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On the Right Course
5/31/2017 3:22:00 PM | Men's Rowing
Reischman's Orange will compete at this weekend's IRA Championship Regatta
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Fifteen years ago, Dave Reischman took over the reins of the Orange men's rowing program. Since then, Syracuse has been a mainstay in the top 20 of the USRowing Coaches Poll and recorded five top-10 finishes at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship Regatta. Without a doubt, Reischman has built a culture that has churned out success.
Reischman was named the head coach of the Orange men's rowing program in 2002, following the retirement of Bill Sanford. The Gonzaga alum was most recently at the helm of Oregon State, where he led the Beavers to a fourth-place showing at the 2002 IRA Championship Regatta.
Dan O'Shaughnessy '06 and current assistant coach Justin Stangel '07 were two of the first rowers Reischman recruited. Both were sold on the challenge of building something special at Syracuse.
"I met Dave at the boathouse in Syracuse in the summertime," commented O'Shaughnessy. "He had just finished his first year at Syracuse. He had this view on the world and that was how his team was going to be. He has stuck with that for 15 years. He has never really wavered from the view that he had, that people are supposed to be good people. You are supposed to race as hard as you can. It is not a personal thing. You are just out there, challenging yourself. I remember hearing all of that and it was so refreshing."
"I remember the first time I felt like I was going to come to Syracuse was when he asked me if I was up for the challenge," added Stangel. "He wanted the recruits to know that if you came in, it was not going to be immediately back in the IRA grand finals. It was how hard you were going to work to be able to even give us a look."
With O'Shaughnessy and Stangel in tow, Reischman would begin his own construction of the men's rowing program. Slowly but surely, the team began to break through under Reischman. In O'Shaughnessy's final year on campus and Stangel's junior campaign in 2006, the Syracuse first varsity eight crew completed an undefeated cup season, its first in 16 years, and finished eighth overall at the IRA Championship Regatta.
"Dave has a very good way of identifying what people are good at," stated O'Shaughnessy. "He helps you get better at that. Dave identified that stuff with everybody. Everybody was different. He would not try to change you. He would try to make the good version of you better."
"I was the guy who was always competitive," said Stangel. "I was always just trying to grip and rip it, and he kind of slowed things down for me. I attribute a lot of my small boat success, when I was on the national team, to him developing that with me at Syracuse. It was an experience just to be able to figure it out. Once that light bulb finally went off, I felt like I was able to make the change that I needed to make, mentally and physically. It all started here at Syracuse and that is something that Dave really took the time and helped."
As Reischman's first recruits exited the program, Mike Gennaro '11 joined the Orange. The foundation was laid for one of the most impressive runs by the Syracuse men's rowing team in Reischman's tenure.
"Dave was a father figure to us all," praised Gennaro. "At practice, he was the coach. He taught us rowing, boat feel, rhythm, smart training habits, etc. Where he really made an impact on me and my teammates is how he kept guiding us through life off the water. Coaching us to win races was no more important than helping us grow into honest, accountable, selfless young men."
In his four years, Gennaro helped the first varsity eight boat to three consecutive top-10 showings at IRA Championship Regatta, including its first trip to an IRA grand final since the 1990 season. The Havertown, Pa. native would go on to represent the United States in international competition, winning the 2011 Pan American Games pair and eight and 2013 World Rowing Cup 3 four. Gennaro also represented his home country at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
"My time as a rower at Syracuse was absolutely invaluable," commented Gennaro. "When I arrived my freshman year in the fall of 2007, the program had a short, inconsistent heartbeat of success. It would come and go. Our mission was to stabilize that and turn it into a culture. We wanted to take these lessons of accountability and selflessness that Dave was preaching and create an environment out it. He prepared me to be a leader of a group that was eagerly fighting to overcome obstacles. Those skills and lessons that he taught us not only carried over into my United States national team career, but proved to be most applicable to my everyday life."
Both Gennaro and Stangel turned to the coaching profession following successful careers with the Orange and United States national team. Gennaro joined the Yale coaching staff in 2016, while Stangel is in his fourth season as a Syracuse assistant coach. Reischman steered them into their current positions in the rowing community.
"As I embark on my coaching career, my admiration and appreciation for Dave continues to grow," said Gennaro. "The ups and downs that I have had in my first 10 months really puts Dave's 15 years with Syracuse into perspective. As a young athlete at Syracuse, an elite oarsman on the United States national team, and now as a fellow coach in the league, I always have and will continue to learn from Dave and reach out to him for guidance, leadership, and friendship. I cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for our program at Syracuse."
