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Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Ripple effect
As coaching vacancies come and go, jobs open and close, creating a trickle down effect as up-and-comers fill the voids of those kicked off the ride.

There is considerable talk about Penn's Fran Dunphy taking over for John Chaney at Temple, proving ET has a better read on the situation than us (we spent the weekend in Dallas insisting it would not be Dunphy).

The Dunphy speculation has the Ivy League's boxers in a bunch over who might join their prestigious little club. From the Columbia Spectator:
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Dunphy leaves for the Owls, the first two candidates on everyone's lips would be a pair of former assistants, Fran O'Hanlon and Fran McCaffery.
Now we won't say O'Hanlon wouldn't take the job. But if he did, it would probably be for reasons other than the Ivy League. It wouldn't be surprising for Penn to make O'Hanlon an offer he couldn't refuse. O'Hanlon will be 58 in August. This could be the contract that sets him for retirement.

That had a lot to do with Charlie Woollum leaving Bucknell back in 1994 to go to his alma mater, William and Mary. Going home was also a factor for Woollum, a Tidewater native.

That could also be a factor for O'Hanlon, a Philly guy and Villanova grad. The lure of Philly in general, and the Big Five in particular, could lure O'Hanlon to Penn.

It would be hard to imagine leaving the Patriot League, now that Lafayette has scholarships, for any Ivy job. Bucknell has made it very clear how much more potential the Patriot teams have these days with scholarships. And there is no reason to think O'Hanlon won't have the Leopards back at the top of the league with scholarships to level the field.

But the Big Five has a huge aura, especially to any hoops junkies who grew up in Philly.
Published at 11:32 AM by Hoop Time.
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