Cooke Carcagno promoted to associate head coach
September 03, 2014 | Women's Rowing
Sept. 3, 2014
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin women’s rowing head coach Bebe Bryans announced Wednesday the promotion of Megan Cooke Carcagno to associate head coach.
Cooke Carcagno will enter her seventh season coaching at UW, as she served as varsity assistant coach last year and coach of the novice squad for the five years prior.
As the recruiting coordinator this past year, Cooke Carcagno assembled one of the fastest and deepest recruiting classes to date and she looks to do the same for the fall of 2015.
“Since she joined the Badger staff in 2008, fresh off the national team, Megan has grown tremendously,” Bryans said.
“Always positive and enthusiastic with a good eye, Megan has worked diligently to grow her knowledge and learn the ropes of collegiate coaching off the water. I am really proud to be able to work side by side with Megan in her new role as associate head coach of women’s rowing.”
Cooke Carcagno stormed onto the collegiate coaching scene and has produced solid results ever since.
She directed the Wisconsin novice crews to Big Ten titles in the novice eight and second novice eight events and took first at the NCAA Central Regional with the novice eight crew in her first season with the Badgers.
For her impressive rookie campaign, Cooke Carcagno earned herself the 2009 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year award. She received the honor again in 2012.
In her second season with the Badgers in 2010, she helped the UW novice crews to their fifth and eighth Big Ten titles, respectively, en route to a Big Ten Championship crown for Wisconsin openweight rowing. She also directed the novice eight to a win in the grand final and the second novice eight to a win in the petite final at the NCAA Central/South Sprints.
In fact, in each of her five seasons coaching the UW novices, her novice eight placed in the top three at the Big Ten championships, while the second novice eight won four titles and finished second the other season.
Cooke Carcagno's coaching experience spans six years prior to coming to Madison. Most recently, she coached masters rowers at Carnegie Lake Rowing Association, USRowing's 2007 Club of the Year.
She spent her first year after graduating from California as assistant frosh coach for the Bears, while also coaching the Oakland Strokes, Inc., and at Marin Rowing Association during the 2002-03 season. Cooke Carcagno moved on to New Jersey to train with the U.S. national team, all the while giving private instruction to numerous high school athletes in the region.
As a rower at Cal, Cooke Carcagno twice earned First-Team All-American honors to go along with a pair of first-team all-region and First-Team All-Pac 10 accolades. Co-captain as a junior and senior, she helped the varsity eight to third at the 2002 NCAA Championships and fourth at the 2000 event.
Cooke Carcagno spent four years with the U.S. national team from 2004-07. As part of the 2006 U.S. World Champion women's eight, she helped establish a world record for Team USA. A 2006 Henley-on-Thames champion, she also won a gold medal at the 2006 Lucerne World Cup in the women's pair and silver in the women's four without coxswain at the 2001 World Under-23 Championships. Cook Carcagno has also represented the U.S. rowing the double scull boat.
Cooke Carcagno earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from California in 2002.
