Barb Kirch Grudt will no longer head the Penn women's crew team, the athletic department announced last week.
In a written statement, Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said that "after much discussion about the direction of the program and Barb's own personal goals, we mutually decided that the time was right for her to pursue other career interests."
Grudt has not made herself or second-year assistant coach Michael Lane available for comment since the announcement was made.
Grudt recently finished her ninth season as head coach of the Quakers after leading the Dartmouth program from 1988-97. She graduated from Penn in 1984 and competed for the U.S. in the Olympics twice before taking over for the Big Green.
Grudt also pulled double duty from 1996-99, heading the U.S. Junior National Team during that span.
The announcement was hardly a shock to those close to the program.
"I wasn't really surprised," said Melia Mingle, a 2005 graduate who rowed for four years. "I'd gotten the impression from Barb herself that she was ready to move on."
Mingle also said that the resignation is a step in the right direction for the program's future.
"I do think that Barb did some good things for the program, but I don't think they were good enough," adding that under Grudt "the experience was much more about the teammates and the sport itself" than about the coach's leadership, something that she hopes will change in the future.
"Its' been a privilege to coach at Penn these past nine years," Grudt said in the statement.
It remains unclear whether or not the decision to leave was Grudt's choice or not. And unlike heavyweight men's coach Stan Bergman, she will not take up another post within the athletic department.
Grudt becomes the next in a long list of Penn coaches who have departed this year, joining the heads of the men's basketball, men's rowing and gymnastics programs.
