2021 Coach Carie Graves –

Story Links

• ROW2K CARIE GRAVES FEATURE

(June 27, 1953-December 19, 2021)

Carie Graves, who helped launch the University of Texas’s rowing program and served as head coach for its first 16 years, passed away on Sunday. She was 68.

A legend in the sport, Graves built the Texas Rowing program from the ground up beginning in the fall of 1998, steering the Longhorns to two NCAA Championships appearances and five conference titles before retiring from coaching in 2014.

Texas earned its first NCAA Championships bid in 2003, when the first varsity eight placed 12th nationally, and made a return visit to the championship regatta in 2004, with the first eight finishing 15th. It was an historic year for Texas Rowing in 2004 as Ruth Stiver and Julie Keedy became the program’s first Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) All-Americans.

Graves directed Texas to four-straight Big 12 crowns, leading UT to victory at the inaugural Big 12 Championship in 2009 and repeating the feat in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The three-time U.S. Olympian also led the Longhorns to victory at the 2011 Conference USA Championship.

The 2012 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Graves was also selected as the 2011 Conference USA Coach of the Year and named the 2011 CRCA South Region Coach of the Year after leading the Longhorns to dual conference championships.

Graves’ Longhorns produced 15 All-Big 12 and 66 Academic All-Big 12 selections and also collected 11 All-Conference USA honorees in its five seasons as a C-USA affiliate member.

Jennifer VanderMaarel became UT’s third All-American under Graves’ tutelage in 2011, when she earned second-team honors and was selected as UT’s first Conference USA Athlete of the Year. Laurel McCaig became the Longhorns’ first-ever Big 12 Rower of the Year in 2012 after helping Texas to its fourth-straight Big 12 championship.

Prior to taking the reins in Austin, Graves served as the head women’s rowing coach for 10 seasons at Northeastern University (1988-98). She broke into the coaching profession as the head women’s crew coach at Harvard/Radcliffe in 1977 and served there through 1983.

Graves enjoyed a distinguished rowing career of her own and was selected to three U.S. Olympic teams (1976, ’80 and ’84) and five additional U.S. national teams (1975, ’77, ’79, ’81 and ’83). Graves helped the USA women’s eight to gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and bronze at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Graves was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team that boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games. At the 1975 World Championships she won a silver medal as part of the “Red Rose Crew” that ushered in a new era of competition for women in the male dominated sport.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) selected Graves as U.S. Rowing’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1981 and 1984. The National Rowing Foundation inducted Graves twice into its Hall of Fame as a member of the 1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympic Teams and she was selected as one of the “Century’s Most Notable People” in American Rowing by the 2000-01 American Rower’s Almanac.

A 1976 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Graves guided the Badgers to the 1975 National Rowing Association Championship, the first National Championship to be won by a UW varsity women’s team. A native of Madison, Wisc., Graves was the first-ever inductee into the school’s Women’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984 and was ranked No. 16 on her alma mater’s list of “Top 100 Athletes of the Century.”  Graves completed a master’s of education at Harvard in 1985.

Statement from Texas Rowing head coach Dave O’Neill:

“Carie Graves was a true pioneer and legend in our sport. Her athletic achievements were outstanding, but her greatest gift was her kindness and helpful nature that elevated us all. My relationship with Carie went back to the early ’90’s when both us were coaching in Boston. I was just starting in my career, and there were numerous times she went out of her way to offer assistance and guidance. I was astounded that such an icon could be so generous, and I’m forever grateful for her support.

“All of us associated with Texas Rowing are greatly appreciative of everything she did for this program. She built this team from scratch and created the first successful Division I rowing team in Texas. Her leadership and influence were enormous, and she will be missed by everyone who worked with her.”