The University of Texas at Austin Women's Rowing

Entering his 11th season as head coach in 2026, Dave O’Neill has elevated Texas Rowing into a perennial national contender. The five-time CRCA National Coach...

Texas Rowing head coach Dave O'Neill welcomed Alexa McAuliffe as an assistant coach in July 2023. McAuliffe is a Texas Ex who was part of the Longhorns’ 2021...

Gia Doonan enters her fifth season with the Longhorns and her second as Associate Head Coach in 2025-26. Doonan was first hired as a volunteer assistant coach with the program in 2021 and then promoted to a full-time assistant coaching role in 2022. She was promoted to Associate Head Coach in Aug., 2024. Doonan has helped guide Texas to dominance during her span on staff, including three national titles over the last four years and three Big 12 Championships. Under her tutelage, the Fours have captured back-to-back national championships in 2023-24. In addition to her responsibilities on the Forty Acres, Doonan coached the USA U-23 Women's Eigth to a silver medal at the U-23 World Championships in 2025. The Rochester, Mass., native rowed four seasons with the Longhorns (2013-17) and is a former a member of the USRowing senior national team. She helped Team USA to a fourth-place finish with the eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. As a student-athlete at Texas, Doonan was a two-time Big 12 Rower of the Year (2015, 2017), three-time CRCA All-American (2015-17) and a four-time All-Big 12 First Team selection (2014-17). She won three Big 12 Championships (2015-17) and competed in three NCAA Championships in the first varsity eight with the Longhorns. With the national team in 2019, Doonan placed third in the eight at the World Rowing Championships, second in the eight at the World Rowing Cup II, and second in the four at the World Rowing Cup I. In 2018, won gold at the World Ch

Nicole Borges joined Texas as an assistant coach in March 2025. “I’m thrilled that Nicole Borges is finally a part of our staff,” O’Neill said. “This has been months in the making, and she is going to be a great deal to our team. It means a lot that she has taken the leap back into collegiate coaching with our program. Nicole has a proven track record of success in every level as an athlete and coach, and in the short time she has been with us, she has already made an impact.” Borges boasts over 20 years of coaching at the collegiate, national and international levels. Most recently, she was the doubles Junior National Team Coach for Canada at the 2024 Junior World Championships. From 2022-2024, she was the Head Coach and Program Director for the Don Rowing Club in Mississauga, Ontario, guiding the program to three gold and three silver medals at the USA Club Nationals, 12 gold and five silver medals at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and gold in the 2x at the Head of Charles. Prior to her time with the Canadian Junior National Team and the Don Rowing Club, she served as an assistant coach and a global recruiting lead at her alma mater, the University of Washington from 2008-11, working primarily with the Novice Eight. During her first season, Washington finished as the National Runner-Up, and the I Four claimed an NCAA title. In each of her four seasons on Montlake, Washington placed inside the top-10 nationally. Washington also won Pac-12 titles in the Varsity Four in 200

University of Texas head rowing coach Dave O’Neill announced October 17, 2018 the hiring of Rachel Sander as a director of operations with the Longhorns’ row...

RowingSkip AdKales, SpencerBaker, NickBorges, NicoleDoonan, GiaKales, SpencerMcAuliffe, AlexaO'Neill, DaveSander, Rachel