Patrick Sweeney

Biography

Features (click on headline for link) Overseeing 22 Years of Growth (K-State Sports Extra, May 29, 2025) After 22 years at the helm of Kansas State women's rowing program, Patrick Sweeney retired on May 18, 2025. During the 2025-26 season he aids the coaches as the Chief of Staff, bringing more than 40 years of international and collegiate coaching experience to the Wildcat women’s rowing program, including tenures with the British and Belgian Olympic teams. As the second coach in Wildcats' rowing history, Sweeney arrived in Manhattan in 2003 after a one-year appointment as the associate men's varsity coach at Stanford. Prior to his year there, Sweeney was head coach and technical director of the Belgian Olympic Team for six years. The top crew of Sweeney's K-State tenure was the 2008-09 1V8+. Their accolades include capturing gold at the Head of the Des Moines, defeating Alabama on its own Black Warrior River and clenching a tightly contested third place at the San Diego Crew Classic. The crew would go on to a convincing victory over rival Kansas to secure the Kansas Cup before claiming the gold medal at the Big 12 Championship. The 2013-14 season was headlined with several firsts for the K-State rowing program, including the programs first Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in Noelle Dykmann. The team won five gold medals and a bronze medal at SIRAs for the first time in program history and prior to the postseason, defended their Sunflower Showdown title for a fourth-consecutive s