Meanwhile, Penn's men's team continues to struggle since his departure. This past year's senior class was the first since Ben Franklin founded the university (or at least since Chuck Bednarik played football there) that did not win an Ivy title or make it to the NCAA tournament. My guess is that some of the blame will be put on Miller's doorstep, but no matter how you slice it, he's in the Final Four.
And Penn will not be able to use the Miller interlude as an excuse for much longer. (And whether Miller was a good fit to begin was the decision of A.D. Steve Bilsky, who had no succession plan for what was becoming an increasingly likely departure of legendary Fran Dunphy, who had the itch to go to more competitive pastures for years).
Penn will return to a preeminent perch in the Ivies soon. But, for right now, Glen Miller is in the Final Four.
2 comments:
I'd like to think you are right in saying Penn will rise to that high Bball perch again "soon."
How about if you define "soon," so we readers have a timeframe?
Two years? (If so, I see no evidence to support this claim. What do you see?).
Five years? (too far out to predict).
Ten years? (even less possible to know).
As a Penn fan (and supporter of Princeton's hopes in the NCAA's), it was distressing to see Miller's sneering countenance on TV as a mid-level bureaucrat under the amoral General Calhoun.
Bilsky, a better player than sports bureaucrat, should have done all he could to keep Dunphy ...or reach out to Steve Donahue when he was able.
An AD shakeup at Penn might consider Craig Littlepage of the Quaker team-era that the ecumenical Sportsprof most revers. He's a short term Penn B-ball coach who now has serious experience as AD at UVA.
As John Randolph of Roanoake said "A fish rots from the had down." Maybe it's time to change the fishbowl at Penn. Gut check for ex-Princetonian Gutmann?
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