PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania's head women's rowing coach, Wesley Ng, has announced an addition to his coaching staff.
 
It's a familiar face and name to followers of the program, and adds another chapter to what has already been a long and storied relationship on Boathouse Row.
 
Ng has named Josie Konopka, who just graduated from Penn in May, as his new assistant coach. Konopka replaces Helen Samaniego, who left for a job at the University of Texas after two years with the Quakers and joins Ng and associate head coach Kumari Lewis.
 
"I am thrilled that we can have Josie reprise her role for Penn Women's Rowing and share her elite and NCAA-level rowing experience with our athletes," said Ng, who enters his ninth year as Penn's head coach. "As one of our most decorated and successful rowers, she demonstrated tremendous leadership and has a remarkable attention to detail—two elements that will continue to add to our momentum as a program. She embodies what the rowing experience at Penn can be!"
 
"It is a privilege to join the Penn Rowing staff alongside Wes and Kumari," said Konopka. "I'm thrilled to work with and learn from them and continue to be a part of the Penn rowing community."
 
Konopka was a two-year captain of the women's rowing team and earned first-team All-America honors from the College Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) and first-team All-Ivy two times. She helped lead the Quakers to their first full-team NCAA Championship appearance in 2022, when Penn finished 11th, and then was in the two seat this past spring as the Quakers' Varsity Eight won silver at the Ivy League Championship and followed that up with a fourth-place finish at NCAAs. Overall, Penn took sixth as a team at NCAAs last May. Konopka then moved back into the stroke seat when Penn made its debut at both the Henley Women's Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta in June, helping the Quakers advance to the final of the Royal's Island Challenge Cup where they were nipped at the finish by the reigning British University champion, Oxford Brookes.
 
Of course, the Konopka name was synonymous with Penn rowing long before Josie arrived on campus as a freshman. Her father, Bruce, was one of three Konopkas from that generation to row for the Quakers and led the Penn lightweights to the 1976 Eastern Sprints title and the Thames Challenge Cup semifinal round at Henley. Bruce later had coaching stints across all three of Penn's rowing programs and was the 1984 ECAC Coach of the Year. Josie's mother, Molly, spent a few years coaching with the Penn women's team. And Josie's older brother, James, rowed for Penn's lightweights.
 
For the latest on Penn women's rowing, follow @PennWRowing on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and the web at PennAthletics.com.