Kansas Rowing announces third head coach in history

LAWRENCE (KSNT) – Kansas Athletics formally announced its third head coach in Kansas Rowing history today. From the University of Gonzaga, Andrew Derrick brings an extensive coaching resume with him to KU. He led the Bulldogs to four-straight West Coast Conference Championships, leading a top 20 nationally ranked team in four of his last five seasons.

He joins the Jayhawks after five years at Gonzaga, previously serving as a head coach at Seattle Pacific and Central Oklahoma, as well as an assistant coach at Oklahoma and UCF.

When talking about the culture he hopes to create at Kansas, Derrick said, “It looks like me stepping back. It looks like the team running itself in the right direction, because anything that is self-driven is more powerful than anything that is coach-driven.”

Derrick knows what it’s like to reach the top as an athlete, earning a National Championship at the University of Washington in 2001 and finishing as a runner-up twice. 

“Hopefully bringing a championship-caliber attitude that I think is within each athlete and I think we just have to all get going in the same direction,” Derrick said. “I have no doubt that through a lot of hard work on their part we’re going to be able to see success.” 

This is Athletic Director Travis Goff’s sixth head coaching hire. 

“Let’s get a spark,” Goff said. “I say this—we only have 16 programs at KU, why would we settle in any of them.”