The Ivy season officially began over the weekend, with Harvard soundly beating Dartmouth 76-47.
That's no surprise, as the Crimson seem to be the only team capable of challenging Cornell for the Ivy League title, while the Big Green have only 3 wins on the season.
But what is shocking is that Dartmouth head coach Terry Dunn resigned the day before the game, making Dartmouth the second Ivy school to change head coaches midway through the season (after Penn, obviously). No interim head coach was named for the game, however, so Dartmouth played the Crimson without an official head coach. A replacement is expected to be announced this week.
Read below the jump for the details about what may (or may not) have brought this about.
Fox Sports writer Jeff Goodman, citing "multiple sources" said that Dunn was forced to resign after players threatened to boycott the Harvard game. He wrote that each player signed a document saying that they would refuse to play under Dunn and the team delivered that to the administration.
However, that claim was dismissed as false by interim athletic director Bob Ceplikas and as "bogus" by senior captain Robby Pride in an article in The Dartmouth.
Dunn was in his sixth season with the Big Green, and had compiled a 47-103 record, including a 3-10 record this year. Interesting to note is that the three assistants who took over in Dunn's absence are all in their first year, as his entire staff resigned this past offseason.
After a decisive 82-71 win, Penn (1-10) is finally off the schneid with its first win of the season, snapping the worst start and longest losing streak in program history. I'm sure this was a big win for the team from a mental standpoint. As Zack Rosen said, "I think it's huge for everybody in that locker room for their mental [standpoint], just believing, and knowing that when we go out there there's a possibility of us winning a game."
But let's also make sure we're clear about what this win wasn't. It wasn't really evidence of a turnaround, or a sign that brighter things are necessarily ahead for the rest of the season. Tonight's opponent, UMBC, is now 1-13 on the year. By most available measurements, such as RPI and Sagarin ratings, this was a matchup between two of the worst 15 teams in Division I this season up to today. As Rosen also correctly stated, it was the first time the team really executed a gameplan and controlled the game, but that is more of an indictment of the team's play up to this point. There's no question that this win was orders of magnitude less impressive than Cornell's 71-66 loss to national No. 1 Kansas, a game the Big Red led most of the way and was decided in the final two possessions.
To be fair, though, a win's a win, however uninspiring the matchup, so congratulations to coach Allen for his first victory as head coach, and also to the players, who have all worked very hard.
On a separate note, my parents are both Penn alumni ('76 and '78) and were invited to a Penn basketball alumni reception at Michaels 1600 restaurant before the game. In an attempt to increase my investigative acclaim, I followed along to see what, if anything, I could observe.
I took a copy of the Penn basketball alumni news flash, which appears to have been written before the season, and for all I know contains information that is immediately publically available. But I didn't know some of the things inside, so I figure some other people don't either. For one thing, in order to stimulate more donations, the club started a "Penn Hoops Player Experience" and a new level of giving called the "Palestra Court Club" for those alumni who graduated before 2000 and pledge $5,000 a year for four years.
As for the total numbers, last year 321 donors gave a total of $343,129 to the Basketball Annual Fund, split between Travel Fund, Palestra Floor Renovation, and the Men's Coaching Endowment. A lot of the biggest donations apparently went to the Palestra Floor Renovation. This year, the club's goal is to raise numbers by 10% -- up to $375,000 and 353 donors.
Last year, eight donors gave $25,000 or more, nine gave between $10,000 and $24,999, 20 gave between $5,000 and $9,999, and 45 gave between $2,500 and $4,999. Of the donors who gave $5,000 or more and who had a graduation date listed, the average graduation was in 1971, which puts the average "big donor's" age at roughly 60 years old. Obviously a lot of that is explained because older people generally are more established financially and may have more discretionary income if they had prosperous careers. But it will be interesting to see whether the demographic will become even more skewed or if it will prove difficult to pick up younger donors.
It would be interesting to see how these numbers compare to other Ivy League schools and schools from major conferences.
Those who spoke to the whole group of 60 to 70 alumni at the reception included Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, Penn star Corky Calhoun (class of '72), who was on teams that totaled a 99-6 record, and prominent alumnus Rick Rockwell.
Calhoun, who is now a successful businessman at Exxon-Mobil, spoke at length about how as a kid growing up in a factory town in the Midwest, Digger Phelps convinced him that Penn was a special opportunity beyond what some Big 10 schools like Wisconsin were offering. He emphasized that at Penn, the program is about catering to people as a whole, whereas at some other programs he got the feeling that they were only interested in people in terms of how they can be used as basketball players. He also stressed the importance of the "Penn family" and alumni base, and how even though the team is struggling on the court now, the community's support is still vital to the program's future.
The most noteworthy piece of news, though, was that head coach Jerome Allen made an appearance at the reception at 6:30, an hour before gametime, and spoke very briefly. People seemed very impressed that he would make such a gesture, and as a point of comparison, one of the event's organizers said that she did not ever recall Glen Miller making an appearance at such a function, and that an appearance an hour before tipoff was, as far as she knew, an unprecedented outreach effort.
Personally, I was impressed with the gesture, and it certainly plays into Bilsky's comment about creating an atmosphere of a Penn "family." Allen is certainly more personable than Miller, even in interviews. Hopefully he can also get the team to continue to play better for the rest of the season.
