Letter from the President

DEAR SU ROWING ALUMS

After three consecutive NCAA appearances for the women and two consecutive 8th place IRA finishes for the men’s varsity 8 – plus top ten finishes for all men’s eights at the IRA … the boats are going fast. Now, we need to help the boats go faster.

It’s time to revisit SARA’s core mission – ensure there will always be Men’s Crew and Women’s Rowing at Syracuse University, and help the boats go faster. We’ve hit a bit of a plateau, one that many programs would be happy with.

But we aren’t “many programs”, we are Syracuse. We expect to be among the best programs in the country, every boat fighting for a podium spot each year. It has been far too long since our men’s eights were mentioned in the same breath as UW, Harvard, Cal, and Brown. Our women haven’t been there, but they certainly can be.

Some think this is too far a stretch, too high a goal. Perhaps; we have more than our share of challenges; SU’s admission’s policies, fewer men’s scholarships than most competing programs, weather, the cost of attending SU, facilities that are less glamorous than competing schools, are all obstacles.

If we are to get back onto the podium, we must focus on making the most of what we have, not obsessing over what we don’t.

We DO have terrific coaches. We DO have great water and solid training facilities. We DO have strong and unwavering support of the Athletic Department and AD John Wildhack.

To get back on that podium, we need more top-level athletes wearing the orange, and our coaches need to spend their time recruiting and coaching those athletes. Our continuing job – your continuing job – is to help make the boats go faster by:

• Helping to upgrade our facilities and support recruiting,

• Finding ways to reduce coaches’ workloads, and

• Spreading the Syracuse rowing message at home and internationally

We all know what it takes to make the boats go fast – commitment, dedication, unwavering focus on the goal. So … your continued ideas, your continued energy, your continued support, and your continued commitment will get us make our boats go faster – and get back on the podium. Bleed Orange!

Joe Paduda ’80 SARA President