In 2024, Katie Bruggeling was named the head coach of Brock men’s and women’s rowing, where she leads all aspects of the program. Bruggeling, a native of St. Catharines, has led Brock to numerous accomplishments in her first two years with the team, including two OUA men's banners, two men’s runner-up finishes at the Canadian University Rowing Championships (CURC) and a silver medal in the CURC women’s eight.
Prior to Brock, Bruggeling was the head coach at Queen’s University. During her time at Queen’s, the team won several honours, including winning the OUA Women’s Rowing Banner in 2023. She was awarded OUA Coach of the Year, the Kingston Rowing President’s Award and Rowing Canada’s COVID Champion.
Overall, her coaching has helped support university crews to win over 50 OUA medals, 10 Henley medals and 25 CURC medals.
Bruggeling’s international coaching experience includes coaching at the under-23, senior and International University Sports Federation (FISU) World Championships. Her highlights there include a bronze medal finish at the Under-23 World Championships and another bronze at the FISU World Championships.
She has also served as an assistant coach at Clemson University and the University of Oklahoma, where she led crews to national rankings, seven conference medals and was named Regional Staff of the Year by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. Bruggeling is Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA) Performance Coach certified and holds a Bachelor’s in Sociology and Athletic Leadership and a Master’s of Education in Intercollegiate Athletics Administration.
Bruggeling graduated with honours from Clemson University, where she was a varsity student-athlete, and was a member of the St. Catharines Rowing Club. During her time as a coxswain, she was named a three-time All South Region team, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Crew of the Year, two-time All-Academic Atlantic Coast Honours, a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship qualifier, a seven-time Henley gold medalist, two-time Head of the Charles gold medalist, Coxswain of the Year, team co-captain and more.
