Susie Lueck Position: Head Coach

Susie Lueck joined the Clemson staff a year ago as head coach of the inaugural rowing team for the 1998-99 season. She was named the Tigers' first-ever rowing coach, following a successful stint at Gonzaga University.

In Lueck's inaugural season at Clemson, the Tiger rowing program laid a solid foundation on which to build, with strong performances in the varsity events and an undefeated spring season for the first Novice 8+. During her six years as head coach at Gonzaga, Lueck took the program from 30th on the West Coast to sixth and seventh placed finishes in her last two seasons with the Bulldogs. In the PAC-10, of which Gonzaga Rowing is an affiliate member, Lueck's teams finished sixth and seventh in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference Championship in 1997 and 1998, and Lueck was honored as West Coast Conference Coach of the Year both seasons.

Lueck, a 1992 graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in pre-physical therapy and sports psychology, rowed for the Huskies for four years. She rowed in the first Novice 8+ her freshman season and in the Varsity 8+ the next three seasons. Lueck was highly successful in the Huskies' national powerhouse rowing program, as is evident by her numerous medals won at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships and the Collegiate National Championships.

On the National Elite Level, Lueck has a plethora of experience. She participated in the U.S. Olympic Festivals in 1989 and 1991, as well as many elite development camps. Lueck represented the United States in the quadruple sculls event in the 1993 World University Games and continued to train for the national sculling team until 1996.

An Indianapolis, IN, native, Lueck began rowing in 1984 prior to starting high school. Although an area high school program did not exist at that time, she rowed at the Indianapolis Rowing Center. Lueck earned a spot on the 1988 Junior National Rowing Team and represented the United States in the four with coxswain at the World Rowing Championships in Milan, Italy.

"We are fortunate to have someone as successful and experienced at the Division I level serve as our coach in our inaugural season and beyond," said Clemson Senior Associate Athletic Director Dwight Rainey of Lueck at the time of her hiring. "Susie Lueck has an impressive list of accomplishments achieved in a short period of time. She competed at the University of Washington, the top rowing program in the country as a student-athlete, so she knows what it takes to be among the best in the country."