Anne Sage is no longer Penn's W. Lacrosse coach

Sage and Penn severed ties last week after four months of negotiations. The former coach had been on leave since March. University officials announced Friday that Anne Sage, who had been on leave since March, will no longer serve as head coach for the women's lacrosse team. But the circumstances surrounding Sage's departure remain unclear. A statement released last week by the University said only that Sage "is no longer employed by the University," and Athletic Department officials offered no further comment. Sage did not return repeated phone calls. The departed lacrosse coach had been in the first year of a two-year contract when a petition signed by all 22 members of the women's lacrosse team forced her to go on leave in March. Assistant coach Alanna Wren served as acting head coach in Sage's absence. Penn officials have been tight-lipped about the details of the negotiations throughout most of the four-month ordeal. And they have not kept most of the team updated; four of the five athletes reached for comment had not been informed of Sage's departure as of Monday. Even Wren did not learn until Tuesday that Sage had left. "We've been in the dark this whole time," junior Sara Evans said. "They haven't told us anything." The University commenced the search for a new head coach immediately. According to several players, rumored candidates include former William and Mary coach Kim Lannon and former Penn State coach Julie Williams -- both of whom have moved back to the Philadelphia area. "I know there's a lot of people interested in the job," senior Brooke Jenkins said. "It's not just [Penn] going to look for other people." After the troubles they had with Sage, the team hopes the Athletic Department will allow them to play an integral part in the hiring of a new coach. "Looking at how the women's soccer team hired their new coach, there were representatives from each class that went and spoke with all the candidates," junior Annie Henderson said. "They were able to actually help in the selection process. I hope we get to do the same thing." Wren and the players expect a coach to be hired by the start of the fall semester. The team normally begins offseason practices in the third week of September. "The administration has said that once [the Anne Sage situation] has resolved, they're really going to do their best to move quickly on it," Wren said. "I think everybody would hope for the beginning of the school year. The best case scenario would be sometime in August." While the Athletic Department is searching for a new coach this summer, it signed Sage, whose coaching had been criticized privately by players, to a two-year contract extension last summer. "The University did notice a problem years back and they didn't do anything about it," Jenkins said. "When they renewed [Sage's] contract last summer, that was the beginning of another problem." The team contends the problems they had with Sage that led to their actions last March were due to her shortcomings as a coach and not as a person. "But as badly as I feel for her personally," Evans said, "this is in the best interests of the program." Sage served as the Quakers' women's lacrosse coach since the program's inception 27 years ago and has compiled a 151-155-9 record. Although she led the team to an NCAA Final Four appearance in her tenure, the Quakers have finished above .500 only once since 1986. According to several players, Sage's vacancy in the head coaching position has had a negative impact in recruiting for the team. Wren has had to handle the team's recruiting duties herself, and drawing top recruits to a program in disarray has been difficult. "Most people don't want to come to a school where they don't know what's going on," sophomore Jennifer Hartman said. "There's a lot of turmoil, there's no head coach. I know we got some of the recruits we want, but it's really hard to recruit in this situation." In addition, recruiting was not helped by Penn's disappointing .077 winning percentage this season. With the distractions of the coaching situation, the Quakers only posted one win on the year -- a 10-8 victory at Columbia on April 8. Penn was outscored by a 171-66 margin in its 13-game season, losing by such lopsided scores as 15-1, 17-3, 15-3 and 20-2.

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