Schedule snafu keeps Penn frosh out

What did Penn football coach Al Bagnoli know, and when did he know it? While doubts linger, one thing is certain. When the Quakers open up the 1993 campaign against Dartmouth on Saturday, an Ivy League ruling will keep Penn's freshmen on the sidelines. Several months after league policies were amended to make freshman varsity participation a reality, a bizarre corollary and scheduling conflict will postpone the Class of 1997's Franklin Field debut. "It hurts, no question," Bagnoli said. "I'm not sure it's a fair rule, but I have limited control over Ivy policy." League policy restricts freshmen athletic participation during any scheduled orientation activities.Because Dartmouth's freshmen orientation occurs this weekend, Big Green freshmen are ineligible for the football game. And because Dartmouth's freshman cannot play, neither can Penn's. "Last April it was voted that freshmen would not be able to participate in any athletic competition if one group had mandatory orientation," Dartmouth Athletic Director Richard Jaeger said. Penn's athletic officials appealed the policy, but it was upheld for this weekend's game. Bagnoli said that as many as 10-12 freshmen could have seen time in Saturday's contest and that the loss of their eligibility for one game carries a great price. "It's important to get [the freshmen] on the field," Bagnoli said. "Our depth is questionable without [them]." When the new policy was adopted last spring, it was already known that there would be a scheduling conflict with Dartmouth's orientation. However, Ivy League officials decided to leave the matter to the schools involved. When asked about the league's role in determining the Penn freshmen ineligible, Executive Director of the Ivy League Jeff Orleans declined to comment. The Ivy policy states that when a "contest is scheduled initially on a date at which one institution's first-year students are precluded from participating due to orientation activities that are mandatory for all freshmen, the two institutions should attempt to change the contest date." "If conflict can be avoided, it should," Senior Associate Athletic Director Carolyn Schlie-Femovich said. "Football, however, is the trouble spot, it's much easier to reschedule other sports." This weekend's soccer and field hockey contests have been rescheduled, but the Quakers' football schedule has been set for over three years – the amount of time in advance that football games are scheduled. While Dartmouth's orientation session occurs later than Penn's every fall, the principle cause of this year's conflict is that school officials scheduled the activities even later than normal because of the upcoming Jewish holidays. Orientation activities will be September 17-19 – the game is September 18. "Orientation scheduling is predicated by events like Jewish holidays," Jaeger said. "[We] don't want to have events during Jewish holidays, a good portion of events at Dartmouth are mandatory." Even with previous knowledge of the problem, University athletic officials neglected to inform Bagnoli until the final decision on Penn's appeal was handed down by the Ivy League office last week. As a result, the Quakers' preparations for the season opener against the three-time defending league champions have been disrupted. "We could have handled the situation better," Femovich said. "We could have told Al [Bagnoli] sooner, but it's not going to change the rule." "We regret that the freshmen have to play in one less game," she added. Bagnoli said last week that he has made no plans to have the ineligible freshmen on the sidelines for Saturday's contest. Jaeger said that no Big Green freshmen would even travel on the bus down to Penn.