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The University of California, Berkeley’s men’s rowing head coach position has been endowed, thanks to a $1.5-million gift from Cal alums Jeff and Patty Williams. The gift is part of the matching endowment challenge led by the Rogers family.
The Williams Family Men’s Rowing Head Coach endowment precedes next year’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Cal men’ rowing program.
“We are immeasurably grateful for Jeff and Patty’s generosity,” said Cal Athletics Director Jim Knowlton. “Our program has set the standard for intercollegiate men’s rowing, and their gift will help us enormously as we strive for continued financial stability.”
The Williamses’ love of rowing generally and the leadership of Cal head coach Scott Frandsen specifically led to their supporting the men’s rowing program.
“Scott is a great leader, molder, and educator of young men. We like how the program is flourishing under him,” Jeff Williams said. “It’s manifested in success both on the water and in the classroom. Having a program that has six and seven boats on the water in practice each day—that’s a lot of guys who aren’t in the first or second varsity and who get to race only a handful of times each year. But they still want to continue to put in the time and the effort necessary to row at Cal, and that speaks volumes about the health of the program under Scott.”
Frandsen, a 2002 alumnus, won three consecutive IRA national championships with Cal between 2000 and 2002 and represented Canada in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympics, winning a silver medal in the pair with Dave Calder in Beijing in 2008. He is in his 13th year of coaching at Cal, the last seven as head coach.
After Cal won the first-ever Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) championship, Frandsen was named MPSF Coach of the Year, and Cal varsity stroke Frederick Breuer was named MPSF Athlete of the Year. (MPSF succeeded the Pac-12 men’s rowing conference).
In May, Breuer also received Cal Athletics’ Jake Gimbel Award, given to the graduating male student-athlete with the highest GPA.
