W. Crew coach's job in jeopardy

Members of the women's varsity crew team are complaining that they are not being coached adequately. In a statement released yesterday, the team accuses women's crew coach Carol Bower of being ineffective, and hindering the team's ability to improve their record. Bower, a 1984 Olympic gold-medalist, is in her eighth year as Penn's coach. Under her tenure, Penn has never finished higher than fifth in its league's regional championships. On November 14, the team met with athletic director Steve Bilsky to discuss the current situation, at which time they asked for her resignation, according to Bilsky. "Any group as united as they are in their feeling, they have to be taken seriously," Bilsky said. "I'm going to try to bring the team and the coach together in a positive and constructive way." He added that he is trying to eliminate any discussion about Bower's resignation. Bower said she was unaware of the extent of their dissatisfaction with her until that November meeting. "I was shocked and surprised," Bower said. In response to the ultimatum that she resign, Bower said she plans to continue coaching at Penn. Over the summer, Bower's contract was renewed. The student-athletes began voicing their unhappiness with Bower's coaching after last year's fall season and held a crisis team meeting. "They think they have the ability of performing better than they are," Bilsky said. "They've funneled their lack of growth in the direction of their coach." After a teammate left last year and informed the athletic department of the situation, the team received assurance that Bower would be monitored. "But problems still existed this fall, and no action had been taken by the Athletic Department," the team statement said. At the Frostbite Regatta, the team said Bower was responsible for both varsity boats arriving at the starting line late, thus causing them to miss their races. "This was the last straw in that the little respect the team had for Carol was lost, making working with her impossible," the statement said. The varsity crew team was sharing boats with the freshman and junior varsity teams at that race. According to Bower, the freshman boat came back late from its race and as a result, she delayed the launching of the varsity boats, which were ready to go. "Unfortunately, I made some bad judgement calls," Bower said. "In my fifteen years, I had never gotten a boat to the line late, and hopefully it will never happen again." Bower said that she was unaware that the team had met yesterday, but that she was planning to meet tomorrow with the co-captains, college seniors Marianne Salter and Maggie Hansing. Bower added that she will meet with the entire team on Thursday to discuss what can be changed within the program. "I'm always thinking about how I can be a better coach," Bower said. "Now is the time to really put a charge on it." Bilsky and Bower both said that they do not want to see any of the women leave the team as a result of this situation. Bilsky added that with final exams approaching, he did not want to concentrate on this problem until after the winter break.