Coaching Changes at MIT

MIT novice lightweight coach Aaron Benson has moved over to the heavyweight team and will coach the heavy novices this year. Although coaching "differently weighted" women now, Coach Benson has been an enthusiastic supporter of lightweight women's rowing and I have no doubt he will continue to be a supporter in his new role.

Coach Benson has been replaced by Philadelphia and Vesper Boat Club fixture Claire Kostrzewski. Coach K (that's inevitable, isn't it?) rowed at Georgetown and has been competing on the elite lightweight circuit. She'll be a great addition to the MIT staff.

Sometimes It's Just Not Fair

Today's article about Wisconsin's national championship coaches includes heavyweight coach Bebe Bryans as the head coach of the national champion Wisconsin lightweights. Nothing against Coach Bryans, but as we all know, Mary Shofner coached that crew to the championship. It would have been interesting to know if Bryans could even name the eight Wisco rowers. In fairness to the coach, however, Shofner is no longer at Wisconsin and I'm sure she would've had Coach Shofner represent the lights if she were still at the school. In fact, Coach Bryans has pointed to the lightweights as examples of the excellence for which her heavyweight teams strive. Nonetheless, it is a bit galling to see a heavyweight coach represent a championship lightweight crew when heavyweight coaches' support for lightweights is so questionable.

Bryans (who does note Mary Shofner's departure) points out that the squad lost six seniors last year.

[Update: See comments for an excellent point I forgot to make.]

Coaches' Thoughts on Lightweight Rowing (final)

The final set of questions deals with the depth of women's lightweight rowing and its future:

4) Observers frequently decry the limited depth of women’s lightweight rowing. In fact, in the last ten years, four different schools have won the men’s heavyweight championship, five different schools have won the women’s heavyweight championship, and four different schools have won the lightweight women’s national championship. While I wouldn’t claim parity in lightweight rowing just yet, there are more schools coming on the scene with varsity or dedicated programs – Georgetown and Stanford of course, and now UCF and URI among others. As a final catch-all question, where do you see lightweight women’s rowing going in the future and how can more schools be encouraged to start dedicated programs?

This last set of questions allowed the coaches to make a variety of points, and they did just that. The tone was generally quite optimistic. Let me try to group the responses around common themes.

One theme was the idea that the overall growth in rowing will result in growth in lightweight women's rowing. At the same time, the growth dampening effect of the NCAA championship format was noted. As long as the 2V counts toward the team championship, heavyweight coaches will always feel as if they are hurting themselves by allowing good lightweights to row on a lightweight squad. This thinking leads one to look to schools with little chance of competing at NCAAs for growth in lightweight rowing.

Another theme was the idea that as more programs successfully race lightweights, and show that at well run programs weight problems are a figment of someone's imagination, the sport will grow. Parents and administrators will stop believing the apocalyptic stories of anorexic rowers and start encouraging their lightweight daughters and athletes to row lightweight.

One coach took the depth criticism head on by comparing the number of girls who play soccer to the number of heavyweight men who row, and using that to illustrate the relative lack of depth in all of rowing. While quick to say that this doesn't invalidate the sport, and acknowledging that it still takes incredible talent and dedication to be a rowing champion, this coach goes on to say that the very top of every category is not particularly deep. In one of the more telling comments to these questions, this coach notes that 10 or 15 years ago lightweight men's rowing was not very deep yet it had been around for 70 years or so. Women's lightweight rowing is growing at a faster rate and with time and support should soon be just as exciting as the light men.

A very interesting response came from a coach who said that lightweight women's rowing needs a hero, someone like Mia Hamm or Tiger Woods. (At Eastern Sprints I had a conversation with a coach who ran a summer developmental lightweight program who said the same thing.) This coach noted that recent female sports heros such as Mia Hamm and Michelle Wie have been "the youngest to ever..." Recently China's Fan Xuefei became the youngest world champion ever, racing in the lightweight quad. Will she inspire more lightweights? The coach doesn't know, but still makes a great point. The problem is that in a society that loves heros and celebrities, rowing is the ultimate team sport. Maybe lightweight rowing can trump the other categories by being the first to create a hero.

