Fordham 78

Penn 63

Fordham athletic director Frank McLaughlin signed Bob Hill to a 10-year, $2.5 million contract in 1999, hoping to rejuvenate a program that had fallen on hard times since joining the Atlantic 10 Conference.

But Hill’s tenure was a fiasco; the Rams lost twice as many games as they won in his four-year stay. Even though he has been gone since 2003 and now is coaching the NBA’s Sonics, he’s still stirring up trouble, saying on Sunday that his old employer is not “a Division I school” and that the Rams should “really think about going to Division III . . . if they’re not going to put any money in sports.”

While McLaughlin didn’t want to directly address Hill’s comments, he conceded that they were a “distraction.”

“We’re trying to stay focused and build something here,” said McLaughlin, adding that when the school bought out Hill’s contract, both sides agreed not to talk about the other. “We’re not going to think about what he says.”

Last night, it was easy to do that. The Rams improved to 6-9 with a 78-63 win over Penn (6-5) at Rose Hill Gym in The Bronx. The Rams have also notched impressive wins over Virginia and Dayton. Penn head coach Fran Dunphy saw enough in the defeat to believe that Fordham should keep its sports program alive. When asked if he disagreed with Hill’s sentiments, he chuckled.

“Yeah,” Dunphy said. “You can see they’re getting better. They’re talented.”

Perhaps the best player on the court last night was Fordham’s Jermaine Anderson, who scored a game-high 25 points.

“I just laughed,” said Anderson of when he heard about Hill’s diagnosis. “It’s nothing. I still respect Coach Hill.”

Hill’s successor, Dereck Whittenburg, who is now 25-47 in his third year at Fordham, has a different take.

“The administration is behind me 100 percent,” said Whittenburg, who noted that this would not be a distraction. “I like the direction of our program.”

Whittenburg insisted that the basketball team has a “bright future.”

McLaughlin agreed.

“It’s a process that we’re going through [adjusting to the conference],” McLaughlin said. “I have no doubt we’ll be successful. Maybe it hasn’t gone as quickly as we’d like, but we’re getting there.”