Top-notch staff part of rowing's winning formula heading into ACC regatta

With some sixty-five student-athletes in his program to keep track of and develop, Clemson’s first-year head rowing coach Robbie Tenenbaum is well aware of the necessity of delegating some of that responsibility to his assistants.

That’s why one of Tenenbaum’s chief priorities last summer was to assemble the current Tiger coaching staff of Lincoln LaRoe, Jessica Leidecker and Adam Bruce.

“I couldn’t do it without all of those guys,” said Tenenbaum, whose 13th-ranked Tigers will challenge second-ranked Virginia for the 2011 ACC championship during the conference’s annual regatta Saturday morning at Lake Hartwell.

“They’ve been a tremendous help to me. Adam was here when I got here. Lincoln started at the end of July in 2010, and Jess started at the beginning of August. So since the beginning of the school year, we’ve had everybody on the coaching staff together, and it’s become a very cohesive unit that can bounce ideas off of each other. It’s been a pleasure, and with so many student-athletes you can’t do it all yourself. You have to have a staff who can help.”

In Leidecker - a former Tiger All-American who stroked the U.S. women’s 8+ boat to a silver medal at the U23 World Rowing Championships in 2009, and in that same year was a member of Clemson’s ACC Championship clinching Varsity 8+ crew - Tenenbaum has benefit of a first-year coach who already knows the program thoroughly.

“Jess was a student-athlete here who did a great job for the program on the water. She’s come back and in her first year as a collegiate coach, has just done a great job. She’s been coaching our development group, which includes the novices, and has been coaching some of the varsity athletes, as well.

“So she’s been coaching all those kids who are in the fourth and fifth eight, and she’s also in charge of the Novice 8. She’s done a tremendous job at sort of naturally taking to the coaching role. She knows the university, and knows her way around everything, so she’s been a huge help to me.”

Bruce, a former club rower at Clemson who’s now in his second season as a graduate assistant, has seen his coaching responsibilities increase substantially under Tenenbaum.

“Adam is our GA, and he’s been in charge of our fours group,” said Tenenbaum. “He was a member of the club program here at Clemson, and was our GA last year, though he didn’t do a whole lot of coaching. He’s taken on a big coaching role this year, and has really been able to help us as another coach out on the water. That gives everybody more individual attention, and that’s been really fantastic for us.”

LaRoe works closely alongside Tenenbaum, and has distinguished himself as a specialist in terms of his technical expertise.

“Lincoln’s been great, and has been sort of my right-hand man,” said Tenenbaum. “He’s been there to help with the selection of the top people, and we’re both coaching that group, as well. His technical knowledge has gone a long way to get us to where we need to be technically as rowers.”

Tenenbaum says that all three of his assistants have made versatile contributions, and cites the tech and media savvy innovations of LaRoe as an example.

“They can all do so many other things,” said Tenenbaum. “Aside from his technical knowledge of rowing, Lincoln is a master of video analysis, and he’s done a number of things to help make our home races better. He’s announced our play-by-play, and we’re doing some live broadcasting of some of the races on the web, and that’s really going to help us to get the program out there.

“He’s done live broadcasts for the U.S. Rowing Association for their National Team trials, and is bringing that same technology here. The idea is for anybody on shore to be able to watch the whole race on a TV screen in the boat-bay, and then just be able to turn around and watch the end of the race live. So instead of just seeing specks off in the distance, now we have audio play-by-play the whole way down, and hope to have the video, as well.

“It’s just going to add another dimension for everybody’s family and our fans that come out to watch us race. It’s going to be a nice bonus.”

ACC Championships Saturday: Racing in the ACC championship regatta will get underway Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Tigers’ Lake Hartwell facility. The Varsity 4+ race will kick off the competition, and will be followed by the Novice 8+, the second Varsity 8+ and the first Varsity 8+.

Virginia swept all four races a year ago, which Clemson placed second in each competition.

The Tigers snapped the Cavaliers’ long string of ACC titles by winning the 2009 competition, which was held at Oak Ridge, TN because of low water levels at Lake Hartwell. Clemson is the only school other than Virginia ever to have won an ACC rowing title.