Professional Coaching Staff
The 2024/2025 season brought many positive changes to the SDSU Aztec Rowing Club. The most important of which was the development of a professional coaching staff, with Head Coach Scott Walsh, Assistant Coach Tracy Falkenthal (recently the recipient of the USRowing Anita DeFrantz Award) and Assistant Coach and SDSU Alumnus Jack Neuhaus.
 Head Coach Scott Walsh |  Coach Tracy Falkenthal |  Coach Jack Neuhaus |
The idea of a professional coaching staff for SDSU Club Sports comes from the Associated Students Competitive Club Sports Program. Associated Students examined the successful sports clubs at SDSU in the 1970’s and 1980’s, such as Rowing and Rugby and asked, “why was this era of SDSU club sports so competitive?”. They concluded that SDSU has continued a low budget club funding model for decades. Meanwhile, other University clubs have matured – engaging strong alumni support and fostering staff development. A model success story is the UCLA Men’s Rowing Club (women are Division 1 NCAA at UCLA). Today’s UCLA Men’s Rowing operating budget is approximately $400,000 a year. A critical portion of this robust annual operating budget has been attributed to recent endowment donations totaling $3.7m from UCLA alums. Endowments, grown over decades, provide teams with a persistent financial foundation. Of utmost importance, they have made coaching pay competitive.
2023/2024 Recreational Rowing Budget
In the 2023/2024 season the SDSU budget was approximately $60,000. Of this, $40,000 came from Associated Student recreational budget and rowing team dues. The remaining $20,000 came from donations. Subtracting costs for H Del Beekley Boathouse rent, boat maintenance and travel costs, leaves little for coaching staff. Put bluntly, $60,000 is a recreational rowing budget. It does not provide the support needed in today’s larger competitive club environment. The Aztec Rowing Club is committed to making the journey to push its limits and pull ahead of their club peers. The alumni are being asked to support this renewed competitive effort.
The SDSU Associated Students Challenge to Aztec Alums
In July of 2024 the Associated Students (AS) Management asked if the Rowing Alumni were ready to step up and start providing the resources needed for the team. AS requested an increase of donation support of $33,000 a year, starting with the 2024/2025 season to improve coaching pay. The Alumni have successfully done this and more for the team in 2024/2025. However, the Alumni know our community has much more it can bring. We have launched a campaign, “Celebrating 100 Years of Aztec Rowing”, with the goal of committing 100 alums/supporters giving $1,000 a year for 5-years. As of April 2025, we have recruited over 40 alums giving $1,000 a year. We hope to add another 60 alumni this 2025 Celebration Year to complete our goal. By reaching out to team captains and coaches from multiple eras, we aim to bring decades of alumni support into SDSU Rowing.
The Aztec Rowing Club now includes Women and Men teams at the H Del Beekley Boathouse. This is a heavier lift than supporting either the men or the women individually. However, there are inherent efficiencies in this model, from equipment and facilities use as well as from a coaching perspective.
Aztec Rowing Operating Funds
The “Celebrating 100 Years of Aztec Rowing” campaign is focused on providing funds for expanding team operations. This includes competitive coaching pay, significant outlays to repair and buy parts for an aging fleet of racing shells, and travel, as well as other annual costs. The team is currently facing the replacement of two 8’s and two 4’s from Resolute that exceed 15 years old. The manufacturer is now out-of-business making replacement parts impossible to find or prohibitively expensive.
The long-term fleet plan is to have an American-made Pocock and Canadian-made Hudson fleet. The team has been fortunate with $33,000 donated by Russ Young (Varsity Stroke ’79), his partner Shyla Miller, and The Boeing Company. That has allowed the purchase of a refurbished Pocock 4+ (the “Darlene Disney”), a used Hudson 8+ (the “Ed Ecker”), and now a used Pocock 8+ to be dedicated this Fall (the “Russ Young ‘79”). These have been invaluable and well-timed gifts to the team. Now, the next target is to replace the four Resolute boats in the next one to two years. With strong support matching the 2024/2025 efforts, we hope to gift these boats while maintaining a healthy operating budget.
The Ron Dietz H Del Beekley Rowing Endowment
Ron Dietz was a SDSU Alumnus from the early 60’s. As team manager, Ron helped Del Beekley build the fledgling team into the powerhouse of the 70’s and 80’s. Ron’s cousin Mike Trempe (another Aztec from the early 60’s) attended the Team Banquet on March 29 to celebrate this year’s successes. Of special importance to Mike was an effort to transfer the Dietz Rowing Endowment for use by the team. Associated Students and The Campanile Foundation cooperated with the Athletic Department to transfer the Dietz Rowing Endowment to the Aztec Rowing Club Endowment Account.
This account started at $24,000 in 1998 and grew in capital to $131,000 in 2025. The Athletic Department transferred these funds and cash generated by the endowment to the Aztec Rowing Club operating account. Our new era of cooperation and support between University Departments is what was missing at SDSU in prior years. This support is certainly appreciated by today’s Aztec Rowers and Alums.
The $131,000 endowment will generate funds at 4% to the Club operating account, and will grow with time as investments by the Campanile Foundation grow. The Campanile Foundation recently expressed the intent to support the Aztec Rowing Club with an endowment campaign to ultimately raise $5,000,000 for the Aztec Rowing Club. The current plan is to first demonstrate broad community support by achieving the goal of 100 at $1,000, then follow up with our higher net worth alums to support the $5m endowment campaign.
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