Women's Rowing
- Title:
- Assistant Women's Crew Coach
- Email:
- am828@drexel.edu
- Phone:
- 215-571-3748
Asiya Mahmud enters her first season as women's head coach and is in her ninth season with the rowing program overall in 2023-24 after joining the Drexel Rowing staff in the summer of 2015. She was elevated to the position of associate head coach of the rowing program in September, 2020 before being promoted to women's head coach in July, 2023.
2022-23 saw Drexel continue to climb to new heights as the Dragons claimed gold at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta for the first time. DU followed that a week later with a win at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta before a top-10 finish against some of the best national competition at the Princeton Chase. Continuing into the spring, the Dragons won the Knecht Cup, Kerr Cup and Murphy Cup in back-to-back-to-back weeks, a program first. In the classroom, Drexel excelled with 15 members of the team being named CRCA Scholar Athletes and 36 earning a place on the CAA Commissioner's Honor Roll.
The Dragons enjoyed success throughout the 2021-22 season, including its best ever finish at the CAA Championships, tying for first place with three student-athletes earning All-Conference honors. The Dragons performed well both locally, winning the Kerr Cup and Kelly Cup, and also nationally, besting some of the top competition in the country at the Sunshine State Invitational. The Novice 8+ won gold at the Dad Vail Regatta, helping Drexel to the overall point title. Also achieving in the classroom, 12 members of the team were named CRCA Scholar-Athletes.
In 2017, Mahmud began an increased role with the women’s varsity eight and women’s second varsity eight boats. In that capacity, she coached the varsity eight and second varsity eights to gold medal finishes at the Dad Vail Regatta, second place finishes at the CAA Championships, and a victory over Rhode Island at the Henley Women’s Regatta. The 2019 season was capped off with the women’s varsity eight winning its first ever gold medal at CAAs in program history. In 2018 season, the women’s second varsity eight won the gold medal at the Dad Vail Regatta.
From 2015-2017, Mahmud oversaw the improvement of the women’s varsity four into one of the Dragons’ most consistent boats. After earning the silver medal at Dad Vail in 2016, the varsity four followed that up with a bronze medal in 2017, which helped Drexel to its then-fifth consecutive overall team title and first women’s points title. At the CAA Championships, the varsity four took home second-place finishes in 2016 and 2017. The boat won back-to-back Kelly Cup gold medals and won Kerr Cup gold in 2016. Under her watch, the varsity four reached back-to-back grand finals at the Eastern Sprints, including a fourth-place finish in 2017.
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 U.S. 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 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 finish 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.