"It was the opportunity for me to come back and give back to the program that gave me so much," stated Stangel. "I am trying to create a program, or help create a program, through recruiting, coaching, or mentorship, and give that back to the guys that I have. Whether it is on the water or off the water, I am trying to do the same with the athletes and embody everything that Dave taught me. I think it just solidifies everything we are trying to establish as a program. It has been a blast doing it."
Now, the team is currently in the midst of its most successful stretch since 2012, when the first varsity eight crew finished in fifth place at the IRA Championship Regatta. The Orange defeated No. 6 Boston University to earn the Conlan Cup on April 22, the highest ranked foe that the top boat has defeated in the regular season under Reischman. Syracuse climbed as high as seventh nationally in the USRowing Coaches Poll, its highest appearance in nearly six years.
"He is a coach that gains a lot of respect from his athletes," sophomore Alexander Douglas added. "He genuinely cares about every athlete. He has a unique relationship with his athletes. We are more than just a machine to him. In turn, we have a lot of respect for him because he respects his athletes and genuinely cares about how we are doing."
"As a coach he is pretty open-minded," senior captain Andrew Reichard said. "He is not just looking for guys with huge ergometer scores or guys coming in with success on the national level before this. He is willing to take a person like me, whom was not a top recruit coming out of high school. If you are willing to put in the work, he is willing to work with you."
The Orange will hit the water for the final time, beginning on Friday morning, at the 2017 IRA Championship Regatta in Gold River, Calif. It marks the culmination of Reischman's 15th year at the helm of the program, but is just another page in the successful story of the head coach of the Syracuse men's rowing program.
"He mentioned to us a couple of weeks ago that he does not sleep much when we start racing," stated Reichard. "He will wake up in the middle of the night and think of how he can get us to go faster. Hearing that as athletes, hearing that our coach is thinking that much makes us think about everything we do throughout the day. That is coming from the top-down. It shows that he cares about it as much as we do. It shows that he is invested in it, as much as we are."
"I think we have an opportunity to do something really special under Coach Reischman," concluded Douglas. "I really want to see it happen for him, as much as I want it for us. I really want to achieve success for Coach Reischman, just as much as I want to have the success myself. I know he has been a part of this program, stuck with this program for so long. I feel like he deserves it for what he has given to the program. It is time for him to really reap the rewards."
Reischman was named the head coach of the Orange men's rowing program in 2002, following the retirement of Bill Sanford. The Gonzaga alum was most recently at the helm of Oregon State, where he led the Beavers to a fourth-place showing at the 2002 IRA Championship Regatta.
Dan O'Shaughnessy '06 and current assistant coach Justin Stangel '07 were two of the first rowers Reischman recruited. Both were sold on the challenge of building something special at Syracuse.
"I met Dave at the boathouse in Syracuse in the summertime," commented O'Shaughnessy. "He had just finished his first year at Syracuse. He had this view on the world and that was how his team was going to be. He has stuck with that for 15 years. He has never really wavered from the view that he had, that people are supposed to be good people. You are supposed to race as hard as you can. It is not a personal thing. You are just out there, challenging yourself. I remember hearing all of that and it was so refreshing."
"I remember the first time I felt like I was going to come to Syracuse was when he asked me if I was up for the challenge," added Stangel. "He wanted the recruits to know that if you came in, it was not going to be immediately back in the IRA grand finals. It was how hard you were going to work to be able to even give us a look."
With O'Shaughnessy and Stangel in tow, Reischman would begin his own construction of the men's rowing program. Slowly but surely, the team began to break through under Reischman. In O'Shaughnessy's final year on campus and Stangel's junior campaign in 2006, the Syracuse first varsity eight crew completed an undefeated cup season, its first in 16 years, and finished eighth overall at the IRA Championship Regatta.
"Dave has a very good way of identifying what people are good at," stated O'Shaughnessy. "He helps you get better at that. Dave identified that stuff with everybody. Everybody was different. He would not try to change you. He would try to make the good version of you better."
"I was the guy who was always competitive," said Stangel. "I was always just trying to grip and rip it, and he kind of slowed things down for me. I attribute a lot of my small boat success, when I was on the national team, to him developing that with me at Syracuse. It was an experience just to be able to figure it out. Once that light bulb finally went off, I felt like I was able to make the change that I needed to make, mentally and physically. It all started here at Syracuse and that is something that Dave really took the time and helped."
