Women's Coaches

Fran O’Rourke begins her first year with the University of Colorado at Boulder as the Women’s Head Coach.  Prior to coaching for the Buffs, O’Rourke has spent time coaching at Indiana University and Cornell University, of which she is an alumnus.

O'Rourke made a profound impact on the Hoosier program in her short time at Indiana. This past season, O’Rourke was instrumental in recruiting Indiana’s strongest recruiting class to date, starting as a high impact freshman class in fall of 2007.  Four or the six freshmen contended for the varsity 8 all year, with two racing the majority of the spring season in the eight and one winning All-American and CRCA All-Region honors.  Additionally, O’Rourke helped bring in IU’s next class of twelve recruits to start the fall 2008 season, IU’s biggest and deepest class yet.

During the 2007 season, O'Rourke's second varsity four won Indiana's first ever Big Ten medal in a varsity event with a third place finish. The crew edged Ohio State by a tenth of a second to make the grand final, and beat the University of Michigan, a crew that had given Indiana their only loss of the season, to take the bronze.

In 2006, O'Rourke's second season in Bloomington, she directed the second novice eight to a 7-3 record, leading the squad to more than twice the previous school record for wins.  The second novice eight opened its season with a 2-1 record in its first weekend of racing and never looked back, tallying wins over Notre Dame, Michigan State, Dayton, Marist and Purdue.
At Indiana, O'Rourke oversaw all aspects of the novice program, from attracting athletic prospects off campus, to organizing clinics and running practices for new rowers. The recent bronze medal won by the varsity four in 2007 came from five walk-ons recruited by O'Rourke.

O'Rourke also contributed to the Hoosier's success on the recruiting trail. She aided recruiting coordinator Carmen Mirochna in creating and implementing a system to identify and court top U.S. talent. These efforts led to an increase in the size and talent of each IU recruiting class over her four years, and greatly added to the Hoosier's success on the water and in the classroom.
Her love of coaching leads to participation in summer rowing camps for high school rowers and novice rowers, with stops including the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md and Boulder, Co. Prior to joining the IU program in August 2004, O'Rourke spent two seasons as the women's intern rowing coach at her alma mater, Cornell University.

O'Rourke's first year of coaching saw her first varsity four emerge victorious against five regular-season competitors and produce a win in the Petite Final at Eastern Sprints. Her second varsity four won seven regular-season races and made the Grand Final at Sprints, placing fourth overall.

In her last year at Cornell, her first varsity four raced its way to a gold medal at Eastern Sprints, finishing four seconds ahead of second place and claiming the trophy. The crew only lost one race during the season and regularly posted open-water victories. Her second varsity four went undefeated as well, winning the gold at the Eastern Sprints with an amazing cushion of 10 seconds over the rest of the field. During that season, O'Rourke's crews defeated rowing powerhouses Brown, Princeton, Radcliffe and Yale.

A 2002 graduate of Cornell's animal sciences program, O'Rourke was a member of a turnaround class of rowers, leading Cornell to successes it hadn’t enjoyed since the late 1980s. Her collegiate career started in Cornell's first novice boat, which finished a close fourth in the Grand Finals at Eastern Sprints, just three tenths of a second behind bronze-medal winning Yale. O'Rourke's sophomore year saw her lead the first varsity four, which went undefeated all season and entered Eastern Sprints ranked first. It finished that Sprints as the highest-placing Big Red crew, earning a silver medal. The performance also stood as Cornell's first Sprints medal in years. The next two seasons, she earned two varsity letters rowing in the varsity eight, and secured Cornell's first-ever bid to the NCAA Championships in 2002. A member of the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the Red Key Honor Society, O'Rourke earned co-captain honors from her teammates her senior year and garnered the Big Stick Award from her head coach.