8,722. That is the number of seats in the Palestra, which just so happens to be where the Quakers call home. Obviously, this is new news to no one, but the place that was once home to so many of the sport’s most memorable moments is now just "An Empty Cathedral." A new individual leading the charge, however, is a way to fix all of this, and that is the newest decision that Penn will have to make.
The program’s highest of highs came in the 1979 NCAA tournament. While bracketed into a region filled with legendary coaches — Jim Boeheim, Lou Carnesecca, Dean Smith, Jim Valvano — it was none other than first-year head coach Bob Weinhauer who led his Penn team to beat all four of them in just nine days. They became the first Ivy League program to reach the Final Four in 14 years, and none of the Ancient Eight have managed to do so since. We have long since turned the page, and any aspiration to reach a feat similar to that may very well be unachievable, but the principle of the competition has remained the same.
Nevertheless, Penn and the rest of the Ivy League’s basketball programs, once a standard of excellence, have effectively dwindled from the public eye. Yes, you see an Ivy League champion win a game or two in the NCAA tournament every couple of years, but the culture is nowhere near the same. It is simply that case that the days of a packed Palestra, palpably shaking with excitement, are behind us.
And so too has school spirit. We hear countless stories of what has been or what once was, but our community never can seem to reach back in time. This is not new information — we hear it from students, faculty, and alumni alike. And as much as I can try to applaud the administration’s efforts in trying to limit the rather inequitable ways Penn students try to show enthusiasm, we can all easily come to a simple consensus: There is not a clear, fair, or attractive source of school spirit at Penn.
But now the time has come to change that. Penn, its administration, and its athletic department have an opportunity that comes once in a generation. Something that leaders in numerous fields always strive for is now well-within reach — a culture change.
I do not want to spend too much time examining the issue at hand — I think that has more than adequately been accomplished. But in examining the opinions from the past, I came across a 2004 column by Craig Cohen, 2006 Wharton graduate, that articulates the problem at hand better than anyone I have come across.
“The disturbingly low attendance is part of a bigger problem. As students, we should take pride in trekking to Franklin Field and supporting the Quakers,” Cohen wrote. “But we don't. A general sense of apathy has descended upon the student body. … We don't feel a sense of loyalty to our school. In fact, I'd bet that the biggest rivalry Penn students feel is not the one between Penn and Princeton, but the one between the College and Wharton.”
Notwithstanding the fact that his writing may be far more eloquent than that of my own, he is undoubtedly correct. He gives his own example not too dissimilar from one of my own this past football season: “They even had a Fan Appreciation Day at Franklin Field. I wouldn't know. I missed the game. I had to wash my hair, or play solitaire or something. Apparently we lost.”
It is befuddling to think that Craig, like myself, a die-hard NFL and NCAA football fan would blatantly disregard competition happening essentially right in front of our eyes. But that’s not the point. It did not matter for Craig, and it does not matter for me. But the issue is far worse than that. If Quaker teams cannot manage to drive enough willingness for me to attend a free collegiate sporting event, imagine how impossible it would be to get a non-sports fanatic to even think about it.
There is one thing Cohen said, however, that resonates the most with me given the current situation: “If the administration wants to encourage us to attend the football games, chazerai (it's Yiddish, look it up) like magnets and pretzels is not the way to go … Students shouldn't need to be bribed to come to games.”
But this article is now over two decades old. This is not a new problem, to say the least. It has been brought to the community’s attention time and time again, but there has never been anywhere near an adequate fix — no matter how it has tried to be addressed.
Now, more than ever, President Larry Jameson and Director of Athletics and Recreation Alanna Wren have the opportunity to create school spirit without it needing to be manufactured. They can do so not with free food and merchandise, but rather enthusiasm around the competition, and just maybe, the level of competition itself.
The University can flick this switch through its hiring of the next Quaker men's basketball coach. While this may seem like just a simple fix without much consequence, a move in the right direction surrounding one of Penn’s most renowned sports institutions is beyond imperative. It must be a household name, one that would require a significant investment both monetarily and culturally, to get this concept past the drawing board.
And the best part is that it does not even have to work out perfectly — the mere acquisition of basketball’s most brilliant minds would create a buzz around the program, one that no Penn team has seen in almost 50 years (for non-legal reasons, at least).
For years, the team’s prowess has been in rapid decline, with the most egregious of such being Steve Donahue’s two final seasons with sub .500 records both overall and in conference play — culminating in back-to-back 7th place finishes in the Ivy League.
Since 2018, after Penn’s last NCAA tournament appearance, the team has made quite the downfall, and so too, has home attendance. This season, the average attendance number was 1,808, the second-lowest on record behind 2021-22, the season following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The search for a fitting candidate — one that meets the aforementioned criteria in addition to whatever the athletic department is looking for — will not be easy nor simple. To throw another wrench in the situation, the current collegiate sporting environment is rapidly changing due to the rise in institutions giving student-athletes offers on the basis of name, image, and likeness.
This does Ivy League programs no favors. Recently, the Ivy League announced that it would opt out of the settlement that would have given each University the right to control the money they allocate to their student-athletes.
Most notably, the Quakers 2023-24 leading scorer, Tyler Perkins, announced his decision to enter the transfer portal following his record-breaking rookie season with the Red and Blue. It was reported that he received an NIL offer from “Friends of Nova,” Villanova’s collective for an undisclosed amount. Just like that, Penn lost its best player. It would be an understatement to say there has been no shortage of similar situations in other sports.
But this may be a blessing in disguise, and that’s where we bring in the next steps.
There have been a plethora of college basketball coaches who have recently ended their runs at major programs due to the professional culture-shift at their institutions with the establishment of collectives and even the hiring of general managers. This list includes names even the non-basketball fan would know: Mike Kyrzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright, and many others.
As collegiate basketball programs have started to feel more like franchises, the generation of coaches who worked every day in order to better the lives and develop the characters of their players has come to an end. They wanted to keep coaching the old way, but none of the players were interested in that anymore.
The Ivy League’s decision to opt out makes it abundantly clear that the Ancient Eight have no interest in conforming to these new norms, even despite the potential consequences.
Now Coach K is not coming to Locust Walk, nor are Williams or Wright. But there are other incredible options — options with championship pedigree.
A hire that shocks the college basketball world will allow Penn to perennial out-recruit its peers in the Ivy League. In Ivy Basketball, all that matters is winning the conference and being in the best position to do so is the ultimate priority of all eight programs. When bracketologists think early in the year about the bracket in March, Penn should be a placeholder as the Ivy League’s automatic bid. This decision gives the Quakers the potential to do just that.
Whether or not we go this route is well beyond my control, but I do see one clear bottom line: This is a chance to ignite a culture change in a community that lacks school spirit — let’s make it happen.
BRIAN BARTH is a College first year from New York, N.Y. His email is bbarth@sas.upenn.edu.
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