Penn, pal Allen pull Leibovitz back home
On the surface, it seems strange that Dan Leibovitz would leave the head-coaching position at Hartford to become an assistant at Penn. On another level, the move, which will become official tomorrow, is not that hard to understand.
On the surface, it seems strange that Dan Leibovitz would leave the head-coaching position at Hartford to become an assistant at Penn. On another level, the move, which will become official tomorrow, is not that hard to understand.
Leibovitz and Penn head coach Jerome Allen have been good friends for 20 years, after they met at Episcopal Academy. Leibovitz is a Penn grad. He was an assistant at Temple. He grew up on the Big 5.
Leibovitz could not be reached for comment, but it seems likely that this move would not have happened at any school but Penn or with any coach but Allen.
"I want to thank coach Leibovitz for what he's done for me personally," said Hartford co-captain Joe Zeglinski, an Archbishop Ryan grad. "He gave me an opportunity to play here at Hartford and have a good career. We had some good moments. Making it to the America East championship game was exciting."
In Leibovitz' second season, the Hawks played at UMBC for the league title. They lost, but the future seemed promising. Then, Zeglinski got hurt early in the next season, and not much has gone right since then. After an 18-16, 10-6 America East record in 2007-08, the Hawks went 15-48 the next two seasons. *