As Reischman's first recruits exited the program, Mike Gennaro '11 joined the Orange. The foundation was laid for one of the most impressive runs by the Syracuse men's rowing team in Reischman's tenure.
"Dave was a father figure to us all," praised Gennaro. "At practice, he was the coach. He taught us rowing, boat feel, rhythm, smart training habits, etc. Where he really made an impact on me and my teammates is how he kept guiding us through life off the water. Coaching us to win races was no more important than helping us grow into honest, accountable, selfless young men."
In his four years, Gennaro helped the first varsity eight boat to three consecutive top-10 showings at IRA Championship Regatta, including its first trip to an IRA grand final since the 1990 season. The Havertown, Pa. native would go on to represent the United States in international competition, winning the 2011 Pan American Games pair and eight and 2013 World Rowing Cup 3 four. Gennaro also represented his home country at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
"My time as a rower at Syracuse was absolutely invaluable," commented Gennaro. "When I arrived my freshman year in the fall of 2007, the program had a short, inconsistent heartbeat of success. It would come and go. Our mission was to stabilize that and turn it into a culture. We wanted to take these lessons of accountability and selflessness that Dave was preaching and create an environment out it. He prepared me to be a leader of a group that was eagerly fighting to overcome obstacles. Those skills and lessons that he taught us not only carried over into my United States national team career, but proved to be most applicable to my everyday life."
Both Gennaro and Stangel turned to the coaching profession following successful careers with the Orange and United States national team. Gennaro joined the Yale coaching staff in 2016, while Stangel is in his fourth season as a Syracuse assistant coach. Reischman steered them into their current positions in the rowing community.
"As I embark on my coaching career, my admiration and appreciation for Dave continues to grow," said Gennaro. "The ups and downs that I have had in my first 10 months really puts Dave's 15 years with Syracuse into perspective. As a young athlete at Syracuse, an elite oarsman on the United States national team, and now as a fellow coach in the league, I always have and will continue to learn from Dave and reach out to him for guidance, leadership, and friendship. I cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for our program at Syracuse."
"It was the opportunity for me to come back and give back to the program that gave me so much," stated Stangel. "I am trying to create a program, or help create a program, through recruiting, coaching, or mentorship, and give that back to the guys that I have. Whether it is on the water or off the water, I am trying to do the same with the athletes and embody everything that Dave taught me. I think it just solidifies everything we are trying to establish as a program. It has been a blast doing it."
Now, the team is currently in the midst of its most successful stretch since 2012, when the first varsity eight crew finished in fifth place at the IRA Championship Regatta. The Orange defeated No. 6 Boston University to earn the Conlan Cup on April 22, the highest ranked foe that the top boat has defeated in the regular season under Reischman. Syracuse climbed as high as seventh nationally in the USRowing Coaches Poll, its highest appearance in nearly six years.
"He is a coach that gains a lot of respect from his athletes," sophomore Alexander Douglas added. "He genuinely cares about every athlete. He has a unique relationship with his athletes. We are more than just a machine to him. In turn, we have a lot of respect for him because he respects his athletes and genuinely cares about how we are doing."
"As a coach he is pretty open-minded," senior captain Andrew Reichard said. "He is not just looking for guys with huge ergometer scores or guys coming in with success on the national level before this. He is willing to take a person like me, whom was not a top recruit coming out of high school. If you are willing to put in the work, he is willing to work with you."
The Orange will hit the water for the final time, beginning on Friday morning, at the 2017 IRA Championship Regatta in Gold River, Calif. It marks the culmination of Reischman's 15th year at the helm of the program, but is just another page in the successful story of the head coach of the Syracuse men's rowing program.
"He mentioned to us a couple of weeks ago that he does not sleep much when we start racing," stated Reichard. "He will wake up in the middle of the night and think of how he can get us to go faster. Hearing that as athletes, hearing that our coach is thinking that much makes us think about everything we do throughout the day. That is coming from the top-down. It shows that he cares about it as much as we do. It shows that he is invested in it, as much as we are."
"I think we have an opportunity to do something really special under Coach Reischman," concluded Douglas. "I really want to see it happen for him, as much as I want it for us. I really want to achieve success for Coach Reischman, just as much as I want to have the success myself. I know he has been a part of this program, stuck with this program for so long. I feel like he deserves it for what he has given to the program. It is time for him to really reap the rewards."
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Rowing
/ Men's Rowing
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