Chavers Named Head Coach of Spartan Rowing

East Lansing, Mich. -- Athletic Director Bill Beekman has announced the hiring of Kim Chavers as Michigan State's head rowing coach. A former collegiate rower and assistant coach at Old Dominion, Indiana, and Stetson, Chavers will serve as the third head coach in program history and brings a commitment to student-athlete success, well-being, and development to East Lansing.

"Kim Chavers is a dynamic, hard-working coach who we are excited to welcome to our Spartan family. She has a passion and determination to be successful and build Michigan State rowing into one of the top programs not only in the conference, but also the nation. But more importantly, she has a strong commitment to develop our student-athletes, not only as rowers, but as leaders who will experience success in life long after their competitive pursuits are done," said Beekman.

"Kim understands the critical importance of communication with student-athletes, and can relate to their experience as her own journey started as a walk-on rower and eventually developed into a team captain with USRowing experience. She's gained extensive coaching experience through her various stops, and is eager to take the next step and become a head coach. With her at the helm, and with her commitment to our student-athletes, I'm excited about what the future holds for Michigan State rowing."

"I am thrilled to be a part of the Spartan Family," said MSU's new head coach. "Thank you to Bill Beekman, Stephen Anthony, and the search committee for their time and diligence during this process. I'm thrilled to get started with the team and return to the Big Ten Conference. During my visit, the enthusiasm and commitment to Women's Rowing by Michigan State Athletics was obvious and one I'm eager to contribute to. I'm excited for the opportunity to lead a program with such strong potential and support from its leadership.

"I want my coaching to assist athletes with developing the fundamentals of rowing and a commitment to competitive performance," continued Chavers. "I also intend to enable my athletes to communicate, develop a strong sense of individual accountability, and to take responsibility for their personal and athletic growth beyond their time with our team."

Chavers comes to East Lansing after serving the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Old Dominion, helping guide the Monarchs into their inaugural season of competition in the American Athletic Conference. In the first season, ODU had 22 members of the squad earn Academic All-AAC honors.

Chavers previously worked with novice rowers at Big Ten rival Indiana for three seasons after joining the program prior to the 2015-16 season. She was the head recruiter for novice, and walk-on athletes, and designed and executed competitive land and water novice development programs for those rowers.   She also had a significant role in team travel and logistics, administrative duties, and supervising graduate assistant and volunteer coaches.

In her three seasons in Crimson and Cream, the Hoosiers continued an upward trajectory in the Big Ten, finishing fourth, fourth and fifth as a team at the league's Championship Regatta. In her first season with Indiana, the First Novice Eight finished seventh at the Big Ten Championship and the Second Novice Eight finished sixth. The 2017 season saw her Novice Eight improve by two spots at the Big Ten Championships, earning a fifth-place finish.    Indiana's varsity squad qualified for the NCAA Championship regatta in all three of her seasons, finishing 12th, 13th, and 15th. Academically, Hoosier rowers earned 61 Academic All-Big Ten honors during her three seasons in Bloomington.

Before arriving at IU, Chavers spent the 2014-15 season as an assistant coach at Stetson University, where she was also the head recruiter for both the men's and women's varsity programs.

Prior to moving into collegiate coaching, she was the boys' varsity head coach at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia. The teams there qualified for the national championships both seasons Chavers was there and finished first or second in their conference both seasons as well. She also served as the novice girls coach at Boston Latin School in Massachusetts for three seasons (2009-11) and was also MIT's club rowing coach during the 2010-11 campaign.

Chavers was an instructor at the Capital Rowing Club in Washington, D.C. (2013-14) and on the office staff at Community Rowing, Inc. (Boston) from 2009-11 while coaching at Boston Latin.

She rowed on the collegiate level at Marietta College in Ohio, where she graduated in 2008 with her degree in Health Science. She would go on to earn her doctorate in Physical Therapy from Northeastern University in 2012, and a master's degree in sport coaching leadership with a concentration in rowing from Drexel University in 2019.

Chavers holds USRowing Coaching certification levels 1 & 2, and has participated in the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy. She and her husband, Kyle, have three daughters.

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