Turn Back the Clock: The Glen Miller Era begins

As we await this weekend’s basketball opener Friday night at UMBC, this week’s segment will turn back the clock to a dark time in Penn hoops history — the Glen Miller Era. But it didn’t start out that way, as Miller experienced some initial success before the program eventually plummeted to a low point in the beginning of the 2009-10 season.

On this day in Penn sports history …

November 10, 2006: The Glen Miller Era began in Syracuse, N.Y., when Penn took on UTEP for the first of three games in the Black Coaches Association Invitational. Before coming to Penn, Miller had first been an assistant coach at Connecticut under Jim Calhoun, and later he was the head man at Brown for seven seasons. The Quakers had gone 20-9 in 2005-06 under Fran Dunphy and were the defending Ivy League champions. The Miners also were playing their first game under a new coach, Tony Barbee, a former assistant under John Calipari at Massachusetts and Memphis.

The Quakers built up a significant lead in the first half, when an 11-0 run put them up 20-9. But turnovers quickly allowed the Miners back into the game, and before long, it was tied again at 24-24. The game went back and forth and Penn took a one-point lead into halftime, 39-38.

UTEP opened the second half scoring the first seven points and held onto the lead until late in the period, when Penn tied it at 58-58 on Mark Zoller’s three-point play. The turning point may have come, though, when senior captain Ibrahim Jaaber fouled out with only four minutes remaining.

As a result of their go-to guy being out of the game, sophomore Aron Cohen was forced to take a potential go-ahead shot as the Quakers trailed, 67-66, with under a minute left. His long three-point attempt clanged off the front of the rim. Glen Miller was not pleased with taking an ill-advised three:

“Down one, we had better get a better shot off than we did.”

Penn ultimately lost, 69-66 — in retrospect, a proper beginning to the Glen Miller Era. In the next two games of the Invitational, Penn fell to No. 20 Syracuse, 78-60, but salvaged a win against St. Francis (NY) in the final contest, 86-56. Miller would guide the Quakers to a 22-9 record overall, and 13-1 in the Ivy League — Penn’s last Ivy title.

In two-plus seasons following that though, Miller’s record was 23-43 overall, 14-14 in Ivy play. He was fired and replaced by Jerome Allen on December 14, 2009. Miller returned to his alma mater, Connecticut, last year, as Director of Basketball Administration and will return to his original role as an assistant under Jim Calhoun this season.