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Username Post: Jerome        (Topic#20211)
pennsive 
Junior
Posts: 200

Reg: 11-21-04
04-05-17 06:00 PM - Post#228562    

Read the Penn Hall of Fame story about Jerome Allen in today's Pennathletics.com. It offers interesting insights to his love and continuing loyalty to Penn. Unlike almost everyone else on this board, I do not blame Bilsky for hiring him, nor do I think that Bilsky put Jerome in a situation that was untenable. It didn't work, but judging by the comments of the players he recruited (Matt Howard and DNH,to name two, they were attracted to Penn largely because of him. While hiring rookie coaches often do not work out, some do, and for Bilsky to have taken the risk on Jerome, is no knock on either of them. rather, it is affirming of how much appreciation and faith in Jeorme that Bilsky and many others had in Jerome, that if anyone could turn Miller's sorry mess around, it was he, and JKerome came close in Rosen's senior year to doing that. Spilt milk, I know. I am no Bilsky apologist; I am a huge fan of Jerome's, however, and always will be.

 
Jeff2sf 
Postdoc
Posts: 4466

Reg: 11-22-04
04-06-17 10:41 AM - Post#228578    
    In response to pennsive

i love jerome. he had no experience being an assistant coach let alone a head coach. I reject out of hand the idea "that if anyone could turn Miller's sorry mess around, it was he".

Baloney. If you really believe that's the case, and considering how much more of a mess we are in after hiring Jerome, does it stand to reason that there is now literally no one capable of ever returning us to glory? after all, jerome was the only one and he failed.

 
Streamers 
Professor
Posts: 8141
Streamers
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
04-06-17 10:50 AM - Post#228579    
    In response to Jeff2sf

I don't think it is debatable Bilsky painted himself into a corner when Jerome was hired. Jerome was a great recruiter, but the rest of his game was lacking. He needed really strong assistants to succeed. When they left, it all went downhill.

None of this diminishes his legacy or his place in the HOF however.

 
Silver Maple 
Postdoc
Posts: 3765

Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
04-06-17 11:14 AM - Post#228583    
    In response to Streamers

Hiring Jerome Allen was a needlessly risky move. Some programs are unable to attract established coaches who have already demonstrated they have the skills and personality characteristics necessary to be successful. Penn, despite having had a few bad years, was not in that position. Bilsky didn't need to take a flyer on somebody who had none of the necessary experience. As such, it was reckless for him to do so. He had plenty of excellent, far less risky alternatives to hiring Jerome easily available to him. It was an irresponsible, foolish, reckless decision, one about which Steve Bilsky should be permanently embarrassed.

 
djzeitlin 
Freshman
Posts: 10

Age: 42
Reg: 11-16-09
04-06-17 11:27 AM - Post#228584    
    In response to Silver Maple

Here's the link to the article for anyone who wants to read it:

http://www.pennathletics.com/news/hall-of-fame-cla ...

It was a lot of fun getting to catch up with him and it was cool to hear how much he still loves and talks about Penn with players on the Celtics.

 
palestra38 
Professor
Posts: 32683

Reg: 11-21-04
04-06-17 11:54 AM - Post#228585    
    In response to Silver Maple

Agree 100%. It was simply a move to avoid admitting he made a mistake with Miller (and I don't think the hiring of Miller was a mistake---it just didn't work out) and taking the heat off of himself. It was the move of a guy who had grown too comfortable in a job he was mailing in and wanted for a few more years until he would arrange his own glorious retirement. Not only was the mistake, however, the hiring of Jerome, but the failure to ensure he had experienced floor coaching help. Of course, the two guys passed over would leave and leave Jerome exposed. So what did Bilsky do then? He signed Jerome to a secret contract extension, announced his retirement for a year later and made it impossible for his successor to do anything about Jerome even after it became apparent he was not up to the job.

My greatest disappointment, however, was learning how Jerome treated the student press, especially after they did their job and reported the Bagtas interview as a recruit. I won't say more, although I could, but I found this to be very contrary to his public image.

 
pennsive 
Junior
Posts: 200

Reg: 11-21-04
04-06-17 12:06 PM - Post#228590    
    In response to Jeff2sf

Let's not forget the context. Miller was let go mid-year, and from all accounts, Jerome was someone the team believed in. I also remember that Dau Jok, and I think another, threatened to re-open their recruiting if Jerome were not chosen as the head coach after being named the interim coach. The risk of losing a recruiting year, when everyone knows that recruiting is the lifeblood of a program, not to mention how critical it is to turn around a proud program that was on life support, when the players and the recruits were calling for/insisting upon his being hired, made it a hiring risk worth taking at the time. If Penn had available funds and had the alternative in hand to hire a high profile coach who came without baggage, that would have been a different story.

 
Silver Maple 
Postdoc
Posts: 3765

Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
Jerome
04-06-17 12:13 PM - Post#228591    
    In response to pennsive

Two things:

1) Not letting Miller go at the end of the previous season was a huge failure on the part of Bilsky. No justification for it. However, that notwithstanding...

2) A strong, smart AD doesn't let the players choose their coach. Hiring a guy who's totally unqualified for a job simply because the players like him personally is a terrible reason, leading to a terrible decision. This was a failure of leadership-- I don't know any other way to characterize it, and we shouldn't be trying to make excuses for it.

Bye the way, you'll notice that Grace Calhoun didn't let the players choose their coach. She also didn't let the students or fans or alumni do it either. She took responsibility, did her job, identified the guy she wanted, and went out and got him.

