Martin Stone

Biography

While it was announced in 1996 that the University of Notre Dame would grant varsity status to the women's rowing team, the program did not fully begin until October 29, 1997, when Martin Stone became its first and only head coach. Five years later, Notre Dame earned its first trip to the NCAA Championship and has appeared in the national regatta nine times. The program has produced Olympic gold medal winners, world champions, Notre Dame valedictorians, doctors, scientists and engineers. It has established itself as one of the model programs in the country that embraces success on the water balanced with outstanding success in the classroom. Stone has built the program from a simple lightweight eight victory at the 1998 Head of the Rock in Rockford, Illinois, to a power that strung together 10 consecutive BIG EAST Conference rowing championships. Before his hiring at Notre Dame, Stone was the women's rowing coach at the Naval Academy from 1992 through 1996. He coached the Mids to an NCAA Division II National Championship by winning the Varsity Eight title at the Champion International Collegiate Rowing Championships, while also capturing wins in the First Novice Eight and Second Novice Eight competitions. Stone also served as the plebe lightweight coach at the Naval Academy in 1991. He began his assistant coaching career at his alma mater, St. Mary's College in Moraga, California, in the 1990 season. As an undergraduate with the Gaels, Stone was named Most Valuable Oarsman th