Races to Watch: April 26-29
Longhorn Invite: In one of the most anticipated collegiate match-ups of the regular season, the #1 Stanford women, defending NCAA National Champions, will take on #2 Texas at the Longhorn Invite, along with #12 Virginia and #14 Ohio State. The race format will name a champion at the end of racing, based on the NCAA point system. In a perhaps unprecedented move, the head coaches from all four teams conducted joint media availability on Tuesday, previewing the upcoming races and answering questions from the US and UK media. This event served to drive excitement and coverage for the race, both from rowing-specific media and, importantly, beyond, and is hopefully something that can become more commonplace in rowing. Racing will air exclusively on the Longhorn Network and results can be found here.
Dogwood Junior Regatta: 1,100 high school athletes from more than 40 junior teams will travel from 20 states, including Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia and South Florida, for the two-day Dogwood Junior Regatta on Melton Hill Lake, raking place this Saturday and Sunday. The event will provide a premiere competitive opportunity for junior teams across the region and beyond as they prepare for the upcoming slate of USRowing Youth Series races, which will name not only regional champions but also qualifiers for the Youth National Championships. Results will be posted here.
Lake Wheeler Invite: 18 DI women’s programs, including five top-20 teams and another four receiving votes, will compete across three sessions on Friday and Saturday on Lake Wheeler in NC. Hosted by Duke and North Carolina, the event has become a staple on many schedules because of the competitive, cross-conference racing it allows, providing one of the best opportunities out there for “bubble” schools, those on the bubble of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship in Bethel, OH. #5 Tennessee, #10 Syracuse, #11 Penn, #16 Duke, and #18 Washington State will lead the pack as racing kicks off Friday morning. The schedule and live results can be found here.
Live Stream:
Friday, April 26 – Morning Session (beginning at 10 am)
Friday, April 26 – Afternoon Session (beginning at 3 pm)
Saturday, April 27 – Morning Session (beginning at 9 am)
Dogwood Junior Regatta Welcomes 1,100 High School Rowers to Oak Ridge This Weekend
The Dogwood Junior Regatta, taking place Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28 in Oak Ridge, TN, provides a premiere competitive opportunity for junior teams across the region and beyond as they prepare for the upcoming slate of USRowing Youth Series races, which will name not only regional champions but also qualifiers for the Youth National Championships. 1,100 athletes from more than 40 junior teams will travel from 20 states, including Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia and South Florida, for the two-day regatta on Melton Hill Lake.
“The 2024 edition of the Dogwood Junior Championship Regatta is our largest ever, growing 10% over 2023. We maxed out entries two weeks prior to race weekend and added a waitlist for participants,” Ann Edwards, president of ORRA’s board of directors, told The Oak Ridger.
The Oak Ridge Rowing Association (ORRA), founded in 1978, is once again hosting the regatta and looking for volunteers to help support regatta operations. More information on volunteering can be found here. Results will be posted here.
The Rowing News Interview: Jesse Foglia
USRowing named Jesse Foglia head coach of the USRowing Training Center-Princeton at the end of 2022 after multiple stints as a National Team coach on the U19 and U23 levels. He’s responsible for the U.S. women’s Olympic eight and straight four that will race in Europe at a World Rowing Cup before the Paris Olympic regatta, July 27 to Aug. 4.
Foglia has coached at Fox Chapel High School, Three Rivers Rowing Association, Bates College, Harvard University, and the U.S. U19 and U23 National Teams. Rowing News sat down with him at the end of Olympic selection camp in Sarasota, Fla., just as the 12 rowers and one coxswain who will make up the eight and four for Paris were selected.
Rowing News: You’ve been a junior coach and a collegiate coach. Now you’re an Olympic coach.
The last three weeks of this process were three of the most challenging emotionally that I’ve ever dealt with in coaching. I love my job. I love the athletes I work with, whether they’re based in Princeton [USRowing’s main training center] or a group we brought in from outside. My job is to create a process that eliminates individuals from the thing for which they’ve been working for eight or nine years. I don’t take that lightly.
To sit down in front of someone and tell them that that path has ended for now is really challenging. At the junior level, when you’re cutting kids, you can always point them to the next level, like U23, or you can say, “You can come back; you have [remaining] eligibility.” And at the college level, you take someone from the varsity and put them in the JV.
