Posted at 2:00 a.m. Thursday Dec. 18.
Women's tennis coach Mike Dowd will resign effective Dec. 31. Assistant coach Sara Schiffman, a 2006 Penn graduate who was a captain for the Quakers both her junior and senior years, will be interim head coach through the spring semester.
"I have made the difficult decision that I need to step down at the end of the month as head coach of women's tennis," Dowd told Penn Athletics. "While I am sorry to have to leave in the middle of the academic year, I have decided that this is the best decision for Penn Athletics, the team, and me personally at this time.
"The past several years, I have served as Director of Tennis at the Willowbrook Swim and Tennis Club in Chappaqua, N.Y., where my responsibilities have been growing, and will likely require a full-time commitment in the spring of 2009," he said. "I have felt a great deal of stress recently, and I have started to feel increasing pressure associated with my two positions. My difficulty in balancing two sets of responsibilities has left me feeling exhausted. Most important, I do not believe it would be fair to the team for me to leave in the middle of the spring semester."
In 12 years, Dowd went 175-73 (69-15 Ivy). He led Penn to Ancient Eight titles in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