I should note that one coach mentioned the hard work done by Cecile Tucker of Radcliffe who heads the CRCA lightweight committee.


Overall, it's great to see optimism from these coaches. Even better, is to realize these are the coaches who will support this sport as it grows. The coaches who are collecting data to dispel the health concerns, coaches who are working to integrate lightweights into more regattas, and coaches who are developing lightweight heros. Given the track record of the mainstream sports and rowing media, it's clear that lightweight heros or celebrities (I'm thinking of crews as much as individuals) won't come out of traditional channels. The sport itself will have to take responsibility for its own publicity. There's no shame in tooting your own horn and lightweights shouldn't shy away from doing that. There are plenty of great stories to tell, if only we could get them out (recall how Rowing News almost totally ignored the category in its 2006 season preview).

Most distressing once again is the way heavyweight programs and the NCAA cast a shadow over lightweight rowing. One of, if not the, biggest challenge in lightweight rowing is how to turn heavyweight coaches and the NCAA from opponents into supporters. Even just removing them as obstacles would be progress. The size of heavyweight rowing versus lightweight rowing allows the heavyweight coaches to simply ignore lightweights while claiming they support the category. As one coach pointed out, these coaches and the NCAA need to open their eyes and look at Radcliffe, Harvard, Princeton men and women, Yale men, and Wisconsin women to see examples of programs that do both well. In fact, it could be argued that these programs are the cream of the crop and they all have one thing in common - lightweight AND heavyweight programs.

At Georgetown, Success Breeds...

a novice lightweight coach! Sarah Trowbridge is joining the Hoyas as the novice lightweight coach. It sounds like Coach Trowbridge had an excellent career at the University of Michigan and is currently training with Potomac Boat Club with a goal of making the national team. If you remember the Football Theorem (average size of female rowers is proportional to prominence of football team), you'll understand why the new coach may have a bit of an adjustment. No doubt the deal was sealed when Trowbridge's alma mater trounced Notre Dame in football last weekend.

Seriously though, this hiring shows that Georgetown is very serious about women's lightweight rowing. A novice coach will mean more novices which will mean more varsity rowers, which will mean even faster boats. Quite honestly, a few years ago I thought that Georgetown could decide to drop lightweights any given season. That time is now long past. Not only are the Hoyas here to stay, but they're not going to rest on last season's laurels. This year, they're looking for gold.

Coaches' Thoughts on Lightweight Rowing (cont.)

The second set of questions I asked dealt with weight concerns:

2) There seems to be some hysteria about women participating in any sport with weight limits. Will this ever be overcome and do you think it accounts for lightweight women's status as rowing’s red headed stepchildren? How will the USRowing Medical Commission on Lightweights affect collegiate lightweight rowing? Why is there no women’s lightweight coach on the commission? Why is the NCAA involved?

All of the coaches recognized that there is a general concern about "weight restricted" sports, particularly among women. While recognizing the danger of uninformed weight loss, the coaches also evinced their belief that intelligent weight management poses no danger to an athlete. Most also expressed the need to educate concerned officials and administrators on how weight is managed at top programs.

Particularly distressing was the fact that no coach seemed to be at all informed about the USRowing Medical Commission on Lightweights. One speculated that NCAA involvement might mean the NCAA is considering bringing lightweights into the fold.

The coaches used these questions to discuss some other aspects of the weight issue. One noted her surprise that few coaches seem to have competed as lightweight women. She felt that the experience would provide a unique perspective to understanding and managing weight control. One coach speculated that there may have been a drop-off in lightweights rowing (men and women) as a result of the growing stature of the US population over the last fifty years. This coach went on to say that more lightweights rowing should translate into more opportunities for lightweights to row.

The most interesting answer came from the coach of a dedicated lightweight crew who noted that the program, in conjunction with the school medical staff, is collecting data that will demonstrate the safety of lightweight rowing. This coach believes that the program's lightweight rowers are measurably more healthy than the student population at large and hopes to collect the data to prove it. The coach believes that hard data will create irrefutable evidence to use against critics of the sport.


