Veronika Platzer - Women's Rowing Coach - Michigan State University Athletics

Veronika Platzer

Title:
Rigger

Veronika Platzer initially joined the Michigan State rowing staff as the team's rigger and moved into a role as an assistant coach in the summer of 2023.

Platzer joined the Michigan State staff after six years with Boulder Community Rowing and the Colorado Junior Crew program. She was the Director of Rowing and Head Coach for Boulder Community Rowing and served multiple roles with the Colorado Junior Crew program: Co-Director, Assistant Coach as well as Director of Rowing, Head Coach.

From 2008-16, Platzer was in the Boston area, first as the head crew coach and boathouse director at UMass-Lowell from 2008 until the program was discontinued as a varsity sport at the school in the spring of 2013. In the program’s final year, the team was the recipient of the Bob Griffin Academic Award for the highest female team grade point average. The squad finished the season by placing fourth in the Women's Division II Varsity Eight Petite Final at the 2013 Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. UMass Lowell also highlighted the season by winning the bronze medal in the Varsity Four at the New England Championship. After her stint at UML, Platzer went on to serve as the head coach for the varsity girls for Community Rowing in Boston from 2013-15, and then as an assistant coach with the girls program at Phillips Andover Academy during the 2015-16 season.

Platzer previously held assistant coaching positions at the University of Michigan (2006-2008) and the University of Virginia (2002-06), and Wisconsin (2000-02), and was the recruiting coordinator for each institution. With the Cavaliers, she coached three crews to three ACC gold medals and three South/Central Regional Championships, and the 2004 Varsity Four won an NCAA title and set a course record. She began her Division I rowing coaching career at Wisconsin, where she helped sign the top-ranked lightweight class in the US and earned a silver medal at Eastern Sprints with her lightweight novice eight in 2001.

From 2005-2009, Platzer coached with the US Junior National Team. In 2006, she helped guide the women’s 8+ to a gold medal as well as coach the straight four to a fourth-place finish. In 2008, she coached the coxless pair to a seventh place finish.

A 1987 graduate of Grinnell College with a degree in anthropology, Platzer is one of the most decorated student-athletes in the school’s history. She dominated the Div. III Women's Discus event, winning three consecutive titles and losing only once in her four year career where she place second at NCAA's. She earned 12 All American titles as a discus thrower and shot putter. She dominated the discus event, winning three consecutive national titles and losing only once when she placed second in her freshman year.

In 1995, she was the first female athlete to be inducted into the inaugural Grinnell College Hall of Fame; In 1997, the NCAA awarded her the "NCAA Female Athlete of the Decade" for Division III Women's Track and Field, and in 2008, Platzer received her prestigious induction into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) Hall of Fame.

Platzer switched to rowing later in her athletic career and represented the US in sculling events at World Cup races (1993-1997) as well the 1993 World Championships.