Bates women's rowing All-American and three-time NCAA champion Hannah Fitts '20 has returned to campus as the assistant men's rowing coach and recruiting coordinator, as July 14, 2025 by head coach Peter Steenstra.
"I am absolutely psyched to return home to Bates, this time as a coach," Fitts said. "Bates rowing has had the most incredible impact on who I am as a person, and I am honored to get to be a part of this gritty, passionate, hardworking group of student-athletes."
Fitts spent the last three seasons at Dartmouth College, first as a volunteer coach for the women's rowing team and then as the second assistant coach for the Big Green's men's lightweights in 2024-25. She experienced remarkable success this past spring, leading the varsity 4+ to a silver medal at the Eastern Sprints and helping the lightweights take second in the team points at the IRA National Championship, the best finish in program history.
"We couldn't be more excited to have coach Fitts join our staff here at Bates," Steenstra said. "She brings an impressive amount of experience, having coached multiple disciplines at various levels, and she's even worked on the leading edge of some of the more recent technologies involving telemetry data collection and analysis. It's clear that I will be doing a lot of learning myself with her on staff."
Fitts left her mark at Bates as a varsity rower. Hailing from Pawtucket, R.I., she stepped right into the women's first varsity eight boat as a rookie during the 2016-17 season. The Bobcats ended that year as NCAA champions for the second time in program history. Then she was named second team All-NESCAC as a sophomore, as the first varsity eight boat set a course record in the collegiate eights race at the Head of the Charles regatta and won its first gold medal at the NCAA Championships in program history. Bates turned in another dominating performance overall, winning a second straight national title. With Fitts once again in the 1V, the Bobcats pulled off the "three-peat" in 2019, and she received national recognition as a second team All-American.
It is likely Fitts and the Bobcats would have won a fourth straight NCAA championship in 2019-20, but the spring season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I fiercely believe in what Coach Steenstra teaches through this program, and how he empowers student-athletes to be the best versions of themselves." Fitts said. "The opportunity to assist him in the process of developing athletes and making boats go faster is a dream come true."
The Bates men's rowing program is coming off another strong season that saw the Bobcats finish NESCAC runner-up, with the first varsity eight capping off the season by earning a bronze medal at the IRA National Championship.
"The team has clearly evolved since my time at Bates, and I'm so excited to work with these athletes," Fitts said. "They are establishing themselves as a national championship caliber team, and I cannot wait to see what we can do. The guys clearly enjoy hard work and are eager to improve, which makes me eager to support them in this year's climb up the mountain."