I wish we could send two boats to the Olympics in each event. And the reality is that they’d probably do reasonably well with the group that we have right now. There was nothing easy about getting to the point we are now—the human and the physical piece of recognizing that for some people this is the closing of a door for something they’ve worked incredibly hard for.
Rowing News: What was your favorite boat in your coaching career?
There were two that I remember definitively, and it’s kind of funny because it’s the same people who make it up, my first two international campaigns at the under-19 level.
The first international campaign I did was in 2015, which was the Olympic test event for Rio. That group was Pieter Quinton, who is now in the men’s eight, Michael Cuellar, who is no longer rowing, Paul Turina, who went on to Washington, and Piers Deeth-Stehlin, who rowed at Harvard. That was the first international campaign I ever did.
Then the next year, I coached the four again, which was in Rotterdam. They got bronze in a really tight race with the Serbians—it was blisteringly fast.
I have special memories of the women’s four from this past summer. They ended a solid season with a fantastic race at the World Cup. [The U.S. crew of Molly Bruggeman, Kelsey Reelick, Madeleine Wanamaker, and Claire Collins won World Rowing Cup II in Varese, Italy.]
I have a long track record of silver medals—something like seven in a row in international racing. I know it was a World Cup, but it was the first time we’d won. That was a pretty special moment. It felt like, “We’re doing the right stuff; we’re on the right path.”
I spent the first 10 years of my coaching career trying to figure out if I could do it, if I could find a way to be a coach. I haven’t had the most traditional path. I wasn’t a collegiate rower, and my high-school rowing career was positive but mediocre.
I spent a lot of time coaching high school and then club and got my first job at Division 3 when Peter Steenstra at Bates gave me a shot. He had no real reason to give me that job. But he paid me $8,000 a year and gave me a free place to sleep, and I moved to Maine. That was a big turning point
Financially, I was like, “I can’t live on this forever, but if he’s willing to give me a shot, maybe I can make this more professional.” I was always just trying to get the next job, and now here I am.
Rowing News: Would you recommend it to a 23-year-old?
Absolutely. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Rowing News: Can you see yourself overseas someday? Coaching somewhere else?
I don’t think so. I love the U.S. of A. I have family here. There would have to be something incredibly lucrative or appealing about going somewhere else. I have a lot of pride in having worked with all the levels—U19, U23, and now the seniors. It’s been bred into me—this idea that we have the athletes to be successful; we just have to continue to develop them. So I don’t see myself going anywhere any time soon.
Rowing News: What’s your general take on the crews?
It’s hard to comment specifically on individual crews at the moment because we haven’t gotten to the point where if you held a gun to my head and asked, “What’s the best eight?” or “What’s the best four?” I could say definitively. I feel confident that by the end of the process we had selected the best 12 athletes.
We’ve had some eights and fours that have shown strong international speed, but at the moment I can’t say “The four looks great” or “They need some work” or anything like that because we haven’t gotten to that point yet.
With selection camp wrapped up, these boats don’t have to go through Olympic trials. They don’t have to qualify; they made it on the strength of their World Championship performance last year. So we’re going to give them a week to disperse, to see friends, family, loved ones, re-center themselves, though they’ll still have some training to do.
The last 12 weeks have been a significant push physically and emotionally. We’ve been on the road for a good chunk of that—in Colorado Springs, here in Florida preparing for winter speed order, a two-week break, then selection.
So I want to give them a chance to come down from that emotionally and re-ground themselves, and then we’ll meet at the training center in Princeton. From there, we’ll probably spend about three or four weeks returning to what I would call basic training, a lot of lower intensity, some AT [anaerobic threshold] work, but a step back from the heavy work of selection.
At that point, we’ll begin to investigate what our options and opportunities are more vigorously: With these 12, how can we make the most competitive boats possible?
Rowing News: And you have that luxury because of last year’s success?
Yes, we have that luxury because we have 12 really good people. You saw the results from the speed order. It was pretty frickin’ competitive on all levels.
Rowing News: What are your expectations for the racing in Europe this summer before the Olympics?
The expectation always is to go and have a race that is indicative of what you feel like you’ve shown on a day-to-day basis in training. We’re going to use it as an opportunity to learn. From speaking to athletes who came out of the last cycle, when we were in a global pandemic, I know they felt impacted by not having the chance to race before the Olympics.
So we’ll probably send everybody down the track twice, double up some athletes in different events. To sit on the start line, to hear other nations called, the chance to go down 2,000 meters—that’s valuable experience regardless of boat class and what seat you’re sitting in.
