The Ohio State rowing team found a new leader on Tuesday, hiring Buckeyes assistant Emily Gackowski to serve as the team’s next head coach. Gackowski agreed to a five-year contract with the program, according to Ohio State.
“We’re thrilled to promote Emily Gackowski to lead our rowing program,” said senior deputy director of athletics and senior women’s administrator Janine Oman. “She’s earned this opportunity, not only through the good work she’s done as assistant coach and the personal connections she’s made with our student-athletes and staff, but also because of her long-range vision for the program.”
“I am very excited for Ohio State rowing,” Bjork said. “Emily has a wonderful spirit for Ohio State University and this program, and the future is bright under her leadership.”
Gackowski has served as an assistant coach under former program leader Kate Sweeney — who resigned from her role on May 29 — for the past five seasons. In that time, she has helped lead the Buckeyes to a Big Ten championship and NCAA Championships appearance in each season it has been held, along with two top-10 national finishes.
Gackowski has also been Ohio State’s novice coach since she joined the program in 2019-20, where she was tasked with teaching and supervising beginners, or novice rowers, in the sport.
“I’m honored and humbled by the chance to lead the Ohio State rowing program,” said Gackowski. “I’m appreciative to Janine Oman and Ross Bjork for their belief in me and I am looking forward to the opportunity to build upon the legacy of success this program is known for both academically and athletically.”
Before her time as an assistant and novice coach, Gackowski served as a volunteer assistant coach for Ohio State in 2018, helping the Buckeyes sweep the Big Ten Championships that season and secure its sixth straight conference title. She was hired in 2019 by USC but spent just one season with the program before returning to Ohio State in 2019-20.
Gackowski began her rowing career at Indiana as a novice, where she won second-team All-American honors and earned podium finishes at each Big Ten Championship in 2017 as a senior.
With Gackowksi at the helm, Ohio State will be looking to win its first national championship since the 2015 season.
