Joke Issue: Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller happy with advisory committee results

With the sudden departure of M. Grace Calhoun, Penn quickly put together a new advisory committee to find the new replacement for Steve Bilsky. We at The Daily Pennsylvanian take an in depth look into the few hours the committee spent looking for Calhoun’s successor.

At 10 a.m., M. Grace Calhoun walked into Provost Vincent Price’s office and explained that she could no longer be Penn’s athletic director after a grueling six days on the job. After Calhoun handed in her letter of resignation, Price quickly got to work assembling the next committee.

Price ceded control of the committee to Penn men’s soccer coach Rudy Fuller, who was delighted at the chance.

“I think there is an opportunity to bring in some fresh ideas and some new energy to the department,” he said. “I think that’s exciting.”

The committee rehired Daniel Parker of Parker Executive Search as a consultant for the search and added one new member — Anita Head, the director of the newly created Office of Recreational Gatherings and Sexual Management — before proceeding to contact all of the finalists from the last search.

However, thanks to the insistence of some committee members, the group looked to some less obvious in-house candidates, including Athletic Communications Director Mike Mahoney and men’s basketball coach Jerome Allen.

Allen was quickly jettisoned from the search when the committee realized that Allen couldn’t bring on former assistant coach Scott Pera as an associate athletic director.

The committee ultimately found Mahoney as the top candidate for the job, a surprising to many outside observers. Mahoney is not a well-known name outside of Penn circles, causing many to question the move.

Fuller was asked about the interesting hire of Mahoney, who didn’t have the same experience of some of the other candidates, and the men’s soccer coach responded that it was Mahoney’s determination that got him the job.

“It was because he ran up to the job quicker than anybody else,” Fuller said.

Fuller was also adamant that the new hire needed to be someone from within the department after Calhoun left.

“In that situation, it’s my belief that we can’t pick guys from outside the department,” Fuller said. “We don’t know what they’re feeling like, what their legs are feeling like, what their confidence is like.

“So with our group typically, we are looking for who wants the shot. That means a lot. It means they’re confident, they are feeling fresh, and as soon as the committee started, Mahoney ran up and grabbed the job and we were like, ‘Great.’

“Didn’t even think twice about it.”

With that mentality, Mahoney was the clear choice for the job.

Others on the committee cited the AComm head’s ability to manage a department that features Eric Dolan as a major reason in support of Mahoney.

“After Dolan came back from his brief time on “The Halperts” [a failed spinoff of NBC’s “The Office”], he was certainly tough to manage,” Penn women’s basketball coach Mike McLaughlin said. “He was always craving the spotlight, trying to force teams to play in the NCAA Tournament.

“I commend Mike Mahoney on his job of keeping Dolan in check.”

With Mahoney in place, Fuller is excited to return to his previous position with Penn men’s soccer, according to a Penn Athletics Facebook post. Cindy Tony liked that post.

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