Coming out of that, it gives us a starting point of “We’re in the conversation” or “We still have eight weeks to make some significant changes and find more speed” or “We’re in a good spot.”
Now we just have to make sure we don’t mess it up.
IRCA/IRA Coaches Poll – April 24
This week, the IRCA/IRA poll, which thus far has been ranking the varsity eights for the DI heavyweight, DIII, and lightweight men, is expanding to include the second and third varsity eights for the heavyweights and second varsity eights for DIII, along with the team points totals for all three categories. This week sees a new #1 ranking for the heavyweights as Princeton, who defeated then-top-ranked Harvard last weekend, sits atop the varsity eight poll. Washington, however, is the top ranked team in the IRA Ten Eyck Team Points poll on the strength of their #1-ranked second and third varsity eights, along with their #2 varsity eight.
While the DIII Varsity Eight poll was consistent from last week in the top-five positions, the Team Points poll shows the competitiveness of the top schools, with Trinity and Williams tied for third place and Tufts receiving a mere 1.5 points more to find themselves in second. Wesleyan sit atop the DIII Team Points poll.
The Penn lightweights made a big jump from fourth to second position after defeating #2 Princeton and #6 Georgetown last weekend. The Lightweight Men’s Team Points Trophy Poll reveals the competitiveness at the top of the field, with Harvard and Penn tied in first and Princeton and Cornell tied for third.
| IRCA/IRA Men’s Heavyweight Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points | Previous |
| 1 | Princeton University (7) | 293 | 4 |
| 2 | University of Washington (5) | 288 | 2 |
| 3 | Harvard University | 277 | 1 |
| 4 | University of California – Berkeley | 267 | 3 |
| 5 | Yale University | 250 | 5 |
| 6 | Brown University | 239 | 6 |
| 7 | Syracuse University | 233 | 7 |
| 8 | Northeastern University | 217 | 8 |
| 9 | University of Pennsylvania | 202 | 10 |
| 10 | Dartmouth College | 187 | 9 |
| 11 | US Naval Academy | 179 | T-11 |
| 12 | Stanford University | 169 | T-11 |
| 13 | Boston University | 158 | 13 |
| 14 | Cornell University | 145 | 14 |
| 15 | University of Wisconsin | 135 | 15 |
| 16 | La Salle University | 115 | 19 |
| 17 | Drexel University | 103 | 16 |
| 18 | Columbia University | 99 | 17 |
| 19 | Georgetown University | 90 | 18 |
| T-20 | Holy Cross University | 57 | 23 |
| T-20 | Oregon State University | 57 | T-20 |
| 22 | University of California – San Diego | 55 | T-20 |
| 23 | Temple University | 39 | 22 |
| 24 | Jacksonville University | 21 | 24 |
| 25 | Colgate University | 14 | 25 |
| Others Receiving Votes: University of San Diego (6), Gonzaga University (2), Hobart College (1), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1), Santa Clara University (1) | |||
| IRCA/IRA Men’s Heavyweight 2nd Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points | |
| 1 | University of Washington (9) | 296 | |
| 2 | University of California – Berkeley | 280 | |
| 3 | Princeton University (3) | 272 | |
| 4 | Yale University | 261 | |
| 5 | Dartmouth College | 241 | |
| 6 | Harvard University | 236 | |
| 7 | Northeastern University | 236 | |
| 8 | Brown University | 225 | |
| 9 | Syracuse University | 218 | |
| 10 | Boston University | 176 | |
| 11 | University of Pennsylvania | 174 | |
| 12 | Cornell University | 169 | |
| 13 | US Naval Academy | 146 | |
| 14 | Columbia University | 145 | |
| 15 | Stanford University | 131 | |
| 16 | University of Wisconsin | 119 | |
| 17 | Drexel University | 116 | |
| 18 | La Salle University | 83 | |
| 19 | Georgetown University | 79 | |
| 20 | Temple University | 67 | |
| 21 | Oregon State University | 65 | |
| 22 | Holy Cross University | 53 | |
| 23 | Santa Clara University | 30 | |
| 24 | Gonzaga University | 24 | |
| 25 | St. Joseph’s University | 22 | |
| Others Receiving Votes: University of California – San Diego (18), Jacksonville University (6), University of San Diego (6), Colgate University (5), Hobart College (1) | |||
| IRCA/IRA Men’s Heavyweight 3rd Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points | |