After the game, I asked him about his appearance, and he gave me a very thoughtful and lengthy answer that I thought the readers would appreciate:
"Well, I'm a Penn Quaker at heart, first and foremost. We have such a tremendous amount of support from the alumni, and the extended families, and all that stuff matters to me. Sometimes it's not just about the game itself, it's about the people and the lives that are affected by how the team does, or the people who make sacrifices for us to have the opportunities that are afforded to us. One of the things I learned from coach [Fran] Dunphy is that, even the ones you don't see, people matter. Things just don't happen because they're supposed to happen. And I'm really appreciative. We had Corky Calhoun in the locker room after the game, and I talked to the guys on the team about just the success that he had and the tradition that he helped establish long before a lot of these guys were born. That means something. The fact that they're able to put this jersey on, and people really respect it, has a lot to do with the things he was able to accomplish. It's more than basketball, you know, it's about life and just trying to develop young men to be productive citizens and making sure they do things the right way. So I knew we had a game tonight, but the fact that this reception was set up and I knew all these people were going to be there, I just wanted to say 'hey from the bottom of heart, I really appreciate the things that you've done to support this program.' And it's a small gesture, but I think that it's the right thing to do."
Other notes from the game:
Junior Tyler Bernardini, senior Andreas Schreiber, and sophomore Larry Loughery were all wearing suits on the bench. Coach Allen characterized them as having "long-term" injuries. Sophomore Mike Howlett, whose development has been one of the few bright spots this season, was in crutches and is scheduled to have an MRI shortly. Reading between the lines, I would be surprised if we saw Bernardini, Schreiber, or Loughery in action for the rest of this season, but we should see Howlett back at some point, barring any setbacks. In the last press conference with Glen Miller after the loss to Monmouth, Miller (and Howlett himself) said that Howlett was especially focused on developing a back-to-the-basket offensive game, which is currently unpolished. It's too bad that development has seemingly been delayed, especially since someone is going to have to go against Cornell's 7-foot center, Jeff Foote.
On that note, Conor Turley did a great job inside tonight and was especially solid from the charity stripe, where he went 8-for-10. Kudos to him, and hopefully he can carry some of that over to Penn's next game against Temple.
Penn also has a new addition to the roster, senior Drew Godwin from Yadley, Pa., who was finally promoted from the Junior Varsity team in his final semester. This is potentially another great gesture by coach Allen, and I'm sure it's a great story as well, so I look forward to speaking him and trying to write an article about it (or if it's not me, I at least look forward to reading about it).
Penn utilized a lot of different looks, featuring a 1-3-1 zone with Rosen under the basket and a lot more set plays than were seen under Glen Miller. For seemingly the first time all year, Penn was able to slow it down some and dictate the pace a little bit against a running team.
Penn still isn't good enough defensively to stop guard penetration. UMBC guards Chris De La Rosa and Chauncey Gilliam combined to shoot 16-for-25 for 46 of the Retrievers' 71 points. That isn't likely to change, as Penn simply doesn't have the guns athletically to play great defense.
Finally, Penn continues to rely on the three-point shot. Of the Quakers' 48 field goal attempts, 24 were from beyond the arc. Tonight, good ball movement led to some open looks, so I don't necessarily have a problem with so many attempts. It doesn't hurt when 13 of those 24 three-point shots are successful. It was probably Darren Smith's best game of the year, especially in the shooting department, and Rosen is really learning to become a scorer, albeit by necessity, and his jumper looks much improved compared to earlier in the season. He had 28 points, was 8-for-12 from the field, 4-for-7 from three-point range, and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Great line for him.
If you have any questions or comments, leave them here. While the biggest story in the Ivy League tonight was Cornell's great game, and even though Penn will likely get trounced by Dunphy's Temple Owls next week, I was encouraged by the fact that coach Allen really seems to get it.
Welcome, everyone, to the creatively titled Recreation Activities Center, where the Quakers look to get their first win of the season against the 1-12 UMBC Retrievers. Tonight's contest is likely Penn's best chance at getting a victory before the Ivy League season begins, and the team could definitely use some momentum heading into its slew of Big Five games in the coming weeks. I'm here in Baltimore Country, so you can follow along with me here:
Penn @ UMBC
Earlier this week, loyal Buzz reader Ernie Nounou asked:
Still in the New Year spirit and not snarky, imagine the challenge balancing objectivity and supportiveness in covering and having to write about most of the program’s teams in their current state. I’d put the question to David Gurian-Peck: How does a DP reporter balance objectivity with being supportive to fellow students, without sounding like a cheer leader? It is surely easier and more pleasurable writing about winning teams.
It's an interesting question that I believe is critical to any student newspaper, so I wanted to share my thoughts at length.
The most common on-campus criticism of the DP's sports coverage is that we are intentionally mean-spirited, purposely and unfairly harping on athletes' or teams' failures without adequately addressing their accomplishments. From the year I spent editing this section, I can say that this is unequivocally false. Like any news organization, we make mistakes. But it's not like we're sitting in our windowless office plotting our next crusade against Penn student-athletes. We do not intentionally try to be mean or unduly critical in print.
The second, related common criticism goes something like this: "You guys are the voice of the University of Pennsylvania community. As such, you should try to make your fellow students look good. You should, whenever possible, highlight the good things that we do, and perhaps sometimes, you should look the other way on some of our failings. You writers aren't good enough to play sports, while we put in 20 hours per week to hone our craft. You should write about how great we are."
Well, I reject that view, too. (Except for the part about our lack of athletic prowess -- that is most certainly true. And while I have tremendous respect for the talents of most Penn athletes, I would like to point out that we do spend 50 hours per week putting out the newspaper. But I digress.)
