John Pojednic enters his 20th year as head coach of the Northeastern men's rowing team during the 2019-20 season. Not only is he one of the youngest head coaches in the country, but he is one of the second longest tenured head coaches in the EARC.
Walter “Buzz” Congram, Northeastern’s head coach from 1977 to 2000, hired Pojednic in 1999 as his assistant coach. When Coach Congram retired at the end of the 2000 season, Pojednic was selected to lead the Huskies program and continue Northeastern’s tradition of excellence and competitive success at the highest levels of intercollegiate rowing.
Since then, Pojednic has guided the Huskies into the national spotlight with a 65-43 regular season record and a high level of success in postseason competition. His crews have reached the 1V Grand Final on six occasions at the IRA Championships (2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2015), including twice in the last four seasons, and finished fourth in the nation in both 2008 and 2013. He’s had two boats win medals at the national championships: a silver in the open four in 2013 and a bronze in the freshman eight in 2012.
Additionally, the 1V has competed in the Grand Final at the Eastern Sprints in three of the last four seasons, and 11 times since Pojednic’s first season as head coach in 2001, highlighted by a silver medal in 2015 and three bronze medal finishes in 2001, 2005 and 2013. Under his tutelage, the second varsity eight has medaled in twice of the last three years, including the gold in 2014, its first since winning the bronze in 2001.The third varsity, meanwhile, took third in 2015 and second in 2014, while the freshman eight won medals in 2006 (silver), 2011 (bronze) and 2012 (silver).
Pojednic credits the success of the Northeastern rowing program to a tradition of developing determined young athletes into varsity oarsmen — a process that has also yielded numerous second varsity and freshman crews that have made competitive appearances in the Grand Finals of the Eastern Sprints and IRA Championship.
Pojednic’s oarsmen have also been successful in international competition. Since 2001, 12 Huskies oarsmen have competed at the FISA U-23 World Championship and five have earned places on FISA World Championship Teams. Most notably, Marshall Godschalk ’07 (2008), Chris Jarvis ’03 (2004), Will Miller ’07 (2012), and Dan Walsh ’02 (2004, 2008) have distinguished themselves at the highest level of their sport by competing at the Olympic Games. Walsh, a former assistant on Pojednic’s staff, won a bronze medal for the United States in the Men’s 8+ at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Equally as impressive has been the performance of Pojednic's student-athletes in the classroom. In the last four seasons, 29 members of Pojednic’s Northeastern team have been named to the IRA All-Academic team, including nine in 2016 alone.
The 2016 Huskies faced adversity throughout the spring season, but responded when it mattered most. After both the first and second varsity boats finished seventh at the Eastern Sprints, boat changes moved four freshmen, three sophomores, and one junior and senior for the IRA Championships. At the national regatta, despite racing four times throughout the weekend, the 1V won the petite final to take seventh in the country, marking the first time since 1984 that the Huskies varsity finished seventh or better in four straight seasons. It was the 15th IRA appearance for Pojednic’s crews in his 16 years as head coach.
During the 2015 season, a year in which the Huskies celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth of the program, Northeastern 2-3 in regular season regattas, capturing the Dreissigacker Cup for the second time in three years and the Congram Cup for the third straight year. NU entered the Eastern Sprints ranked fifth in the EARC, and turned heads with a second place finish in the Grand Final. Northeastern finished just behind Yale and topped Princeton, Brown, Harvard and Boston University en route to its highest finish in the 1V since 1995. NU also won medals in the 2V (bronze) and V4 (gold).
Looking to build momentum from a successful Sprints into the 2015 IRA Championships, Northeastern headed to Mercer Lake for the annual national championships. There, the 1V edged Yale by a mere 0.020 seconds in the semifinal to take third in the heat and earn a spot in the Grand Final. The Huskies would finish sixth in the Grand.
The 2014 campaign saw the Huskies put their depth and speed on display during postseason competition after finishing the regular season 4-3. At Eastern Sprints, the 2V won the program’s first gold medal at the event in 36 years – and first in the second varsity. The third varsity took the silver earlier in the day, giving Northeastern two medal-winning crews at the Sprints for the first time since 2001 and just the third time in more than three decades. The varsity eight, which finished fourth, posted the fastest-ever time by an NU crew in 38 Sprints appearances to help Northeastern to its strongest Sprints showing in decades.
At IRAs, Northeastern once again established itself as one of the nation’s top collegiate programs, finishing fifth in the overall team points category. The fifth-place finish came as the result of the Huskies' three scoring boats—the varsity, second varsity, and third varsity eights—each finishing in the top seven nationally in their respective events.
In 2013, Northeastern turned heads with its continued resurgence under Pojednic, spending eight weeks in the national rankings and peaking at No. 3 in the country. The Huskies had a nearly unblemished regular regatta slate, going 6-1 with wins in the Burk, Arlett and Dreissigacker cups. At the EARC Sprints Championship in Worcester, Mass., all four Northeastern crews advanced to the Grand Finals and the varsity eight finished third, marking the second trip to the podium by an NU crew in as many years and the first medal-winning performance for a varsity crew at the Eastern Sprints since 2005. Northeastern placed three crews in Grand Finals at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships in Rancho Cordova, Calif., highlighted by a second-place finish in the Open Four Grand Final and fourth place in the Varsity Eight Grand Final. NU was one of only four schools in the nation to have at least three boats in grand finals, and the Varsity Eight finish gave the Huskies a No. 4 final national ranking.
But Northeastern's work in 2013 was not yet done. Oarsmen representing six decades of NU rowing — including members of the university's very first crew of 1965 — gathered in quaint Henley-on-Thames in England in support of two varsity crews that competed in the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta. While both crews performed admirably, the varsity became the talk of the weekend. The Huskies defeated the Under-23 British national team by a wide margin — three and one-half lengths — before losing by just a canvas to Great Britain's number two national-team crew in the Ladies' Challenge Plate final in one of the closest races of the entire five-day regatta. The Northeastern eight cruised past Fawley — the three-quarter mile mark — in 2:55, a time that set a new event record and still stands today.
As an undergraduate, Pojednic was a member of the lightweight rowing team at Boston College. After graduation, Pojednic coached at Boston College and Riverside Boat Club prior to his arrival on Huntington Avenue. He resides in Charlestown with his wife, Rachele. When he is not busy training the Northeastern crews and searching for the next generation of Huskies oarsmen, Pojednic can be found cycling on the streets of Boston, sailing, or stealing a ski day in the New England backcountry.
