The University of Tulsa Magazine - TUAlumni.com

Although the team
lost five seniors
going into the 2000-
01 season, including three from the “A” boat,
Tilton is optimistic about the new year. Senior
team members have remarked on the pressure
being put on them by hungry younger rowers,
which suggests that TU can look forward to
increasing depth in its rowing talent.
Tilton has a special regard for the younger
novice women who have the courage to join the
program.
“Rowing is the only sport I know of where
you can walk on as a freshman not knowing
anything and become a competitive varsity athlete
in two years,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity
for our young women, and a wonderful lesfull
tilton
TU rowing
coach makes
challenge the
centerpiece of
his team’s plan
by Doug Fishback
Difficult challenges
aren’t at the
top of everyone’s
list of favorite
things, but for TU
rowing coach Shaw
Tilton, the only
worthwhile victories
are the tough ones.
“Part of the
appeal of rowing is
that all the results
are hard-won,” he
says. “You have to
train hard for every
little improvement
and work for every
advance. Rowing is
unforgiving; you get
out only what you
put in. It gives you a
tremendous work
ethic.”
Now in his third
year as TU rowing
coach, Tilton is
demonstrating his
own work ethic by keeping several oars in the
water at once. In addition to coaching his 24-
woman team, coordinating competition schedules,
and making frequent travel arrangements,
he has worked to increase the visibility of the
TU program through heightened recruiting and
publicity efforts. He also has organized independent
rowing camps for Tulsa-area youth and
adults and has beat the bushes seeking financial
support for the program.
His work seems to be paying off. Although
the team just missed an invitation to the 2000
NCAA tournament, it did have a landmark season,
beating longtime rivals Texas and Kansas
State and going on
to win the Southern
Intercollegiate
Rowing Association
Championships in
Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
“We got speed this
year,” Tilton says in
the same way that
some talk about
“getting religion.”
“This was the first
year that people
started to say, ‘Oh,
Tulsa; we have to
worry about them.’
We got our first
votes in the top-20
coaches’ poll, and
we beat some key
rivals. It was a big
learning year.”
The University of Tulsa Magazine ■ Winter 2000 31