Penn community ready for new coach

The jury is still out on Glen Miller, the Brown coach who will be announced as the new head of the Penn program this afternoon.

Players and coaches are quick to note his relative success in his previous job, but he will be asked to win a lot more with the Quakers.

"I guess he was the best candidate for the job," rising senior forward Mark Zoller said. Zoller, along with his classmates Steve Danley and Ibrahim Jaaber, met with Miller for an interview.

"I think he's going to do a good job," Zoller added. "He has more talent here than he did at Brown. It'll do well for him and the University to have a change of pace and try to continue the success that we've had in the past."

Jaaber said he hadn't heard about the hire of Miller before being contacted by The Daily Pennsylvanian, so he had no comment.

Some of Miller's former players at Brown said that it will be sad to see him go.

"It's going to be a huge transition," said Luke Ruscoe, Brown's captain and lone senior from this past season.

"The greatest asset about coach Miller is that he absolutely wants to win every game," he added. "He's a really demanding coach, really intense. He has his idea of what he wants to happen and he sticks to his guns. It's pretty much his way or the highway."

Miller informed his players of his decision in a meeting yesterday on Brown's campus.

"He's a guy who you love working hard for every day because you see his passion and his commitment to win," said Mike Martin, a 2004 Brown graduate who is now an assistant under Miller. "He's a guy who's extremely loyal, and you love playing for him because you know he's in it just as much as you are. He's all about winning."

Martin would not say whether he will be coming to Penn as an assistant.

Ruscoe did note that Penn players might have trouble adjusting to Miller's motion read-and-react offense. However, Dunphy also ran a motion offense while at Penn.

Shawn Trice, a Penn assistant coach, expects Miller to have success in his new job.

"Everywhere he's been he's been a winning coach, so I don't expect it to be any different here at Penn," he said.

Though Miller isn't a native Philadelphian, Trice thinks that he will be able to recruit similar players to the ones Dunphy did, many of whom were from nearby schools.

"You don't necessarily need to be from Philly to recruit to Penn," he said. "We get a lot of kids from California, Texas, from all over the world. We get guys who are interested in coming here to play basketball, so that's the unique part about being at Penn."

Yale coach James Jones said that he was slightly surprised by Penn's decision, adding that he's not sure how Miller will do at his new school.

"You know it's kind of hard to say from my side looking in," Jones said. "I think that coach Miller is a blank coach. Whether his relationship with the Penn basketball program is secure or not kind of remains to be seen."

Jones still expects the Quakers to be at the top of the Ivy League next year.

"I think it's a great hire," agreed Mike Jarvis, the former Saint John's coach who had expressed interest in the Penn job. "I remember Glen as a player. I think he's an upcoming star in the coaching ranks."

Staff writers David Bernstein, Michael Gertner, Andrew Scurria and Andrew Todres contributed to this report.

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