Polykoff leaves Friends' Central for Penn

By Rick O'Brien, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: June 13, 2012

After five seasons as boys' basketball coach at Friends' Central School, Jason Polykoff is leaving to become an assistant at Penn.

"In the last couple of years, I've been thinking about making coaching a full-time gig," he said. "While it's tough to leave Friends' Central, which has been like a second home for me my whole life, this is something I'm really excited about."

Polykoff, 28, went 113-28 (.801 winning percentage), won two Friends Schools League championships (2010 and 2011), and earned four straight Pennsylvania Independent Schools Tournament titles (2009-12).

At Penn, Polykoff, a middle-school math teacher at Friends' Central, will join Jerome Allen's staff. He coached Allen's son, Jerome, a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward for the Phoenix. Allen's daughter, Taylor, was in one of his classes.

The Quakers recently lost assistant Mike Martin, who left after six seasons to become head coach at Ivy League rival Brown.

Last season, Polykoff, who played guard at Friends' Central (Class of 2002) and Haverford College (2006), guided his alma mater to a 22-5 record. The squad's top player, 6-foot-8 senior forward Amile Jefferson, committed last month to Duke.

"I had a coaching opportunity come up last year," Polykoff said. "But I wanted to see Amile finish out his career. I wanted to be there for his last game."

Contact Rick O'Brien at robrien@phillynews.com, or @ozoneinq on Twitter. Read his blog, "The O'Zone," at www.philly.com/ozone

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