Yasmin Farooq Position: Head Coach Experience: Third Season Alma Mater (Year): Wisconsin (1989)

Yaz Farooq enters her third season as head coach of the Stanford Women's Rowing program in 2008-09. Under Farooq's direction, the Cardinal have twice taken to the medal podium at the Pac-10 Championships and the women's eight has made consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships, highlighted by a national runner-up finish in 2008.

Under Farooq's tutelage, seniors Steph Morrison and Jessi Reel were named to the CRCA/Pocock All-America First Team as well as to the CRCA All-Region First Team. Coxswain Jen Brown, Adrienne Fritsch, and Lauren Hofmayer were all named to the All-Region Second Team.

In 2007-08, Farooq guided the Stanford women to a second-place overall finish at the Pac-10 Championships, the team's best mark since 1992, when the Cardinal finished second. The women's varsity eight boat would also capture its second straight silver medal at the Pac-10s, earning it an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships.

There, Farooq's charges advanced to the national semifinal with a second-place heat finish, then earned a spot in the NCAA Grand Final by finishing third in the first semifinal. In the finals, the Cardinal recorded the crew's best-ever national finish by taking second, coming within nine-tenths of a second of the national title-winning boat from Yale.

Farooq also guided the Stanford women's boats to strong finishes at the Head of the Charles Regatta, where the varsity eight finished seventh in a field that included world champion international boats, and at the Head of the American, where the "Cardinal Eight" and the Novice Eight each finished second. In the spring, the women's eight would register victories against UCLA and USC at the Stanford Invitational, as well as a win over No. 5 Ohio State at the Pac-10 Challenge Presented By Windermere.

In Farooq's first season on The Farm, the Cardinal returned to the medal podium at the Pac-10 Championships in 2007 with a silver medal finish by the varsity eight. The varsity eight also received an invitation to the NCAA's in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where they finished tenth. Farooq assumed the head-coaching duties for the Stanford women's rowing program in 2006 and directed the Cardinal to its first-ever victory in the Varsity 8+ at the Head of the American in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Stanford also placed sixth (among universities) last October at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.

Farooq left a successful career in sales and marketing to coach at Stanford. She is world renowned for her work as a coxswain coach and was a premier coxswain during her competitive career for Team USA. She has also served as rowing analyst for NBC's telecasts of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"As a member of the U.S. Team I rowed with several Stanford oarswomen and appreciated their commitment to being the best on the water and in life," Farooq said. "Stanford scholar-athletes are winners who make a difference in the world. Many life lessons are learned in the boat and on the racecourse. The progress this team has made in one short year is remarkable, and they have the potential to do so much more--and they will. I am honored to play a part in the development of these very special women."

Farooq coxed the United States National Women's Eight from 1989 to 1996 and competed with Stanford rower Diana Olson at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Four years later Yaz was selected by her peers to be Captain of the women's rowing team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. A three-time winner of silver medals at the World Championships in 1990, 1993 and 1994, Yaz's career highlight came in 1995 when her eight captured the gold medal at the Worlds in Tampere, Finland. It marked the first time ever the United States women had won. Yaz started coxing at the University of Wisconsin in 1984, where she was recruited for her "big voice" and tiny stature (she is 5'4" on a good day and 105 lbs.). She was voted Captain and MVP her senior year.

In her spare time Farooq works with her husband, Roger Waterman, to produce instructional DVD's for coaching coxswains. She also hosts COXSWAINation.com: a web resource for coxswains of all levels.