Contrary to Peter Zellen's wishful fantasy of having Larry Brown as Penn State's men's basketball head coach (A new coach for cagers?), replacing Bruce Parkhill would be a serious mistake. Granted, Brown is a proven winner (in terms of winning percentage) at both the collegiate and professional levels, but he's also a certified nomad. Brown has left five basketball teams in the lurch during his coaching career. Zellen conveniently fails to mention that Brown left Kansas University in trouble with the NCAA. While Brown fled to the NBA San Antonio Spurs, the Jayhawks were placed on probation for violations that occurred under Brown's regime.

A "high-profile" coach is also not a requirement for success in the Big Ten. If Zellen had opened his eyes, he would have noticed that an obscure grad assistant by the name of Randy Ayers is doing very well at Ohio State. Michigan's "low-key" coach, Steve Fisher, only lead the Wolverines to the 1989 NCAA title. Penn State continues to win despite injuries to Michael Jennings, Donovan Williams, Dave Degitz and Matt Gaudio.

Bruce Parkhill has done a splendid job of molding the Nittany Lions into a competitive, winning team even though handicapped by rigorous admissions standards, inadequate basketball facilities, little basketball tradition and a racial climate perceived to be hardly conducive to the recruitment of "blue-chip" minority athletes, particularly inner city youths. Most important, all 25 seniors who have played for Coach Parkhill have earned diplomas. I challenge Zellen to name another head coach of a "big-time" program with a 100 percent graduation rate. Further, Coach Parkhill hasn't broken any NCAA rules and regulations in the process, unlike big-name coaches such as Larry Brown, Jerry Tarkanian, Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton and Jim Valvano. Zellen fails to see that there's more to the intercollegiate athletics experience than a team's won-lost record.

It is unreasonable to assume that Penn State won't be able to prosper in the Big Ten. Just ask Illinois' Lou Henson. If I'm not mistaken, Penn State has defeated the Illini two years in a row, including this season at Champaign. We were also very competitive with No. 4 ranked Ohio State on the Buckeyes home court. Losing on the road to Butler and James Madison is no disgrace considering their home winning percentage of over 75 percent the past two seasons.

To call for Coach Parkhill's head is to do a grave injustice to a person who has rebuilt a mediocre program. In the future, Zellen should do his homework before taking potshots at people. I'll take a Bruce Parkhill, who graduates his players and teaches them to be better players on the court and finer individuals off-the-court, over a Larry Brown, who appears more interested in advancing his own career, any day.