News and Notes: Evening Edition

Some news and notes (evening edition):

• Sports Central writes, " not only is Syracuse without a blemish in real games, but they may be the only team in the country to have four quality wins at this early stage (Florida, North Carolina, Pac-10 favorite Cal and Ivy favorite Cornell)."

• Golden State of Mind has a major feature on Harvard's Jeremy Lin and writes with respect to Cornell, "Every team could start playing like Cornell and Army and, as a team, stop Jeremy Lin. However, I have concluded that most teams are either not talented enough to handle all of Harvard's weapons, or are too talented such that it is impossible for them to sacrifice as a collective unit to stop one man, as have the powers that be at Cornell and Army been able to do. In short, I think we're okay with this one."

• Andy Katz weighs in on the termination of Glen Miller at Penn and writes with respect to Cornell, "while Penn and Princeton have taken a dip lately, Cornell has risen to power behind former Penn assistant Steve Donahue, who is going for his third straight Ivy League title. His toughest competitor likely will be Harvard, not Penn or Princeton.... [in replacing Miller] [t]he natural long-term choice would be Donahue, but he has made Cornell into an Ivy power. And if Donahue were to move, why not out of the conference and into a higher-paying gig in a power-six league?"

• On the same topic, Jeff Goodman of FoxSports writes:

PENN MADE MISTAKE WITH MID-SEASON FIRING

I never thought I’d see the day when an Ivy League coach was fired in the middle of the season.

But that’s exactly what went down on Monday when Penn let Glen Miller go after three-plus years.

Sure, the Quakers were struggling. They were winless in seven games so far this season and were mediocre the last two seasons.

But unless there’s some reason I’m not aware of, the school needed to let Miller finish out the season.

It sends a bad message to everyone - the players, coaches and administrators.

Two of the team’s top players, Tyler Bernardini and Andreas Schreiber, have been injured.

But ultimately, it was the fact that Miller came from Brown University and isn’t a “Philly” guy that was ultimately his undoing.

The last time around there were many who wanted someone from the Penn family – someone like Cornell’s Steve Donahue – to get the job.

However, Donahue hadn’t won a pair of Ivy league crowns at the time. His resume is far more impressive these days after what the Big Red have done over the past two-plus seasons.

Now the speculation begins as to who has a legitimate shot at becoming the next coach for a program that was, at one time, an Ivy League power and has fallen on tough times lately.

Obviously, Donahue – who was on Fran Dunphy’s staff for a decade during Penn’s dominance (along with Princeton) – should be at the top of the list.

However, Donahue has turned Cornell into a better job – at least for the time being.

I’m not sure he’d even want the Penn job now.

Jerome Allen, the former Quakers standout who has gotten the job on an interim basis, will certainly have his share of support – but he’s only been on a college bench for a grand total of seven games.

It’s likely that this time it’ll stay in the family – and that’s why Temple assistant Matt Langel – who played and coached at Penn – could be the ideal choice.