Former Penn Star and Temple Assistant Matt Langel Named Head Coach at Colgate

You can read about the appointment here.

Several observations:

1. Had Penn not hired Jerome Allen as a first-year assistant during what proved to be Glen Miller's last year in University City, I thought that Langel would have been the obvious choice to replace Miller (having played and served as an assistant coach at Penn before following his mentor Fran Dunphy to Temple). Once Allen was in the interim role, it would have been hard for Penn AD Steve Bilsky to forsake the Penn legend for anyone else.

2. Langel's brother Casey played for Colgate.

3. Don't be surprised if Langel hires one of the Earl brothers as an assistant coach. Dan (an assistant at Penn State) and Brian (an assistant at Princeton under Sydney Johnson) are good friends of his. With Johnson leaving Princeton for Fairfield and Earl not getting the Princeton job, the time might be ripe for Earl to leave Tigertown for Hamilton, New York.

4. Langel was a finalist for the Cornell job last year.

5. Langel's learned from a great teacher in Fran Dunphy, the one-time Penn and current Temple coach. He's been a head coach in waiting for a while and should be an excellent fit for Colgate.

6. It's funny how worlds collide. As you know, the Penn-Princeton men's b-ball rivalry is about as intense as it gets. One of Langel's players at Colgate will be Texan (by way of Princeton, NJ's Hun School) Sterling Melville, son of former Princeton captain and first-team all-Ivy player Randy, who starred for the Tigers in the late 1970's and early 1980's.