The goal of the DP''s sports section -- like that of any college or, even, professional newspaper -- should be to report fairly on what actually transpires. That means ignoring, or calling out, the cliched spin that some athletes/coaches/members of the Athletic Department try to put on certain situation. That means praising teams when they succeed, as I think the DP has nicely done with W. Lax, Football, and Volleyball, to name a few. That also means pointing out when teams play poorly, and writing about the story of the game or season. Sometimes, that's when a player nearly throws a no-hitter, or hits a game-winning shot at the buzzer (two of my favorite events that I have covered). Other times, the most important thing is that somebody struck out with the bases loaded, or shot 1-for-15, or threw three interceptions, etc.
We can't control what happens. We can only write about it. Some athletes and coaches have said that the number of "negative" stories outnumbers the number of "positive" ones about their. If true, that is usually a reflection of that team's play: bad teams shouldn't get glowing, sugar-coated stories. Good teams have earned "positive" stories. And while it's never as simple as a balancing act between these so-called "positive" and "negative" stories, it's worth noting that the DP does run many feature/profile stories. These almost always portray everybody in an excellent light, and we would write even more if we knew more about players' personal lives and backgrounds.
In short (and, as you can see, I was never good at being concise): We shouldn't treat Penn teams differently just because we go to Penn. With few exceptions, they should be subject to the same praise, and accountability, of their professional counterparts.
Two additional points.
First, perception of objectivity is also critical. As such, DP sports editors have for years prevented reporters from wearing any Penn apparel to any events they cover (You would never see, say, a Phillies writer donning a Phillies cap in the press box). Similarly, the few reporters who have cheered out loud for the Quakers from the pressbox have been reprimanded. New media raises new problems. I think it crossed the line when writers/editors Tweeted or wrote on Facebook their pleasure/satisfaction with Glen Miller's dismissal, just as I think it crossed the line when writers/editors Tweeted or wrote on Facebook their happiness/excitement with Penn winning the football Ivy League title.
Second, personally, I have always rooted for the story, not for a team. I know this sounds cliche, but it's true. There are DP crime writers who like when crime occurs on or near campus, not because they are insensitive or want people to get hurt, but because the reporting gives them a thrill. The same applies to sports writing, at least for me. Just as I wanted to see Todd Roth get that no-hitter years ago, I would have wanted to see a no-hitter against Penn, because a no-hitter is something special. There was a football game earlier this season that I wanted the Quakers to lose, because they played poorly early on and didn't deserve to win, and it would have made for more compelling copy to write about how they blew their season with sloppy mistakes. By the time I went up to Boston for the de facto championship game, I hoped Penn would win because the more historic/exciting angle was the first championship in six years.
To the extent that writers become emotionally involved in what they cover -- and, protestations to the contrary, human nature dictates that we do -- I think this is the best balance. If you care about the story, and are fair to everyone involved, everything else should fall into place.
Ernie, I hope this answers some of the questions you raised. I would love to hear more about what you and other readers think about this issue, so post your views in the comments.
Earlier this week, I asked which of Penn's slumping basketball teams would snap its season-long skid first?
Well, folks, we have an answer.
The women's basketball team defeated St. Francis, 52-48, at the Palestra, making the Quakers 1-9 and infinitely better than the men. Mike McLaughlin, the winningest coach in the NCAA, finally picked up his first Division I victory. Kim Adams, a dismal 1-for-15 on Tuesday, led the Quakers with 17 points, while Jerin Smith posted 12 rebounds. Given the state of Penn hoops, perhaps this should rank as one of the top moments of 2009.
As for the men? They got "demolished" (Penn Athletics' word) at Duke, losing 114-55. It was the worst loss in Penn's history.
And here's to wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year.
This year might not have been the best for Penn sports. But that's not to say that it wasn't an exciting year, with plenty of big news stories. So here is my personal top 10 moments ("moments" loosely defined) of the year. And yes, some are positive, while some are negative. So continue after the jump for the picks.
10. Coaches leave. This could go much higher. But since coaches leaving Penn was a big theme of the 2009 calendar year, I thought I'd start the countdown with it. This year the following sports saw head coaches leave, resign, retire or get fired: Both heavy and lightweight rowing, W. Tennis, the fencing program (one coach for the two teams), Field Hockey, W. Basketball and M. Basketball. Included in that group were Dave Micahnik (Fencing) and Val Cloud (FH), two coaches who had a combined 65 years of experience at Penn before announcing their retirement in April and December, respectively. (Some specific coaching moves warrant their own entry in the countdown later.)
9. Phillies lose to the Yankees. OK not a Penn sports story. But it still had a big impact on the Penn community, as two of the biggest cities that Penn students call home were represented in the World Series (if only the Nationals had played the Phillies in the NLCS). Sure it didn't match the fervor of the 2008 win, yet still was an important moment.
8. M. Fencing goes undefeated. In Micahnik's final season, the Quakers went an impressive 17-0 including 5-0 in the Ivy League. It was the team's first Ivy title since 2000-01. And all this despite the outbreak of a meningococcal infection that affected the team. In the end, we awarded Micahnik Penn Men's Coach of the Year.
7. Kevin Egee's buzzer beater. The Quakers might not have been playing for much back in March when they traveled to Columbia, but that doesn't mean they weren't going to give their all to beat the Lions. So when they found themselves down 50-48 with just 1.9 seconds to go, coach Glen Miller designed a play on the spot. And boy did that play work, as senior Kevin Egee hit a 35-foot buzzer beater to earn the 51-50 win. The play even made it to YouTube, before it was pulled. It arguably was the best piece of coaching Glen Miller did in his three plus years at Penn.
6. Three wrestlers arrested then cleared. This story definitely would've ranked higher had Matt Dragon, Cesar Grajales and Rollie Peterkin been convicted of assault and/or other charges. However, they were cleared, and have since competed in the Southern Scuffle. In fact Grajales made the final of the 149-pound weightclass.
