– Eric Gehrke has been named GW Men's Rowing Head Coach, Director of Athleticsannounced on Tuesday.A District native who attended Gonzaga College High School, Gehrke returns home after a career spent coaching at the highest levels collegiately, scholastically and internationally. He was most recently at the Saratoga Rowing Association and has also had stints at the University of Southern California and with USRowing's Olympic Development Program. In 2013, he founded Nashville Rowing and served as its Executive Director and Head Coach for several years."It is with tremendous excitement and love in my heart for Washington, D.C., that I am jumping into the George Washington University," said Gehrke. "I am born and bred to have complete buy-in to continue the elevation of GW Men's Rowing to the top of the national rankings. I took my first rowing strokes on the Potomac, and I'm steeped in the tradition of this rowing program that our esteemed alumni built. It will be my honor to fully immerse myself into building and sustaining a culture of commitment, growth and accountability in our student-athletes as we strive to be championship-level rowers and people.""I am thrilled to welcome Coach Gehrke to the GW Athletics family," said Vogel. "Eric struck me with his genuine care and compassion for people, combined with an insatiable desire to lead young people to achieve excellence in their sport and their lives. He has coached many rowers who have achieved a high level of success and has worked and studied at institutions that have strong academic rigor like ours. He's a researcher with an analytical approach that will steer our student-athletes to be the very best they can be, and his strong presence will contribute to GW Athletics' standard of being determined, committed, respectful and disciplined, which are all keys to rowing as well."Gehrke's roots in the area include tenures coaching Gonzaga College HS and Bishop Ireton. He also captained his program at Boston College."I am extremely excited to work with Eric," said, GW Men's Rowing Assistant Coach. "As both an alumnus of the program and a current coach, I'm confident that Eric possesses the talent, experience, and personality that will make our team a perennial contender in the Eastern Sprints and IRA."In his last collegiate stop at USC, Gehrke wrote the team's training plan that helped bring an eighth-place finish for the Varsity 8+ at NCAA Championships and a No. 9 seed for the 2nd Varsity 8+ going into NCAA Championships, both team highs in the last 5 years. The implementation of that training plan also saw a vast majority of the student-athletes pull personal records on their distance and 2000m opportunities, by adjusting to the needs and lifestyles of the student-athletes. Gehrke, also serving as the recruiting coordinator, helped bring in an internationally decorated class that included student-athletes who competed at Junior World Championships, World Cups and Senior World Championships."Eric has played an important role in the evolution of the U.S. Junior National Team, including representing the U.S. at CanAmMex," noted Steve Hargis, Director of the U19 High Performance Programs for USRowing. "He has a unique ability to recruit and motivate athletes to enable them to reach their goals in the sport of rowing. He has provided lifelong lessons through sportsmanship, teamwork, camaraderie, adversity, competition and winning and losing gracefully. I wish him all the best as he pursues this new endeavor.""I've known Eric for more than 15 years and can attest that he is the right coach for the culture that GW and our Athletics Department are implementing," said GW Women's Head Coach. "His athletes want to compete for him. He's a builder of relationships and a student of the sport who takes a holistic approach in guiding his athletes to maximize their potential and achieve their goals. It will be a privilege to work and coach alongside Eric as we strive for excellence for GW Rowing."Gehrke inherits a team that last year achieved an all-time program-best 13th-place national finish in the Varsity 8 at the 2019 IRA National Championship.