A few points on these answers. Without specifically agreeing that there is some hysteria about lightweight rowing, the coaches did see weight restriction as ammunition for critics of the sport. One coach did say that my characterization of women's lightweight rowers as "rowing's red-headed step children" was a bit harsh. I was particularly disappointed to learn that no coaches were involved in, or even knew about, the USRowing Medical Commission on Lightweights. How can there be such a body without the involvement of lightweight coaches? I applaud the efforts of the coach who discussed his program's efforts to collect health data. I agree that this is exactly what needs to be done to show how healthy lightweights are, both in body and mind.

As I mentioned in my last post, I think the weight issue is a red herring. Unlike other sports in which low weight is seen as a benefit (running, gymnastics, etc.), rowers have every incentive to be as close to their weight limit as possible while not risking going over. This simple fact makes a huge difference. There is never any pressure to drop below 130 pounds (minus a small cushion) and even coxswains are limited in how much weight they can lose. It's hypocritical for the NCAA or college administrators to be concerned about anorexia in weight restricted sports and not concern themselves with obesity in other women's sports. Obesity is more prevalent in society today and weight gain is encouraged, or at least tolerated, in many women's NCAA sports, including heavyweight rowing. I hope that at least one coach will soon have the data to show how healthy current lightweight rowers are and I would love to see data comparing the health and general fitness of former lightweight rowers to other former female athletes.

More to come.

Coaches' Thoughts on Lightweight Rowing

A few months ago I sent four sets of questions to the coaches of crews competing in the IRA Regatta. I hoped to use these questions as a way to get a feel for how the coaches, the drivers of the category, think about the sport. To avoid receiving "public relations" type of responses, I promised anonymity to those willing to share their thoughts. Just under half responded.

The first set of questions I asked dealt with the NCAA:

1) Do you think an NCAA championship has been good for women’s heavyweight rowing? Do you think the lightweight eight will ever become an event at the NCAA national championship regatta or will there ever be a lightweight NCAA championship? If there were either, would it be good for lightweight rowing? What would a men’s heavyweight NCAA national championship mean to women’s lightweight rowing?


Every respondant believes that the NCAA championship has been good for women's heavyweight rowing. The coaches pointed out the growth of heavyweights both in participants as well as funding. About half, however, also noted that while the benefits for heavies is a net postitive, that isn't necessarily so for the rest of rowing, with those programs without an NCAA championship becoming somewhat marginalized in the eyes of athletic directors. One coach pointed to the recent termination of the Rutgers mens' crew as an example.

The coaches were far more pessimistic on the possibility of a women's lightweight NCAA championship. Reasons ranged from inertia (the heavies have settled into a format and it would be difficult to change that format) to NCAA discomfort with weight requirements for women. Most thought that such a championship would be good for lightweights, although one coach thought that for now women's lightweights are best "kept out of the NCAA and in the hands of a small few who know what it is like to coach lightweight women."

The most interesting answers in this set of questions were those dealing with a men's heavyweight NCAA championship. The responses ranged from "wouldn't harm," to "marginalize...further," to "we would make it work," to "could help get LW women into the NCAA." With the exception of one coach, the responses all suggested that the coaches recognized a danger to lightweight women in a heavyweight men's NCAA championship as the responses tended to center around a belief that lightweight coaches wouldn't let the category die. One coach thought it unlikely that men's rowing would be brought into the NCAA.


My summary of responses to this first set of questions is that the coaches feel that the NCAA championship has been good for women's heavyweights, but a mixed bag for the rest of rowing; a NCAA championship for women's lightweights would be good for the category but is unlikely to happen; the effect on lightweight women of a NCAA championship for heavy men is probably negative, but wouldn't mean the end of the sport. This generally tracks with my own thoughts on the subject, although I was disheartened to learn that the coaches also thought it unlikely that lightweights would have a NCAA championship, and I think a heavy men's championship would be very, very bad for lightweights. The coaches responded to my question asking if they thought there would be a lightweight championship, not if they are working for one. Perhaps although they think it unlikely, they are still working to bring lightweights into the NCAA championship system. As much as I criticize the NCAA, once the devil was let into the dance, I'm coming to believe you have to dance with him. I also tend to believe the coach who said the NCAA has a problem with women and weight restricted sports. As I've said before I think this is a red herring, but another set of questions deals with weight issues, so more on that later.

