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University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Ira Bowman

 
Ira Bowman was hired in June 2012 and has spent six seasons as an assistant coach on the Penn men's basketball staff. The move has marked a homecoming for Bowman, who played two years of college basketball for the Quakers when Penn's current head coach, Steve Donahue, was an assistant with the program.


In 2017-18, Penn went 24-9 overall and won a share of the Ivy League title with a 12-2 mark in conference play. The Quakers then won the Ivy League Tournament with wins over Yale and co-champion Harvard, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years where they lost 76-60 to top-seeded Kansas in Wichita, Kan. Following the season, sophomore forward AJ Brodeur was named first-team All-Ivy and NABC All-District as well as second-team All-ECAC and All-Big 5. Another sophomore, Ryan Betley, was second-team All-Ivy, NABC All-District, and All-Big 5, while a third Penn player (Darnell Foreman) received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition.
 
Bowman returned to Penn after spending 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. After that, NJIT 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. His final year, 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, Penn went 22-6 overall and 14-0 in Ivy League play en route to its third straight Ancient Eight 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 that included 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.
 
Before returning to college basketball as a coach, Bowman spent four years as director of the Assist by Knight Foundation. In addition, he has experience with several aspects of the NBA including serving as an administrator at the NBA's FIBA Tournament in Las Vegas in 2007 and participating in the NBA's Player Development Assistant Coaches Summit in 2007.