SEATTLE -- Former Ohio State assistant Robbie Tenenbaum will join the University of Washington Crew coaching staff on July 1, head coach Eleanior McElvaine announced Friday.
As the women's varsity assistant coach he will help McElvaine coach the women and implement an aggressive recruiting strategy, which will include helping the men's international efforts.
Tenenbaum spent the last eight years at Ohio State where he earned the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's (CRCA) 2006 award for Assistant Coach of the Year. That prestigious award is designed to recognize an assistant coach who had success during the recent season, while demonstrating great team improvement from the prior season, fulfilling the team's potential and demonstrating a high level of professionalism and integrity as a coach.
He received back-to-back CRCA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2005 and 2006.
Tenenbaum has held head coaching positions at Tulsa (1997-98), Florida Tech (1994-95), and Clemson (1993-94) as well as being the assistant women's coach at Tennessee from 1995-1997.
Under his instruction at Ohio State, the second varsity eight boat finished fourth in its Grand Final in both the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Championships. The Buckeyes won both of their Grand Finals at the 2006 Big Ten and Central Region championships and had a seven-race win streak during the regular season.
In 2005, the second varsity eight also finished first at the Big Ten Championships. Tenenbaum helped guide the Ohio State first varsity four to a sixth-place finish at the 2004 NCAA Championships and a fourth-place finish in 2003.
In addition to university coaching, Tenenbaum was an assistant coach for the United States Junior National Rowing Team from 1996-2001. In 1996, his Junior Women's eight took fourth at the World Rowing Championships in Scotland; a year later he was an assistant coach for the Junior Women's eight that finished third at the World Rowing Championships in Belgium. In 1999, he was an assistant with the Junior Women's eight that finished second in Bulgaria.
He assisted head coach McElvaine during the summers of 2000 and 2001 when the Junior Women's four won gold and silver medals in Croatia and Germany respectively. Tenenbaum was named the head coach for the U.S. Junior National team in October 2001. His junior women's eight won a bronze medal in Lithuania in the summer of 2002 and a silver medal at the Junior World Championships in Athens, Greece in 2003.
A native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Tenenbaum earned a marketing degree from Tampa in 1992.