One thing I noticed was that coaches who coach both heavyweights and lightweights were much more sanguine about the prospects for lightweight rowing.

In the coming days I'll post the rest of the responses.

New UCF Coach

A reader previously commented that UCF hired Andy Derrick as the new lightweight coach. After a bit of snooping I located a bio, but I wasn't positive it was the same person, mainly because I thought he'd be in the Air Force right now. Now, a reader (the same one?) has confirmed this as Coach Derrick's bio from his days at Washington. [Update: See the UCF announcement here.] I must say, given how dorky most of us rowers look, he did a great job of looking like one of Ty Willingham's linebackers (maybe because he played football in high school?). He won at least three medals at IRAs, including a gold as a freshman, and won the Ladies Challenge Plate at Henley. Clearly he knows what it takes to go fast. Corrie McGrath had coached the lightweights so I wonder if she's left UCF or if Coach Derrick is an additional coach. Either way, UCF is maintaining an emphasis on lightweight rowing. As I've said before, I think this program can serve as a model for other schools that want to develop lightweights. UCF has shown that with some focus, talent, and hard work, you can find yourself in the upper echelon of lightweight rowing. For many schools, the toughest thing to find of the three is focus.

New Coaches at URI

URI lightweight coach Tina Paniel has left the school to coach a high school program in Seattle. In their first season as a permanent part of the program, the URI lightweights turned in a respectable performance, beating all non-IRA crews they faced during the season, as well as a pre-IRA MIT crew. At IRAs URI was ninth, beating Lehigh, Ohio State, and Stanford in the petite final.

Last October I noted that head coach Julia Chilicki-Beasley pointed to Paniel's appointment as a sign that the lightweight program has become a permanent fixture. I should note that Chilicki-Beasley has also left URI, replaced by Shelagh Donohoe. Donohoe is an Olympic medalist and former coach at BU and Northeastern. Assistant coach Jessica Lizzi also coached at BU and Northeastern and assistant Bridgid Myers coached at Northeastern. There are lightweight events on the 2006-07 schedule so hopefully URI's lightweights continue to be a "permanent fixture," coached by either Lizzi or Myers. Myers rowed heavyweight at Wisconsin so she knows how a good lightweight crew operates.

New Lightweight Coach at UCF

A reader posted a comment saying that UCF has just hired a new lightweight coach, Andy Derrick. I'll post more when the announcement comes out (i.e. when I know I'm thinking of the right person).

Shofner at Stanford

A reader left a comment saying that Mary Shofner is now an assistant at Stanford under new head coach Yasmin Farooq. Farooq coxed at Wisconsin as an undergraduate and certainly would have followed the Badger lightweights' progress over the past three years. [Update: Mary Shofner is listed as the women's coach for Stanford recruits.]

URI Lightweight to Coach at Rutgers

Kate McKeown, a 2006 graduate of URI and a member of the URI lightweight eight that raced at IRAs, has been named an assistant coach at Rutgers.

Ohio State - The New Place to Be For Lightweights?

I recently heard from Coach Hugh Dodd, the new head coach at Ohio State. In addition to correcting my erroneous belief that he and Wisco's new coach, Erik Miller, were teammates at Washington (they were not; I corrected my earlier post), he also told me that he intends to revive men's lightweight rowing at OSU. This is good news for the women lights because it means that they have a coach who cares about lightweights and that they will have fellow travelers in the OSU boathouse. Success by one team will encourage and raise the standards for the other. With the huge recruiting base at Ohio State, a little rise in the popularity of the lightweight programs could mean a huge rise in the number of recruits and the speed of V8s.

While at Washington, Coach Dodd weighed around 170 pounds, making him essentially a lightweight competing for a seat on one of the nation's premier heavyweight teams. Only someone with fire in the belly (aka lightweight attitude) survives in that kind of environment. This may go a long way toward explaining his favorable attitude toward lightweights. I think that over the next couple of years the OSU light women will be a crew to watch as they try to break into the top five. Whether they get there or not, I'm pretty sure their journey won't be uneventful.

