It starts from within

There are a lot of factors for athletic directors to consider when looking to hire a new head coach for any of the sports they oversee.

But for KU AD Travis Goff and the Kansas rowing program, which recently transferred leadership to Andrew Derrick, the one that stood out above all was how to make the rather anonymous sport more appealing and engaging to a wider range of KU fans.

It’s no small feat. And nobody expects rowing to draw 50,000 fans like football can or even 2,000 like KU volleyball.

But both Goff and Derrick believe they can bring more eyes to the sport in the coming months and years. And both said the process of doing so starts from within.

“The beauty of it is it’s pretty straight forward; it starts with having a lot of energy and excitement from the women in the program, building inside out,” Goff told reporters following Derrick’s official introduction at the KU boathouse on Monday. “Let’s make sure we find a leader that’s gonna have the team itself really energized.”

Derrick appears to be that guy. Not only is the former Gonzaga head coach who grew up in the Pacific Northwest ecstatic about the opportunity to come to Kansas, he also is still pinching himself about the support, resources and potential that the KU program has.

Like Goff, Derrick believes that the task of making the sport that often exists in the shadows one that is more visible and well-known among the KU community starts with the athletes he coaches.

“It’s a sport that, wrongfully, is called not very spectator friendly,” Derrick said Monday. “We need to educate (fans on) just how amazing the women are that move these boats really quickly and make it known what goes into being a top-level rower. It's pretty incredible in terms of endurance sports.”

"We only have 11 head coaches, we only have 16 teams; all of them should hit a really high bar."

— KU AD Travis Goff on the expectations for rowing & its new head coach

How, then, does that education process happen?

That, too, he believes is simple.

“The story of who the women are in the boat is gonna galvanize a lot of people and success always helps, as well,” Derrick said. “So, we hope to climb the ranks and get fans excited about the program.”

Goff said there is great interest among the KU rowing alumni base and past letterwinners in finding a way to make their sport create a bigger splash.

But he also believes the greater Lawrence community can play a role, as well.

“How do we mobilize and get the community more engaged around this sport that, frankly, is global in reach and has some really unique, cool stories around it,” Goff asked. “Inevitably, if you start with the team to the letterwinners then community, Kansas rowing can be a force. We really feel like certainly in the Midwest that we can become a (top-level program).”

And as Goff has said with his five previous hires at KU and repeatedly at other times while talking about the KU athletic department as a whole, the goal for rowing is the same as it is for basketball, football and every other varsity sport that Kansas sponsors.

“We only have 16 programs at KU, why the heck would we settle in any of them? Why wouldn’t we aspire to have, certainly, conference championship type programs? If you’re a conference champion, regardless of the sport, at Kansas and in the Big 12, you are very much nationally relevant. … We only have 11 head coaches, we only have 16 teams; all of them should hit a really high bar.”