| 1 | University of Washington (11) | 299 | |
| 2 | Brown University (1) | 274 | |
| 3 | University of California – Berkeley | 270 | |
| 4 | Harvard University | 269 | |
| 5 | Yale University | 250 | |
| 6 | Princeton University | 243 | |
| 7 | Dartmouth College | 232 | |
| 8 | Syracuse University | 213 | |
| 9 | University of Pennsylvania | 206 | |
| 10 | Boston University | 200 | |
| 11 | Northeastern University | 178 | |
| 12 | Cornell University | 172 | |
| 13 | US Naval Academy | 157 | |
| 14 | Drexel University | 137 | |
| 15 | Georgetown University | 122 | |
| 16 | University of Wisconsin | 118 | |
| 17 | Holy Cross University | 105 | |
| 18 | Oregon State University | 101 | |
| 19 | Temple University | 80 | |
| 20 | Santa Clara University | 63 | |
| 21 | Gonzaga University | 57 | |
| 22 | University of California – San Diego | 43 | |
| 23 | Hobart College | 34 | |
| 24 | Jacksonville University | 23 | |
| 25 | St. Joseph’s University | 16 | |
| Others Receiving Votes: Marist College (7), University of San Diego (6) | |||
| IRA Ten Eyck Team Points | |||
| Rank | Team | Points | |
| 1 | University of Washington | 283 | |
| 2 | Princeton University | 265 | |
| 3 | University of California – Berkeley | 263 | |
| 4 | Harvard University | 249 | |
| 5 | Yale University | 244 | |
| 6 | Brown University | 232 | |
| 7 | Dartmouth College | 209 | |
| 8 | Syracuse University | 205 | |
| 9 | Northeastern University | 199 | |
| 10 | University of Pennsylvania | 184 | |
| 11 | Boston University | 165 | |
| 12 | US Naval Academy | 154 | |
| 13 | Cornell University | 146 | |
| 14 | University of Wisconsin | 113 | |
| T-15 | Drexel University | 105 | |
| T-15 | Stanford University | 105 | |
| 17 | Georgetown University | 84 | |
| 18 | Columbia University | 79 | |
| 19 | La Salle University | 73 | |
| 20 | Holy Cross University | 60 | |
| 21 | Oregon State University | 57 | |
| 22 | Temple University | 48 | |
| 23 | University of California – San Diego | 24 | |
| 24 | Santa Clara University | 23 | |
| 25 | Gonzaga University | 16 | |
| 26 | Jacksonville University | 8 | |
| 27 | Hobart College | 6 | |
| IRCA/IRA Men’s D3 Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points | Previous |
| 1 | Wesleyan University (6) | 90 | 1 |
| 2 | Trinity College | 83 | 2 |
| 3 | Tufts University | 79 | 3 |
| 4 | Williams College | 71 | 4 |
| 5 | Bates College | 66 | 5 |
| 6 | Marietta College | 60 | T-8 |
| 7 | US Coast Guard Academy | 48 | 7 |
| 8 | Colby University | 46 | 11 |
| 9 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 45 | 6 |
| 10 | Ithaca College | 39 | 10 |
| 11 | Hamilton College | 32 | T-8 |
| 12 | St. Lawrence University | 21 | NR |
| 13 | Catholic University of America | 20 | 12 |
| 14 | St. Mary’s College of Maryland | 8 | 13 |
| 15 | Skidmore College | 6 | T-14 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Adrian College (4), Rochester Institute of Technology (2) | |||
| IRCA/IRA Men’s D3 2nd Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points | |
| 1 | Williams College (6) | 60 | |
| 2 | Tufts University | 53 | |
| 3 | Wesleyan University | 47 | |
| 4 | Bates College | 43 | |
| 5 | Trinity College | 37 | |
| 6 | Marietta College | 30 | |
| 7 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 23 | |
| 8 | Colby College | 18 | |
| 9 | Ithaca College | 10 | |
| 10 | US Coast Guard Academy | 6 | |
| Others Receiving Votes: Rochester Institute of Technology (2), Hamilton College (1) | |||
| IRCA/IRA Men’s D3 Team Points Poll | |||
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points | |
| 1 | Wesleyan University | 51 | |
| 2 | Tufts University | 46.5 | |
| T-3 | Trinity College | 45 | |
| T-3 | Williams College | 45 | |
| 5 | Marietta College | 31.5 | |
| 6 | Colby College | 22.5 | |
| 7 | US Coast Guard Academy | 18 | |
| 8 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 9 | |
| IRCA/IRA Men’s Lightweight Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team | Points | Previous |
| 1 | Harvard University (10) | 100 | 1 |
| 2 | University of Pennsylvania (1) | 85 | 4 |
| 3 | Princeton University | 81 | 2 |
| 4 | Cornell University | 80 | 3 |
| 5 | Columbia University | 55 | T-6 |
| 6 | Georgetown University | 54 | T-6 |
