If Penn Rowing hopes to soon reassert itself at the top of the Ivy League, it will have to do so with two new coaches.
With both lightweight head coach Mike Irwin and heavyweight assistant coach Eric Carcich leaving their respective positions, the program has lost two key members of its crew.
Irwin -- hired from Yale in 2002 --- opted to resign in order to move to Manchester, N.H., with his wife, Dana, to be closer to her family. The coach accepted a job at the Essex Rowing Club in North Andover, Mass., as its operations officer and junior boys coach.
Carcich, meanwhile, left the program after three years at Penn. Also hired from Yale - after six years as a freshmen lightweight coach - Carcich resigned for undisclosed reasons and declined to comment.
Irwin is optimistic about his new position.
"It was a personal and family decision for us," the Michigan native said. "[Family is] the one thing that Philadelphia doesn't have for us, [though] we loved being in Philly."
In his first year at Penn, Irwin led the Quakers to an eighth-place finish at the EARC Sprints, the Red and Blue's best finish at the event since their seventh-place finish in 1997. But perhaps the lights' greatest achievement under the direction of Irwin came in 2005, when Penn took the bronze medal at the IRA Regatta.
Though Irwin described the 2005 finish as his team's "best result," he was prouder of the simple achievement of filling five boats this season - with a first, second, and third varsity eight and a first and second freshman eight.
"[The bronze medal is] probably the thing that people care about the most but certainly this year was significant for me in terms of finally having a full roster of athletes," Irwin said. "It took me longer than I wanted but I was excited that we finally pulled the roster up."
Still, the coach expressed regret that he did not accomplish more as Penn coach or see his plan through.
"I wanted to be able to bring more to the guys and I'm disappointed that I couldn't get them to the medal stand enough in my time here," Irwin said. "But I think that the team is primed to be able to do that [with] a new voice and new direction."
"I'm excited to see what that new coach does," he continued. "I think he'll have a great opportunity because the guys are committed and worked really hard this year and it was a young group."
After speaking with Senior Associate Director of Athletics Mary DiStanislao, Irwin has a clear idea of what Penn's goals are in a coaching search that has already begun.
"They're very eager to bring in someone who can put Penn rowing at the top [of the Ivy League] where they want it to be," Irwin said.
"I'm going to be having fun watching from afar and hoping this program does really well," he added.