5. Pat Knapp sacked. The coach well-known for his in-game antics and quotes, was finally fired after five years at Penn that saw the team go 48-90, 28-43 Ivy. His final year saw the team start off on a six-game losing streak. Then again this year the team is off to an 0-9 start, so Knapp's replacement, Mike McLaughlin, isn't doing too much better so far.
4. Volleyball's tournament win. Though the Quakers won their eighth Ivy League volleyball title this season, they had never won a match in four previous trips to the NCAA Tournament. But they finally broke through to the second round with a 3-1 win over Army this year. Although the team would fall 3-0 to No. 1 Penn State the next day, the season was arguably the most successful in team history.
3. Women's lacrosse Final Four overtime loss. Perhaps the Volleyball team's accomplishment was more impressive since it was unexpected. Meanwhile, the women's lacrosse team was the favorite to repeat as Ivy League champions and make a run in the NCAA Tournament. And this year's team was not the most successful in program history since they failed to match the 2008 team's championship game appearance. But the national semifinal game against rival Northwestern was by far the best Penn sporting event I attended all year long. Just look at my live blog of the event. It gets really crazy in the end when Penn scores four goals in less than eight minutes to tie up the game. Even crazier when Penn scores the go-ahead goal in non-sudden death overtime. Then really crazy when Northwestern ties it up on a freak goal. Eventually it went to sudden death double overtime and Northwestern won 13-12. Despite the loss, it was a great game.
2. Football beats Harvard to clinch Ivy title. The biggest on-field story of the year in my mind was football's Ivy League championship. For the first time since 2003 -- an eternity for coach Al Bagnoli -- the Quakers won the conference. And if I had to choose a specific game it would be the de facto Ivy League title game at Harvard that best embodied the season. The Quakers played a nearly flawless first half, sprinting out to a 17-0 lead. The amazing Penn defense -- the best in the Football Championship Subdivision -- limited one of the best offenses in the League to just seven points. They'd eventually finish ranked 20th in the media poll.
1. Glen Miller fired. This was briefly mentioned in No. 9, but let's face it, this was the No. 1 sports story of 2009. As the team got worse and worse, fans clamored for the coach's firing. And eventually their protests were answered as athletic director Steve Bilsky fired Glen Miller Dec. 14. A midseason firing of an Ivy coach gained national recognition, as rumors of possible replacements emerged. (Speaking of which, I'll guarantee you that Steve Donahue is not the next Penn coach.) Jerome Allen was hired as interim coach, though it remains to be seen if he'll be considered a long-term solution by Bilsky.
I'm sure you guys have your own moments, or at the very least disagree with my rankings. So post your own thoughts in the comments, and have a great new year.
Our frenemies over at UTB are perhaps the only people who follow the career of Mark DeRosa more closely than we do. They campaigned to make the former Penn two-sport standout our Commencement speaker, then lobbied for the Phillies to sign him this off-season.
Well, yesterday, DeRosa -- who recently gave an exclusive interview to the DP -- signed a two-year deal with the San Francisco Giants (who, by the way, are in California throughout the graduation festivities).
News that the sides were close to agreement was first reported by FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, a DP alum with whom we also caught up not long ago.
DeRosa, 35 by Opening Day, is a .275 career hitter with 92 homers and 430 RBIs. He is the fourth-leading passer in Quakers football history, and played baseball here too, of course, before the Atlanta Braves drafted him in 1996
That makes nine straight to start the year for women's basketball, after Tuesday's 68-40 loss to Mount St. Mary's at the Palestra. The Quakers shot just 17.9 percent in the first half and 26.7 percent overall.
Take out Caitlin Slover and they were 12-for-51 from the field, 1-for-7 from three-point land and 7-for-12 from the line.
Kim Adams shot 1-for-15. That is not a typo. It is, however, 6.67 percent.
So the question has to be asked: Which team will win first? Jerome Allen's men? Or poor Mike McLaughlin's women?
As most of you probably already know, the Penn basketball team was routed by Davidson, 79-50, in Jerome Allen's head coaching debut. The Quakers are now 0-8, and barring an utterly shocking upset against Duke on New Year's Eve (6 p.m. ET, ESPN2), they will be off to their worst start in program history.
First, an apology (with a disclaimer: Here, as elsewhere on The Buzz, I speak on behalf of only myself, and in no way on behalf of The Dailiy Pennsylvanian). No DP reporter made the trip to Davidson, and it is unclear whether one will make it to Duke. This is the first time in recent memory that the DP did not send someone to cover a basketball (or football) game, regardless of where it took place. It's no secret that the newspaper industry is struggling -- especially in this economic climate, when national advertising is down significantly -- and the DP is naturally not immune from budgetary constraints that these conditions impose. Nevertheless, I personally feel that we let our readers down, and that disappoints me as much as anyone.
After the jump, some notes (from afar) on the game.
- The Penn Athletics news release notes that "[a]fter all, Rome wasn't built in a day." True, but it wasn't destroyed in half of one, either. Penn trailed, 46-19, at the break. The Quakers' only worse first half this year was against Villanova, when they entered the lockeroom down, 55-25.
- The injury bug is only getting worse. In his last interview with the DP before getting fired, Glen Miller said that he hoped Tyler Bernardini, Andreas Schreiber and Justin Reilly would be ready after the 16-day layoff. Well, Bernardini -- along with reserve Larry Loughery -- did not make the trip. Reilly did not play. Schreiber reinjured his always-bummed shoulder and is again listed as "indefinite." And Mike Howlett, who has started four games this year, suffered a foot injury on Sunday.
- Miller lost his Quakers debut in 2006-07. Fran Dunphy won his debut (in 89-90), as did Dunphy's four predescessors. None took over mid-season.