| 7 | US Naval Academy | 46 | 5 |
| 8 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 39 | 9 |
| 9 | Dartmouth College | 32 | 10 |
| 10 | Yale University | 23 | 8 |
| 11 | Mercyhurst University | 10 | 11 |
| IRCA/IRA Men’s Lightweight 2nd Varsity 8 Poll | |||
| Rank | Team | Points | |
| 1 | Cornell University (8) | 89 | |
| 2 | University of Pennsylvania (2) | 81 | |
| 3 | Princeton University | 73 | |
| 4 | Harvard University | 65 | |
| 5 | Columbia University | 58 | |
| 6 | Yale University | 52 | |
| 7 | US Naval Academy | 41 | |
| 8 | Dartmouth College | 32 | |
| 9 | Georgetown University | 31 | |
| 10 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 18 | |
| IRCA/IRA Men’s Lightweight Team Points Poll | |||
| Rank | Team | Points | |
| T-1 | Harvard University | 49.5 | |
| T-1 | University of Pennsylvania | 49.5 | |
| T-3 | Princeton University | 45 | |
| T-3 | Cornell University | 45 | |
| 5 | Columbia University | 36 | |
| T-6 | Georgetown University | 27 | |
| T-6 | US Naval Academy | 27 | |
| T-8 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 19.5 | |
| T-8 | Dartmouth College | 19.5 | |
| T-8 | Yale University | 19.5 | |
Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll: Week 6, April 24
While the top four positions in the DI poll have remained consistent, the Tennessee women saw a staggering 10-position jump to move from 15th to fifth on this week’s Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll based on the strength of their performance at the Big Ten Invitational. The DII and DIII polls saw similar consistency as crews move through the heart of their seasons. Racing continues to heat up this weekend across collegiate women’s rowing and some shakeups are sure to be seen in the coming weeks.
| Rank | Team | Points | Previous Ranking |
| 1 | Stanford University | 2605 | 1 |
| 2 | University of Texas | 2522 | 2 |
| 3 | Princeton University | 2319 | 3 |
| 4 | University of California, Berkeley | 2184 | 4 |
| 5 | University of Tennessee | 2066 | 15 |
| 6 | Yale University | 2063 | 6 |
| 7 | Brown University | 1956 | 5 |
| 8 | University of Washington | 1770 | 7 |
| 9 | University of Michigan | 1606 | 9 |
| 10 | Syracuse University | 1534 | 8 |
| 11 | University of Pennsylvania | 1405 | 10 |
| 12 | University of Virginia | 1202 | 11 |
| 13 | Rutgers University | 1157 | 13 |
| 14 | The Ohio State University | 1144 | 12 |
| 15 | Indiana University | 1109 | 16 |
| 16 | Duke University | 1053 | 14 |
| 17 | Oregon State University | 718 | 17 |
| 18 | Washington State University | 256 | 19 |
| 19 | Columbia University | 244 | 20 |
| 20 | Harvard-Radcliffe | 242 | 18 |
| ORV | Gonzaga University | 177 | |
| ORV | University of Central Florida | 124 | |
| ORV | University of Minnesota | 123 | |
| ORV | University of Alabama | 117 | |
| ORV | University of Miami | 102 | |
| ORV | University of California, Los Angeles | 63 | |
| ORV | University of Notre Dame | 55 | |
| ORV | University of Iowa | 21 | |
| ORV | University of Southern California | 18 |
Division 2
| Rank | Team | Points | Previous Ranking |
| 1 | University of Central Oklahoma | 198 | 1 |
| 2 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | 143 | 2 |
| 3 | Cal Poly Humboldt | 140 | 3 |
| 4 | Mercyhurst University | 111 | 5 |
| 5 | Seattle Pacific University | 109 | 4 |
| 6 | Western Washington University | 106 | 6 |
| 7 | Rollins College | 34 | 7 |
| 8 | Thomas Jefferson University | 23 | NR |
| ORV | University of Tampa | 18 | |
| ORV | Barry University | 16 |
Division 3
| Rank | Team | Points | Previous Ranking |
| 1 | Tufts University | 733 | 1 |
| 2 | Trinity College | 679 | 2 |
| 3 | Williams College | 619 | 4 |
| 4 | Wesleyan University | 598 | 3 |
| 5 | Bates College | 540 | 5 |
| 6 | Ithaca College | 431 | 6 |
| 7 | Hamilton College | 422 | 7 |
| 8 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) | 384 | 9 |
| 9 | Smith College | 368 | 10 |
| 10 | Wellesley College | 368 | 8 |
| 11 | Clark University | 208 | 11 |
| 12 | US Coast Guard Academy | 198 | 13 |
| 13 | William Smith College | 166 | 12 |
| 14 | University of Puget Sound | 91 | 15 |
| 15 | Rochester Institute of Technology | 78 | 14 |
| ORV | Skidmore College | 51 | |
