The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- April 26, 1999

Rowing coaches hope new association puts issues and goals

IN THE SAME BOAT

BY HEATHER YOST
STAFF WRITER

As women's rowing comes of age as an NCAA sport, its coaches instinctively want to be a guiding force in the process.

Rowing coaches are finding that strength in numbers may be the best way to effect change for the future of the NCAA's newest championship sport.

"Coaches have a lot of insight and ideas," said Kevin Harris, rowing coach at Mills College. "We need a forum to suggest change. A coaches association is the logical step to organizing ourselves."

The first College Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) was established when the concept of moving rowing into the NCAA ranks was initiated in 1993. The association came together with the purpose of promoting the sport and examining championship structure and rules suggestions for the NCAA.

But after rowing was added as a women's championship sport in 1997, Jenny Hale, rowing coach at Kansas State University, said the CRCA encountered problems.

"We were structured to represent both the men and the women, and the men felt left out," she said. "The women's program needed a voice tailored to fit our needs as part of the NCAA."

Since the original association fizzled, coaches have been finding outlets for frustrations and ideas.

"The first CRCA group did a really good job of looking at the sport and our traditions and making suggestions for the NCAA to say yes or no to," Harris said. "Then everyone got busy. We just started to gravitate toward the regional committees."

Although a coaches meeting at the championship last year -- coupled with influence filtered through the championships committee -- has led to various changes in the championship structure, Harris and his colleagues are busying themselves with the reorganization process to ensure a better future for the sport and its coaches.

"I sit in meetings and I listen to the issues involved with some of the other sports," Hale said. "It has made me realize just how powerful some of the coaches associations out there are in directing sports and issues. We need that kind of voice."

A separate umbrella

Under the umbrella of the United States Rowing Association, more than 40 coaches met to discuss issues facing rowing as a growing collegiate sport at the organization's national convention in Oakland, California, last year.

Collegiate coaches realize, though, that they need to make a name all their own outside the US Rowing ranks.

"Their main focus is the national team and Sydney in 2000," Harris said. "They kind of see us as a farm team for them. We need a forum where college rowing is the No. 1 priority."

The name and the tax identification number had been established by the original College Rowing Coaches Association, and now the membership drive and organizational push has been left to a panel of 12 coaches.

"I am kind of the benevolent dictator," Hale quipped. "I watched this thing falter, and I thought (the association) was important to the future of the sport. I'm basically a self-appointed president trying to get everything moving again, and most of the people involved were coerced."

Hale and her coerced, make-shift board have about 90 members from the 122 schools that currently sponsor rowing. The group sent out its first mailing to its membership earlier this month and has planned a mail-in vote for national president and regional delegates in the fall.

"I think that the group we have working on this has done a great job," Hale said. "We have a high percentage of rowing programs represented, and most of the coaches have come back and are paying dues. People have gotten back on board."

Membership has its privileges

Coaches leading the current reorganization charge hope the benefits of belonging to a professional organization go beyond even the unified voice they are working to create.

"Coaches need a professional organization to turn to for a lot of different things," Harris said. "It can be an outlet for ideas or a source of information for what is going on in the sport. You can even seek advice about situations. It adds to our credibility."

The College Rowing Coaches Association hopes to be a communication and promotional tool for coaches and the sport, adding all-America recognition and a national poll.

"The championships committee doesn't use a coaches poll to help with championship selection, but it is a great promotional tool," said Donna Noonan, NCAA director of championships. "People can identify with a team ranking No. 1 in the country."

Beyond recognition for the sport is the opportunity for a coaches association to serve as an education tool for its membership.

"Coaches are responsible for a lot of education about the sport at a grass-roots level," Hale said. "They have to be able educate administrators about the issues specific to our sport and our needs."

As the sport of rowing grows, educating new administrators and coaches may become a bigger job.

"As collegiate rowing grows -- and believe me it will -- the coaches association will have an even bigger role," Harris said. "Southern schools are really looking to start programs, and we can be a big part of that."

Time for direction

Although all the benefits of a coaches association may not yet have been realized, the No. 1 goal is to impact issues.

"I think it would be premature to try and say what issues we are going to tackle first," Hale said. "We have the survey out, and that will give us a clearer idea. The biggest thing is that we have to find a way to represent all of the different coaches from very different programs. Everyone is in a different stage."

Hale would like to see coaches examine NCAA regional divisions for suggestions; discuss championship qualifying that could include automatic qualifiers; and debate legislative issues, such as skill-instruction limitations. Continued growth will lead to a push for multiple or divisional championships, and the establishment of an NCAA rules committee.

"I think until now we have all been a little overwhelmed with the money, budgets and the demand on our time for compliance and paperwork," Hale said. "People have been locked in their own worlds. Now it is time to try to give ourselves national direction for the entire sport."

The current board also would like to see dues increase to keep pace with other coaches association to allow for a paid, part-time director.

Anyone interested in obtaining more information about the College Rowing Coaches Association can contact Sasha Stone at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, by calling 608/263-3222 or by e-mail at sasha. stone@ccmail.adp.wisc.edu.