- Zack Rosen led the Quakers in points (with 14) for the fifth time in eight games. He's a fine well-rounded player, but not a good enough pure scorer to pace the team in five of eight games.
- Perhaps a sign of things to come under Allen -- or perhaps the result of that disastrous first half -- the rookie coach completely emptied his bench. Tommy Eggleston saw his first action of 2009, while SuperJew Zack Gordon was out there for 12 minutes, doubling his '09 playing time.
ESPN.com has an interesting feature on Nick Francona, son of Red Sox manager Terry Francona and a Penn grad, who is now a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
The left-hander pitched for the Quakers, too, before tearing his labrum in his freshman year under coach Bob Seddon and leaving the program altogether under Seddon's succesor, John Cole.
Francona was selected by the Red Sox in the 40th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft (in what was likely a courtesy to his father), then went 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA during his one year with the Quakers.
Says ESPN.com:
Any dreams Nick Francona had of playing baseball were set aside after he tore the labrum in his pitching shoulder in his freshman year at Penn. It was, he said, a blessing in disguise, because it allowed him to focus his passion on other things that mattered to him. He'd always been a big reader, he said, with an interest in national security, in part a byproduct of being a sophomore at a boarding school in New Jersey when the planes flew into the Twin Towers, and the parents of some of his classmates were among those who did not survive.
"I never realized how affected I was by it," he said. "But it is the defining event of my generation. You have a choice whether to let it pass you by or take some action and define you. I'm fortunate that I'm at a time in life where I can still have an impact."
HT Sebastien Angel, and Merry Christmas to all of our readers.
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.”
When I caught up with former Penn and Phillies outfielder Doug Glanville earlier this year, he talked about the book he was writing:
Doug Glanville: As a result of the column, I was able to get a book deal with Time Books. I'm currently working on that, and I'm hoping to have that come out in May 2010. Really my focal point now has been to try to sort of establish almost an ambassadorship to the game.
Daily Pennsylvanian: What's the book about?
DG: It's not really about me, it's about players and life in baseball. And I'm hoping people connect to it because they see how
common it is and, in a certain sense, how similar it is to some of the things they go through. So I hope in the book to use the same essay-type concepts, tying in various stories, but use the framework of a season.
Well, he's on schedule: Amazon.com is pegging a May 11, 2010, release date for "The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer's Inside View. And this morning, Peter Gammons tweeted that it will be "the best baseball book you read this year." There are no shortages of baseball books out there, so that's some pretty high praise.
Glanville will also be at the Kelly Writers House for two hours on Mar. 3.
Just a quick post in case you missed our recent online updates. Both were posted on thedp.com earlier this week. We've also been posting our breaking news updates on our Twitter--which is perhaps more easily followed in an RSS feed than our homepage.
First, longtime field hockey coach Val Cloud has announced her retirement. Following fifteen years as an assistant coach, Cloud stepped up to the head coach job in 1995. In her tenure, she racked up 115 wins for the program, including an Ivy title in 2004. (We are still waiting to hear back from Cloud and from members of the Penn field hockey team; the article will be updated again once we conduct those interviews).
In a municipal court hearing on Dec. 17, an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition hearing was scheduled on Dec. 23 for the three wrestlers facing misdemeanor charges. ARD hearings give probationary sentences to certain first-time offenders.
Here's a transcript from yesterday's pre-practice media session with interim head coach Jerome Allen in Weightmann Gym. Look for a story tomorrow with Allen's input, along with those of the team captains Zack Rosen and Darren Smith, on the state of the team in the near-term. All gave very good interviews, and the general consensus that I gathered is that the move was definitely a morale-booster and the players are excited to play for Allen moving ahead. I'd love to give you more of my opinion on the matter, but the History of Ancient Greece is my focus for the time being.
Q: Did you ever think you’d be in this position a few months ago when you weren’t even coaching, you were still a player?
Jerome Allen: Nah, no way. The swiftness and the acceleration of this entire process has been, not necessarily overwhelming, but a lot to handle. I’m excited, nervous, anxious, enthused, all these things, all at once. Moreso, I’m just appreciative of this opportunity because I buy into that this doesn’t happen often. This university has done so much for my family and I and I just want to give them maximum effort and just try to work my tail off to deliver some positive results, not necessarily in terms of wins and losses, but just trying to resemble the brand of Penn basketball and this community and of the university.
Q: When the rumors started going around over the weekend, one of the things that got out was that the players were really in your corner that you take this position if something like this were going to happen. What does that kind of endorsement mean to you?
Allen: Well, at the end of the day, we’re all in the business of shaping young men’s lives and as much as we want them to be the best basketball players that they possibly could be, moreso we really want them to develop to be a productive citizen. And I just tried from day one to let the guys know that I do care about them, it’s not all about making jump shots or making assists or getting rebounds but its about the relationships that you form with not only your peers, but the people you have to work with.
Q: With some time off here before the schedule resumes, is the routine for this holiday season going to change?
Allen: I’m going to try and keep it as close to schedule as I possibly can. One of the things I can relate to is that I’ve been at this university during exam time, during finals and I do know that they have a lot on their plate. And I just want to try to use each section as an opportunity to be as productive as we possibly can given the situation, knowing that they do have exams and other things to worry about
Q: Is being the head coach at Penn a dream of yours? Was it a dream of yours when you were playing?
