and I’ve said that to Zack and others,” Bilsky said.

But with a pool that includes at least eight more names, Allen may have some stiff competition.

“Now that we’re ending the period of interim, I think we can look back and say that worked out real well,” Bilsky said.

He extolled the advantages of conducting a search that dates back several months rather than waiting until the conclusion of the regular season, when the coaching carousel hits full gear.

“You look at the jobs that are open now — Seton Hall and St. Johns and so forth,” Bilsky explained. “They are trying to squeeze the same amount of work, the same kind of things into a week’s timetable.

“When you have this kind of time to do it, there’s a couple people who have surfaced who have — again, I won’t release the names — but I would say would fall under the category of surprising,” he added. “Appealing, but surprising.”

However, at least one potential candidate has been ruled out. Division I coach and former Penn point guard Fran McCaffery announced yesterday he will leave Siena to take charge of Iowa’s basketball program.

And while it’s still clear that Bilsky can go in several directions with his final decision, he added that a coach’s qualities on paper do not necessarily correlate to success.

“Sometimes, you look back on coaching selections and the one’s that you were a little surprised or a little tentative about turn out to be great, and the ones that you think are slam dunks don’t work out as well.”

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