Rob Friedrich enters his first year as Associate AD for the Navy Letterwinners Association. Prior to taking on this role he was the Navy lightweight rowing head coach from 2002 to 2008 and heavyweight crew head coach from 2012 through 2024.
Highlights of Friedrich's 13 years as head coach of the Navy heavyweight program, include a 69-50 mark in head-to-head competitions with the heavyweight varsity eight crew and a pair of Goes Trophy wins (vs. Cornell/Syracuse) and seven Stevenson Trophy victories (vs. Columbia). In the postseason, Friedrich's heavyweight program placed top-ten in the Ten Eyck Team Standings at the IRA National Championship in 2013, 2016 and 2021, while the Mids' V8 placed ninth at both the 2013 and 2015 first varsity eight competitions.
A great cultivator of talent, especially from the novice/walk-on ranks, Friedrich had multiple Midshipmen compete under the United States' banner internationally at the 2013 World Under-23 Rowing Championships (Ted Bumgardner), 2015 World U-23 (Julian Hagberg & Tim Tracey), 2018 & 2019 World U-23 (Andrew Knoll) and 2021 World U-23 (Griffin Dunne & Will Geib). For his efforts, Dunne was selected as the 2021 USRowing Under-23 Co-Male National Team Athlete of the Year. Additionally, he led the United States' Armed Forces team at the 2019 Henley Royal Regatta in the King’s Cup competition; the mixed gender team with athletes from all three Navy crew programs won the King’s Cup as the top crew of military athletes, knocking off Germany in the finals.
Prior to taking the reins of the heavyweight program from the legendary Rick Clothier, he served as the team's senior associate head coach with a direct eye on the freshmen/novice boats. During the 2009-12 seasons, Navy's F8 went a combined 66-10 and a fourth-place result at the 2011 EARC Championships, the highest by a Navy plebe crew in 15 years.
As head coach of the Navy lightweight program, Friedrich led the squad to new heights. Since taking over the team in 2001-02, Friedrich immediately made an impact and saw the 2V8 win its classification at the Eastern Sprints and V8 get edged out at the IRAs. During the regular season, the V8 defeated Harvard for the first time in 21 years. The growth of the Navy lights continued and culminated in 2004 with an undefeated regular campaign by the V8 and boat titles at both the Eastern Sprints and IRA National Championship. The former being a first for the program in 42 years. The V8 crew would go on to reach the semifinal round of the Henley Royal Regatta. In 2006, Friedrich and Navy won the program's first team points title at the Eastern Sprints as each Navy entry placed first or second in its respective grand final. The following year, the Mids repeated as the team points champion at the Eastern Sprints, while the varsity boat placed fourth overall at the event and sixth at the IRA Championship. Overall, Friedrich was selected as the 2004 EARC Coach of the Year, as well as the 2002 and 2004 NAAA Spring Coach of the Year.
A team captain and graduate of Rutgers University (Class of 1997), Friedrich served as head coach of the Scarlet Knights' lightweight rowing team for three years before coming to the Naval Academy. He was named EARC Coach of the Year and brought Rutgers to the No. 1 national ranking during the 2000 regular season. They ended that campaign with action at the Henley Royal Regatta.
As a competitive rower at Rutgers, he was twice named the program's most valuable athlete. Internationally, he rowed with the U.S. U-23 National Team and competed for America at the Nation's Cup in Milan, Italy; placing fifth in the lightweight four classification.
