Penn’s Augustus Gerhart earned his starting role with physicality and a ‘ridiculous’ motor

Augustus Gerhart didn’t want to be the kid who played basketball because he was tall. But in sixth grade, he caved. At first, he wasn’t very good.

“It was a slow process to get better,” said the 6-foot-9 Gerhart. “I still think I’m working at it.”

Penn’s senior forward, who goes by “Auggie,” has since won an Ivy League championship and competed in March Madness. Last season, Gerhart started all 30 games and averaged a career-high 19.8 minutes, 5.5 points, and 4.7 rebounds.

“If you have a phenomenal meal at a restaurant, you’re probably not going to want to eat bad food for the rest of your life,” Gerhart said of this year’s expectations. “You’ve seen what it can be, and that’s the standard now.”

Penn lost in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament to No. 3 Illinois, which eventually made it to the Final Four. The Quakers open their season with a rematch against the Fighting Illini on Thursday (8:30 p.m., FS1).

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Senior forward TJ Power — who scored 44 points to get Penn to the tournament but suffered from a stomach infection during its first round game — wants the team to get physical and fight for rebounds.

And he believes Gerhart can help with that.

“We’re really good when he’s aggressive,” Power said, “when he looks for his shots in the paint.”

Coach Fran McCaffery shared a similar sentiment: “I just want him to know that I’m empowering him to do that. I’m not allowing him to do that.

“What that does, is it builds confidence, and that’s ultimately what my number one job is — to make sure my guys have confidence.”

Confidence, according to Gerhart, is a muscle. It gets stronger the more you work on it.

It took two years for Gerhart to develop. He averaged seven minutes as a freshman, and his main job was to give the ball to the team’s leading scorer.

In Gerhart’s first year, it was guard Clark Slajchert, who went on to play at Southern California for his fifth year and now plays professionally in Luxembourg. In 2025, it was his roommate Sam Brown, who transferred to Davidson.

When McCaffery took over the program last season, Gerhart saw it as a clean slate. Since then, his on-court role has grown.

“I was a kid when I was playing for [former coach Steve] Donahue,” Gerhart said. “I’ve had a lot more experience in college basketball playing for McCaffery.”

There’s a difference, Gerhart said, in Donahue and McCaffery’s coaching philosophies.

Gerhart was previously used in the traditional role of a big man — setting screens and grabbing rebounds. Under McCaffery, Gerhart learned that “you need to be so much more dynamic.”

McCaffery emphasizes that the bigs need to sprint down the floor after every play: Get there first, post the middle of the paint, and open the floor.

Now, the 6-9 Gerhart is “galloping down the court,” says Power.

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“[He] looks like a horse running the Kentucky Derby,” Power said. “He’s sprinting and nodding his head back and forth and striking fear into whoever’s back.”

McCaffery tells Gerhart that he’s “not a screening dummy. Make a play, drive the ball.”

In other words, Gerhart said he is “starting to think more holistically about basketball.” He tries to analyze how his teammates play, including where they want their screens and how to time it.

Power said Gerhart’s role may not show up on the stat sheet. But his fitness is unmatched.

“Sometimes it’s annoying,” Power said, “I’m like ‘Jesus, he doesn’t get tired.’ But his motor is ridiculous, and it shows on the floor.”

Power recalled when Gerhart, a graduate of The Hill School and a Lancaster County native, once had back pain after chopping wood with his family over the weekend.

“I’m like, ‘You live a different lifestyle,’” Power recalled. “So now I kind of just picture him as this jacked lumberjack just dunking on people on the court.”

Staying fit is an important part of Gerhart’s game, and he’s never felt the need to be the number one guy.

“The ball’s not going to go to you probably,” Gerhart said. “But TJ had 44 [points] in the Ivy League championship and hit two game-winning threes. The ball shouldn’t go to you.

“You can’t shrink and be any less a basketball player because you’re playing with them. If you do that, you’re going to hurt the team.”