UCF Coach Re-Ups

UCF head coach Leeanne Crain signed a new three year contract last week. I don't know how directly involved she is with the UCF lightweights, but they've certainly made a name for themselves since she arrived in 2003. There's no mention in the announcement of an intent to hire an assistant (lightweight?) coach, as has been rumored. We'll have to wait and see on that one. There was mention, however, of plans for a new boathouse and practice facility. UCF continues to show that it's serious about women's rowing.

Another sign of the impending fall racing season - Radcliffe announced that it will hold it's crew information meeting on September 13th.

Only 9 weeks until the Head of the Charles.

UCF Rumor

A reader posted a comment that said, "UCF is looking for a new coach." I have no confirmation of this and I don't know anything more than that, including whether this might be a lightweight coach or a coach for the entire program (heavies and lights). If it's the latter, I happen to know of a former Wisconsin lightweight coach who attended UCF as an undergraduate and is available...

As a sign of how close the season is, UCF has already announced their informational meeting.

[Update: See comments for the latest.]

Miller to Lead Badgers

Erik Miller has been named head coach at Wisconsin. Miller will have the difficult task of following three-time national championship winner Mary Shofner. Miller has a sparkling rowing resume, having spent eight years as a member of the US national team. He spent those years as a lightweight so he should be in tune with the unique peculiarities of lightweight rowing. He served as an assistant coach for the Wisco men and for the Wisco summer collegiate women's camp so he was a known quantity for Bebe Bryans. One thing seems certain, he knows what it takes to compete at the highest level so we'll see how he brings that knowledge to his athletes.

Under the heading of old web pages never die, check out Coach Miller's old site. [Update: Well, they do die when the owner realizes it's been linked to and replaces the content.] You can get an idea of some of the workouts he went through while on the national team as well as few other things about him (the accompanying picture, for example). Stand by for a lot of "rusties," Badgers. It also turns out that cooking and BBQ are hobbies of Coach Miller, so I guess the Wisco women can expect a lot of cookouts at his house (turkey burgers, of course).

Coach Miller went to the University of Washington which doesn't have a lightweight men's program, yet he raced for the US as a lightweight. This is something I've noticed among lightweight national team women as well - it seems as though most national team lightweights come from heavyweight programs. Where are the Wisco, Radcliffe, Georgetown, and Princeton national team lightweights? A few theories come to mind, but they're for another time.

Coach Miller walks into the best of situations and the worst of situations at Wisconsin. The best because he will be coaching the three time national champions. The worst because he will be coaching the three time national champions. They can't win forever (can they?), and with the improvement we saw in the field last season, there are plenty of worthy successors. I don't know how much you'll need, but good luck, coach and take care of the top lightweight program in the country!




[The news about Coach Miller's hiring was posted in the comments section of FITD by a Wisco lightweight while I was on "hiatus." Thank you for that posting and please keep them coming. Thanks to a reader, FITD was first with the scoop. As you may have guessed, this post means that FITD will be back for at least another year. (Some of you are smiling, some of you are cursing; just so you're not yawning!) Even though it's the summer, I've missed a lot. I'm getting my head back in the boat and should be up to speed soon. As always, please send me your news, comments, and suggestions. I pay attention to them all and because you all know much more about lightweight rowing than me, you're the best source of information I have.]

Tulsa Developing a Lightweight Program

Tulsa coach Kevin Harris has informed me that Tulsa is "'developing' a lightweight program within our existing structure with the hopes of making it a full fledged varsity program in the next few years." There will not be a full time coach, but the program will be "actively recruiting true lightweight women."

This is great news! Where this initiative goes in the coming years will depend a lot on the success enjoyed by Tulsa lights. Clearly programs with a combined heavyweight/lightweight coach can do extremely well, just look at Bucknell and Georgetown of a few years ago. Congratulations to Tulsa and good luck in 2006-07.

