UPIA1968
PhD Student
Posts: 1122
Loc: Cornwall, PA
Reg: 11-20-06
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03-11-24 10:47 PM - Post#365043
Steve Donahue took a program that was foundering and raised it to a mid-100’s club, good enough to contend in its peak years, good enough to make the Ivy tournament most years. Compared to the Miller and Allen years that was an improvement. Compared to the Dunphy years it was a significant downgrade. Please don’t tell me that Franny had an easier time of it. He averaged a sub 100 ranking against all commers, achieving the level that Yale and Princeton have now, and Harvard had for a while. That’s what good coaching does.
Unfortunately, three consecutive fallow recruiting years have left the program at a low level with questionable prospects for the next year at least. The program loses its best player, leaving it with but three legitimate players in Brown, Nick, and Perkins, none of which has yet shown star power. One hopes that the next recruiting class will be at least as good as last year’s. Except, that when graded by interest from other schools, this new class is in the bottom half of the league. So either Steve sees something nobody else does or good players committed before anybody else could recruit them. If you believe that, you probably think that Penn will reduce the price of Palestra tickets next year. Looking back Steve recruited ‘okay’. That was until after the Dingle year. Now the trend is downward.
Is it just recruiting? The staff has had partial success blending its players, particularly the Brodeur/Forman team. It has also produced good offensive numbers, including even this year, given the departure of its best scorer in Dingle. However, the team has had difficulty winning close games and generally performs worse in the Ivies, where everybody knows each other. More importantly, this year’s team, has put up historically bad defensive numbers. That is a major coaching failure. That is what got him fired at BC.
How long do we have to wait for some sunshine? The rest of the league, excepting Harvard, loses more minutes than Penn. That would matter if Penn wasn’t starting from a 3-11 level. Then there is the anomaly that has Penn ranked ahead of Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth, and just behind Brown on KP. Still, as ranked by wins in the Ivies they finished a firm seventh. The optimist in me says they contend for the fourth spot. The realist in me says Harvard will be much better next year and Penn will be fortunate to beat out Columbia. Darthmouth, of course, is a football school.
Sadly, history tells a difficult story. Penn now is one year removed from contending. Oh for one more point against Princeton in regulation at Jadwin. Allen also had a near miss with the Rosen team. It took, however, three years of losses for Bilsky to fire him and another three years to contend. That precedent says we have two more years of misery then two more years of patience until the program could reach contention in the 2029/2030 season. In total that would be 22 years in the wastelands since the last Ibby/Zoller/Danley team. Who would’a thunk it?
Might Penn act a year sooner? Donahue will be 62 on opening night next fall. I am guessing he has two more years on his current contract. Any improvement the next two years would lead to another five-year extension, taking him to 68. That is the most likely outcome, a program that competes for the fourth spot in Ivy Madness most years; you know like Brown and Columbia. Disney thinks dwarfs are cute.
I guess I will still be interested. I survived the Miller/Allen mess. Although, that would be a bunch of years analyzing the faults of a mediocre program. Maybe In my full retirement I will find something better to do.
Anyway, you will see me, Lord willing, at the Red & Blue game next fall. Maybe some newbies will stand out. At least Penn can’t lose at that event.
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