July 05, 2019
Jim Brown/USA Today Sports Images
Former Penn men's basketball head coach, and former Penn player, Jerome Allen was removed from the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame after he was sentenced to community service and fined for accepting bribes while he was coach.
Former Penn men's basketball head coach and player Jerome Allen was removed from the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame this week after he was sentenced to community service and fined for accepting bribes while coaching.
Allen, an assistant coach with the NBA's Boston Celtics, pleaded guilty back in October to accepting bribes and then testified in March to accepting $300,000 to help a businessman's son gain entry to Penn, under the guise of being a basketball recruit.
The school issued a statement Tuesday about Allen's removal from the Athletics Hall of Fame.
Here's the statement from Kevin Bonner, senior associate athletic director of governance and administration, per the Daily Pennsylvanian:
"The University of Pennsylvania considers induction into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame as the highest individual honor for a student-athlete or coach, and criteria for induction encompasses both athletic achievements and character. As a result of his federal conviction, Jerome Allen has been removed from the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame."
Allen testified in March that he set up a separate bank account for Philip Esformes to wire him money. Esformes paid Allen to help his son gain admission to Penn by calling his son a "listed recruit" in communications with admissions officers. Penn, as an Ivy League school, doesn't award traditional athletic scholarships.
Allen was sentenced to 600 hours of community service and ordered to pay a fine of $202,000 on top of an $18,000 forfeiture judgment, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
Allen coached Penn from 2009 to 2015, going 65-104 overall and 38-46 in conference games during the six seasons. He played for Penn from 1991 to 1995, winning three Ivy League titles.
Allen played in a total of 117 NBA games for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets before becoming a coach.
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