May 31, 2002

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Joel Furtek, the only women's rowing coach the University of North Carolina athletics program has ever known, announced Friday his intention to step down as the Tar Heels' head coach. Furtek, a Yale alumnus, started the Carolina rowing program in 1997 as its first head coach.

"I have been assessing this situation for a couple of years now and I believe it is time to move on. I have some personal goals and desires which I wish to purse career-wise outside of the realm of being a head coach," says Furtek. "In no way should my leaving be regarded as dissatisfaction with the status of the program. I am proud of what we've accomplished here over the past five years and I have great confidence as to where the program currently stands. But for personal reasons I believe it is time to look at a career in a realm outside Division I head coaching."

"We are grateful to Joel Furtek for the job he has done in building our rowing program," says UNC Director of Athletics Dick Baddour. "We are sad to see Joel depart but we wish him the best in his new career endeavors. Joel launched our program five years ago and under his leadership it has developed and grown. He has laid the foundation for a program that has shown tremendous improvement."

Furtek came to Chapel Hill in July of 1997, charged with building UNC's 28th varsity sport. In his first year as head coach, Carolina finished its season at the NCAA Championships and brought home a bronze medal in the 4+. Since then, the Tar Heel varsity eight has regularly appeared in the national top 25.

Furtek's own rowing career began soon after he enrolled at Yale University in 1986. A four-year member of the team and a two-year letterman, he was the coxswain for the Bulldogs' lightweight crew that won the 1990 national collegiate rowing championship and competed at the Henley Royal Regatta. Furtek also coxed at the U.S. National Team Selection Camp in 1993.