Wisconsin Under Shofner

Just as you know an artist by her work, so you know a coach by her crews. Over the past three years, her entire tenure at Wisconsin, Mary Shofner’s crews have been champions. During a period when women’s lightweights have been getting faster and more numerous, the Badgers have been National Champions every year. More than simply fast, Shofner’s Wisconsin crews have been models of technique. They’ve been smooth, fluid, and long. In the 2005 IRA final, when Princeton was still making a race of it coming into the last 250, both crews went into their sprint. Within two strokes you saw that it was over; Wisconsin would win. The Badgers actually seemed to get longer as their rate came up. They were an image of swing. In my mind, that moment defined Wisconsin lightweight rowing. Most would point to the 2004 twelve second mauling of the IRA field instead, but that victory was so fantastic as to seem almost unrepeatable. It was ’05, when Wisco showed its typical poise and responded to pressure with, “Oh yeah? Watch this.”

As Mary Shofner leaves the University of Wisconsin, we should all be grateful for what she helped the Badgers bring to the sport. When she arrived, Wisconsin was a bridesmaid program that just couldn’t quite get its bowball over the line first. She leaves behind the foundation of a dynasty. Wisconsin’s rise has been one of the best stories in women’s lightweight rowing. The program has thrived at a Big Ten school, where heavyweights usually rule. It thrives at a school in “flyover country” and shows Eastern crews that women know how to row in the Midwest too. It became the premier program in a boathouse with a long and rich rowing tradition. It brought red and white checked tablecloths to IRA tents and cowbells to the shores of the Cooper River (ok, so not everything is good). It brought competition and respect to lightweight rowing and throngs of new fans to the sport - no one travels as well as Wisconsin. Perhaps the most fitting tribute to Coach Shofner’s crews came from a Princeton rower I overhead at IRAs this year. Responding to the chest beating the men were doing about East Coast vs. West Coast crews, this rower said, “The thing about Wisconsin is, they don’t run around crowing about being from the Midwest, they just go out and get the job done. The men could learn something from that.” We all could learn something from that.

I don’t know where Coach Shofner will coach next, but where ever it is I wish her success.

CRCA Regional Coaches of the Year

I'm a little late on this, but back on May 23rd the CRCA announced its Regional Coaches of the Year. My initial thought, of course, was that Jim O'Conner, the Georgetown lightweight varsity coach would be a great choice although he'd have to duke it out with Mary Shofner, of course. Unfortunately the ballots were due May 17th, prior to the Hoya's 3rd place finish at Sprints, and way before their 2nd place finish at IRAs. Oh well... But then, I took a look at the ballot. Low and behold, neither O'Conner nor Shofner were even eligible! Perhaps the CRCA doesn't accept lightweight coaches as members (the riff raff, you know), except that there is a lightweight committee. (Wonder why there's a lightweight committee and not a heavyweight committee? Those heavyweight coaches should complain.) Perhaps he was eligible as an assistant (those lightweight coaches aren't really head coaches now, are they?). Well, I don't know about that, but I do know he didn't win. It may be that O'Conner just isn't a member of the CRCA. Can't imagine why a lightweight coach wouldn't want to join an organization that "exists to unify collegiate women’s rowing coaches, to act as a collective voice, and to inform collegiate women’s rowing coaches on issues related to rowing." [Italics mine]

Oh my gosh, maybe it's all because - gulp - the CRCA doesn't care about lightweights!

A Reader Confirms Coach Shofner's Departure

A reader has posted a comment (see comments below) saying that Mary Shofner has informed her rowers that she is leaving Wisconsin. No word yet on her plans.

Clear as Mud

The Wisconsin coaching position is now posted on their web site and the Working Title is "Varsity Women's Lightweight Coach" while the Official Title is "ASST COACH(N54LN)" A lot about this posting looks like an assistant's position (e.g. salary, although it does say minimum), but the principal duties section says, "This coach will be responsible for all aspects of coaching and developing an extremely competitive Division I Lightweight program, as well as contributing to the overall administration of the women's rowing program." It doesn't mention to whom the position reports. The head lightweight coach may be considered an assistant to the head Wisconsin women's coach. If Dusty Darley is leaving, I would think that this position would be listed as Novice Women's Lightweight Coach. Maybe a third coach? As I said, clear as mud.