Josie Konopka Named Assistant Coach for UVA Rowing
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Josie Konopka has been named assistant coach for the Virginia rowing program, head coach Wesley Ng announced Monday (July 22).
Konopka served as an assistant coach under Ng last season at the University of Pennsylvania after an All-America rowing career with the Quakers.
“I’m thrilled to join the UVA coaching staff and to work with a team with such an incredible legacy in NCAA women’s rowing,” Konopka said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to coach with Wes and to become a part of the University of Virginia community.”
In Konopka’s first year on the coaching staff in 2023-24, the Quakers continued to make history as they qualified for the NCAA Championships for the third straight year and had all three NCAA boats earn top-12 finishes for the first time (V8 10th, 2V8 10th, V4 11th) en route to a 10-place team finish. At the Ivy League Championships, Penn took fourth in both the overall and NCAA point standings, earning silver medals in the Varsity Eight, Third Varsity Eight and Third Varsity Four. Konopka coached the 3V8 and 3V4 to the silver medals at the Ivy League Championship.
Konopka was a two-year captain of the women’s rowing team and earned first-team All-America honors from the College Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) and first-team All-Ivy two times. She helped lead the Quakers to their first full-team NCAA Championship appearance in 2022, when Penn finished 11th, and then was in the two-seat in 2023 as the Quakers’ Varsity Eight won silver at the Ivy League Championship and followed that up with a fourth-place finish at NCAAs. Overall, Penn took sixth as a team at the 2023 NCAA Championship.
“I am incredibly excited to have Josie Konopka join our staff as an assistant coach,” Ng said. “I knew she would be the first person I wanted to build our staff around. Josie’s journey from a scholastic recruit to U23 National Team athlete to First Team All-American and two-time team captain at Penn is meteoric. It is one that every collegiate athlete aims for. Her deep understanding of the sport and her ability to teach and inspire from her firsthand experience will be invaluable to our program. Josie’s family legacy in rowing and her natural leadership skills make her a perfect fit for our program.”