ITHACA, N.Y. – Longtime men's crew head coach Dan Robinson '79 has announced that he will retire following the conclusion of the 2022 season. After spending four years on the team as a student-athlete, he started as an assistant coach immediately after graduating from Ithaca College and has been the head coach for men's crew for the past 35 seasons. He had also served as women's head coach from 1984-87, for a total of 47 years associated with one or both programs.

"Rowing as an undergrad was so exciting that I stuck around," Robinson said.  "Coaching covered everything that I was seeking -- fun, competition, my own team. I stayed young for a long time. I've now participated in 47 straight years of Ithaca rowing seasons. I'm still fired up to watch the crews race, but I'm a bit worn out. Ithaca College crew is a great opportunity, and I am excited to see what a new coach can do. I'll be a happy spectator!"

A fixture with the crew programs since he enrolled at Ithaca College as an undergraduate in 1975, Robinson has helped take IC crew from a start-up program to club status and then to full varsity during his time. As head coach, Robinson has won more than 200 regattas, including a perfect 12-0 lightweight season in 1992, over his 35 years at the helm.

"Few individuals have been more synonymous with a program or had a greater positive impact than Dan Robinson has had on crew at Ithaca College," stated Director of Athletics Susan Bassett '79. "His legacy for IC rowing is profound and generations of Ithaca rowers, both male and female, will be the beneficiaries of his commitment, vision, and passion for building upon our humble foundation forged in the 1970s."

Under his direction, the men's lightweight crew captured the New York State Small School Championship in 1990, 1994, and 1996. The heavyweights won in 1993, 2009, and 2012 and placed second in 1990, 1991, and 2014. As women's head coach from 1984-87, Robinson oversaw the transition from club to varsity status.

Since joining the Liberty League in 2017-18, Ithaca has finished as runners-up in three different seasons. In 2018-19, Robinson was named Liberty League Coach of the Year. Robinson helped engineer the program's move from the Dad Vail Regatta, where the Bombers accumulated four varsity and 14 additional medals, to the CICR in 1993, renamed the Avaya Regatta in 2001 and now known as the National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC).

The crew programs are housed at the Robert B. Tallman Rowing Center on the Cayuga Lake Inlet. The original boathouse was built to host 16 rowers and two boats, and due to the work of Robinson and his wife, Becky (the women's head coach), the boathouse can now accommodate more than 100 members. The Robinsons were able to raise more than $1 million to construct the current boathouse and a brand-new dock was installed in 2020.

As a competitor from 1975-79, Robinson was part of some of the best men's crews in program history. In the mid-1970s, Ithaca's crews established themselves as medal winners at the annual Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, recognized as the small-college national championship. In 1975, Ithaca's heavyweights went 12-0 and finished third at the Dad Vail. Two years later, the Bombers repeated the bronze-medal performance.

"I congratulate Dan Robinson for his exemplary career and thank him for all he has done and meant to IC crew and the Department of Athletics," Bassett said. "In my time working with Dan, I have known him as a wonderful department teammate, excellent instructor and highly committed coach. Dan is ever present at other IC athletics events, enjoying the work of his fellow coaches and supporting our student-athletes as they perform in football, basketball, swimming and many other sports. Dan is a gentleman, a student of sport, a committed community member and the first to volunteer if there is a department need. He will be missed within our department and of course among our IC crew family, both current students and alumni. We know he will remain engaged with the program and with IC. We wish him all the best in this next chapter of his life."

A search for the next men's crew head coach will commence in April.