The University of Pennsylvania’s John R. Rockwell Head Coach of Men’s Basketball, Jerome Allen, has announced the hiring of Ira Bowman and Jason Polykoff as assistant coaches with the program. Bowman replaces Mike Martin, who recently left Penn to become head coach at Brown, while Polykoff steps into a role filled the previous two years by Rudy Wise.

Bowman returns to Penn after spending the last four years at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The year before Bowman arrived at NJIT, the Highlanders were winless (0-29), and in his first season they went 1-30. Since then, NJIT has improved dramatically-just two years after that 1-30 campaign, the Highlanders went 15-15 overall including a 9-3 Great West Conference mark in 2010-11. This past season, NJIT went 15-17 overall and advanced to the Great West Conference championship game.

Bowman played two years at Penn, the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, after transferring from Providence College. His first year with the Quakers was Allen’s senior season, when Penn went 22-6 overall and 14-0 en route to its third straight Ivy League title. Bowman was second-team All-Ivy that season. As a senior, Bowman was the Ivy League Player of the Year and first-team All-Philadelphia Big 5 as he led the Quakers to a 17-10 record including a 12-2 mark in Ivy play. Penn tied Princeton that year for the conference title, but fell to the Tigers in a one-game playoff to determine the Ivy’s NCAA Tournament bid.

Following his Penn career, Bowman enjoyed a professional playing career that included stints with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks. He also played overseas, in Italy and Australia, as well as in the Continental Basketball Association.

Polykoff comes to Penn after spending the last five years as the head coach at Friends’ Central School (FCS) in Wynnewood, Pa. He accumulated a 113-28 record in that time, winning four consecutive Pennsylvania Independent Schools State Championships (2009-12). FCS played in four straight Friends Schools League finals, from 2008-11, winning the title in 2010 and 2011. Polykoff’s 2011 team was ranked as high as No. 21 nationally as well as No. 1 in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps and No. 1 in Southeastern Pennsylvania by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Earlier this year, he was selected to coach the Derby Classic All-American Game in Louisville, Ky.

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