 
Penndemonium 
PhD Student
Posts: 1877

Reg: 11-29-04
04-06-17 03:29 PM - Post#228604    
    In response to Silver Maple

I do remember that the Penn AD at Dunphy's hiring (was it Rubincam?) said that players actually came to him to lobby for Dunphy NOT to be the permanent head coach because he worked them too hard. The AD said that their complaints actually made him more positive on Dunphy.



 
PennFan10 
Postdoc
Posts: 3578

Reg: 02-15-15
05-17-17 05:50 PM - Post#229434    
    In response to Penndemonium

Great article on Jerome from his recent induction to the Penn HOF.

http://www.pennathletics.com/news/hall-of-fame-cla ...

An excerpt:

The Boston Celtics’ charter plane had just landed when Jerome Allen W’09 jumped to his feet — not to get off the flight but to continue yelling wildly at the video stream on his cell phone. Soon enough, most of the Celtics players had gathered behind him to watch the Penn-Princeton game in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament.

Sure, one or two of the NBA players unaccustomed to watching Ivy League hoops may have playfully ribbed Allen by calling out, “When’s the Patriot League Tournament?” But Allen — the Penn basketball legend who became a Celtics assistant coach two years ago after a five-and-a-half-year tenure at the Quakers’ helm — always makes sure to dish it right back. Sometimes, he’ll joke with Boston star Isaiah Thomas that he wouldn’t have been able to guard his old Penn teammate Matt Maloney C’95. Other times, he’ll remind them that when he was coaching the Quakers in 2011, they “had Kentucky on the ropes at Rupp!” And, of course, he’ll always wear a Palestra T-shirt or other Penn gear whenever he can.

“You’d be surprised how much trash talk goes on between the guys,” Allen said while sitting in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, a few hours before the Celtics played the 76ers in mid-March. “They’ll ask, ‘Penn ever play in the [NCAA] Tournament?’ And I’ll say, ‘We’re in the top [20] all-time wins in the NCAA! Y’all got Google! Y’all got smart phones! What are you talking about?’”



 
Penndemonium 
PhD Student
Posts: 1877

Reg: 11-29-04
05-17-17 06:52 PM - Post#229438    
    In response to PennFan10

Super happy for Jerome that he gets to continue in the coaching business and doing it the right way. Apprenticing with a fantastic coach and building his coaching toolset piece by piece. This is much better than the situation he inherited and managed at Penn. It's so nice that his coaching career emerges from the rubble just as Penn's program is doing the same.



 
Cvonvorys 
Postdoc
Posts: 4438
Cvonvorys
Loc: Princeton, New Jersey
Reg: 10-11-06
07-10-17 04:05 PM - Post#230684    
    In response to Penndemonium

Did anyone see this?

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=1995522 6

 
Silver Maple 
Postdoc
Posts: 3765

Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
07-11-17 08:34 AM - Post#230693    
    In response to Cvonvorys

If that doesn't get you all farklemt, I don't know what will.

 
Old Bear 
Postdoc
Posts: 3988

Reg: 11-23-04
Jerome
07-11-17 12:15 PM - Post#230724    
    In response to Silver Maple

I never knew how to spell farklemt,Spell check says it's spelled "forklift".

 
Penn7277 
PhD Student
Posts: 1365

Loc: Lancaster, PA
Reg: 11-21-04
07-11-17 02:02 PM - Post#230738    
    In response to Old Bear

Actually, it's verklempt (original German) or ferklempt (Americanized version; sort of like Drumpf and.....)

 
penn nation 
Professor
Posts: 21085

Reg: 12-02-04
Jerome
07-11-17 02:24 PM - Post#230742    
    In response to Penn7277

There are a million ways to transliterate Yiddish words. Also depends if you are using "high Yiddish" [oxymoron?] of the Lithuanian type or Yiddish with a Galician dialect. I have ancestors of both types, so I've heard and seen it all.

Edited by penn nation on 07-11-17 02:24 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
Penn7277 
PhD Student
Posts: 1365

Loc: Lancaster, PA
Reg: 11-21-04
07-11-17 02:27 PM - Post#230743    
    In response to penn nation

Hey, I just went to the Internet dictionary. I was going for the "p".

 
Cvonvorys 
Postdoc
Posts: 4438
Cvonvorys
Loc: Princeton, New Jersey
Reg: 10-11-06
07-11-17 04:06 PM - Post#230761    
    In response to Penn7277

Y'all are driving me Meshuga... (or is it Meshugge, Meshugah, Meshuggah?).

You'll have to forgive me... I'm a goy, so I know virtually bupkis (or is it Bupkes, Bupkus, Bubkis, Bubkes?) about Yiddish. I'd like to kvetch more but I need to schlep myself to the kitchen to nosh on a bagel with a schemeer...

Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_ word...



 
penn nation 
Professor
Posts: 21085

Reg: 12-02-04
07-11-17 04:13 PM - Post#230763    
    In response to Cvonvorys

  • Cvonvorys Said:
Y'all are driving me Meshuga... (or is it Meshugge, Meshugah, Meshuggah?).

You'll have to forgive me... I'm a goy, so I know virtually bupkis (or is it Bupkes, Bupkus, Bubkis, Bubkes?) about Yiddish. I'd like to kvetch more but I need to schlep myself to the kitchen to nosh on a bagel with a schemeer...

Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_ word...




You'll appreciate the irony that today is actually a Jewish fast day. Happy 17th of Tammuz! (have fun Googling that one).


 
SteveChop 
PhD Student
Posts: 1150

Reg: 07-28-07
07-12-17 11:58 AM - Post#230810    
    In response to Silver Maple

Just shows what a TRUE CLASS human being Jerome is. Makes me wish again that he'd been more successful as the head coach at Penn - what the program could have achieved.

 
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