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Less than a month after the end of Penn’s spring season, Penn Athletics has announced that women’s rowing coach Mike Lane and men’s heavyweight rowing coach Greg Myhr will not return in 2015-16.

Despite marked success from each squad in 2015, Athletic Director Grace Calhoun has elected not to renew the pair of coaches’ contracts. The duo spent nearly two decades combined with the Red and Blue, as Lane served as the women’s boss for nine seasons — after three as an assistant — while Myhr coached the men’s heavyweight squad for six years.

“I want to thank Greg and Mike for their service to Penn,” Calhoun said in a statement on Monday. “At this time, we have decided that it is in the best interest of these programs to go in new directions as we look to advance at the Ivy League and national levels.”

According to Penn Athletics, the administration will immediately begin a national search for Myhr and Lane’s replacements.

After taking over the University’s athletic administration last July, Calhoun’s decision represents the fifth and sixth coaching changes, respectively, in her short tenure as athletic director.

Although former football coach Al Bagnoli’s decision to retire — and the naming of former defensive coordinator Ray Priore as Bagnoli’s successor — occurred before she arrived at Penn, Calhoun has been active in leaving her imprint on the Red and Blue’s coaching landscape.

It is the second consecutive summer in which Calhoun has orchestrated a coaching change. Less than three weeks after officially taking over for former Athletic Director Steve Bilsky last July, she hired Alex Tirapelle to lead the school’s wrestling program. The Quakers sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Tirapelle’s first season in charge.

Prior to Myhr and Lane’s firings, Calhoun also oversaw transitions in leadership among the football, women’s soccer and men’s basketball programs throughout 2014-15.

Although the pair’s contracts recently expired — making coaching changes relatively straightforward at this point in time — neither rowing squad was short on success this year.

In its last meet of the season, Lane’s women’s rowing crew posted its best performance at the Ivy League Championships ever, finishing in sixth place with 36 points. The Quakers performed significantly better than Dartmouth and Columbia — who finished tied for last with 19 points — and were a mere five points away from Cornell’s fifth-place total.

In addition to qualifying five boats for the Grand Finals at Ivies this season, Penn finished first in its tri-meet with Saint Joseph’s and George Washington in March. The season-ending performance against the Ancient Eight may have given some reason to expect even more from the Red and Blue next year.

On the other side, Penn’s heavyweights also kicked their season off in style. In their first three regattas, the Quakers finished first twice and second behind No. 2 California in the San Diego Crew Classic in late March.

After finishing ninth at the Eastern Sprints Championships, the Red and Blue saved what might have been their best performance of the year for last. At the IRA National Championships Regatta on May 29, Penn claimed its first medal at the event since 2006, as the freshman boat finished third in the Grand Final.

In total, the Quakers racked up 115 points at the Championships, a total good enough for 11th in the nation. Penn improved by 57 points over its finish in 2014, a feat that earned the squad the regatta’s Clayton Chapman Trophy for biggest improvement between meets.

“The best thing I can say about our overall performance ... is that each of our boats had their best performance of the regatta in their final race,” Myhr said after the Championships. “This has been a very positive season overall for the team and to see it end with tangible results is exciting for everyone involved.”

Still, despite the performances at Ivies for the women and the IRA Championships for the heavyweights, neither were sufficient to allow Myhr and Lane to retain their positions with Penn rowing.

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