Allen: You know what? I think coaching at the University of Pennsylvania is probably the dream of a million guys out there and I would be doing all of them a disservice if I didn’t say that I am overly ecstatic about this opportunity. And I’m not just saying this because it might seem like it’s the right thing to say. I brought a picture in to Mike Mahoney the other day. It’s a picture of me when I was 14 years old with a little Quakers uniform on, we were playing in a football game at Franklin Field. Penn was the furthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to beat this team from Florida that everyone said was going to be tough and fast and that they hit hard. My mother kept that picture. I also had another picture of me cutting down the net my senior year at the Palestra in that same folder. And I just took a step back and said this is amazing for this university to be part of my life, some 20-years plus and all the things I’ve experienced here. To have an opportunity to be able to just lead young men is a dream come true for me.
Q: What’s it going to take to bring this program back, not only on the court but in the stands; to bring the crowd back, to bring the atmosphere back to the way it was the beginning of this decade and when you were here?
Allen: It’s going to take a lot. I don’t have a magic wand, I don’t have all the answers. But what I do have is the capacity to work to try to find a solution. If we can just put the wins and losses aside, and just come out everyday and be enthused and energetic and give the effort that it takes to be a part of a winning program, then the wins will come later. I’m just in the business of, I don’t want to say changing the culture because I don’t think the culture has changed per se, but I’m just in the business of trying to get guys to enjoy playing, embrace the opportunities and just know that a lot of people care about this place and a lot of people will support it.
Q: Do you think a change at the top was either important or even necessary to help generate that excitement and enthusiasm?
Allen: Well that wasn’t my decision to make because, as I stand before you today, the same things I’m saying now I was saying from the position that I was in. And that is, every day, Jerome, go to practice and try to help make someone better. And that’s all I really can do is control what I was able to control and that’s somedays being a good listener, somedays being a little hard, somedays being suggestive, and other days just trying to be observant. Over the course of my professional career and my college career try to decipher through the things that I saw attributed to having success.
Q: You’ve been up close with it since August or so, is there something you would like to change now that you have the final say?
Allen: I will say first and foremost that I’m greatly appreciative of the opportunity that Glen Miller gave me. If not for him, I’m not standing before you today. But his name’s Glen Miller and my name’s Jerome Allen. There’s some things that he did, I didn’t see. There’s a lot of things I learned from him and a lot of things that I’m set in my ways in, I just believe just playing basketball as long as I have. I tell everybody, I had the opportunity to play for Dan Dougherty, Larry Brown, and Fran Dunphy, Fran O’Hanlon, Gil Jackson, and Steve Donahue. If you can’t learn anything from that group, you’re not going to learn anything at all. All of them are unique in their own right, and I just tried to take the bulk of the good from all of them and carry that in my own bag. What I will say is one of the things that was consistent with all of those guys is that they demanded, demanded, that you approach the game the right way everyday, every second, every pass, every quarter that exists. Some things are just familiar in everybody, and I’m just going to try to carry that forth.
Q: Is there a way to define “the right way?” We’ve all heard it, we sort of know what it generally means. Specifically, what is it?
Allen: The right way, who knows what is the right way? There are a lot of things that are similar. I’ve been a part of winning programs, I’ve been a part of losing programs and in my book, the ones that win more than they lose all approach the game a certain way. I could be wrong, but I’m willing to bet that if these guys take that approach, they’ll win more than they lose.
Q: On a lighter note, how busy was your phone yesterday?
Allen: My phone hasn’t stopped. My text messages are maxed, my voice messages are maxed. I got home last night, I sat down with my wife for about fifteen minutes, just trying to take a deep breath. I made sure that before I went to sleep I called all of the parents of our current players to let them know how appreciative I am to have the opportunity to work with their sons. In the end, you’ve got to be able to take care of the guys you have. I can’t make a shot, I can’t get assists, I can’t get a rebound.
Q: [Couldn’t hear the exact phrasing at this point, as Mike Howlett entered the gym and started shooting around, but it was about his Allen’s relationship with Zack Rosen. Any gaps in the transcript from here on out were due to my recording being inaudible because of the echoed dribbling].
Allen: He’s a guy that is willing to do whatever he has to do to get better. I think our initial attraction was because he’s a gym rat. You literally have to tell him to get out of the gym, “Zack go home.” He wants to get better. In this day and age, I must be honest, all the kids don’t get it. Sometimes you have to work not as hard for the ones that do get. Zack is an unbelievable person, he’s a good kid, he’s a very good basketball player and he’s a very good teammate. I’m just ecstatic that I can continue to work with him.
Q: You said that you can’t make any shots anymore, you can’t dribble for anybody. Were there any times this year when you felt like you wanted to go out there and do that a few times?
Allen: Coach Martin and I would stand on the sidelines some days and say we could get out there and not necessarily do a better job, but compete with them. In the back of my mind, I am a little crazy. At 37 I still think I got something left in the tank. But as long as that bottle of Aleve is in my hand, maybe I can get it done.
Q: When did you finish playing?
Allen: I finished in February of 09
Q: Did you envision this at all when you came back here?
Allen: I did not. I envisioned coming back to help the kids. If anybody were to tell you that they knew this was going to happen, they’re lying to you. The swiftness and acceleration of the entire process caught a lot of people off guard. Getting to this point, I’m a firm believer that God is not going to put too much on me, more than I can handle.
Q: What do you think that first game is going to be like?
Allen: I think it’s just basketball…[lost a chunk here, but he did admit to being a little nervous]
Q: [Didn’t get the exact phrasing, but it was about his first home game, against Temple and his college coach, Fran Dunphy]
Allen: …He was so worried about me. I wanted to say ‘Coach, you just beat Villanova,’ and he was like, ‘I’m worried about you, I know you have a lot of things going on in your mind but I’m confident that you and the team can get it done’ When I heard him say that, ‘I’m confident in you and I believe that you can make a difference,’ I really started to feel a little different about the entire process.
