Glen Miller, who won more games over seven seasons than any coach in Bears history, will be introduced as the Quakers new coach this afternoon.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- He's been tempted over the last six years, but Glen Miller always resisted the chance to leave College Hill. Until now, that is.

Miller will be introduced this afternoon as the new men's basketball coach at the University of Pennsylvania, the dominant basketball program in the Ivy League. The former Brown University coach will succeed Fran Dunphy, who recently left to replace John Chaney at Temple.

Miller visited Penn late last week and met with athletic director Steve Bilsky and other university officials. The other finalists for the job were Cornell head coach Steve Donahue, Lehigh's Billy Taylor and current Quaker assistant David Dunn. Each of the other finalists had links to Dunphy but were ultimately bypassed in favor of Miller.

Penn confirmed the hiring in a statement last night.

"I'm honored and thrilled to have been asked to be a part of the program here at Penn," Miller said in the statement.

Miller's success in his time at Brown made him an interesting target for other schools in previous years. A few years back, he interviewed and appeared close to taking a job at Northeastern but pulled out

late in the process. Earlier this month, Miller was offered the job at the University of Hartford but turned it down.

But Penn proved to be a different story. Under Dunphy, the Quakers were a dominant Ivy power that rolled to a 20-9 record, 12-2 in the Ivies, last season. Penn has long thrived in the Ivies, in large part because of commitment to succeed in both admissions and quality financial-aid packages. The Quakers return several key players for next season, including Ivy Player of the Year Ibrahim Jaaber.

A former player at Connecticut, Miller worked under Jim Calhoun for seven seasons and then led Division III Connecticut College from obscurity to a 28-1 mark and the NCAA semifinals in 1999. That earned him the job at Brown and he quickly thrived.

At Brown, Miller won more games in his seven-year stretch than any coach in school history. From 2001-2004, the Bears posted four consecutive winning seasons for the first time in the program's history. In both 2003 and '04, Brown finished second in the Ivies (behind Penn) with 12- and 10-win league seasons.

But while Miller's gains at Brown were substantial, the Bears could not top Penn and Princeton on a consistent basis. At Penn, Miller will have a great chance of winning the Ivies every season and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Quakers lost to Texas, 60-52, in the first round of the tourney in March.

First-year Brown athletic director Mike Goldberger will begin a search for a replacement this week. Goldberger is likely to assemble a search committee to help him in finding the next coach, and where that group turns is anyone's guess. If it follows the same route that led to Miller's hiring, Brown can look at some of the premier small Eastern college coaches like David McLaughlin of Stonehill, Dave Paulsen of Williams College or Rob Kornaker of St. John Fisher.

Brown assistant Kevin Jaskiewicz has worked with Miller for his entire tenure in Providence and merits a look. Another figure inside the Brown basketball community who could be looked at is former player Steve Silas, a scout with the Washington Wizards and a former assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

kmcnamar@projo.com / (401) 277-7340