ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT Head Rowing Coach Jim Bodenstedt announced he will retire this spring following the completion of the 2022-23 season.  
 
The only head coach in program history, he helped found the team as a club sport 30 years ago before overseeing the transition to intercollegiate status in 1996.  
 
"Jim's passion not only for rowing, but the student-athlete experience, has made him invaluable to RIT throughout his career," said Executive AD Jacqueline Nicholson. "Jim has literally been the heart and soul of the rowing program from day-one and his legacy will continue whenever a rower hits the water in a Tiger uniform."  
 
Bodenstedt mentored several outstanding crews during his tenure. The women won their first Liberty League Championship in 2017 and advanced to the NCAA Rowing Championships for the first time in program history, finishing fifth overall. The women's varsity eight was named Liberty League Crew of the Year for the third consecutive season while Amy Guthrie was named the program's first Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-American.  
 
On the men's side, Bodenstedt guided the men to the Dad Vail Regatta Championship in the JV8 in 2001 and the lightweight 4+ in 2006. The men's novice eight was named the Liberty League Novice Crew of the Year five times during a seven-year stretch from 2013-2019. 
 
Bodenstedt also took crews to England for the Royal Henley Regatta and the Women's Henley Regatta in 2007.   
 
Bodenstedt led his staff to five Liberty League Crew Coaching Staff of the Year honors, winning three straight women's awards from 2015-17, while garnering men's honors in 2015 and 2017.   
 
Countless members of the program have garnered academic recognition through the years. Last season, a Liberty League-high 20 women garnered All-Academic Team merits, while a conference-best 17 men also landed all-academic honors as well.  
 
Bodenstedt has been a member of the RIT community for 34 years, starting as an archives assistant in Wallace Library in 1989. He and his late wife, Margaret, founded the program three years later in 1993. Originally rowing out of the Rochester Rowing Club facility at Genesee Valley Park, he was instrumental in the construction of the Tigers' current home, Gosnell Boathouse, dedicated in the fall of 1999.  
 
RIT Executive Athletics Director Emeritus Lou Spiotti: 
Jim Bodenstedt embodies all that is good about coaching, teaching, mentoring and RIT Athletics. His leadership and foresight brought about the establishment, growth and development of RIT Rowing. I cannot say enough good things about Jim and what he has meant to his student athletes and to RIT Athletics. The Gosnell Boathouse on the banks of the Genesee River is a living testimony to Jim's leadership. He is a great friend and a true gentleman and am thankful for all he has done. 
I wish him great fortune in the years ahead! 
 
Assistant RIT Rowing Coach Fredyne Frey: 
Jim has been integral in building the successful tradition of rowing at RIT. His experience and knowledge have helped many successful crews over the years, but I think his mentorship and commitment to developing the whole individual will be what he is most remembered for, and he will be greatly missed by the RIT Crew family, both current students and alumni. It's hard to imagine our teams without Jim at the helm, but it's an exciting new chapter for him and I know he'll be cheering on the program's continued growth. 
 
Jim Bodenstedt:  
On what being the rowing coach at RIT has meant to him: 
Being the head rowing coach at RIT has been the greatest joy in my life. I will be forever grateful to RIT and to RIT Athletics for allowing me the opportunity to start a rowing program from the ground up. In those early years as a club sport, we pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps and proved to the RIT community and the rowing world we were worthy of varsity status. We were a competitive program right from the get-go, and this got the attention of then president Al Simone and key trustee members Joe Briggs and Tom Gosnell, along with our Athletic Director, Lou Spiotti. Everyone saw the value and opportunity to bring on Men's and Women's Rowing as a varsity sport as RIT positioned itself as a premier university. 
 
On what he will miss the most: 
I will miss most the student athletes and all the fun we had in making fast boats. I will miss being a part of their daily lives. And I will certainly miss my assistant coaches Fredyne Frey and Chris Frey who have been with me for three quarters of my career. Coaching on and off the water with them has been a great joy in my life. They made me a better coach and I had the great pleasure and honor of seeing them grow as young people and coaches. Truly, without them, RIT Rowing would not be where it is today. 
 
I will also miss tinkering in the boathouse! As I always like to say, a clean boathouse is a fast boathouse! 
 
On his fondest memories of his time as coach at RIT: 
I will never forget starting the program and how we collected returnable cans on campus to purchase our first rowing shell we named, The Five Cent Return.  
 
Every group of athletes has been special and has done amazing things on and off the water and has won big races. But my fondest memories are being on the river, coaching, and seeing the light bulb go off for student athletes who had never taken a stroke before, and suddenly, like magic, they move the oar through the water with great power and ease, and you can just see the joy in their faces.  
 
On whom he would like to thank: 
I would like to thank all of the assistant coaches and captains we've had over these last thirty years. Each brought unique talents to our programs and made us better. I especially want to thank coaches Freddie and Chris for all of their support, hard work, and complete dedication and commitment to RIT Rowing. Their Tiger Crew spirit will live on in the many generations of rowers they coached. I couldn't be prouder of their outstanding contributions to our programs.  
 
I would also like to thank former Executive AD Lou Spiotti for his tremendous support to me as a coach and person, and for his mentorship over the many years. A special thank you to Sue Benson for her work behind the scenes, always appreciated and never forgotten and forever grateful for her listening ear and smile.
 
And to all those who retired before me that I think of so fondly - Karen Wagner Beck, Mary Grace (Cookie) Manuse, Beverly Bartlett, Joanne Bagley, Dugan Davies, Ann Nealon, Greg Moss, Lex Sleeman, John Buckholtz and Jan Strine.  
 
Also - A special thank you to current Executive Athletic Director Jackie Nicholson and all of my current colleagues on the Athletics, Recreation and Wellness staffs. It has been quite a ride and a lot of fun to work with you! 
 
I also want to thank former assistant coach and Women's Varsity Coach Cassidy Goepel for her enormous contributions to the program. Her wonderful leadership and coaching acumen made 2017 a special year in RIT Women's Rowing.  
 
A big thank you also to former assistant coach Jason Rich, now a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, for his contributions to our programs and support to our student athletes over the last ten years. And of course I want to thank our rowing alumni. Their support for me as their head coach will forever be cherished.