UCLA names rowing team coach

  Stanford Sports Information Former Stanford assistant
rowing coach Amy Fuller coaches the Cardinal team. Fuller is the
new rowing head coach for UCLA.

By Jackie Abellada
Daily Bruin Contributor

Amy Fuller, an internationally celebrated rowing athlete, was
hired as head coach of the women’s rowing team July 2. This
paves the way for a major facelift that the squad must prepare for
in the upcoming season, its first year as an officially sanctioned
intercollegiate sport at UCLA after its 10-year stint as a club
team.

The announcement is just the latest alteration to the slew of
changes that the program will soon encounter. Everything from new
equipment to scholarships is in store for the team, although
scholarships won’t be available until 2002.

“Bruins have always been a part of my life and so it is
familiar territory for me and I’m really excited to be a part
of that athletic department,” Fuller said.

Fuller, whose father is a UCLA alumnus, had grown up in Westlake
Village and hoped to follow in her father’s footsteps.
However, before the news of her wait-list status from UCLA had
reached her, she had already committed herself to UC Santa Barbara,
where she graduated there with a degree in biology.

Away from the Los Angeles area for 15 years, UCLA still lingered
in the back of her mind. When she heard that there was an opening
in the Bruin coaching staff, Fuller, who has always been interested
in the position, quickly grabbed the opportunity and applied for
the job.

“If I can be a part of not only the greatest athletic
department in the country but also be by my family, it is a dream
come true,” she added.

Fuller brings with her the experience that most rowers, both
professional and amateur, can only dream about. Being a three-time
Olympian and an 11-time member of the U.S. National Team, she has
accumulated more than 25 national and international rowing
titles.

“Having an Olympian … will definitely raise team morale
and team expectations,” said senior Delia Lucas.

Last season, Fuller was an assistant coach at Stanford, helping
the Cardinals obtain a spot in the Top 20 national ranking for the
first time in the program’s history. Before that, she was an
assistant coach at San Diego State from 1998-2000 and at the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1996-1998. Fuller began
coaching in 1992, heading the varsity women’s crew team at
UCSB.

“We hired (Fuller) because of her fantastic rowing resume,
both as a rower and as someone who is familiar with the Southern
California rowing community,” said associate athletics
director Betsy Stephenson.

The Bruin team hopes that Fuller’s experience will push
the program to progress even further from the tutelage of its
previous coach, Guillermo Lemus. Last year, the squad finished
seventh in the nation in the women’s Lightweight 8, an
impressive feat considering the fact that they were competing
against other university sanctioned squads with more up-to-date
equipment.

“It will be my goal and the team’s goal to be as
competitive as possible as soon as possible,” Fuller added.
“But I don’t think the plan is to go about it in a
hurried fashion. I think we are going to start building team morale
from the bottom up.”

One of the first things that Fuller wishes to accomplish is to
recruit from the student body. Fuller, who did not start the sport
until she was a sophomore in college, feels that the UCLA campus is
a major fishing pool for walk-on athletes, and is glad to have any
woman with any athletic experience to give rowing a try.

“We would love to have as many people try out,”
Fuller declared. “Everybody is welcome.”

Although she admits that there is a long road ahead before they
can reach the Top 10, Fuller is optimistic that the squad will be
able to mature into a contending NCAA team within the next couple
of years.

 

 SOURCE: UCLA Sports Info Original graphic by SEAN
WATERS/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web adaptation by CHRISTINE
TAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff