Paul Bugenhagen, a 1998 graduate of the University of Florida, was named head coach of Bucknell Men's Crew in August of 2005. This will be his third year at the helm. The team returns a strong group up upperclassmen that have redefined the type athlete that rows for Bucknell. Also returning are last years Dad Vail Champions in the Freshmen 8. This year’s crew will build on last year’s record setting performances and a strong freshman class.
Coach Bugenhagen spent the summer of 2007 as the Head Women's Coach for Vesper Boat Club's pre-elite program. His crews dominated the summer racing circuit culminating in 6 Canadian Henley Championships and 3 US Club National Champioships. His previous summers have been spent as an assistant coach for the United States Men's Junior National Team in Princeton, N.J. Those teams represented the USA in the grand finals of the Men’s 8+ and Men’s 4+ in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 JR. Men’s 8 took home a World Championship title.
Prior to assisting the Junior National Team, Coach Bugenhagen served as an intern for Princeton University men's rowing team for two years. While at Princeton he helped guide the Tigers' 3rd-varsity heavyweights to a fifth-place showing at the Eastern Sprints. He also coached the men's 2- to a second place finish at the IRA National Championships.
Bucknell will not be his first head coaching job since he has been a head coach for a total of six years for the Gainesville Area Rowing Club in Gainesville, Fla., and the Carnegie Lake Rowing Association in Princeton, N.J. He co-founded and built the Gainesville Area Rowing Club into a successful junior rowing program with over 60 athletes. Under his direction the team had multiple top three finishes at the Florida State Championship Regattas with undefeated championship performances in 2002 by his varsity men and women.
Coach Bugenhagen, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology with a statistics minor from Florida, earned his master's degree in exercise and sport science from his alma mater in 2002.
He is happily married to Amy Jo and has two twin daughters, Emma and Ava.