Q: Did he give you any suggestions?
Allen: Yeah, he told me don’t throw trash cans at kids like he threw at me.
Q: Have you talked to Coach Gallagher or Coach Martin?
Allen: Yeah, we’ve spoken in detail. I think all three of us are appreciative of the things that Coach Miller has done. It’s unfortunate that we’re in this current situation, I don’t wish to be standing in front of you as a coach because another person lost the opportunity. But it’s the nature of the business and I think the three of us really understand that if not for him, we’re not at this university. We just want to hope that we can right the ship.
Q: When did you get the sense that this could happen? Did it happen really fast?
Allen: I couldn’t have blinked, everything happened so fast. They were asking me if I wanted to accept it, I was wiping my eyes, I thought I was still asleep. I was like, ‘what did you just say?’ It’s a wonderful opportunity. I was sitting in the Palestra on the bench and saying to myself, ‘Wow, this is amazing.’ And I’m going to do all I can to help the kids enjoy playing and play hard and really represent not only themselves and their families, but this university and this community.
I'm not usually a fan of linking to Jonathan Tannenwald's Soft Pretzel Logic, but this morning he put together a nice round-up (followed by his own brief analysis) of Glen Miller-related coverage from non-Philadelphia outlets.
The links: The Providence Journal, The Itacha Journal, FOXSports.com, New York Daily News, New York Times, ESPN.com's Andy Katz and ESPN.com's Dana O'Neill. Some perspectives are pretty interesting, so, enjoy.
UPDATE: InsideHigherEd had an interesting take (HT: Neil). If you've seen other good analyses, send them in or post in the comments.
Adam Zagoria - a blogger for sny.tv - is reporting on three emerging candidates for the recently vacated men's basketball head coach position. I can't vouch for the legitimacy of the blog post (he cites only "Sources"), but he says that the top candidate is Andy Toole, associate head coach at Robert Morris. It's pretty early, in my opinion, for this information to be public and credible, but figured I would go ahead and report it here anyways.
Toole started for the Quakers in 2001-02 and 2002-03 (he transferred from Elon after his sophomore season) and was co-captain for the 2002-03 Quakekrs team that went 14-0 in League play and 22-6 overall in addition to finishing 3-1 in Big 5 play. Over the 2006-07 season, Toole was an assistant at Lafayette, and has served in his current position since 2007.
The other two candidates Zagoria indicates are no surprise: Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon and Cornell head coach Steve Donahue, both assistants under Fran Dunphy. Both were speculated to replace Dunphy when he left after the 2005-06 season.
The full post is here, or you can just click below the jump to get the full text of the Penn portion of the post, along with my initial views on the information.
Sources say there are three leading candidates for the Penn job vacated by the recent firing of Glen Miller.
Andy Toole, the associate head coach to Mike Rice at Robert Morris, is the leading candidate, sources say.
A Red Bank, N.J. native, Toole was a co-captain of the 2002-03 Penn team that finished 22-6. He helped Penn reach the NCAA tournament in 2002 and ‘03.
Cornell coach Steve Donahue, who has led the Big Red to back-to-back NCAA tourney appearances, is also a candidate, as is Philly native Fran O’Hanlon, the Lafayette head coach.
In my opinion, it's far too early to start breaking down potential candidates. First of all, I'm sure interim head coach Jerome Allen will be in the mix, especially if he performs well over the second half of the season. Also, O'Hanlon and Donahue's names will continually be mentioned for the opening but both are in jobs right now that many would consider better than the Penn offering.
And again, I don't want to lend too much credibility to this post, but it does show one critical fact if, in fact, it's true: athletic director Steve Bilsky is looking at candidates with experience in Philly and at Penn. That would seem to show his admission that hiring someone without that experience in Miller may have been a mistake.
I just got back from men's basketball practice today at Weightmann Gym, where members of the media talked with interim head coach Jerome Allen and captains Zack Rosen and Darren Smith before the actual practice started. Unfortunately I have a project due in 24 hours, but I'll give my initial thoughts from what they said now and hopefully I can get a complete article up later If there are any specific questions you want answered, indicate so in the comments and I'll let you know if they were addressed at practice.
First of all, the mood did not seem somber or down. Players were laughing and joking just like any other day. When we asked Rosen and Smith about the mood of the team as compared to last week, they both said that while nobody is happy about what happened to former head coach Glen Miller, everyone's excited for change and to see what the team can do under Allen.
Read below the jump for more of my thoughts.
Allen continually expressed his excitement and appreciation at given the opportunity to be Penn's head coach. He indicated that it was obviously a dream of his. But he and Smith were also careful to point out that no magic miracle happened and that fans should not expect a complete turnaround right away.
He didn't go into much detail about specific changes he would make to the team's gameplan, but noted that he has learned plenty from the coaches he has played or coached under (including Fran Dunphy and Larry Brown) and that he was set in his ways about certain things. I take from what he said that we shouldn't expect wholesale changes to the team's play, but that there will be noticeable tweaks.
Interestingly, when someone brought up the discussion the captains had with athletic director Steve Bilsky on Thursday, Rosen said that he and Smith didn't do much talking. Mostly, Bilsky addressed the state of the program and they came away with a hint that Allen may be replacing Miller, but no certainty.
I did not see assistant coaches John Gallagher or Mike Martin at the practice, but Allen said that he had spoke with them. He said they were all grateful for the opportunities Miller had given them and that they hope to "right the ship." I'm not sure if you can infer from that statement that they will stay on Allen's staff, but that is the impression I got.
