New coach steps down

A day after Todd Wawrousek was named Penn women's soccer coach, he resigned due to financial constraints and a reluctance to move his family to a metropolitan area, he said last night. Wawrousek accepted Penn's offer last Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning, he called Penn senior associate athletic director Carolyn Schlie-Femovich to inform her he was not going to be coming to Philadelphia. "After I had made the commitment, for personal reasons something didn't feel right," he said. "I want to underscore my apologies to Penn." Wawrousek has requested to stay on as coach at Gettysburg College, where he has been for the past four seasons. A final decision from Gettysburg has not come yet, although Wawrousek expects to be retained. The Penn athletic department yesterday named North Carolina Wesleyan coach Patrick Baker as its new women's soccer coach. Baker, 26, was informed Wawrousek had accepted the position, and a day later was offered it himself. He said he had no concern about being Penn's second choice. "I knew through the coaching grapevine that he and I were the final two," Baker said. "I was called and told I didn't get the job, and then called back and said I did. I had no problem with that." Baker told his Wesleyan team Saturday that he would be headed to Penn. While sorry to see him go, the players praised their departing coach. "He's the best coach I ever had," North Carolina Wesleyan junior Trish Parker said. "I learned so much from him." Baker led the North Carolina Wesleyan soccer team to three consecutive Division III NCAA playoffs, and was twice named Dixie Conference coach of the year. He replaces Suzette Wolf, who resigned as coach when the women's coaching position changed from part-time to full-time. The women's soccer program became a varsity sport in 1991. Penn players were happy with the new selection. "It was a win-win situation," Penn captain Heike Krippendorff said. "When it was down to those two we would have been happy with either. It was just a minor setback. [You] get up and keep going." Krippendorff said Baker will come to Philadelphia to meet the team next weekend, and that Penn is petitioning the Ivy League and NCAA to allow Baker to conduct a couple practices in spite of the fact Penn has already used up its six weeks of spring practice permitted by the NCAA.