Jeanne Friedman

Jeanne Friedman serves as a senior lecturer in the Mount Holyoke Department of Physical Education. Friedman retired from head coaching duties of the Lyons' rowing team at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season, after 22 years at the helm.

Friedman is a Level III Certified United States Rowing Coach and a member of the NCAA Regional Seeding Committee. Since her arrival in 1991, Friedman has led Mount Holyoke to eight Seven Sisters Championships, three NEWMAC Championships and numerous medals at ECAC and New England Regional Championships. In 1996-97, she was named NEW 8 Coach of the Year, and in 2009, she was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Under her tutelage, five Lyons have earned All-America accolades.

Friedman believes in the "importance of a holistic approach to rowing—mental training as well as physical." She was a founding member of Boston University's crew team and served as an assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania women’s crew team from 1988 through 1990.

As a student-athlete at Boston University, she captured a pair of gold medals at the National Women’s Rowing Association National Championships. In 1974, she took top honors in the lightweight fours division. One year later, she repeated the feat in the lightweight eights division. Friedman went on to earn seven medals at the United States Rowing Association Masters National Regatta. In 1985, she picked up a gold medal in the open eights division. She followed that with a gold medal in the lightweight fours division a year later and added a third gold medal in the single division in 1987.

Friedman earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Boston University and later graduated with a Master of Science Degree in exercise physiology from the University of Washington. In addition to her coaching duties, Friedman also serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Physical Education and Athletics Department at the College.

She is the executive director of Rowing Strong, Rowing Together, a joint program with the Mount Holyoke crew team and the Care Center of Holyoke. The program is in its tenth year and uses rowing to help inner-city parenting teens learn teamwork, gain self-confidence and improve self-esteem. Friedman is also a coach at the Row as One camp, run by Mount Holyoke alum Holly Metcalf '81, an Olympic gold medal oarswoman. The camp helps older women (average camp age is 45) learn to row or get the coaching they usually do not have access to.