SPOKANE, Wash. – Women's rowing head coach Andrew Derrick has announced two new additions to his coaching staff, Olivia Betz and Gillian Edgar.
 
"I am really looking forward to getting to work with both Coach Olivia Betz and Coach Gillian Edgar this year and I know the athletes will as well," Derrick said.
 
Betz arrives at Gonzaga after spending the past year coaching at Rutgers University during the most successful season in program history. For their efforts, Betz and the rest of the Scarlet Knight Staff were honored as the CRCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.

Edgar also joins the Gonzaga Rowing staff as an assistant coach. Edgar is no stranger to working with Coach Derrick as she was a student-athlete at Seattle Pacific for three years under Coach Derrick before his arrival in Spokane. 
 
"Having coached Gillian previously, I know what a fierce competitor and hard worker she is, and she has hit the ground running already," Derrick said. "Olivia comes to us with experience in both coaching and competing in the Big Ten at a program that has made meteoric gains while she was a part of it. I'm excited for the new ideas she brings to our staff and team, just as I am excited for the great familiarity and compatibility Gillian brings. I think we have a well-balanced and very exciting staff. I can't wait to get the year started."

Olivia Betz
Betz helped guide the Scarlet Knights to a program-best seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The team was ranked as high as No. 4 in the CRCA/USRowing Coaches national poll during the 2021 season. At the Big Ten Championships, Rutgers saw another program-best, earning a third-place team finish where all five varsity boats medaled.

She spent the summer of 2021 as an Assistant Coach with the Princeton National Rowing Association (PNRA), coaching the Adult Learn-to-Row program as well as the Adult Summer Rowing League. In addition, Betz joined the staff at Row New Jersey as an Assistant Coach, helping to coach the Junior Varsity Girls during their summer training.

A three-year member of the Women's Rowing team at Rutgers, Betz played a fundamental role in the program's transformational rise into the national rankings after an 18-year drought. Walking onto the team in 2017, she spent her first year of collegiate rowing in the Novice Eight and was the recipient of the Varsity Crew Outstanding Novice Award. During the 2018-19 season, Betz earned Big Ten Boat of the Week honors in the Varsity Four following wins against ranked opponents No. 7 Princeton and No. 12 Wisconsin. She spent the remainder of the season in the Second Varsity Eight, earning the team program-best finishes of fourth at the Big Ten Championships and eleventh at the NCAA Championships.

Prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season due to COVID-19, Betz spent time in the Second Varsity Eight while the Scarlet Knights earned their first pre-season ranking at No. 12.

Originally from Long Valley, New Jersey, Betz graduated from Rutgers University in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in Sport Management. During her undergraduate career, she also served as an intern for the Rutgers Athletics Office for Leadership Development and Strategic Partnerships (LDSP).

Gillian Edgar
Edgar is a two time All-American who helped her team reach the NCAA Championships for the first time in nearly a decade, finishing fourth in 2019 at Seattle Pacific.  As a senior, Edger and the Falcons placed as the runner-up at the inaugural GNAC Championship and earned All-Conference in 2021 for her efforts. 
 
Edgar was the Only DII Rower in the nation to be invited to the U23 National Team Selection Camp in 2019. She was team captain for the 2019-2020 school year.
 
Off the water, Edgar served not only her team and her institution, but her entire conference as the GNAC representative to the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Council from 2019-2021. In spring of 2021, she was nominated by the GNAC for NCAA Women of the Year award and was awarded the Falcon Award for Excellence from Seattle Pacific.
 
Edgar graduated from Seattle Pacific in 2021 with a degree in Business Management.