Curran the man for M. Hoops assistant

Former Penn basketball player and WXPN color commentator Vince Curran has reportedly been hired as a volunteer assistant coach for the men's basketball team, filling the role vacated by interim head coach Jerome Allen. The Penn Sports Network's Brian Seltzer, who calls radio broadcasts with Curran on WXPN, mentioned the hiring yesterday on Comcast Sports Net's show, "Daily News Live," and the Athletic Department confirmed it for me today.

Curran played for one year at Penn with Allen. At the Big 5 Hall of Fame induction last spring, Allen mentioned to me that he has many fond memories with Vince and indicated they still keep in touch and have a strong relationship. I would imagine that Allen had some influence in bringing in Curran, but I'm not positive on that one. The move also fits the mold of Steve Bilsky's desire to bring in coaches with strong Penn connections to help restore the Penn basketball identity.

After the jump are some of Allen's comments about Curran from the Big 5 HOF induction.

On his best Big 5 memory: “My first Big 5 game, we were playing Temple at the Palestra. We’re down one with the last shot to win it, and Vince Curran misses a three from the right side of the hash, and I was standing in the corner doing jumping jacks, and he didn’t swing it. To this day I say ‘Vince I was open.' ... What I remember most about that game is Vince’s comments after the game to the reporters, he said ‘That was the ‘E’ in the game of horse’ and we rode him for probably the rest of the season about that comment. It was a shot I’ve definitely seen him make so it was just funny hearing him describe it as such.”