Columnist Ron Kantowski: Rebels may row the boat

Thursday, June 1, 2000 | 10:13 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

News flash: UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro doesn't have both oars in the water.

But that day may be coming.

It's only a matter of a time until UNLV adds another woman's sport in an attempt to meet the NCAA's gender equity standards as prescribed by Title IX. When it does, women's rowing will be given strong consideration.

That's right. Woman's rowing. In the middle of the desert.

As incongruous as that seems, don't for a minute think that Cavagnaro has fractured his scull.

In 1994-95, 74 colleges and universities had a varsity women's rowing team. Now, that number has nearly doubled, to 130. The sport should continue to grow, now that the NCAA sanctions it.

And it's growing at some places you might never imagine.

Mention rowing, and it conjures images of streamlined boats racing down tree-lined channels, perhaps under a bridge or through a brick portal. It's always autumn and some Ivy League campus is usually nearby.

At least in the old days. Now, Washington has a rowing team. It even won the NCAA championship in 1997 and '98. Minnesota recently became the seventh Big Ten school to adopt the sport. Tobacco Road has become buoyant, as Atlantic Coast Conference members Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State and Virginia all have added women's rowing in the past five years. Even Arizona State has a team.

UNLV could be next.

"During the next round (of adding women's programs), rowing is one of the ones we will be looking at," Cavagnaro said. "Bowling is one and equestrian is another."

But those last two sports don't require a lot of players to get started. That's not the case with rowing. The NCAA has a 20-scholarship limit for rowing -- the most of any sport other than football. With three divisions and a junior varsity squad, you're talking about adding 60-80 opportunities for female athletes.

Don't think Cavagnaro hasn't done the math. If those 20 scholarships can be divided among 80 athletes, UNLV could could become gender compliant before it even tests the waters.

One drawback to fielding a rowing team is the start-up costs. While I haven't priced an eight-man scull recently, they can't be cheap. According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, Minnesota spent $120,000 of its $470,000 commitment to the sport on equipment.

And where do you race out here? Lake Mead? Too big and too choppy. One of those man-made lakes up at Desert Shores would be ideal, but I don't think the home owners would be too keen on a bunch of college kids sloshing through their driveways every day.

But why let a little thing like a lack of water stop you? Arizona State apparently has solved that problem by damming up a river.

A bigger problem may be where do you find the coxswains (the helmsman who calls out the rowing rhythm) or the rowers themselves? Well, you train them. Anybody who is big and strong and has a lot of lung capacity can row her own when it comes to a college scholarship.

Remember that old movie "Oxford Blues?" The one in which Rob Lowe worked as a valet at The Dunes to supplement his rowing scholarship to the "University of Nevada?"

Maybe the scriptwriters weren't pulling our legs. Maybe they just saw Title IX coming.