Soft Pretzel Logic

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Is Glen Miller the right man for the job?

Injuries are injuries, but he has yet to prove he can coach the team. Too often, the team is ill-prepared and not ready to play.

The loss to Florida Gulf Coast may have been the lowest point in what was once a proud program.

Seth Greenberg
W '02

There is a growing sense of frustration and anger among a lot of alums toward the state of Penn Athletics.

The Adminstration, and particulary Steve Bilsky and his hand-picked honchos, seem to be more concerned with "image" and "PR" and "facilities" than they do with the state of these flagship programs.

The football team has been below average for a few years. The basketball team is still reeling from the loss of Coach Dunphy. Womens' BB is also a mess.

Yet, we continue to be inundated with solicitations for new facilities as well as fluffy PR newsletters promoting self-serving "committees" and "advisory boards".

The performance against SJU was horrific. But even more disturbing is the complacency and sense of entitlement that seems to be permeating out of the AD's office.

Quaker Fan

Well said, Quaker Fan!

Scott Alexrod
Wharton '00

Football being bad was one thing. This basketball team is embarrassing for Penn. If they finish the Ivy with a losing record Miller and Bilsky should both be fired immediately.

Sadly, Bilsky and his stooges are not going anywhere. As long as they continue to drum up money for "facilities" they are protected by College Hall.

Cannot wait to get the next glossy magazine highlighting some donor who has funded the Men's Lightweight Intramual Weightlifting contest.

The smug arrogance needs to end.

While football and basketball have been disappointing recently, that doesn't mean we should fire everyone immediately. For one, how can you say "The basketball team is still reeling from the loss of Coach Dunphy"? They made it to the tournament last year after going 13-1 in the conference? Yeah this year is a tough one, but it's a rebuilding year. It's not like Penn has never been bad before. In 2000-01 they were similarily bad, going 12-17 overall and 0-4 in Big 5 play, including a blowout to Nova. And yes, injuries are a major factor this year. Firing Miller won't help; look at the good recruits he has coming in next year.

Miller needs to have a chance with his players. I think the problem with this year's team are injuries and lack of production from upperclassmen. Besides Grandieri, their is not one Penn upperclassmen that is pulling their weight. The team is counting on freshmen to help them win games when they are not ready. I'm not fully blaming Dunph because this team has been decimated by injuries/ineligibilites as depicted in Jonathon's blog. I think it is a rule of thumb that every coach should be given 4 year's to see what he can do so he can fully incorporate his players/system into the program. At least one recruiting class should be able to pass through before the coach is truely evaluated. Miller held up his end of the bargain last year when he was left with talent, which has since left. He seems to be bringing in high-level commits so lets give him a chance. It sure is tough right now, though.

The tired act is the BS coming from the AD's office.

Quaker Fan nailed it. The image-heavy AD's office needs a check-up.

Instead of asking me for a "naming opportunity", perhaps the AD should allocate more resources for the teams to increase recruiting and get better players here.

I wonder if Bilko's personal problems with Dunphy are now trickling down to Miller and Knapp...

But hey, we may have an endowed position for the assistant squash coach on the way....

I cannot address the issues that the alums point out, but as a current Penn student, I am disappointed with the lack of interest generally with the major teams. Sure, there are the pockets of hard core fans that attend the games, but there is an overall lack of interest up and down Locust Walk. I am surprised and bummed, to be honest with all of you.

Andy Rubin
Current Wharton UG Student

Can someone refresh my memory abt. the story with a few of the former players who played for Dunphy, who thought the University did not "do enough" to try and retain him?

Was that the crux of it?

Thanks!

Brett H

Bilsky's problems with Dunphy were over money but as or more importantly over contract length. As well as Dunphy had done Bilsky refused to give him a long term deal of any substance.

I truly believe that had he been offered a respectable long term deal he'd have stayed at Penn. Dunphy had proved himself long enough to warrant job security and a respectable comp package.

Unlike Bilsky, Fran isn't a Trust Fund Baby. Moreover, he deserved respect from Bilsky.

Love Fran Dunphy. Crazy about his family. Great guy. Always treated me well. Got nothing bad to say about him except I thought he should occasionally play more players. Won a ton of games at Penn and brought the program back to respectability after a bad spell in the late 80s. Don't know how many games he coached at Penn but I probably saw all but maybe 10 of them in person, home and away. So I appreciate EVERYTHING he did for the program.

That said, he could have stayed at Penn as long as he wanted to, meaning as long as it made sense for HIM to stay, but he did over the last few years show wanderlust. He did interview for jobs at Penn St. and, I believe, Ohio St., he had the whole La Salle wait-and-see one summer followed not that much later by the Temple offer, which was for substantially more money than Penn would ever pay any basketball coach. Whether he and Bilsky were oil and water is not that relevant. He got a GREAT offer in a better conference and wouldn't have to relocate.

This constant harping of Bilsky didn't love him enough, true or not, is not only odd to me, but counter-productive. No matter how much my boss at the Daily News loves me, if the Inquirer offered me twice as much money to do the same job, I'd be an idiot not to take it.

Who is Howard Gensler? Not sure what we mean by "always treated me well"

Sorry for not knowing that name.

Not trying to be counter-productive. But I still think there is something here with a perceived issue.

Why would Bilsky NOT do the long-term deal for Fran Dunphy?

Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

The track record speaks for itself.

Fran had to do what he needed to do since Bilko didnt pony up.

Sounds to me that there is more to the Dunphy-Bilsky thing than meets the eye.

It also sounds as if Fran D. is the more well-liked of the two.

Is there any sort of pro-Bilsky camp out there?

Just curious...

Kevin
Armonk, NY

Brett:

Howard writes the "Tattle" gossip column for the Daily News.

Howard made it sound as if he has/had some sort of relationship with Fran Dunphy.

Is this because he writes a "Tattle" gossip column or because he knows him thru some other sort of channel.

I dont read the Gossip pages, but I suspect there is not alot of gossip on Dunphy.

Brett

As someone who has been in contact with Bilsky on a few ocassions, it appears that he has a few "regular" supporters, but a lot of people tend to steer clear.

So I dont know if that answers the question, but I can assure you that I am not a big fan.

Wish we could have kept Coach Fran.

Name Withheld