E-mail Coach Roock (djr16@cornell.edu)
SPIRIT OF '57 DIRECTOR OF ROWING/ HEAD COACH-HEAVYWEIGHT ROWING
Dan Roock became Cornell’s heavyweight rowing coach in 1996 and was named director of rowing in 1997.
In his 10th year as the Big Red’s head coach (he was on sabbatical in 2003), Roock led his crew to a seventh-place national finish, while the second varsity placed third. His team took home the Clayton Chapman Award, named for the legendary former Cornell rower and coach for the most improved crew. After posting a 9-1 record in 2007, the second varsity team has now compiled an amazing 58-7 record in the last eight years and has had three undefeated seasons in that time.
Roock came to Cornell after leading the Princeton women’s varsity crew to three consecutive national titles in 1993, 1994 and 1995. During his tenure with the Tigers, his women’s varsity eight also earned five consecutive Ivy titles, five Eastern Sprint all-points trophies and four Sprague Trophies for all-around performance at the national championships.
Prior to serving as a graduate assistant coach of men’s crew at Syracuse in 1990, Roock was an assistant coach of heavyweight crew at Princeton from 1986 through 1989. During that time, his freshman eights won an IRA Regatta title in 1989 and his freshman eight was also the Eastern Sprint champion in 1988.
In 1986, he was named assistant coach of Princeton women’s crew, and he began his coaching career in 1984-85 as an assistant mentor of men’s crew at Florida Tech.
Roock is active in the U.S. national program, having served as a coach for six years. In 1999, Roock was the head coach of the gold medal-winning crew at the Nation’s Cup Regatta, the world championships for crews under 23 years old, in Hamburg, Germany. Following that victory, Roock was named the United States Olympic Committee Developmental Coach of the Year. He coached the Nation’s Cup crew in 2000, leading them to the championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1997, he was the co-coach of the U.S. Junior Men’s National Team, which won a silver medal in the eight-oared event at the world championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium. He also worked with the U.S. National team during the summer of 1993 and as a co-coach of the 1992 world champion U.S. Junior men’s eight. In 1991, he coached crew at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, and in 1987-88, he was manager at the U.S. men’s national team selection camp.
A 1981 graduate of Princeton with a degree in civil engineering, Roock was an outstanding rower for the Tigers and was a member of two IRA championship crews. His crew also won the Head of the Charles championship men’s eight title in 1979. As a senior, Roock was awarded the Lyman W. Biddle Medal as the oarsman who had shown the best sportsmanship and contributed the most to rowing at Princeton. A 1977 graduate of Liverpool (N.Y.) High School, Roock also earned a master of science degree in environmental engineering at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1990.
