OPINION: PENN SITUATION HAS MORE THAN ONE PERSPECTIVE
By Al Mattei
Founder, TopOfTheCircle.com
Just when you thought women's college sports was immune from the bizarre actions which have blackened many men's programs, an entire sport has been brought to a halt at one of the most high-dollar, prestigious schools in the United States.
Hard by the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania had a women's lacrosse team in a high-profile conference with determined, smart athletes and a championship-caliber coach.
That is, until the entire team went on strike.
On March 7, 1999, the Quaker women, frustrated by what they said was inadequate coaching and organization, entered what could be called a state of war.
The team drew up a petition that all 22 members signed and delivered to the Penn athletic department, saying that they would no longer play for head coach Ann Sage.
"For something this drastic to happen, there was a lot of frustration on the team and a lot of it was directed at her," co-captain Jenni Leisman told The Daily Pennsylvanian. "As a team we all wanted to be here to play lacrosse so we tried to put our frustrations aside while we were on the field playing, but it just became more difficult afterward."
Sources have told The Daily Pennsylvanian and TopOfTheCircle.com about conflicts between players and Sage over the years. Numerous prospects have come to Penn, a non-scholarship school, only to quit the team because of what is perceived to be a lack of organization in fall ball, deficiencies in winter training, and game-day tactics which did not ensure long-term success.
"If a coach isn't doing their job, it isn't fair to the team that we come here and are stuck in that position -- that we are stuck here as players with a coach that doesn't help us at our sport," Leisman said in The Pennsylvanian.
Sage's career is a game of numbers. She has been at Penn for 26 years, amassing 151 wins. However, the number that stands out when examining her career is "1." That is the number of times the Quakers have finished above .500 in Ivy competition since 1986.
Seen from the point of the players, a player strike might be seen as a just action against a coach who lost touch with the modern game a long time ago.
However, if you look at this situation from an administrative perspective, it has to be an no-win situation for Penn. Sage is a coach who has forgotten more about lacrosse than the Quaker team presently knows. If the Penn administration eases the coach out of the rest of her two-year contract, no coach is safe if the players are seen to have clout.
And if Sage stays, the program will continue to hemmorrage talent: a club team culled from the Penn student body could be embarrassingly good compared to what Sage may be able to assemble in 2000 and beyond.
This brings us to an argument which was published in a Washington Times sports column in 1999: athletic recruits do not sign with colleges, nor do they sign with college programs. Instead, they sign with coaches, and are expected to live and die with their decision -- academics be damned -- for four years of eligibility.
But the Penn players are easily able to walk away from their sport, much more easily than, say, an end-of-the-bench player at UConn or Miami. But these 22 women don't want to walk away, which, probably is the more extraordinary aspect of this situation.
It makes this situation -- and a similar player action on a major men's basketball team some years ago -- somewhat troubling. This is because the Quaker team violated the usual rules of sport: players play, coaches coach, officials officiate, spectators spectate, administrators administer.
If a breakdown like this can happen in a place where scholarship money does not legally tie athletes to an athletic program, where could it happen next? And, will it ever stop?
What do you think? Email us at topofthecircle@aol.com, and we'll try to print a random sampling of your opinions, as long as you are willing to give us your name and where you are from.