Sydney Johnson the Stag

Former Princeton coach Sydney Johnson was introduced at Fairfield today as the Stags' new head coach, leaving behind his alma mater just four years after taking over and turning the Tigers into a competitor.

The general sentiment among those analyzing his move is that it was primarily financially motivated. And while Johnson certainly has emotional ties to Princeton, the prospects of not having to worry about academic indexes, financial aid and the other banes of Ivy Athletics are alluring to any coach.

My colleague Brian Kotloff captured the situation pretty deftly today in his DP column pointing out that the Ivy League has become more and more of a stepping stone in the coaching carousel.

It's definitely easier to see a Steve Donahue or Fran Dunphy leave for greener pastures, but, as Kotloff noted, we're all a little bit shocked to see a son of the Ancient Eight move onward and, dare we say, upward (not to say that Fairfield is definitely upward, except for monetarily).

It's far too premature to wonder whether Penn could face a similar fate. Jerome Allen has a lot of work to do before he'll be fielding calls from the Fairfields of the world. But could Penn be his stepping stone as well? It is, after all, his first NCAA coaching job ever. I'm inclined to say no based on my experiences with the coach, but there are a few nagging pieces that might indicate otherwise:

I blogged a while back that Allen once mentioned offhand to me that he might be interested in pursuing a masters degree of some kind. This isn't the same as another coaching job, but it could indicate he's got higher ambitions.
I remember watching the ESPN3 broadcast of the Harvard-Princeton playoff and the postgame interview with Sydney Johnson. The only bit I distinctly recall was an emotional Johnson saying "I love love love Princeton basketball." I don't doubt that Johnson still loves Princeton basketball, but a month after he cried in his press conference with joy over the Tigers, he has quickly moved on.
This one's a bit silly, but in our annual column exchange before the first Princeton game, the Daily Princetonian editors pointed out how Penn was on an eerily similar trajectory to Princeton, rising out of the depths of the League with a former star player leading the way. While I still hold that we won the column battle this year (and last year, for that matter), the Princeton editors make a good point.

So now that Johnson has left his beloved Princeton, will the parallels between the two program continue? What are the odds that Allen leaves when his stock is high?