| ORV | Lewis & Clark College | 32 |
2024 EUROPEAN ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
The 2024 European Rowing Championships and 2024 World Rowing European Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta are taking place in Szeged, Hungary from 25 to 28 April 2024. The European Rowing Championships have attracted over 470 athletes from 30 nations, who will compete over four days of racing.
The first races for the EOPQR will start on 25 April at 9:00 CET. The first races for the ERCH will start on 25 April at 10:05 CET; the medal races start on Saturday, 27 April at 13:05 CET.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the events:
WHAT ARE THE EUROPEAN ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS?
The European Rowing Championships have been staged since 1893, and are one of the longest running sport championships on the international calendar. After a hiatus, they were reinstated in 2007, and for the first time in 2018, were part of a multi-sport event. The European Rowing Championships are open to the 46 European national rowing federations, including Israel.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE EVENT
The programme for the events can be found here, and entries for all the races are available here.
Live race tracker and LIVE audio will be available for ALL races on www.worldrowing.com.
LIVE video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website on Saturday, 27 April, from 13:00 onwards, and Sunday, 28 April from 10:00.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok for behind the scenes interviews, live updates, racing updates, photos and more.
Ray of Sunshine
You’re exactly right,” said Tim Allen, executive associate athletics director at the University of Central Florida, in response to my question:
Was UCF’s hiring of Mara Allen (no relation to Tim) a case of a big-time athletic department looking at NCAA women’s rowing, and its 20 scholarships, and figuring that if the university hired one of the great coaches working as an underpaid assistant, UCF could be competing at the NCAA championships in short order?
Little wonder UCF pursued Mara; her rowing resume is platinum. She has won championships and led crews since her days as a junior oarswoman at Marin Rowing Association, where she was team captain. At the University of California, Berkeley, Allen was part of two NCAA-championship crews (2005 and 2006) and captain her last two years.
She won the 2009 World Rowing Championships in the U.S. women’s eight before joining her Cal coach, Dave O’Neil, on his staff at the University of Texas. With Allen on the coaching staff, the Longhorns won two NCAA championships, and in 2023, as associate head coach, she trained and guided the Texas four who won their event at NCAAs.
“I’ve known Mara for a really long time and I’ve enjoyed every moment working with her,” said O’Neil, “both way back in the days at Cal as a student-athlete and in the years working with her coaching at Texas.”
At UCF, by contrast, life was not so rosy, as rowers on the women’s team clashed with their coach about training standards. The discord led to the suspension and eventual resignation of Becky Cramer, who had coached at UCF for 20 years, first as an assistant, and then, from 2008 on, as head coach.
During her time in Orlando, Cramer led the Knights to five consecutive NCAA-championship appearances between 2015 and 2019, but it didn’t end well, and Athletic Director Terry Mohajir, who is also a vice president of the university, made changes to the rowing program as UCF moved from the American Athletic Conference up to the Power Five conference Big 12—the big leagues of NCAA sports.
UCF is serious about athletic success and isn’t shy about describing Mohajir’s job: “hiring coaches who win championships, raising money for first-class athletics facilities and support resources necessary to be nationally competitive.”
Tim Allen served as director of football operations at big-time football schools Kansas, Minnesota, and Michigan State during some of the best years in each program’s history. Mohajir had worked with Allen at Kansas and invited him to join the senior management team at UCF.
