Wolverines Offer Gratitude to Novice Coach Schmetterling
5/23/2024 12:30:00 PM | Rowing
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When Lauren Schmetterling arrived in Ann Arbor in the summer of 2021, she had recently concluded her career as part of the USRowing roster (2019), where she won gold medals on the World Championships, World Rowing Cup and Olympic stages.
As she departs from the coaching profession after three full seasons at U-M, Schmetterling has added to her trophy case, and Michigan's in the process.
But the one-time Olympian had more to share than her technical knowledge or lessons on leading by example on and off the water. She has made the most resonant impact in athletes' lives with what she taught about life, as an athlete, a student, a teammate, and an upstanding community member.
"I am grateful to have learned from Coach Lauren the value of being an intelligent and hard-working person outside of rowing," said first-year rower Megan Higley. "She really emphasized the importance of using your experiences in rowing throughout your life and into your future."
"One of the biggest lessons I learned from her is that our capabilities as athletes and people are often severely underestimated because of our own preconceptions," said Rachel Palaian. "She taught me that I am stronger, more capable, and tougher than I ever knew I could be."
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Schmetterling's unique blend of personability and rowing knowledge led the Wolverines to indisputable success. In her two spring championship seasons on staff, Schmetterling's novice boats won three of four gold medals (with one silver medal). Out of 48 possible points, the boats scored 46, helping the Wolverines to back-to-back Big Ten titles in 2023 and 2024.
"Being taught to row by one of the very best rowers of all time was an absolute blessing," said Palaian. "Even more, being taught to row by someone as passionate and dedicated as Coach Lauren was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Whether it was working on tech in slow boats or racing in a 2K time trial, she brought the same energy and intention to every practice. Coach Lauren is the epitome of attacking each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind."
"She is very knowledgeable about how to formulate high-level training plans, which helped prepare us to compete for and win the Big Ten Championship," said Higley. "Her experience and dedication to rowing was invaluable as a novice rower."
"One of the best things about getting to work with Coach Lauren was how she always wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page," said first-year athlete Gretel Ham. "With so many athletes coming from different backgrounds, she would find as many ways as she could to describe a concept to ensure we were all on the same page. Her focus and attention to communicating technique and elements of the stroke effectively helped our novice crews tremendously."
Gratitude is the prevailing emotion around Schmetterling -- from her athletes, that they could learn from a coach of her caliber; from her fellow coaches, that they have had such a friend and resource in their corner, and from Schmetterling herself. Her happiness has been infectious around the program.
"As I reflect on my time at Michigan," said Schmetterling, "I want everyone to know how grateful I am to Mark (Rothstein) and how inspired I am by him. He is great leader; thoughtful with a great vision, and he is an amazing advocate for his staff and the athletes."
"When I retired from rowing, I knew I wanted to come to Michigan Rowing and support the program in any way that I could. I've always been really inspired by the alumni of the program. I've rowed with a lot of them over the years at the national and Olympic level and they weren't just great rowers but the highest quality people you'd ever meet. I wanted to come to Michigan to be part of that ... to learn from and work for Mark and I have learned so much from him, (coaches) Emily (Sugiyama), Liz (Tuppen), and from the student-athletes. I'm very grateful for my time."
She leaves big shoes to fill as she prepares to leave the coaching profession, and Michigan's novice program will have a different look and feel in spring, 2025.
"We are going to miss Lauren's presence in our boathouse, in our offices, and on the water," said head coach Mark Rothstein. "She is truly a one-of-a-kind person and coach and our program has been fortunate to have her as a Michigan Wolverine."
Schmetterling's impact will continue to be felt, said Rothstein.
"Lauren will continue to be a presence in our program in the future because she has left our novice program in a great state to continue being successful, and because the rowers she has worked with over the past few years will continue to be pieces of our lineup in the seasons to come."
