Patrick Sweeney Position: Head Coach Experience: 9th Season Alma Mater: Kingston '72

Entering his 10th season at K-State, Patrick Sweeney brings more than 30 years of international and collegiate coaching experience to the Wildcat program, including tenures with the British and Belgian Olympic teams. Having been a successful competitor as well as coach at the Olympic level in various different positions, Sweeney brings plenty of quality experience to the job. He works with the upper-level athletes on the team and works on analysis of both K-State and the competition to help prepare the Wildcats for regattas.

As an international coach, Sweeney took crews to 11 World Championships and four Olympic Games. He has collected two gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the World Championships and one gold and one bronze at the Olympics. In addition, he won four national championships while coaching at the University of California.

Once on staff with the Wildcats, Sweeney made immediate changes, making his first mark with a 1V8+ victory at SIRAs in 2004. The team continued its development in 2005-06, with the 1V8+ taking second at the San Diego Crew Classic. The 2006-07 season was highlighted by the outstanding performances of the 1N8+ that won SIRAs and the NCAA Central Regional title. Sweeney's more recent novice crews continue to be dominant, especially in their early season showings as the 2008-09 1N8+ tallied a commanding win at the 2008 Head of the Des Moines.

The top crew of Sweeney's K-State tenure has been the 2008-09 1V8+. The winningest Wildcat crew Sweeney has put together, their accolades include capturing gold at the Head of the Des Moines, defeating Alabama on its own Black Warrior River, clenching a tightly contested third at the San Diego Crew Classic, producing a convincing victory over rival Kansas to secure the Kansas Cup as well the crew's ulimate feat of a gold medal finish at the Big 12 Championship.

Sweeney arrived at K-State in 2003 after a one-year appointment as the associate men's varsity coach at Stanford. Prior to his year there, Sweeney was head coach and technical director of the Belgian Olympic Team for six years.

A multiple champion as a coxswain, Sweeney began his competitive career at the age of 12 for club crews in his native England. He eventually progressed to the British National Team, where he competed as a coxswain in eight World Championships (two gold, three silver) and three Olympic Games (one silver, one bronze).

Sweeney and his wife, Martha, have a daughter, Toula.