Athletic department searching for new crew coach

The search is on for a new men's heavyweight crew coach.

Stan Bergman, head coach for 22 years, resigned last month effective July 1.

Although the decision appeared to be a mutual one between Bergman and the athletic department, Bergman has since said that he wanted to stay in the position. Bergman will remain on staff as the Director of Rowing Affairs.

Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky said he expects to find a new coach before the start of the fall crew season.

Officials will spend March and April "gathering information and identifying a pool of potential candidates," Bilsky said.

"Toward the beginning of May we [will] begin the interview process," he added.

Bilsky wouldn't comment on any potential candidates, but said that "there is a strong interest in the position."

The athletic department is not releasing any details about who will formally take part in the search, but Bilsky said that he is talking to many people involved with the Penn rowing program.

He said he has been asking people to both list specific qualities they would like to see in the new coach and recommend specific candidates.

"We will reach out to all factions: Stan, the alumni and the current rowers," Bilsky said.

Former Penn rower Mark Redding, who served as assistant coach from 2003 until last year, also said it's important that the athletic department involve all parties in the search process.

"The administration has to extend an olive branch to alumni and current undergraduates to let them know they have a voice in the transition because they are the ones that created the tradition," he said.

Redding also stressed that Bergman should be used as a resource during this process.

Redding said he was concerned that the way the athletic department has handled Bergman's forced resignation may have alienated some alumni.

"It was just a really bad PR job to fire a coach in the middle of the season," Redding said.

According to an e-mail from former Penn rowing captain Greg Benning sent out to a group of alumni and obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian, when Bergman was hired in 1984 there was an informal advisory committee that helped with the search process.

That group had seven members: two undergraduates, two alumni and three athletic department officials.

"As a group, we were involved in helping to screen/interview candidates, but the final interviews and decision belonged to Charles Harris, the then-AD," wrote Benning, who served on the committee.

It is unknown if a similar committee will be formed this time around.

All parties say they hope Penn will find a suitable replacement, yet many other rowing coaches say they believe that it will be difficult to find a coach as good as Bergman.

"There's no way you're going to find a replacement at his level," Wisconsin head men's rowing coach Chris Clark said.

The Quakers haven't been performing up to par in the past few seasons -- finishing worse than than 17th at the IRA Championships three years in a row -- but Clark doesn't fault Bergman for Penn's recent losing campaigns.

"Their competitive success is not close to what he's had, but that isn't because of him," Clark said. "He hasn't lost a step at all."

Redding attributes the recent slump to changes in Penn's recruiting restrictions, not to Bergman. According to Redding, within the last few years, the number of rowing recruits has been reduced from over 20 per class to under 10.

Cornell men's heavyweight rowing coach Dan Roock agrees that it will be hard to replace Bergman.

"I consider Stan as one of the best coaches out there now," Roock said. "It would be very, very difficult to get someone to produce crews any better than Stan has."

Other colleagues also lauded Bergman's character.

"I have a great deal of respect for him," Harvard men's heavyweight rowing coach Harry Parker said. "He's a first-class person and an outstanding coach."

Clark echoed Parker's sentiment.

"There is nobody who is thought of more highly in rowing than coach Bergman," he said.

-- Staff member Alex Weinstein contributed to this report.

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