Bryans addresses media as rowing heads to Big Ten Championships
May 10, 2011 | Women's Rowing
May 10, 2011
• Watch Bryans News Conference 
MADISON, Wis.--Women's rowing head coach Bebe Bryans met with the media Monday as part of UW Athletics' weekly news conference to offer a preview of this weekend's Big Ten Championships.
Archived video of the session is available through the link above, and a complete transcript of Bryans's remarks can be found below.
BRYANS: Well, we were able to successfully race last weekend at home, which was really exciting for our rowers and for the fans. We had about 200 or 300 people out on the shore cheering us and Minnesota on. So it was really an exciting event for us and sort of a nice way to measure the halfway point in what I consider to be more of a training period than a racing period.
As I said earlier, we came off a pretty intensive racing stint early in our season, and then we were off the racing circuit for about four weeks, with that Minnesota race in between. So between the time we were out in Sacramento, racing out there against the west coast teams, and the Big Ten Championships, we’ve been able to get on the water a little bit more. And I think the main thing that has, that has evolved is our efficiency, out technique. We’ve been able to take some more strokes, become a little bit more efficient, and hopefully, that will translate into more boat speed as we go into the Big Ten Championships. That’s what we’ve been doing.
QUESTION #1: Bebe, winning that Big Ten title last year, obviously, winning any championship is huge, but how important do you think that was for your program, and how many of those young ladies are back. Do you have a good group back from that year’s team to help you out again this year?
BRYANS: We lost about eight key rowers in our top, in our varsity boats. Luckily, we had a very strong freshmen program last year. Both our Freshmen Eight and our Second Freshmen Eight, and our Second Varsity Eight, were Big Ten Champions last year as boats. So those women have stepped up into our top varsity boats. In fact, again, I’ve got sophomores stroking and in leadership positions in all four of our, well, we just made a lineup change this morning. So three of the four varsity boats we have sophomores that walked on as freshmen last year in leadership positions in those boats.
So, yes, we are a very young team. It seems to be the theme of the coaches that have been up here today. But they do have racing experience, they do have experience winning. And I don’t think until you can say that you’ve actually done it, it’s hard to convince people that they can. And you can lead them to water, but you can’t make them drink. And so once they’ve won that championship and they know what it feels like to be on the winning side of it, it makes, if nothing else, it makes doing the hard work that got them there easier to explain.
So it’s still up to them to do it. It’s still up to them to want it. It’s still up to them to have that passion, but once you’ve got, once you’ve had that experience, you’re not selling a dream. They understand the reality of it. So it makes it, I think, in some ways easier, in some ways, a little bit more challenging. But I’ll take a win any day.
QUESTION #2: You talk about the youth. How do you guys feel you stack up? Is there a chance for repeat or do you guys a year or two away from that?
BRYANS: I think we have a good chance. Again, this isn’t a regatta. I mean, we have been focused on the NCAA championship since the first day of practice in September. That being said, in order to get there, we’ve got to perform really well at Big Ten’s. And it is a stepping stone. So I think we’re sitting very similar, in a very similar position to where we were last year, honestly.
We might not be seeded to win. I think we were seeded to win last year. But we’ve been seeded to win before. So I think we’re seeded second going into the championship behind Ohio State. But this year especially, I really think it’s going to come down to the day of and who brings it, who races. I think we’re capable of winning absolutely.
But we’ve got to race really well to do that. That’s where we’re going. We’re going to race well. If it’s good enough to win, I want to know that we’ve raced at our best, and then we’ll really know where we stack up. So that’s our goal. But again, I’ll never turn down a win.
QUESTION #3: You’re at a neutral site this year. Is that going to affect fans or have you been to the Vineyard before, looking forward to it?
BRYANS: I’ve been to the Vineyard many, many, many times. We call it Windy Indy, among other things. The nice thing about, there’s a couple of nice things about this course. And the reason that we chose it is because it’s fair. So it might be crummy, but it will be crummy for everybody the same, and that’s important in our sport, because if there’s a difference in lanes, it clouds the whole championship. And so that is one of the advantages.
The other advantage is we can run seven boats across, and just run straight finals, and have a seven-boat final, and that’s the only course in this, in the Midwest, where we can do that fairly. So it’s a good venue. It’s close enough that our fans, it’s just, it’s easier for our fans to get there than it is to, say, Ohio State. So it really doesn’t, that won’t impact anything I think. We’ve got great fans and great parent supporters that will go wherever we go. So that won’t be a problem.
It’s just a different format. It will be interesting to see how it goes having it be a final-only. There are no heats to sort of get warmed up. It’s one and done. And that’s a little bit different for us, and we’ve been training for that, so hopefully, they’ll be ready.
QUESTION #4: This is kind of the lead-in the NCAA selections next week. Talk a little bit about that and your confidence in making that. And obviously, this weekend is big towards that.
BRYANS: Right. Normally, the selection committee goes three, four deep in the Big Ten, three, four deep in the Pac Ten, three to four deep in the Ivy League, or the Eastern’s Prince League. And then the other teams will be comprised from other smaller regions. This year, I think it’s going to be a little bit different. The Big Ten has been a little bit volatile in its results. We’ve all traveled in different directions. We’ve had some wins and losses. Part of that, I think, our spring has, it’s no surprise to anybody that, again, this is the winter that just would not go away. And the wind try to blow the winter away, but we just got windy and cold. So it’s been a challenge for us there.
I think we’re stronger than we’ve shown. I think the Big Ten is stronger than we’ve shown. And so I think all of us are looking to have a really strong championship with some really great racing to show the selectors and the rest of the country that we, we deserve to go four deep in the Big Ten as, and hopefully, they’ll see that.
QUESTION #5: In years past, and maybe it’s strictly more the NCAA, but you’ve kind of included freshmen into some of the top boats. Are you at that point yet or is that after the Big Ten’s?
BRYANS: We’ve been looking at it up until this point. Actually, we started looking right at Spring Break. And this point, we do not have any freshmen in our varsity boats. Depending upon how it goes at Big Ten’s, if all of our boats are really solid, and they race really well, we probably will not make changes to that degree. If they don’t and we see some great racing from the freshmen, and maybe some, a few spots where we can make improvements, then we will absolutely race them in.
Basically, the call comes in on Tuesday, or the show is aired on Tuesday, and our trailer leaves either that night or the next morning for the west coast, and we leave the following Sunday probably. So we’ve got a little bit of time to make that decision. As of right now, it’s all experienced women in the varsity boats.
QUESTION #6: You touched on this a little bit, but what would you say your team’s biggest challenge is? Yeah, what’s your biggest challenge going into Big Ten’s this weekend?
BRYANS: I think just keeping, staying in the moment, not looking backwards, not looking forwards. And that’s pretty normal for any sport, any team, any group. Again, because of our youth, they just haven’t had that many chances to go to the starting line. So I think that, if they can go, and just be relaxed, and have fun, and stay in the moment, and enjoy being where they are right then, they’re going to bring their best performance.
And we’re as fit as any team I’ve ever had, we’re as strong, pretty. I’ve had teams that were stronger, but not as fit, so I think we’ve balanced that out. Technically, when they put their minds to it, they can row really well. So I think the goal is to put that all together on championship day. And again, it’s one and done. So I think that’s our biggest challenge really. And if they do that, if somebody beats us, they’re going to have to be really good, and good for them if they do.
