Sage's status in limbo as W. Lacrosse head coach

All 22 members of the women's lacrosse team asked Anne Sage to step down as head coach. When the Penn women's lacrosse team plays Yale tomorrow, Anne Sage may be listed as the head coach of the team in the program. But she will not be pacing the sidelines. The week preceding spring break was one of turmoil for the women's lacrosse team.While the team was scheduled to leave for Florida on Sunday, March 7, for a series of round-robin scrimmages with other schools, the trip's future was jeopardized when the team met and unanimously decided they would no longer practice or play under Sage this season. "For something this drastic to happen, there was a lot of frustration on the team and a lot of it was directed at her," Penn co-captain Jenni Leisman said of the team's feelings. "As a team we all wanted to be here to play lacrosse so we tried to put our frustrations aside while we were on the field playing, but it just became more difficult afterwards." The team then drew up a petition expressing problems and concerns with Sage as coach and presented it -- with the signatures of all 22 members of the team -- to the Athletic Department. Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky was out of town at the time but he was notified of the situation. When Bilsky returned, he met with women's lacrosse co-captains Leisman and Brooke Jenkins, as well as Associate Athletic Director Earl Cleghorn. The team said that they were prepared to bypass their Florida trip and the season if Sage were to continue as coach -- a stance to which they hold now. The team then met with Sage and asked her to step down --Ea request she chose not to meet. Sage, who refused to comment for this article, was asked to take a leave from the team while the administration sought a solution to the problem. Assistant lacrosse coach Alanna Wren and Penn assistant field hockey coach Donna Mulhern -- both of whom declined to comment for this article -- joined the team in Florida. "While we are investigating some of the [players] allegations and simultaneously try to find a resolution that is fair to all parties, it was our sense that it would be best that [Sage] separated from the team for that time," Bilsky said. Since returning from the trip, Sage has remained on leave, with Wren and Mulhern leading practices. Meanwhile, University Associate General Counsel Eric Tilles and Sage's agent have been in contact in an attempt to resolve the situation. While Sage is in the first year of a two-year contract, according to Tilles, it is unclear how or if the terms of the contract will be executed. Pending results of the investigation about the legitimacy of the team's concerns, there are five or six possible outcomes to the situation, according to Tilles. On one hand, if the investigation finds the team's concerns unsubstantiated, Sage could remain the coach. Another result could be the finding that she has breached her contract and therefore the University would not even have to pay out the duration of the two-year contract. Furthermore, there may be a range of three of four other resolutions in between, including settlement between the parties involved. The team's complaints center around a combination of coaching problems, rather than personality problems, that have mounted to the point of injuring the overall integrity of the program. These include disorganized and unstructured practices, missed practices and an overall inability to remain up-to-date in a vastly changing sport. "If a coach isn't doing their job, it isn't fair to the team that we come here and are stuck in that position -- that we are stuck here as players with a coach that doesn't help us at our sport," Leisman said of the team's concerns. Over time, according to players and administrators, these problems have put the program at a competitive disadvantage and been harmful to the ability of the lacrosse team to recruit and retain high-caliber talent. According to sources in the Athletic Department, parents and players have issued similar complaints in the past. Sage has a celebrated career as a pioneer in women's sports at Penn and college lacrosse as a whole. The Abington, Pa., native is the only active Division I coach to take both a field hockey team and women's lacrosse team to the NCAA Final Four. However, much of her success was achieved prior to the 1990s. Though Sage has a 151-155-9 career record in 26 prior years at Penn, the Quakers have finished above .500 in the Ivy League only once since 1986. "When you have veteran coaches, they should be given the benefit of the doubt and given the opportunity to succeed," Bilsky said. The team's unprecedented actions have caused mixed reactions. "There had to be other avenues that should have or could have been addressed prior to this incident," Penn women's track coach Betty Costanza said. "My question to these athletes is why these avenues were not addressed and that would be my question to the administrators as well." Players and parents alike stand firm to the claim that these other avenues were pursued. Yet, the players stand by the sentiment that taking such action was the only way to bring about a change -- and are resolved to do so beyond this weekend. While no resolution has been produced yet, all involved hope for a decision to be made about Sage's future status by the end of the weekend.

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