As I walked out of the Palestra from JV basketball practice yesterday, I ran into former Penn coach Fran Dunphy, arriving for a Temple practice. After a quick greeting I started walking home, but after a few seconds the coach calls me back.
He needs me to swipe him in.
Today Dunphy will play his first game at the Palestra in 17 years on the opposing bench. I've been trying to decide whether I think it will feel like home for the coach.
He'll be sitting about 25 feet east of where he used to, will be commanding players in cherry and white and will be stuck in one of the grungy eastern locker rooms, without the couches and flatscreen TV.
But everything else will be the same. The boisterous and supportive (but too obscene for his taste) crowd, the same 80-degree and stuffy atmosphere, the same beige and light-blue stands, the same governor and former players watching on and the same hardwood he won 155 games on.
The keys have officially been passed down to Glen Miller, but the Palestra is still Dunphy's house.
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January 24th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Dunphy's been on the opposing bench more recently, when St.Joe's played Penn twice during the 2001-2002 season, one game was a home match for the Hawks.
January 24th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I think the more recent games at the Palestra where SJU was the "home" team Penn still used the "home" side and certainly used the "home" lockerroom. They may have, however, not sat on the home benches but rather the folding chairs that SJU brings when they play at the Palestra.
January 25th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Why was Temple practicing at the Palestra?