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Homecoming for new Penn assistant basketball coach
There are a lot of coaches who have enthusiasm and passion for basketball. Then, there is John Gallagher. The only thing he loves more than the game is the Philly game. Now, Gallagher, a 1999 Saint Joseph's graduate, about to enter his 10th year as a coach, is coming home to coach at the Palestra as an assistant to Penn's Glen Miller.
Miller and Gallagher hung out a little at the Final Four in San Antonio and happened to end up on the same flight back to Philadelphia. Soon after, Miller was calling Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz for permission to talk to Gallagher about a position on his staff that opened up when Chris Sparks took the head job at his alma mater, Wilbraham & Monson (Mass.) Academy.
Gallagher loved his job at Hartford, where he spent two seasons, but the lure of Penn and the Palestra was too much.
"I just can't wait," said Gallagher, who is always on fast-forward.
"You can't help but notice assistant coaches on the road and how they conduct themselves," Miller said. "I've always been impressed with how he's done his work at the different events I've been at over the years."
That Gallagher was brought up on Philly hoops - playing for Bud Gardler at Cardinal O'Hara and Phil Martelli at St. Joe's before coaching under Speedy Morris and Billy Hahn at La Salle and then Fran O'Hanlon at Lafayette - helped Miller with his decision.
"He's going to be kind of a connector for me," Miller said. "I've only been here 2 years. Everybody knows it's not the easiest place for somebody coming in from the outside. That he knows everybody and their brother was a little bit of a factor. And I like the people he's been connected with and the experiences that he's had." *
