Madison Hovis - Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Madison Hovis

Title:
Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator
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Kansas Women's Rowing alumna Madison Hovis is in her eighth season coaching the Jayhawks and in her seventh as an assistant coach.

After graduating from KU in the fall of 2017 with a degree in Psychology and minor in Sociology, Hovis stepped into a volunteer coaching position with the team that season while also working in the nutrition department at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. The following summer she was hired as a full-time assistant coach and has primarily served coaching the 3 Varsity 8+.

Since leading the crew, the boat has secured runner-up finishes at the Big 12 Championship in 2022 and 2023. This marked the first time a KU crew has earned a medal at conference since the 2015 1 Varsity 4+ boat — which Coach Hovis raced in — took third. Hovis has also helped Kansas rowing athletes achieve individual accolades, including Big 12 Newcomers of the Years Melia Martin (2022) and Katia Ustiuzhanina (2023). Ustiuzhanina was also named All-American Honorable Mention for the 2022-23 season.

In addition, Hovis has been in charge of the upkeep of athletes and their academics, helping break previous records including a new program best fall GPA of 3.54 set in 2024 along with a team spring non-COVID era record of a 3.54 GPA in 2024. From 2018-2024, the rowing program produced 76 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Scholar-Athletes.

Kansas Rowing led the athletic department with 30 student-athletes selected on Academic All-Big 12 teams for the 2023-24 season with seven rowers also recognized as recipients of the Dr. Gerald Lage Award, the highest academic achievement in the Big 12 Conference. A program best 31 Academic All-Big 12 honorees was set in the 2021-22 season.

A native of St. Peters, Missouri, Hovis was an accomplished Jayhawk rower herself from 2013-2017. As an athlete she raced between the 3 Varsity 8+, 1 Varsity 4+ and 2 Varsity 8+ boats and was decorated with a 3 Varsity 8+ Conference USA gold medal in 2014 and Big 12 bronze medal in 2015 for the 1 Varsity 4+.