ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – After leading her squad to its fifth consecutive American Athletic Conference title, head rowing coach Becky Cramer has signed a contract extension that will keep her at UCF through the 2024 campaign.
“We are very fortunate to have Becky Cramer leading our rowing program,” UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Daniel J. White said. “The success of the program, both on and off the water, under her leadership maintains our confidence that we can continue building a national power here at UCF. I am very excited about the future of UCF Rowing under Becky’s leadership."
In May, Cramer led the Knights to their fifth straight American Athletic Conference championship, remaining one of just two women's program’s in The American (UConn Women’s Basketball), to do so in the six-year history of the league.
Two weeks later, UCF matched its best team finish at the NCAA Championship and extended its top 20 streak to five straight years with an 18th place.
The leader of the four-time American Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year, Cramer guided Julie Poulsen to back-to-back Pocock Honorable Mention All-America honors in 2018 and 2019.
Off the water, UCF has excelled as well, turning in a program-record 3.49 GPA in the spring of 2019. The Knights captured the American Athletic Conference Team Excellence Award while placing 55 student-athletes on The American’s all-academic team. Twelve Knights earned CRCA Scholar-Athlete honors and Mia Cleary has earned CoSIDA Academic All-District accolades in back-to-back seasons.
"I am extremely grateful for the confidence Danny White, David Hansen and President Seymour have in my ability to lead these tremendous student-athletes," Cramer said. "Danny has an amazing vision for our entire athletics department and I am thrilled I am able to continue to work with such strong women to accomplish great things both on and off the water. My family and I are truly thankful we get to be part of the UCF family and look forward to continuing to building on our accomplishments!"
Cramer joined the Knights in 2003 as an assistant coach of the staff and served as interim head coach for the 2008 campaign before taking the role full time in June of that year.
After guiding the program to its first conference title in 2015, Cramer followed with a second 2016, a clean sweep in 2017 and a fourth trophy in 2018. She has led the Knights to NCAA Championship bids in each of the last five seasons. She is the only UCF coach to lead her squad to five consecutive titles as members of The American and helped UCF Rowing become just the second program to ever win five straight conference championships in any league.