Guru Commentary: It’s a Philly Six Rhapsody As Villanova Visits Drexel

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA – Ever since early last month when Villanova veteran women’s basketball coach Harry Perretta announced his forthcoming retirement at the end of this, his 42^nd season on the Main Line, this event date for tonight has been circled on the schedule by local fans in general and specifically by the faithful of the Wildcats and Drexel.

 

‘Nova is slated to visit the Dragons at 5 p.m. tonight in the front end of a doubleheader at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in West Philadelphia where the Drexel men will host Princeton in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. 

However, by then the general women’s crowd will be hightailing it up to La Salle where the Explorers will host Penn with a 7 p.m. tipoff in a Big Five game.

 

Call the complete night a Philly Six Rhapsody because the opener, besides the rhythm of action on the court, is packed with drama and little of it has anything to do with won-and-loss records or some excellent talent existing on both rosters.

 

Both teams come into the game as such: Drexel (4-3) with a veteran roster has made some missteps around some nice wins while the Wildcats (3-3) on a youthful roster struggled on an 0-3 start but have since reeled off three straight wins at Fordham, at home against Manhattan, and 10 days ago at Georgia.

 

Drexel last weekend on Hawk Hill let a close one get away against Buffalo but then on Sunday made it four straight in the local series with Saint Joseph’s.

 

This starts a local run on the Nova schedule ahead of the Big East where after tonight the Wildcats 

host Saint Joseph’s.Saturday, at 1 p.m., at Finneran Pavilion, then visit Temple at McGonigle Hall next Tuesday at 5 p.m., and then break for finals before visiting La Salle, Dec. 21 at 2:30 p.m.

 

Were not it for Perretta’s announcement, tonight’s game  would merely be the resumption of a local series where the master in court competition has dominated the student – Drexel coach Denise Dillon, who starred for Perretta from 1992-96 and then served several years as an assistant coach at her alma mater.

 

 Dillon next  moved to the DAC  in 2001 as an assistant for two seasons and then was promoted as head coach at which point ever since 2003 the Delaware County native has established herself as one of the top next generation collegiate coaches in the sport. 

 

Here is how Villanova refers to Dillon (310-207, 17^th season) in the notes for the contest.

 

WE KNOW HER: There will be a familiar face on the Drexel sideline when the Wildcats and Dragons meet on Wednesday evening. Drexel is coached by former Villanova star Denise Dillon who played for Harry Perretta and the Wildcats from 1992-96. Dillon currently ranks ninth all-time on both the Villanova scoring (1,355 points) and rebounding lists (677). As a junior and senior, she helped lead Villanova to a 40-16 (.714) record. She was a first team All-Big East  Selection as a junior and a second team honoree as a senior. Dillon also served as a Villanova assistant coach under Perretta from 1997- 2001. Wednesday will be the seventh all-time meeting between Dillon and Perretta and Perretta is 5-1 versus Dillon and the Dragons. The last meeting came in the second round of the 2017 WNIT when the Wildcats registered a 56-51 victory.

 

In the overall ‘Nova-Drexel series, its 8-1 in it favor of ‘Nova with the Dillon win coming nine years ago on Nov. 26, 2010, when she made local history ripping through three Big Five teams within less than two weeks time – Temple was not on the schedule.

 

Just two previous seasons in 2009, she had led the Dragons to the CAA title and NCAA tournament followed in 2013 by claiming the post season WNIT title in the 64-team field.

 

If you don’t know, which means you are from elsewhere beyond this area without knowledge, due to her success and the way she has bled the blue and white, Dillon has been considered the heir apparent to Perretta when that time would eventually come long, long, into the future, which has finally arrived.

 

In fact last season just after the Penn State job opened she asked yours truly if she had lost favor in not being named on the Guru’s prospect list to which yours truly responded, “Harry must be hiding somewhere because I could’t find him to get you cleared for the mention.”

 

She laughed.

 

Way back when Dawn Staley left Temple – she’ll be back with South Carolina Saturday at 3 p.m. by the way in McGonigle —  it was related from an Owls official that a Villanova colleague asked if Temple might have Dillon on a short list to fill the vacancy because if they hire her,  the Wildcats might not have the bucks to match when the time comes on the Main Line.

 

“I don’t even know if she wants the job but I told them if you’re looking locally for someone with success, she’s having success,” Perretta said back then.

 

Many times before the NCAA rules changed, Perretta would pop by the DAC and be seen pacing the floor behind the end zone stands during a close game.

 

Once late in a game that was tight near the finish when Drexel was about to win, during a time out Dillon noticed Perretta and quipped toward yours truly, “Hey, go tell him he can stop coaching, I got this one handled.”

 

For years as Dillon became successful, Drexel folks never feared a Power 5 yanking her away.

 

“We’re not worried,” one Drexel official said. “We have the resources to keep who we want.”

 

That was true but the Dragons also knew like Temple in the Staley era that other factors could be disruptive.

