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Username Post: Fran O'Hanlon Retirement        (Topic#25905)
SteveChop 
PhD Student
Posts: 1150

Reg: 07-28-07
01-21-22 04:53 PM - Post#333891    

After 27 years at Lafayette, Frannie O will be retiring at the end of this season.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/21/f...

 
palestra38 
Professor
Posts: 32682

Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Fran O'Hanlon Retirement
01-21-22 04:55 PM - Post#333892    
    In response to SteveChop

Always wondered what would have happened had he gotten the job when Dunph left rather than Miller.

 
T.P.F.K.A.D.W. 
PhD Student
Posts: 1169

Loc: Our Nation's Capital
Reg: 01-18-05
Re: Fran O'Hanlon Retirement
01-21-22 05:24 PM - Post#333893    
    In response to palestra38

  • palestra38 Said:
Always wondered what would have happened had he gotten the job when Dunph left rather than Miller.


One thing is certain: We wouldn't be wading through the muck of a defamation suit on this board.

 
Silver Maple 
Postdoc
Posts: 3765

Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
Re: Fran O'Hanlon Retirement
01-21-22 05:56 PM - Post#333895    
    In response to palestra38

  • palestra38 Said:
Always wondered what would have happened had he gotten the job when Dunph left rather than Miller.



Unfortunately, I don't think there was any chance whatsoever of that. Bilsky clearly wanted Dunphy's replacement to have no connection to Dunph at all. Because Bilsky appears to have been a petty, egomaniacal weasel.

 
Stuart Suss 
PhD Student
Posts: 1439

Loc: Chester County, Pennsylva...
Reg: 11-21-04
01-21-22 06:30 PM - Post#333897    
    In response to Silver Maple

I have a different recollection of what happened in 2006.

Fran O'Hanlon was contacted regarding the Dunphy vacancy. As noted in the Feinstein story, Lafayette had just allowed athletic scholarships after years of making Lafayette compete without scholarships in a scholarship league. O'Hanlon supposedly said that Lafayette stood by him when his non-scholarships teams were getting beaten by other teams in the league and that he wanted to reciprocate the loyalty that Lafayette had shown to him.

There was even a story, perhaps apocryphal, that while visiting Philadelphia, either for the Penn job interview, or for some other reason, he had been caught in some awful traffic jam on the Schuylkill expressway and said, "I don't need this."

Those stories are consistent with O'Hanlon's quote in the Feinstein story:

<<When Lafayette was at the top of the Patriot League, he had numerous opportunities to leave, but turned them all down. “I decided to give up my shot at the Hall of Fame to be at a place where I’m completely happy,” he said. “Tough decision, huh?”>>



 
yoyo 
Senior
Posts: 354

Reg: 03-25-09
Fran O'Hanlon Retirement
01-27-22 03:23 PM - Post#334385    
    In response to Stuart Suss

never knew his nickname was Rainbow

Edited by yoyo on 01-27-22 03:24 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
SteveChop 
PhD Student
Posts: 1150

Reg: 07-28-07
Re: Fran O&#039;Hanlon Retirement
01-27-22 06:26 PM - Post#334397    
    In response to yoyo

His full nickname was Rainbow Johnson

 
LyleGold 
PhD Student
Posts: 1712

Reg: 11-22-04
Re: Fran O&#039;Hanlon Retirement
01-27-22 06:36 PM - Post#334398    
    In response to SteveChop

Even unabashed Dookie John Feinstein remembers the nickname:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/21/f...
I guess he has a soft spot for the Patriot Legue from his book, The Last Amateurs, written before Lafayette began offering athletic scholarships.

 
Go Green 
PhD Student
Posts: 1124

Age: 52
Reg: 04-22-10
Re: Fran O&#039;Hanlon Retirement
01-28-22 08:28 AM - Post#334417    
    In response to LyleGold

  • LyleGold Said:
Even unabashed Dookie John Feinstein remembers the nickname:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/21/f...
I guess he has a soft spot for the Patriot Legue from his book, The Last Amateurs, written before Lafayette began offering athletic scholarships.



I liked that book a lot.

It was better than the Ivy equivalent "Outside the Limelight" by Kathy Orton.

 
LyleGold 
PhD Student
Posts: 1712

Reg: 11-22-04
Fran O'Hanlon Retirement
01-28-22 09:50 AM - Post#334420    
    In response to Go Green

I remember that in the opening chapter or the foreword, Feinstein discussed how he initially wanted to follow the Ivy League, which at the time was the only other non-scholarship DI conference. He decided the high academic and professional profiles of the Ivy schools made for a less compelling story, so he went with the Patriot League instead.

It was very good and lacked Feinstein's characteristic self-congratulatory bloviating. His insufferable Forever's Team about the young Duke team that lost to Kentucky in the 1978 NCAA Final, but was expected to have plenty more opportunities to get back there. He only gave superficial treatment to the second round game when Penn had them down, but failed to stomp on their necks.




 
mbaprof 
Senior
Posts: 342

Age: 66
Reg: 12-24-11
Re: Fran O&#039;Hanlon Retirement
01-30-22 10:39 AM - Post#334733    
    In response to LyleGold

Dont ever make the mistake of bringing up the 77 ncaa game to John!
I was going to have him do something at the Palestra around the Atrium project, he was very receptive until i half jokingly said “we should/could have won that game” to him. He went on a rant about how everyone says that about Duke games but always from losing team. Love his writing though and his true affection for the Palestra.

 
LyleGold 
PhD Student
Posts: 1712

Reg: 11-22-04
Re: Fran O&#039;Hanlon Retirement
01-30-22 11:54 AM - Post#334738    
    In response to mbaprof

Good job hitting his raw nerve. If there's anything that characterizes true Dookies, it's their sense of superiority and thin-skinned defensiveness. I'm sure that was worth losing him for the Atrium Project.

 
Streamers 
Professor
Posts: 8141
Streamers
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
01-30-22 12:45 PM - Post#334748    
    In response to LyleGold

Thankfully, my daughter's Dukie tendencies, at least the undesirable ones, waned right after she graduated.

 
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