Ready, Set, Row! Xavier Becomes the First HBCU in the Nation to Offer Co-ed Varsity Rowing Program
Xavier University of Louisiana is thrilled to announce that rowing will become an official university sport in fall 2025, breaking barriers as the first-ever varsity-level co-ed rowing program at an HBCU. This announcement follows the program’s third season as a club sport.
Bringing equality and access to the sport at the collegiate level, the New Orleans Rowing Club (NORC) and Xavier partnered to launch the Xavier Rowing Club program in September 2023, making the program one of very few of its kind at an HBCU. NORC members Elizabeth Manley, Ph.D., professor of history and chair of the History Department at Xavier, and Chloé Jobin, the club’s head of community outreach and diversity initiatives, lead the fast-growing sport at Xavier.
"We could not be prouder to work with the Xavier Rowing team as we launch this historic debut as an official varsity university sport,” Manley and Jobin said in a joint statement. “The passion and dedication of our athletes, combined with the support from esteemed national figures including Olympic Rower David Banks, former Division I Coach Kevin Harris, rowing luminary Arshay Cooper, and Brannon Johnson of BLJ Rowing, who have all visited to inspire and coach our students, truly exemplifies the spirit of Xavier. Launching this team of athletes onto the competitive national stage is not just about rowing—it's about building a community, inspiring our students, and creating opportunities for growth both on and off the water."
Xavier Athletics offers a variety of men’s and women’s sports including basketball, baseball, softball, competitive cheer, cross country, soccer, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Athletic Director Pat Kendrick is excited to add rowing to the roster of official sports.
"This is an exciting time for Xavier Athletics in welcoming the rowing team to our family,” Kendrick said. “We are so proud of each and every one of these athletes and look forward to seeing them excel in their sport and bring the spirit of Xavier to the water and beyond.”
Since its formation, the club has attracted attention nationally from leaders in the rowing community. It has also earned sponsorships and donations from the sport’s national governing body, USRowing, Mr. Cooper’s A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund, and other major players in the sport, including Vespoli USA, JL Athletics, and Concept2.
“For so many young people in our rowing community, Xavier has the potential to enhance their lives both academically and athletically and to provide an opportunity that has not existed before now,” Arshay Cooper said. “Excitement for the program has been building around the country as young men and women are realizing that they may soon be able to fulfill their dreams of attending an HBCU and rowing in college.”
Olympic Rower David Banks remarked on how impressed he is that the push to create the varsity was made the Xavier community.
"It’s another testament to the outstanding students at Xavier; in that they seek out new challenges and opportunities and strive for excellence in whatever they do,” Banks said. “It’s not easy being the first few to do something that may seem so very different and even daunting. But I’m confident and hopeful that these students will realize that this sport is theirs to make their own and that they will be an inspiration to many people to take their own new steps. I can’t wait."
The move to varsity champions the community that Xavier rowers have found through the sport.
"The Xavier Rowing Club has offered me the opportunity to find a family outside of my Xavier family and get involved in a sport that allows me to be part of a team and also work on my own individual goals. . . [and] it allows us to shatter negative stereotypes and false perceptions," said rower and junior political science major Kamryn Days.
Brannon Johnson, founder of the sport’s first Black-owned and operated club remarked on how lifechanging rowing can be.
“Rowing can be a vehicle to a better life. It certainly was for me,” Johnson said. “But rowing can also be a vehicle for change. Xavier, like so many other HBCUs, is steeped in the rich tradition of creating change for its students. Xavier's Rowing team is a wonderful example of what that looks like now and it's vital that we lean in and support this program and the students at its center.”
The program is working to secure its head coach and recruitment efforts for prospective rowers are underway. For more information, click here.
· Apply online for head rowing coach