In a move that should please many disgruntled fans and alumni, heavyweight rowing coach Fred Honebein announced his resignation today. Honebein expressed regret over his resignation, though the athletic department's statement did not give any reason for the departure. Despite a lack of success in three years at Penn, Honebein said "I came to Penn to make an impact on athletes' lives and move the program forward and in some ways I think I have."

Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky echoed positive sentiments, saying “While Fred has only been here for a relatively short time, he has made a positive impact on our rowing program. I know Fred would have liked to have seen better results on the water, but I know he has laid a foundation that will benefit his successor."

“Fred is a man of integrity and pride, and I know his resignation is done for what he believes is in the best interest of Penn Rowing," Bilsky added.

This announcement comes just a week after a new lightweight coach Nick Baker was hired, and represents a complete makeover of the coaching staff in the rowing program. It also represents the fifth Penn team with a head coaching change this summer, joining the lightweights, W. Hoops (Mike McLaughlin), W. Tennis (Sunela Kunovac) and M. Lax.

Is this extensive turnover among Penn coaches alarming?

1) As a follow up to my post yesterday about Cornell joining the Big Ten, Ivy Gate has their own take on the matter. I strongly advise you to take a look at some of the links in that article.

I should add that on the basketball-u boards, a similar discussion of Penn joining the ACC is happening, though most commentators realize that's not going to happen. Instead, there's interesting talk about a (hypothetical) conference of solid academic institutions that also have strong athletics (Penn, Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown etc...).

FGM, meanwhile, believes Penn should join the SEC.

2) In Penn news, former Penn coxswain Colin Groshong was on Oxford's winning boat in England's famous competition between Oxford and Cambridge simply known "The Boat Race."  Oxford won the 4.25 mile race on the Thames River by 3.5 lengths. The San Francisco native graduated from the College in 2007 and is in his final year as a graduate student at Oxford.

Below is a picture of Colin getting tossed into the river after the win (courtesy of former Penn assistant lightweight rowing coach John Fife).