Rob Catloth - Head Coach - Women's Rowing Coaches

Rob Catloth

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
kurowing@ku.edu
Phone:
864-3557

Bio

Rob Catloth was named the Kansas rowing coach when the team was founded in 1995 and remains the only varsity rowing coach in KU history. Now entering his 21st season, Catloth will use last season’s success and a deep veteran team to post a strong season in 2016-17.

Catloth has coached KU to numerous milestones in the program’s history. Those include an Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship, three-consecutive seasons being ranked (1999-2001) and the team’s first ever top-20 national ranking (1999). In 2009, the Varsity Eight set a school record for 2,000 meters with a time of 6:26.2. Other milestones include victories over in-state rival Kansas State for five-consecutive years of the Kansas Cup (1999-2003) as well as a program-record 10 first-place finishes in 2005. In 2012, the Varsity Four won the Conference USA and Big 12 Championship, marking the first time a KU boat won a race at the Big 12 Championship. During the 2014-15 season, Catloth saw his first rower win the Marlene Mawson Exemplary Student-Athlete award in senior Claudijah Lever and guided the Jayhawks to a Kansas Cup victory against K-State.

Catloth has developed a philosophy that creates strong team unity and produces focused, competitive student-athletes. The rowing program is also structured to promote a close interaction between freshmen and upperclassmen, as Catloth and his staff believe that freshmen mentoring expedites the transition to university life for these young women.

Most recently in the 2015-16 season, Catloth coached the Jayhawks to a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championship. He also led the team to a 22-0 sweep of Kansas State in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, making this the first back-to-back win since the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Following the victory, the Big 12 selected Kansas’ First Varsity Eight as the conference’s Boat of the Week.
In the 2014-15 season, Catloth led a young Jayhawk group to a huge victory in the Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State, winning the Kansas Cup for the first time since 2010. The Jayhawks also had a great showing at the prestigious Knecht Cup where they came away with two medals and all boats having top-five finishes, including the First Varsity Eight being named Big 12 Boat of the Week. During the Big 12 Championships the women finished fourth overall, while three boats were able to take home medals. Junior Tessa Scott received the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, the highest academic achievement in the Big 12.

In 2013-14, Catloth and the Jayhawks welcomed their local fans and four opposing teams to its own Kansas Boathouse in Lawrence for the first Jayhawk Jamboree in October 2013. More than 2,000 fans showed up in support and the rowers didn’t disappoint, with one win and eight top-five finishes in its first Lawrence event since 2005. The spring season saw the Jayhawks place third in the Big 12 for a third-consecutive year as the women were able to capture two first-place finishes in the championship: the First Varsity Four and the Fourth Varsity Eight.

The season concluded with senior Elizabeth Scherer earning All-Big 12 First Team accolades, while senior Alexandra Torquemada and Lever were named to the All-Big 12 Second Team. Torquemada added another accolade two weeks later by garnering All-Conference USA First Team recognition. Teammates Catherine Clements, Jessica Jacob and Scherer were given the prestigious Dr. Gerald Lage Award, handed out each year to 64 rowers across the Big 12. Clements and Scherer also earned spots on the Conference USA All-Academic Team.

The 2012-13 season saw Kansas rowing take another step toward becoming one of the elite teams in the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks won 31 total races as a team in 2013. KU finished third place in the Big 12 and fourth place in Conference USA; both representing an improvement from the previous year. The Jayhawks had 14 rowers earn Big 12 academic honors and six of those earned Conference USA honors.

The 2011-12 Jayhawk rowers finished in seventh place in their second year as a member of C-USA and finished fourth overall in the Big 12. Senior Megan Oven earned a spot on the C-USA All-Conference Team.

In a season of firsts, Kansas started the 2008-09 season with the dedication of the Kansas Rowing Boathouse on February 28 on the snowy banks of the Kansas River. The weather rebounded the next weekend as Kansas hosted Texas at Wyandotte County Lake, taking the top spot in the Varsity Four. Kansas State came to Wyandotte County Lake the following weekend for the Kansas Cup and the Varsity Four dominated again, but a late charge from Kansas State in the Varsity Eight gave the Cup to the Wildcats. The Jayhawks then traveled to the SIRAs in Tennessee and all five boats qualified for the grand finals with the Varsity Four and Second Varsity Eight both taking third in their respective finals. On May 2, Kansas hosted the inaugural Big 12 Championship at Wyandotte County Lake. Kansas was in second place most of the day, but a restart in the Varsity Eight race hurt the Jayhawks and the team finished third.

Catloth guided Kansas to another successful season in 2006-07 despite experiencing extreme weather conditions. The winter brought a prolonged freeze of the Kansas River, and in the spring, strong winds and high-water levels forced the Jayhawks to cancel a regatta with Tulsa and Drake. Nevertheless, Kansas narrowed the gap with Big 12 leader Texas at the Big 12 Invitational in Kansas City. The Jayhawks finished in second place, four points ahead of in-state rival Kansas State.

During the spring 2006 season, Catloth led a young Kansas team to steady improvement that culminated with solid performances in the difficult NCAA South-Central Regional Championship. The out-of-water highlight of the spring occurred when Catloth learned that the University of Kansas student body had voted to help pay for a new facility near the Jayhawks’ rowing practice facility.
In the spring of 2005, Catloth led his Jayhawks to 10 first-place finishes. At Kansas’ only home regatta, Senior Day against Tulsa and Drake, the Jayhawks placed first in all four varsity races. He also led the Varsity Four crew to a first-place finish in the Grand Finals at the Knecht Cup in Camden, New Jersey.

During the 2004 season, Catloth coached the Jayhawks to three first-place finishes at the Knecht Cup. In addition, the Jayhawks won the Kansas Cup against in-state rival Kansas State. At the NCAA South-Central Regional Championship, his team finished eighth in team points and the Varsity Eight also came in eighth.

During the 2001 season, Catloth guided the Jayhawks to their third-straight national ranking, finishing the season at No. 23. As the first and only varsity KU rowing coach, Catloth has coached his team to numerous milestones in the program’s history, an Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship as well as Risa Petty being named a COSIDA Academic All-American in 2000.
The head coach’s success at Kansas was recognized nationally in the summer of 2000 when he was selected with former University of Pennsylvania coach, Barb Kirch, to lead the U.S. freshmen and pre-elite camp at the ARCO Olympic Training Center. Catloth and Kirch led the Nations Cup Four to a gold medal (the 23-and-under world championship) in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2000.

Catloth, a Lawrence native, graduated from Kansas in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree. He and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Baldwin City, Kan. Catloth’s oldest children, Grant and Olivia, both attended Kansas, while Olivia was a member of the rowing team from 2009-12. Catloth’s youngest is a five-year-old son named Van.