Asiya Mahmud - Rowing Coach - University of Delaware Athletics

Asiya Mahmud

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
amahmud@udel.edu

A seasoned veteran and well-respected coach in the national rowing community, Asiya Mahmud has been hired as the University of Delaware Head Rowing Coach, Director of Athletics, Campus Recreation, and Community Chrissi Rawak announced Wednesday.

“I’m incredibly excited to welcome Asiya to the Blue Hen family,” Rawak said. “She brings tremendous experience as both a coach and student-athlete in the CAA. Her expansive knowledge and respect on the national level makes her a tremendous fit to lead our rowing program to the next level.”

Mahmud joins the Blue Hens after eight years at her alma mater and CAA rival, Drexel University. Over the course of her tenure with the Dragons, which began in 2015, she was elevated twice, including to the program’s head coach after a promotion to associate head coach in September 2020.

“It is an honor to be the next leader of the Delaware rowing program,” Mahmud said. “I would like to thank Chrissi Rawak and Andrea Young for entrusting me with this next chapter at Delaware. I feel lucky to be able to do what I love and to continue to push women’s rowing forward. I couldn’t be more excited for the vision of the program and the opportunities that lie ahead. The future is bright for the Blue Hens!”

In her first season with Delaware, the Blue Hens earned two CAA Boat of the Week honors during the spring season in April. UD also had two All-Conference honorees at the CAA Championhips, and a program record 13 CRCA Scholar-Athlete selections.

During her time in Philadelphia, Mahmud aided the Dragons to no less than a second place finish at the CAA Championships each season, including the best-ever in 2021-22 when the team tied for first. Her boats have captured 24 medals at the CAA Championships, including eight by the Varsity 8, six by the Second Varsity 8, seven by the Varsity 4, and three by the Third Varsity 8. She’s coached 21 student-athletes to All-CAA honors and 56 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar Athletes nods.

At the Dad Vail Regatta, Mahmud led her student-athletes to 20 medals, including seven first-place finishes. Drexel also won the Women’s Club 8 at the 2022 Head of the Charles.

She has also played an important role for USRowing the past several years. In the summer, 2023, she was the lead coach for the women's team at the CanAmMex Regatta, which saw the US take home 14 medals – eight of them gold.

Mahmud also helped in the selection process for the U19 National Team that is competing at the World Championships in Paris. In the summer of 2022, she worked with the U23 team in Varese Italy, coaching the women's four with coxswain to a bronze medal finish at the World Championship.

In 2021, she served as a USRowing Junior National Team World's Boat Coach and coached the junior women’s four with coxswain to a gold medal finish at the world championship in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Mahmud is a USRowing Level 3 High Performance certified coach. In the summer of 2016, she was one of 14 assistant coaches selected out of a nationwide pool of applicants to attend the Pocock Coach-Con for coaching leadership. That summer, Mahmud also coached the Vesper Boat Club U23 lightweight and open women’s boats. At Club Nationals, she helped guide Vesper to the overall team points trophy and secured a win in the U23 women’s eight at Canadian Henley.

Before arriving at Drexel, Mahmud served as the varsity assistant at Bucknell University. Hired at Bucknell University in the fall of 2014, she served in a recruiting role and coached the women’s second varsity eight, which finished second place at the Dad Vail Regatta. Following the Dad Vail, she coached the second varsity eight to a second place in the Patriot League Championship.

Prior to Bucknell, Mahmud began her coaching career at her alma mater, Oakcrest High School. In her first year, she served as the varsity assistant coaching the varsity lightweight four and varsity four. The following year she earned a promotion to head coach. In her first year as a head coach, she earned both the Atlantic County Coach of the Year and Press of Atlantic City Coach of the Year awards.

A 2012 graduate of Drexel University with a degree in criminal justice, Mahmud rowed to a successful career that included a Dad Vail gold medal, Colonial Athletic Association silver medal and a Henley Women’s Regatta quarterfinal appearance. She recently graduated from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law with a Master of Legal Studies with a concentration in NCAA compliance and sports law.

What they’re saying about Asiya Mahmud:
Kevin Sauer, Head Women’s Rowing Coach, University of Virginia
“I am very excited for Asiya! I knew of her very little before last summer when we coached the U23 Women’s 8+ and 4+ together for the World Championships. Asiya was very professional and thorough in everything she did and the athletes and I respected her immensely. I know she will bring the same to Delaware with vision and passion that will energize everyone around her.”

Marci Robles, Former Head Women’s Rowing Coach, George Washington University
“Delaware has made a fantastic hire in Asiya Mahmud. She is a smart, fierce competitor whose experience with elite level athletes and knowledge of the sport makes her the best person to lead this program. She is hardworking, driven, thoughtful, and compassionate. I cannot wait to see where she takes this team.”