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OXFORD — The last time most of the world saw Doug Penno, he was making that joyous leap into the arms of Miami center Tyler Dierkers after hitting an improbable, bank-off-the-glass, 3-point shot as time expired in the Mid-American Conference tournament's title game.

That shot gave Miami the 53-52 victory over heavily-favored Akron and put the RedHawks into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years.

The trey also gave Penno

his 15 minutes of national fame. His shot was played over and over again on ESPN's SportsCenter. He was a guest on Cold Pizza, was interviewed by sportswriters from across the country and got hundreds of congratulatory messages. Even Chicago Bulls general manager John Paxson and Oakland Raiders linebacker coach Don Martindale — both, like Penno, with Alter High School ties — called to commend him.

And, as it turns out, that shot, which has ensured him a permanent place in Miami hoops history, just keeps on giving and giving and giving.

It's now given Penno chipmunk cheeks, some thunder thighs and a big 'ol junk-in-the-trunk rear end.

If he jumped in Dierkers' arms now, the 6-foot-8 center might melt to the court under Penno's new poundage.

The guy who weighed 200 pounds part of last basketball season now weighs 250. To some it might seem he didn't just ride the gravy train, he drank it.

He's now the size of a pro football player — and that's the plan.

The guy who made the improbable trey is trying another long-odds shot. Like some other college basketball players — most notably San Diego's Antonio Gates, Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez and Seattle's Marcus Pollard — Doug Penno's hoping to become an NFL tight end.

Another long shot

Along with his long college coaching career and his five years with Oakland,

Martindale happened to spend one year on the Alter High staff of Ed Domsitz, who'd been his prep coach, too.

It was during that assistantship that Martindale met Penno.

"I think Doug's a great athlete," Martindale said by phone from California Saturday afternoon. "And I always thought he was a better football player than he was a basketball player."

After Alter, Martindale joined Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky, where they won a national title. He tried to recruit Penno — an All-Ohio running back — to play both sports for the Hilltoppers.

Instead Penno walked on to the Miami basketball team, eventually landed a scholarship and had some memorable games for the RedHawks. But nothing came close to that game-winning 3-pointer on national TV last March.

Although Martindale had lost touch with Penno, he — like everyone else, it seems — saw the replay. And with Domsitz' help on the phone number, he called Penno to congratulate him.

During their conversation, Martindale again brought up Penno's football skills and that set the whole grand scheme in motion.

"I was looking to play (pro) basketball overseas, but my college numbers weren't that good and it was hard to get much interest," Penno said. "There was an offer to play in Germany — like Division III — but to me it wasn't worth it."

He called Martindale again and asked about his NFL chances.

"I told him I thought his best chance would be tight end. Everybody's trying to get another Antonio Gates," Martindale said. "I told Doug he'd have to put on some weight and then he needed to spend a lot of time just catching footballs.

"If he did all that, I thought he might get one or two shots. And he's young enough to try it. Like I tell all my kids, you don't want to look back 10 or 15 years down the road and say, 'I should have tried that.' "

A hug would be nice

Penno decided to throw himself into the venture full force and sought out Miami's strength and conditioning coach, Ryan Faehnle, who agreed to work with him because, as he put it: "I know Doug's work ethic and knew he wasn't going to waste my time."

Faehnle first came up with a plan for Penno to beef up. Along with eating a special diet six to eight times a day, Penno became a regular in the weight room of Miami's Walter Gross Jr. Student-Athlete Development Center.

Penno points out that while the bulking was done all naturally — no drug shortcuts — it still was grueling at times.

"The first month I was miserable," he admitted. "I was gaining all this weight, my clothes didn't fit and well, at times, I felt like a fat guy.

"I wasn't used to the workouts. I ended up carrying a trash can around all the time because I thought I was going to throw up."

Faehnle laughed: "Everyday in here he looked like he needed a hug."

Once Penno reached

250 pounds, the pair set out to bring explosiveness and power to the extra body mass. And not only is Penno now bigger and stronger, but he's quicker and his vertical jump — even with the added 50 pounds — is two inches higher than it was last basketball season.

With Martindale making the introductions, Penno has gotten the help of agent Bruce Tollner, who, among others, represents Ben Roethlisberger.

"Hopefully he'll get my name out there and people will be interested," Penno said. "I know we have a Pro Day here on campus when scouts come in and I'll do whatever I have to do.

"Like we (he and Martindale) talked about, if I don't try this, I'd regret it the rest of my life. So I'm giving it everything I got and who knows just what that it could get me."

In fact, it's already gotten him some things.

"Yeah, I bought a new suit last May and by September, I couldn't get into it," he grinned. "I had some weddings to go to so I had to buy another one. In fact — except for sweats and baggy shirts — I've had to get a brand new wardrobe. Everything's 2XL now."

As he thought about it, he shook his head:

"Because my butt was too big for the other one, I even had to get my pants with pleats."