Sport books have seen Pennsylvania struggle so far this college basketball season and the 0-7 start has cost head coach Glen Miller his job.
Pennsylvania fired Miller on Monday after the team lost yet another game. The Quakers have been on the board in four of their seven games and they are 0-4 against the odds at the Internet sportsbook.
Sport books usually don’t see a coaching change just seven games into the season but that is what happened with Penn. Miller was not the right choice from the beginning for Pennsylvania. “This is not simply about the performance of the team this year,” athletic director Steve Bilsky said. “This really is about a sense of direction and leadership. Where we were at this point indicated it was time to make a change and this was the time to do it.” Jerome Allen will take over for Miller on an interim basis. He was the assistant coach under Miller this sport books season. Miller did not do well in his career as sport books stats show. He was 45-52 overall since being hired in 2006. He led the team to a 22-9 record in his first Internet sportsbook year with someone else’s players but things have gone downhill since that time. “I know he really wanted to come here and make a mark, and I know he’s disappointed,” Bilsky said.
Miller had previously coached at Brown and did very well with the school which made him a logical choice even though he had no ties to Pennsylvania. Not having any ties to the school made it tough for Miller and he was also replacing a popular coach. The deck was stacked against Miller and this year it all came apart.
The last two seasons with more of his own players were a mess for Pennsylvania. They were 13-18 two years ago and an even worse 10-18 last sport books season. Things should get better for Penn since Allen has ties to the school. He was a two-time Ivy League player of the year for the Quakers. He led them to Ivy League titles in each of his last three sport books seasons as a player. He was on the 1994 team that beat Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Penn has some time to get ready for their next game in odds at the sport books since they don’t play again until December 28th at Davidson. The problem for Allen is that the game at Davidson is probably not winnable in odds at the Internet sportsbook nor is the game three days later against Duke.