Since August of 2014, Stephen has been the head coach of Butler Rowing. As an athlete, Stephen began rowing at Purdue University, having only an athletic background encompassing soccer, cross country and track. While a rower at Purdue, Stephen developed a love and a passion for the sport, eagerly rowing both sides of the boat, coxing on occasion, doing whatever it takes to make the boat go fast. His efforts obtained him numerous bronze and silver medals and an Ohio State University t-shirt, as well as team points contributing to multiple Purdue team victories at SIRA and the Dad Vail Regatta.  He began his coaching career in June of 2008 when he began working as an assistant coach to a summer collegiate rowing program at the Indianapolis Rowing Center, returning in 2009 to coach the same program. In August of 2009, Stephen became an assistant coach with the Purdue Novice Men’s team, coaching a crew to a bronze medal finish at Vails in 2010. Upon graduation from Purdue in May 2010, Stephen had a degree in Applied Meteorology and a dream of being a rowing coach.

 

In August of 2010, Stephen returned to IRC to begin working with the novice men’s team with the IRC Juniors program. After a successful season that included medals at every fall regatta and all but one spring regatta, Stephen took over the Varsity Men’s team for the IRC Juniors. Stephen worked quite successfully for two years with the varsity men’s team, producing medals at nearly every regatta in the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons, a Midwest Junior Rowing Association champion 2- (2012) as well as a MJRA runner-up 2- (2013). Both pairs qualified and raced at USRowing Youth Nationals, becoming the 13th (2012) and 18th (2013) fastest junior pairs in the nation.

 

In August of 2013, Stephen began to help out with the Novice program for Butler Rowing, as the program needed an additional coach. He began tirelessly training his novice rowers to compete well at a national level and compete well they did, producing podium finishes at every fall regatta they attended. In the spring of 2013, Stephen assumed head coaching responsibilities and took the team to this iteration of the club’s first ever sprint race, the Dogwood Sprints in Oak Ridge, TN. There, his largely novice crews competed well and learned what sprint racing is all about and gained some valuable experience. In August of 2014, Stephen assumed the Head Coach title and officially added co-coach Emmanuel Pagan to the Butler Rowing coaching staff. With Stephen as head coach, the team medaled at every fall 2014 regatta they attended.

 

In his time he doesn’t spend coaching, Stephen enjoys studying the history of rowing, analyzing the weather, playing the flute, bowling and watching a wide variety of TV shows.

Emmanuel Pagan discovered the sport of rowing through a friend in high school in 2009. Previous to rowing he played many other sports including baseball and basketball. However, those sports became boring after a while. Unlike rowing, those other sports didn't really call his attention. Emmanuel started rowing in the fall of 2008 through the spring of 2010 at The Indianapolis Rowing Center. After graduating from high school, IRC asked him if he wanted to help out coaching with the club, since he was staying in town for school. He started with the Butler Rowing program in the fall of 2013, mainly coaching with novice women and picking up the slack wherever else it was needed. Since 2010, Emmanuel has had more than 10 competitive seasons coaching the IRC junior program and the Butler Rowing program.

 

"I love working with the novice, because there is something about watching someone improve every single day. Seing a new rower learn basics of the rowing technique the first time they come to practice and then fast forwarding to the last day of the season and noticing how far that individual has come along, is an amazing feeling beyond imagination."