On a slightly unrelated note, Tyler Bernardini was dressed (but wearing a long-sleeve shirt underneath his practice jersey, which leads me to believe he would be shooting around but not fully participating in practice. Larry Loughery and Conor Turley, who had been injured, were in full dress, while I didn't see Andreas Schreiber or Justin Reilly when I left (though this doesn't indicate that they are still injured).
In general, my impression from practice was that this change breathed some fresh air into a program that had fallen into a bit of a rut. Whether or not it turns out to be the right choice is up in the air, but Allen definitely seems intent on generating enthusiasm and excitement amongst the players, and I think that's something absolutely necessary for the team to turn it around. With a tough road trip coming up (including a nationally televised game against Duke) and three Big 5 games on the docket when they finally return to the Palestra, the team's morale can't stay low. And I believe -- and Rosen also indicated -- that between the coach's relationship with the players and his history as an all-time Penn great, that Allen has the ability to foster an attitude among the players that may help them turn this season around after the tough start.
With the fairly unprecedented move to remove Glen Miller as head coach in the middle of the season, the biggest impact of the decision will perhaps be on recruiting. Miller had seemingly hedged his job to an extent with a very strong recruiting class, which was potentially jeopardized by his dismissal. Once my finals are over later today I'm going to look into more of the impact on recruiting, but the Northstar Basketball Blog has already begun to figure out just how this move might shake up the already shaky Class of 2014.
NBB reports that local product Steve Rennard from St. Joseph's HS in Metuchen, N. J., was accepted to Wharton this past week and will definitely be coming to Penn. Penn's other top local prize, big man Cameron Gunter, is more unsure of his status with the Quakers after Miller's move. "Right now I'm just trying to get all the facts together and talk it through with my family," he said. "I don't know the full extent of the situation, so I can't comment on that right now." See the full text of NBB's report after the jump.
Steve Rennard Still Set for UPenn, Cameron Gunter Unsure
by Alex Schwartz
With the news that came out today that Glen Miller was fired as the head coach at the University of Pennsylvania early in his fourth year at the Ivy League school, five recruits' futures shifted. Though Miles Cartwright '10 of Loyola (CA) might be the most well-known nationally of the bunch, there are two local seniors that are committed to the Quakers in Cameron Gunter '10 of Ridley (PA) and Steve Rennard '10 of St. Joseph's Metuchen (NJ). I had a chance to catch up with both Gunter and Rennard this evening for an update on where they stand.
Gunter, a 6'8 power forward who drew mid-major interest and was a great get for Penn, told me that has yet to talk to anyone from the school. "No, I have not." Does the in-state standout still play on going to the Big Five program? "Right now I'm just trying to get all the facts together and talk it through with my family. I don't know the full extent of the situation, so I can't comment on that right now." Asked if he has been accepted to the Ivy League school yet, Gunter replied, "I received the 'likely letter' [which] . . . says that I will most likely be admitted to the school, which is more or less their form of admission."
As for Rennard, he still plans on going to Penn. "Yes, I'm still going. I got officially accepted into Wharton [the school of business] last week," commented the 6'1 combo guard. I inquired if that would be regardless of who the coach is, and Rennard answered, "Yes, most likely. I can't pass up Wharton." Has the sharpshooter spoken with anyone on the Penn staff yet? "No, I was told that [Assistant] Coach [Michael] Martin was either going to call me tonight or tomorrow." He added, "My mom spoke to him earlier."
Right now, it looks like Penn will be able to hang on to Steve Rennard, but the status of Cameron Gunter as a future Quaker remains unclear.
The news about Glen Miller today unfortunately came on the first day of a month in which The Daily Pennsylvanian won't be publishing because of finals and winter break, so we don't have the opportunity to print any papers with all of our columns reacting to the decision to relieve Miller of his duties. However, I decided to write a column anyway and post it to thedp.com.
Here's a quick recap: Steve Bilsky emphasized that he fired Glen Miller (he never actually used the word "fired" but that's what happened, so that's what I'm calling it) because of his leadership and community-building efforts at Penn and in Philadelphia, moreso than for his dreadful career record and 0-7 start to this season. As terrible as the team has been on the court, I agree with Bilsky that Miller's greatest shortcomings were in the overall way he treated the program. One thing I didn't mention as a weakness in his public relations was the way he handled the media, which many of us at the DP can attest to. He was notoriously difficult to interview and had regular outbursts when faced with difficult questions about his team's struggles. But Bilsky never directly admitted that he made a mistake hiring Miller, even though he clearly recognizes the importance of community leadership and a Philadelphia connection, and Miller's lack thereof. He avoided addressing any questions pertaining to Miller or his shortcomings at Penn, instead trying to focus the discussion of today's teleconference on the future. Instead, he should have admitted his mistake and demonstrated that he knows why he was wrong. At least that would instill some confidence in him for the future, showing that he can lead this program back to its proper place at the top of the Ivy League. Without actually admitting his mistake, he's just digging himself a deeper hole.
On the bright side, his decision to name Jerome Allen as the interim coach shows he will very much be dedicated to choosing a coach with strong Penn ties when it comes time to find Miller's permanent replacement.
In the buzz surrounding Miller's departure from Penn, our article on this morning's hearing for the three Penn wrestlers suspended earlier this semester may have gotten lost in the shuffle.
This morning's preliminary hearing resulted in a reduction of the charges brought against Cesar Grajales, Rollie Peterkin and Matt Dragon. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office agreed to drop charges of alleged aggravated assault (a felony charge) against the wrestlers, though each still faces one count of simple assault and one count of recklessly endangering another person. The Athletic Department has not released a statement as to whether this will alter their suspensions from the team.
The wrestlers are scheduled to appear before municipal court Judge Teresa Carr Deni at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
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