HEAD COACH MARK ROTHSTEIN
The only head coach in the program's three-decade history, Mark Rothstein is responsible for the University of Michigan women's rowing team's ascent from over-achieving club squad to one of the nation's top-notch varsity rowing programs. Now in 2023-24, Rothstein is in his 33rd year leading the program and his 28th year as a Division I Head Coach.
On and off the water, Rothstein creates a positive training environment that encourages student-athletes to challenge themselves mentally and physically, embrace a competitive spirit, and enjoy competing. An excellent teacher and technician, Rothstein is passionate about coaching.
"The athletes should learn more about themselves and others through their experiences as members of this team than in any other collegiate pursuit," Rothstein says. "If they don't, we haven't done our job."
Coaching Michigan women's rowing for 32 seasons through 2023 -- five club and 27 varsity -- Rothstein has made the Wolverines one of the most respected programs in the country. The team earned varsity status ahead of the 1996-97 season, and he led the Wolverines to the inaugural Big Ten Conference championship in 2000. Under Rothstein, Michigan has been Big Ten Champions (Eight times: 2000, '01, '03, '04, '12, '19, '21, '23) or Big Ten Runners-Up (2002, '07, '09, '11, '13, '14, '15, '17, '18, '22) in 18 of 22 conference championship events (2020 event not contested).
Michigan's first varsity eight has captured first place at the Big Ten Championships nine times -- in 2000, '01, '03, '04, '07, '12, '19, '21, '23. Rothstein has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year on six occasions: 2000 (co-), '01, '04, '12, '19, '21. He is a three-time Central Region Coach of the Year (2000-01, '09), and won Region 4 Coach of the Year in 2019, when his staff was named Region 4 Staff of the Year.
The Michigan program has produced 41 All-Americans who have collected 57 first- or second-team honors, including 31 first-team accolades. A U-M rower has been named Big Ten Athlete of the Year on nine occasions (eight athletes; Kate Johnson 2x) and nine Wolverines have been named the conference Freshman of the Year.
U-M has posted a total of 10 top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships: from 1998-2001, 2003-04, 2012, 2017, 2019, and 2021. In 2001, Rothstein guided the squad to a second-place showing, thanks in part to a boat national title from the second varsity eight, which was the first individual boat to win a national title in program history. For that year, Rothstein was recognized as the National Coach of the Year by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. In 2003, the first varsity eight's second-place finish established a school record for best-ever placement from the program's 1V8.
Michigan earned team bids to eight straight NCAA Championships from 1998 -- its second year as a varsity program -- through 2005. Following a two-year hiatus, U-M's first varsity eight earned an at-large bid to the 2008 NCAA Championships, and the program has been represented in every national regatta since (15 straight as of 2023). The 2V8's national title produced a runner-up team finish in 2012, and a pair of podium finishes in 2017 and 2019 (third place) highlight more recent team accomplishments.
From 1998-2002, Rothstein led U-M to five consecutive Central Region championships, and the program won a sixth in 2009. As a program, Michigan has qualified all three boats for grand finals five times: 2001, '12, '17, '19, '21.
Nine of Rothstein's former pupils have competed at the Olympic Games. At the 2004 Games in Athens, Kate Johnson and Kate MacKenzie rowed for Team USA. Johnson earned a silver medal in the U.S. eight, the U.S.'s first medal in the sport in 20 years, and MacKenzie rowed in the American pair. Four alumnae reached the 2008 Games in Beijing. Heather Mandoli (eight) and Janine Hanson (quad) pulled for Canada. Ellen Tomek (double) and Brett Sickler (alternate) were members of Team USA. Hanson (eight) earned a silver medal with Canada in 2012 at the London Games, while Sarah Trowbridge competed in the double sculls with Team USA.
At the Rio Games in 2016, Felice Mueller (double) rowed for Team U.S.A. and finished fourth and Amanda Elmore (eight) earned a gold medal as part of the winning American boat. And in Tokyo 2020, Tomek (sculls) tied Tiffany (Ofili) Porter, a Wolverine track and field alumna, by competing in a third Olympic Games, the most by any U-M female Olympic athlete. Two former rowers are members of the University of Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor: Johnson and Tomek.
Rothstein traveled to San Diego to coach at the Pre-Elite Camp at the Arco Olympic Training Center following the 1999 season. The majority of his summer was spent in San Diego coaching with the National Team's head coach. Rothstein was selected to coach the Under-23 National Team coxless four at the Nations Cup in Hamburg, Germany. The boat finished third, less than seven seconds off the gold medal time. Additionally, he served as a guest coach for U.S. Under-19 squads in the summers of 2005 and 2006.
Rothstein was a competitive collegiate athlete. He played football at Central Michigan University. Rather than pursue a second year of CMU football, Rothstein transferred to Michigan and switched his athletic preference to rowing. He competed for the U-M men's crew team, then continued his rowing career with the US Rowing development program in Philadelphia, Pa. Rothstein coached the club team's novice women's crew until 1992, when he became head coach of the U-M women's club team. The club team's most successful season was 1994-95 when it won a gold medal at the Dad Vail Regatta and earned a spot in the English Henley Regatta. Rothstein joined the Michigan Athletic Department's coaching staff in August 1995 in preparation for the program's first varsity season in 1996-97.
An Ann Arbor native, Rothstein holds a bachelor of science degree in physics from Michigan. He earned academic honor roll citations and was inducted into Pi Sigma Pi, the physics honor society, as an undergraduate. He holds professional affiliations with the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association and United States Rowing Association.
Rothstein and his wife, Alisse Portnoy, were married in 2006 and reside in Ann Arbor with their daughter, Jessica.