Crew coach claims sex bias

A male crew coach claims he was denied a job because of his gender. In another challenge to an Athletics Department still reeling from the Mitch Marrow controversy, an assistant coach claims that he was denied a head coaching position in women's crew last year because of his gender. In a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Philadelphia resident Andrew Medcalf, 47, who has coached in the crew program since 1991, alleges that Athletic Department officials chose to hire a woman for the position -- despite the fact that head crew coach Stan Bergman recommended that Medcalf, then assistant coach for the women's team, be hired. "I was the best person for the job," said Medcalf, who is currently the assistant coach for the Penn men's heavyweight crew team. "That was made perfectly clear to me by numerous people. [But] as far as I can tell, I wasn't even considered." According to Medcalf's attorney, Lawrence Woehrle, a top Athletics official told Medcalf that the department intended to hire a female coach for the team, which has had different coaches in each of the last three seasons. "Andy, we're gonna find a woman at least as good as you, if not better," Senior Associate Athletic Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich told Medcalf, Medcalf said. Through a spokesperson, Femovich refused to comment yesterday. The University must respond to the October 31 complaint 30 days after officially receiving it from the EEOC. Medcalf has yet to receive a response, but his attorney said that it often takes a long time for the EEOC to process the documents. Medcalf was "supremely qualified" to replace Angie Herron, who quit last May, Woehrle said. Before coming to Penn, Medcalf served as the head crew coach at Michigan State University in East Lansing, the University of London in England and the University of Rochester in New York. He also helped coach national championship teams in England and the United States. One of his references for the Penn women's head coach position was Bergman, who oversees Penn's entire crew program. According to the complaint, Bergman told Medcalf that his "qualifications and experience were the most outstanding" of all the applicants. Yesterday, Bergman refused to comment. The complaint also states that when Bergman told Athletic Director Steve Bilsky and Femovich of his recommendation, they replied that "Penn could not hire a male for the position." Bilsky and Femovich then ordered Bergman to find a woman for the job, Woehrle said. The complaint further alleges that of the three candidates ultimately interviewed for the job -- all of whom were female -- only one had any head coaching experience. In July, the University hired the only experienced candidate, Barbara Kirch. "Ms. Kirch did possess head coaching experience, but in our view, Mr. Medcalf was clearly the better qualified candidate for the position," Woehrle said. Shortly before Kirch's appointment, members of the women's rowing team urged Femovich to hire Medcalf, the complaint states. The rowers told Medcalf that Femovich responded by saying she was going to hire a woman to serve as a "strong female role model," according to the complaint. The last three seasons have seen considerable turnover in the position of women's crew coach beginning with the 1996 firing of unpopular women's coach Carol Bower, who was replaced by Herron. Athletic Department spokesperson Shaun May refused to comment on the department's hiring process. Medcalf, a British citizen who holds a doctorate in cancer research, said he plans to stay at Penn, adding that he has no fear of retaliation by administrators. Filing a complaint with the EEOC instead of a lawsuit is required by law in cases of employment discrimination. The commission can do one of four things: decide in favor of either Medcalf or the University, in which case either side could appeal the decision to federal court; find that there is no evidence either way, after which Medcalf could continue the fight in court; or give the plaintiff a "right-to-sue" letter six months to a year after the original complaint was filed. Such a letter would say that the commission did not have time to conduct an investigation and that he may proceed directly to federal court.

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