 

Until South Carolina finally overcame Temple’s ability to compete financially, the Owls’ feared a vacancy at Virginia, Staley’s alma mater, would be tough to overcome the day longtime hall of famer Debbie Ryan would exit.

 

Ditto to Drexel knowing the difficulty a Nova vacancy would cause, though along the way the feeling was we’d never see it because Harry on the sidelines would outlive all of us.

 

Several years ago when athletic directors changed at Villanova, with an outsider in Mark Jackson being hired from Southern Cal, Drexel types breathed easier saying there might be less influence on Perretta’s successor from the veterans of the athletic department.

 

But that went out the window when the official announcement on Perretta’s retirement quoted Jackson saying Perretta would have input on his successor.

Everyone is treading carefully, however, allowing an open search and avoiding creating pressure on a decision.

 

Given all that, the Guru quipped that Drexel could hold the postgame press conference tonight before the actual game since no one will be asking questions afterwards anyway about the actual game.

 

Given the series domination, the Guru added that (associate head coach) Joe Mullaney may coach because if Nova loses, the NCAA will be investigating if Perretta tanked to help Dillon’s cause.  

 

 While soon after Perretta’s announcement he told the media he chose now to go public to make things easier all around for everyone, including himself, he did no favors for Dillon, who has a team contending for the CAA title and is recruiting per business as usual though locals must be asking questions.

 

Perretta said he had told his recruits he’d be gone before they’d graduate but all have honored their commitments since the announcement.

 

 Meanwhile the Nova nation crowd expects it to be a done deal while the Drexel base is sending notes hoping she stays.

“I hope she stays,” Drexel men’s coach Zach Spiker said recently. “I really like her.”

 

It wouldn’t be a shock to see “Don’t Go, Please Stay” banners tonight in the stands competing against “Come On Home” signs.

 

“Nova is getting Denise, if she wants it, right?” Buffalo coach Felicia Legette-Jack, who also went against Dillon coaching Hofstra, asked after the Bulls win Saturday afternoon. “I mean, come on. She deserves first shot. She’s bled her alma mater forever.”

 

Career wise, Dillon would be arriving at the Big East at the same as the return of Connecticut and the expected domination by the Huskies till Geno Auriemma decides that maybe hanging out with Perretta and Jim Foster like the old days might be something to finally consider.

 

However,  the ‘Nova schedule would be good enough to gain at-large NCAA bids with winning seasons.

 

 Dillon could win the CAA, but going to the NCAAs from the conference as an at-large entry is a longer shot though on her Drexel schedule winning in general would merit consideration.

 

Across the country many consider Villanova a worthwhile job though most are waiting to see the local drama play out. 

 

“Of course what does Villanova want to do?” one coach said recently. “Do they want to change the system. Do they want to go to the Final Four? And what does she want to do?

 

“Drexel people will miss her personally. But if that’s the vacancy, it’s a good job and with the right hire they shouldn’t miss a beat.”

 

It does get interesting in that if Dillon makes the move, does associate head coach Amy Mallon, who once served on Perretta’s staff after graduating Saint Joseph’s, go along or is she now the front runner at Drexel.

 

And if Dillon doesn’t leave or either way, there’s a consideration to Wildcats associate head coach Joe Mullaney Jr., who has been the nuts and bolts of the scouting details as Perretta promulgates his nationally regarded work on motion offenses.

 

“I know I’m not retiring, that I know,” he smiled several days after the news became public. “I’m just going to let every thing play out and see what they want to do. But I’ll be somewhere.”

 

Even in a recent brief conversation of banter addressing it, your Guru made a quip to which Dillon replied, smiling, “I don’t know, it will be interesting to see what happens and what they want,” as if Villanova and the western suburbs where Dillon resides are in some other far away place.

 

In the local history of both men and women, there have been just two crossovers between schools and by head coaches and they occurred with a bit of irony on the institutions involved.

 

Former Rutgers star Kristen Foley in the mid-1990s went from Drexel to Temple following her women’s administrator, who made the jump first.

 

And the most famous one was Fran Dunphy on the men’s side moving from Penn to Temple following John Chaney’s retirement.

 

But Chaney’s announcement came on  March 13, 2006,  at the end of the season and Dunphy was announced just under a month later.

 

Temple’s AD was Bill Bradshaw, who was a past La Salle AD and baseball teammate of Dunphy on the Explorers.

 

“I’ve never heard of that situation where a looming vacancy is announced that early,” Bradshaw said Wednesday discussing the dynamic from an administrative perspective. “Certainly Dunph was spared all that happening as opposed to for a long time, especially where a presumed candidate exists.

 

“Even when an announcement is at the end of a season, you still have courtesies involved – one school calling permission to talk to the other,” he continued.

“If an AD suspects ultimately a vacancy will occur, that person can do a little early work eyeing potential candidates.

 

“And you can’t announce a change now formally because now kids get impacted who are trying to have a great season, win a conference title and you also factor in recruiting, a lot gets disrupted on Drexel’s side so certainly with both schools in town you would think one side would want to be courteous to the other.”

 

 For now, the only thing left to say is stay tuned.