University of Alabama Athletics Announces the Addition of Rowing
10/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Athletics Director Mal Moore announced at a press conference today on the bank of the Black Warrior River that the University of Alabama is adding women's rowing as its 21st varsity sport.
"After thorough consideration, we are adding women's rowing to our slate of sports beginning with the 2006-07 season," Moore said. "The more we looked into it, the more it seemed a natural fit for Alabama. There is an active rowing community in the Tuscaloosa area, and the state as a whole, and we have a tremendous natural facility for this sport on the Black Warrior River and the recently completed River Road Park gives us an outstanding venue for watching events."
There has been an active and vibrant rowing club on campus since 1987 and there are club teams in Huntsville, Birmingham and Auburn.
"Women's varsity athletics at The University of Alabama provide great opportunities for student-athletes to compete at the highest level of competition in 11 different sports," said UA President Robert E. Witt. "Rowing has enjoyed great success as a club sport on campus and is a natural choice for our 12th women's varsity sport."
In the Southeastern Conference, Tennessee sponsors a varsity program while Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, LSU, Auburn and Vanderbilt all support club teams.
"And most importantly to us, rowing will provide the most opportunities for University of Alabama students to participate in one of the greatest traditions in collegiate athletics," Moore said.
A spring sport, collegiate rowing has enjoyed a tremendous growth spurt over the past decade. Since 1997, more than 30 teams have been added at the NCAA Division I level, which translates into almost 2,000 more student-athletes. The average Division I program fields between 50 and 70 student-athletes.
The search for a coach to bring rowing to the Capstone begins immediately and will be conducted by Moore and Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator Marie Robbins.
"We are looking for a coach who embodies our commitment to excellence in all facets of collegiate athletics," Moore said. "The sports we have added most recently have gone on to enjoy tremendous success both on the field and the court as well as in the classroom and we are hoping to duplicate that success with rowing."
NCAA Division I schools are allowed 20 full scholarships for women's rowing. Rowing is an equivalency sport, meaning that scholarships may be divided in any manner among student-athletes so long as the total awards do not exceed the limit for the sport. Alabama will start with five full scholarships and will phase in scholarships over a span of years until it reaches the maximum.
The last three sports Alabama has added, volleyball, soccer and softball, have all won SEC Western Division titles. Soccer and softball have both advanced to NCAA competition with softball, in its 10th year, making three World Series appearances during that span.
Of the Tide's 21 sports, rowing is the 12th women's sport. Softball was added in 1996. Soccer was a varsity sport from 1982-89 and was reinstated for the 1994 season. Similarly volleyball first competed in 1974 before being disbanded in 1982. It returned to campus as a varsity sport in 1989. Women's basketball, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving and tennis were all added during the 1974-75 school year. Women's indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country was started in 1977.
Football is the oldest of the Tide's nine varsity men's teams, starting in 1892. Swimming and diving is the youngest men's sport, joining the Tide ranks in the fall of 1959.
