Head Coach, Barb Grudt: Varsity Girls Rowing

When two-time Olympian Barb Grudt retired from her competitive rowing career, coaching seemed like a good way to bridge the gap to a career in business. She applied for the novice coaching job at Dartmouth College and was named the head coach a year later.

After 18 seasons at Peddie, Grudt said the most rewarding part of coaching the Falcons is going to Mercer Lake every day and watching kids row. “Taking our national championship-winning crew to Women’s Henley in England in 2009 and watching them set a course record was awesome,” Grudt said.

But she said her favorite moment was after the crew won the Stotesbury Cup Regatta for the fifth time. “The coach of the second-place crew congratulated us and asked how many kids we have in our program,” Grudt explained. “I said, ‘15.’ He said, ‘50?’ No, I said. ‘15.’ He was stunned. They had well over 50. I told him we had the right 15. I love that we can be so successful with such a small group of athletes.”

After 18 years coaching in the Ivy League (nine at Dartmouth, nine at her alma mater, Penn) and several years as the U.S. Junior Women’s National Team Coach and occasional U23 coach, she realized that she wanted to help the youngest rowers develop a strong foundation and love for rowing. She also thought she wanted to be a college counselor.

Peddie needed a girls coach, so she thought she would start there. By the time a college counseling position opened up, she had already helped lots of girls get into their dream colleges through rowing and decided that coaching satisfied both goals.

As a young athlete, Grudt was inspired by Nadia Comaneci in a spotlight performance on the balance beam at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in the 1980s. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s lonely at the top,” she recalls the sports announcer saying during Comaneci’s performance.

“I wanted to be as good as her but vowed to take people with me,” Grudt said.

Now, the Olympian-turned-coach said she wants Peddie athletes to have fun, work hard and take things as far as they can. “Show up, face your fears, choose the more difficult path,” Grudt said. “The rest will fall in place.”

Outside of Peddie, Grudt enjoys hiking, camping, snowshoeing and running a summer rowing camp in Maine.