Alex Kincaid was announced to the Navy Heavyweight Crew Staff

ANNAPOLIS, MD.Rob Frederick, the Tom & Candy Knudson director of Navy Rowing and head coach of the heavyweight team, announced Tuesday that Alex Kincaid has joined the heavyweight coaching staff. Additionally, Ethan Schuhmacherthe Mids’ sophomore assistant coach, was promoted to recruiting coordinator for the program.

A talented competitor and trainer from the Maryland-DC area, Kincaid served as a coxswain on the Washington College heavyweight team for four years before moving into the coaching ranks as a rowing coach at DeMatha Catholic High School and most recently as a head coach at Catholic University.

“We are very pleased to have Alex on staff here at Hubbard Hall,” remarked Friedrich. “He brings a wealth of rowing and leadership knowledge to the team that will help develop our rowers into better midshipmen and student athletes.”

Kincaid jumped straight into the coaching field after graduating from Washington College in 2019 as an assistant coach at the Catholic University and DeMatha Catholic High School programs in the fall of 2019. During his time at Catholic, he supported both the men’s and women’s teams. While coaching at DeMatha, he coached the college men and developed a coaching rotation to maximize the strengths of the team’s coaches and improve the skills of the athletes, and structured a training schedule for the fall, winter, and spring collegiate and beginner programs seasons.

In January 2020, he was named coach of the men’s rowing team at Catholic. During his three seasons at the helm of the Cardinals, Kincaid helped his team navigate two seasons severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic before taking the program to new heights in the 2021-22 season when they participated in the Leading the Charles raced for the first time, as well as third place at the 2022 Knecht Cup and sixth place at the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championship. Kincaid and Catholic ended their 2022 campaign with their first-ever participation in the IRA National Championships, as the varsity four occupied a place in this respective classification. Under his leadership, Declan Waters received recognition for the 2022 IRCA All-American Second Team.

As a collegiate competitor, Kincaid served as team captain and selection for the 2019 All-Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) at Washington College for two years. He was also a two-time Team MVP selection. In addition, Kincaid was a three-time Academic All-MARC selection and recipient of the 2018 Elizabeth “Bo” Blanchard Memorial Sportmanship Award.

During his high school career at DeMatha, Kincaid captained the varsity team for two years and received honorable mention All-Met honors.

“The tradition of rowing at Hubbard Hall and the standard of excellence both on and off the water at the Naval Academy are unparalleled in collegiate rowing,” said Kincaid. “I’m thrilled to be part of the staff here and look forward to working with an incredibly talented group of midshipmen.”


He graduated from Washington College in 2019 with a BA in Philosophy and later earned a Master of Science in Leadership and Management in 2022.


Alongside Kincaid’s entry to the heavyweight staff, Friedrich announced Tuesday that he will be a sophomore assistant coach Ethan Schuhmacher was promoted to senior assistant and recruiting coordinator. After joining the Navy’s heavyweight rowing program in August 2021, Shoemaker took the reins of the Mids’ bottom boats and helped lead fifth varsity crew to victories over Princeton and Harvard while sixth varsity at the 2022 Eastern Sprints collected gold.


“I’m delighted to be promoting Ethan to first assistant and recruiting coordinator,” Friedrich said. “He was a fantastic coach and mentor to our athletes last year, making them better on the water and as teammates. He’s already made a huge impact on our future recruitment classes.”


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