Coach Mom

In rowing, we see plenty of mothers lining the shores at regattas, running carpools to practice, and preparing food for the team tents. But Mother’s Day is as opportune a time as any to consider another less common but certainly influential place for mothers: coaching. 

Anecdotally, mothers who coach seem to be underrepresented throughout the sport, and the numbers within at least one segment bear that out. Using the Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll as a starting point, only 17 of the 43 ranked teams have female head coaches in the first place. That’s not even 40 percent. Of those 17 coaches, a mere nine are mothers.

That means only 21 percent of ranked collegiate women’s teams are led by a mother. That means only about 350 of the roughly 1,700 athletes at these programs have the opportunity to experience a mother leading a team. And with the departure of Megan Cook Carcago from Duke at the end of this season, one more mother leading a top program will be lost. What sort of expectations does this establish for these women, consciously or otherwise, for the leadership roles women can hold once they become mothers?   

Let’s not neglect the other half of the rowing population. Too often, conversations about women coaching focus only on women’s teams. But there is absolutely nothing, other than cultural biases, preventing women, and mothers, from coaching men’s teams.

Of the 56 men’s teams ranked in the IRCA/IRA Coaches Poll, however, a mere three have female head coaches. All are in DIII and all also serve as the head coach for their women’s teams: Anna Lindgren-Streicher at Hamilton College, Katie O’Driscoll at Catholic University of America, and Carol Schoenecker at Rochester Institute of Technology. Again, what sort of expectations does this establish for these men, consciously or otherwise, for the leadership roles women can hold once they become mothers?

Also of note is that female head coaches are much less likely to be a parent than their male counterparts. Looking at the DI ranked teams, 12 of 13 male coaches are fathers, representing 92 percent, while only five of the seven female coaches are mothers. Expanded to include all divisions, nine of 17 female head coaches are mothers–just 53 percent in total.  

Looking at these numbers, we have to ask ourselves what is preventing more mothers from getting into, or staying in, coaching and what can be done to improve this. More family-friendly athletic department practices, livable wages, and supportive communities are a good place to start. 

On a day when much attention is being paid to all that mothers do, we owe it to all members of the rowing community to ensure that we make coaching a welcoming and feasible place for mothers to be and to thrive.