Al Bagnoli is about to begin his 15th season as Penn's head football coach. In his first 14 years, the Quakers have gone no more than three seasons in a row without winning an Ivy League title. And Penn's last championship came in 2003, so another year without a title would match his longest drought.

Like the rest of the Penn women's soccer team, midfielder Natalie Capuano went into last season with high expectations. But after a couple of ugly losses and a fifth-place Ivy League finish, the Red and Blue closed out their 2005 campaign on a sour note. "We were pretty disappointed with that result," Capuano said.

Looking a few rows up as the Penn football team assembled for their annual photo, the first thing that caught my eye was the hair. It had a certain wavy thickness and was a certain shade of blond that I would have expected to see on a surfer from California, rather than a football player from North Carolina.

When I covered the men's soccer home opener last year, the Quakers shut down a physical Villanova team in a 2-0 win at Rhodes Field. Penn (2-0 at the time) outshot its city rival 13-5 (6-1 on goal). Eric Violante and Keith Vereb looked more like forwards than the fullbacks they are, combining for two goals and an assist.

Field hockey coach Val Cloud doesn't know what to expect from her team. "The challenge is, I have a lot of talent, probably more talent than we've ever had before," Cloud said. "But it's like a puzzle, putting the right people in the right spot who play well together.

New men's basketball coach Glen Miller hasn't seen his team play a single game yet, but his program has already been hit with a series of unfortunate setbacks that could leave him shorthanded when the season begins.

Glen Miller has yet to coach a game for the Red and Blue. But after a hectic summer for the newly minted chief of the University's most popular athletic program, it's hard to imagine that he was hired only a few short months ago.

Three weeks ago, a media poll anointed Harvard the favorite for the upcoming Ivy League football season, but recent personnel losses could vault Penn right back to the top. In June, the Crimson lost captain Matthew Thomas, an all-league linebacker the previous season, after he was suspended for all of 2006.

Wilson latest to leave Quakers for Temple The Penn athletic department suffered another defection to the Owls program last week when Jeff Wilson, the former director of men's and women's basketball operations, left for a similar position at Temple. He leaves after a year with the Quakers to work at his alma mater, where he graduated two years ago.

The decision by Penn Admissions not to consider Keenan Jeppesen's transfer application -- effectively keeping him at Brown for the time being -- was a routine decision complicated by Glen Miller's move from Brown to Penn earlier this year. When Miller accepted the job several months ago, he became the first man ever to lead two Ivy League programs.

The effects of the Penn football team's underachieving season last year may now be starting to show. Division I-AA's 2006 preseason All-America list includes no players currently on the Quakers' roster for the second year in a row. Four Ivy Leaguers made the list of preseason All-Americans -- Harvard running back Clifton Dawson and defensive tackle Mike Berg, Yale offensive tackle Ed McCarthy, and Brown linebacker Zac DeOssie.

I ordered the party hats and balloons. The cake has already arrived. When I heard the news about Keenan Jeppesen's transfer being denied, it felt like it was time to throw myself a party. Finally a victory for guys like me. In a world where it seems that college athletes have privileges to no end, it was a victory for guys like me, who have no athletic talent beyond the ability to run for a couple of hours without stopping.

The Bill Russell quote doesn't hit you in the face when you walk through the doors. You have to do some looking to find it on one of the exhibits. "Athletes have a unique ability to inspire, motivate and exhilarate," it reads. "Through their actions, athletes touch the hearts and lives of all Americans.

David Whitehurst, a College junior on the Penn basketball and track teams has been dismissed from the University for academic reasons, according a report last week by The Times of Trenton. The disclosure puts to rest weeks of speculation and rumors about Whitehurst's status and supports several unconfirmed reports The Summer Pennsylvanian and other media outlets had received.