ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The offseason awards continued rolling in for the Navy women's rowing program as the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association announced its Regional Staff and Coach of the Year honors late Tuesday. In recognition of the Mids' sixth straight Patriot League Championship, head coach Joe Schlosberg and assistants Megan Fitzpatrick and Mackenzie Whiteside were named as the CRCA Region 2 Coach and Staff of the Year, respectively.

The CRCA Staff of the Year Award is intended to recognize a staff that fits one or more of the following criteria: outstanding success during the current season, demonstrated great team improvement from the prior season, fulfilled team's potential and demonstrated a high level of professionalism and integrity as a coach.

Checking off all of those conditions during a COVID-impacted 2021 season, the trio of Schlosberg, Fitzpatrick and Whiteside led the Midshipmen through a spring schedule unlike any other. After the COVID-19 pandemic sidelined all rowing competitions in 2020, Navy was chomping at the bit to compete this spring only to have its preseason training regiment postponed for over three weeks when a restriction of movement order was placed on the entire Naval Academy during the month of March. Once cleared for action, the Mids quickly re-lit their competitive fire and came out with victories over NCAA Championship foe Northeastern on April 3 and local rival George Washington on April 17. One more meet, a non-scored event against then No. 3 Virginia on April 24 was all the prep that Navy would receive in the regular season. Augmented regular season or not, the Mids came out at the 2021 Patriot League Championship on May 14 and exerted their dominance over the league once again as they swept the V8, 2V8 and V4 competitions on their way to a perfect 54-point team score and the conference crown. Competing in the NCAA Championship for the sixth straight time that the national regatta has been held (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021), Navy saw all three of its boats qualify for and race in C-Finals this past weekend in Sarasota, Florida. The Mids' varsity four crew led the way with a 14th place finish; as a program, Navy finished 18th overall in the field.
 
The Navy coaching staff was one of five nationally to be honored by the CRCA. Other regional winners included, Rhode Island (Region 1), Alabama (Region 3), Rutgers (Region 4) and the University of Washington (Region 5).

Navy took home this prestigious honor following the 2018 and 2019 seasons, as well. Washington is the only other staff to have repeated in both 2019 and 2021. 

Individually, Schlosberg received the CRCA Region 2 Coach of the Year honor for the fourth straight time (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021). He is joined by Marci Robles (Reg. 1 - George Washington), Glenn Putyrae (Reg. 3 - Alabama), Justin Price (Reg. 4 - Rutgers), Yaz Farooq (Reg. 5 - Washington), Brian Ebke (DII - University of Central Oklahoma) and Jim Lister (DIII - Hamilton College).

In the final USRowing/CRCA Coaches' Poll of the 2021 season, Navy was ranked 20th overall. The Mids are one of only two non-Power 5 or Ivy League school to finish the year in the top-20, SMU at No. 10 is the other.