By Coach Gene Kininmonth

It is with great pleasure that I am writing to you at the beginning of my second season with the Trojan Navy. I would like to begin by thanking all of those members of the USC staff, alumni and current oarsmen who have made me feel so welcome this past year.

Our rowers performed with distinction last season, enjoying results not seen in many years by a USC Men's Crew program. I commend this new generation of Trojans for their efforts. They deserve every praise for the outstanding results they achieved.

The sweet smell of success is now emanating from our boathouse in Marina Del Rey and it is comforting to know that a winning season is no longer some fluke, that the results are something that we have produced and can be repeated.

Furthermore, it is no co-incidence that as we begin to enjoy greatersuccess, the Crew has also become more of an institution. Rather than simply rely on a coach or a student-captain to run the program, now direction comes from the Crew Board, a framework of alumni, students, university staff and coaches. Decisions are made at board meetings where a wealth of experience considers issues. We call our organization the Trojan Navy.

We have also recognized that one of the keys to the long-term future of the Trojan Navy is developing a strong ideology of what we stand for. Successfully articulating  this mission will help to capture the imagination of our supporters.

A good example to illustrate the point I am trying to convey is Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.  "I have a dream," said King. "That one day, children both black and white will walk hand in hand. I have a dream ... that a man will be judged not by the color of his skin but by the character of his soul."

The point is, at the end of this speech there were no questions - the speech said it all. It all sounds quite simple but it makes me stop and think about our own organization, the Trojan Navy. What is it that we stand for? What is the Trojan Navy Dream? Where are we taking our club? Is it to be the Harvard University of the West? Or is it something different - and quite possibly more? It must be something that has true meaning to those who are involved. Something where people can give more of themselves and truly believe that their efforts are worthwhile. No doubt this past year we have caused people to become interested in our crew program and triggered in them a desire to assist. Now is the time to determine a view of who we are, who our supporters are and where we are going.

When you look around the world today, all the great universities also have great men's crew programs: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford &
Cambridge to name but a few. This great institution called USC has been the exception to the rule. Now, our Crew Board has committed to building an organization based on ideals and goals that will inspire our student-athletes to be audacious. And why not?

When President Kennedy and his advisors sat down in 1961, they could have said: "let's beef up the space program,"  but instead they announced "We're going to the moon."

We're not planning on taking our crew into outerspace. But we can be the number one rowing institution on Earth.