Head coach Andrew Derrick announced the addition of Olivia Betz to his staff going into the Fall 2021 season. 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.
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).