“When [legendary football coach] Mark Dantonio retired at Michigan State, Terry asked me if I wanted to come be on his senior management team. I didn’t want to be involved with football any more, so I was here for a couple years, and then last spring Terry made a change in rowing.
“I walked in the day the change happened, and he said, ‘Hey, you want to be the sport administrator for rowing?’, and I can tell you it’s been one of the great experiences of my life.
“When I started the search, the first thing I did was call some of the top coaches in the country, and one name kept coming up: Mara Allen.”
In the spring, Tim Allen was in Austin visiting family and had lunch with Mara.
“I couldn’t have been more impressed,” recalled Tim. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is exactly who we are looking for.’”
But Mara Allen had no plans to leave a place where she was successful and happy. She told Tim she was flattered that he took the time to interview her but there was only “about a five percent chance” she would say goodbye to Texas.
“I walked out and I called Terry [Mojahir] on the phone. I said, ‘Terry, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is this is exactly who we want. She fits perfectly’” into UCF’s plans to elevate its rowing program to national prominence.
“The bad news is that I’m not sure she’s interested.”
So Tim Allen continued his search, staying in touch with Mara Allen by text. When she was at nearby Nathan Benderson Park for the USRowing Youth National Championships in June, Allen convinced her and and her husband to visit UCF and it’s fully buoyed 2,000-meter course on a private lake with student-athlete housing that resembles an Olympic Village.
No one would speak on the record about the size of UCF’s offer, but it was described as “life-changing,” while Texas lost Allen by refusing to pony up a raise in the single-digit thousands of dollars.
“We gave her a five-year contract because we want her to know that we are totally committed to her. We’re going to make this work,” said Tim Allen. “To be quite honest, she’s exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were high.”
“What I love about UCF is that it feels like a small athletic department right now that’s in its growth stage,” said Mara Allen.
O’Neil, who fought to keep Mara Allen at Texas, is gracious about Allen’s taking the head-coaching job at UCF.
“She’s a valued friend,” O’Neil said, “and I’m really proud of her and excited to see what she turns the UCF program into.”
“She’s done a great job. She’s hired a really good staff,” said Tim Allen. “They’re aggressive, they’re positive, and they know how to build a team.”
“The same reason that I came to UCF is a reason for any 17-, 18-, or 19-year old to come as well,” Mara Allen said. “We can get in on the ground floor and we’re looking to move up and do great things over the next four or five years.
“We focus a lot on rowing and spending time in boats and spending time on the water. Rowing is the sport. So let’s do that. And then if we do well at that, that is the reward.”
Senior rower Teegan Fookes, who has experienced all the changes at UCF, loves rowing for Allen.
“I cannot speak highly enough of Mara,” Fookes said. “She is not only an incredible coach but also an incredible person. She really cares about us as athletes and people. She’s so driven, and the culture she brings to the team—enjoying the hard work and being out there—has made UCF an awesome place.
“I’ve definitely seen a huge shift,” said sophomore Tash Voulanas, “to an environment where the athletes on the team strive to improve, to make changes that may not come easily, and to become the best versions of themselves.”
In Allen’s first season, UCF hasn’t shied from competition. The Knights hosted the University of Connecticut and Jacksonville University at home, a victorious start to the season, and then made the first of three short trips to Sarasota’s Nathan Benderson Park to face 15 other Division I programs in the Sunshine State Invitational, finishing second overall.
As this issue went to press, UCF was preparing to return to Benderson to race higher-ranked schools at the Big 10 Invitational and will compete there again in the Big 12 championships. It’s a brutal racing schedule for any team but especially for a first-year, first-time head coach taking over a program emerging from turmoil.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” said Mara Allen. “But we’re getting some things figured out. It’s been good.
“Most of the administrative staff here also were coaches, so everyone above me supporting me understands what my job entails, and that is really special, because at a lot of universities, the administrators have always been administrators.”
UCF began receiving votes in April in the third weekly Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll. If the Knights make it into the top 20, the athletic administration will be “over the moon,” Mara Allen said.
Meanwhile, Allen is dealing with the same challenges as any other coach of young adults.
“We had a team meeting this morning about the fact that words matter. Words are really important—how they talk to each other, how they talk to the trainer, how they talk to me, how they talk about me—all of that matters. Those kinds of life lessons will help them become not only better athletes, I hope, but also better people.”
