(Republished with the permission of the Town Topics)
It was 2000 and Marty Crotty needed a break from rowing.
The former Princeton University crew star had just failed to make the U.S. Olympic team and he was ready to get on with the rest of his life.
Crotty took a job with Merrill Lynch in Chicago and traded in his rowing singlet for a coat and tie. But it didn't take long for Crotty, a member of 1996 and 1998 heavyweight varsity eight national championship crews at Princeton, to catch the rowing bug again.
Hearing that Loyola Academy crew team could use some help, Crotty started spending his Saturday mornings lending a hand to the program.
In 1999, he became the school's director of rowing and four years later he returned to New Jersey as the head of the Mercer Junior Rowing Club.
Now, Crotty is back at his alma mater in his new job as assistant varsity and head freshman coach for the Tiger men's heavyweight crew program.
For Crotty, being on campus as the students come back for the school year is particularly fitting.
"In the last couple of years, I've come to realize that coaching is what I love to do," said Crotty, who is replacing Greg Hughes, the new coach of the Princeton men's lightweight program.
"In the U.S., collegiate rowing is the best place to do that. It is developed, competitive, and has a great tradition. I have an incredible entry point here at Princeton; it is extremely rare for a position like that to open up."
The experience of rowing to national titles at Princeton left Crotty with some incredible memories. "Those seasons reminded me of how hard we worked and pushed each other to greatness," recalled Crotty, who studied at Oxford University in England after graduating from Princeton and rowed for the Oxford Blue Boat in the 145th Boat Race against Cambridge University.
"I can go back to the Shea Center and look at those plaques and pictures on the wall forever. My mother is in one of the group shots in the background, that's the most special photograph in my life right now. We also had a ton of fun up on the hill and we will never forget those times either."
A major influence on Crotty during his Tiger career was Curtis Jordan, his college coach and now his new boss.
"Curtis had a quiet manner about him but has the ability to get the most out of his athletes," explained Crotty, who earned medals at the Pan American Games and at the World Championships rowing for U.S. national teams.
"He is an incredible trainer of athletes. He keeps his distance and allows you to operate as an individual, rather than holding your hand and telling you exactly what to do."
When he started coaching Mercer Junior Club rowers, Crotty tried to emulate what he learned from Jordan.
"I had credibility because of my record in rowing but when I got into the launch, I had no idea what I was doing," said Crotty, who helped coach the club to several titles. "I would regurgitate things I had heard from Curtis. I tried to be honest and keep it simple and straightforward."
As Crotty takes the helm of the Tiger freshmen, he plans to take a straightforward approach. "I emphasize quality over quantity," explained Crotty, who coached the U.S. Men's Junior National team this summer and helped guide the team to the title in the varsity eight competition.
"There are no sessions at 6:00 a.m. or anything like that. You show up at 4:30 p.m. and you'll be going up the hill at 6:15. I just ask for 65 minutes of maximum effort. I'll never ask a rower to do something that I haven't done 100 times. If it's not in my training log, it's not going to be a workout."
If the rowers give that maximum effort, their lives can be forever changed. "Being a rower at Princeton has enabled me to be on the national team, to go to Oxford and to work at Merrill Lynch," asserted Crotty. "If you apply yourself as rower at Princeton you have the opportunity to achieve a lot. All doors are opened to you."
And with the Princeton crew program again opening its door to Crotty, he is certain to make the most of the opportunity.