Heavyweight Rowing
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- gchughes@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 609-258-5356
| QUICK FACTS ON GREG HUGHES '96 |
| • Coaching career has spanned over 28 years at Princeton with a combined record of 106-26. |
| •Has amassed over 31 medals at Easterns and IRAs including three Eastern Sprints titles and three national champions. |
| •Has coached 12 crews at the Senior World Championships or U-23 World Championships with six winning medals. |
| •Assistant coach with U.S. National Team from 1999-2022 - Co-coached the men's eight to gold at the 2002 U-23 World Championships and the 4+ to gold at the 2007 World Championships. |
| •President of the STEM to Stern and the IRCA |
| •Men's Heavyweight Head Coach Since 2009 - 97-25 overall record with 12 IRA medals |
| •First Varsity earned a bronze medal at 2023 IRA Championships, program's first IRA medal since 2016 |
| •Team won the 2015, 2016 and 2024 Rowe Cup titles |
| •Men's Lightweight Head Coach from 2005-09 - Posted a 25-7 overall record |
| •2009 crew won Easterns, the Ivy League title, a IRA crown and the Temple Cup at Henley |
| •The 2009 crew's victory at Henley was the first victory for Princeton Lightweights at Henley since 1973 |
| •Freshmen coach for the Princeton Heavyweight Team from 1997-2005 - 68-15 overall record |
| •Freshmen boats captured 13 medals including 1998, 2003 Eastern Sprints |
| • 2003 crew won the IRA Championship and the Temple Cup at Henley, the first Henley win for Princeton since 1973 |
Greg Hughes '96, who once turned the Princeton men's lightweight program into the top team in the nation, has led the Tiger heavyweights back into being one of the elite programs in the country.
Hughes finished his 16th season with the Tiger heavyweights in 2025.
2025 saw the Tigers finish fifth in the IRA Ten Eyck Standings, with the 1V finishing fourth in its Grand Final. The 3V also advanced to the Grand Final, while the 2V won the Petite Final. At Eastern Sprints, the Tigers finished second in the team point standings, with the 2V and 3V winning silver and the 1V and 4V bronze.
In 2024, Princeton captured second place in the IRA Ten Eyck Standings which was the highest mark for the team since 2016 and the best score among all East Coast schools. The 2V earned a silver medal, its first medal at IRAs since 2017 and a five-spot jump from 2023. The 3V also collected a silver, its first medal since 2016.
The Tigers claimed the Rowe Cup at Eastern Sprints in 2024 for the first time since 2016 led by gold medals from the 2V and 3V.
2024 was one of the best seasons in program history as it's the first time ever that Princeton's 1V and 2V each went undefeated during the same season. The Tigers' 1V has had a perfect regular season just five times (1881, 1997, 1999, 2006) in the 152-year history of the program.
Hughes has posted a 97-25 record over his first 15 seasons at Princeton, and he has led the Tigers to eight 1V medals at Eastern Sprints, including six in the last nine years the event was held. Princeton has also won three 1V medals at the IRA national championships, while holding a consistent presence in the grand final.
The 2023 season saw the first varsity lose to only Yale in the regular season before collecting its first medal at Eastern Sprints since 2016 with a silver medal, trailing only the Bulldogs.
Princeton's first varsity earned a bronze medal at the 2023 IRA Championships, the boat’s first IRA medal since 2016. The Tigers also finished fourth in the Ten Eyck standings, a four-spot jump from 2022.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics saw four former Hughes' rowers participate with all four reaching their Grand Finals. Tom George '18 (bronze), Tim Masters '15 and Nick Mead '17 were in the men's eight Grand Final for their respective countries while Fred Vystavel '16 collected bronze in the men's pair event.
Hughes is the president of the STEM to Stern's national organization board. STEM to Stern is a program that uses rowing to bring people together across racial and socioeconomic boundaries. Rowing is a focal point of STEM to Stern as clubs are able to use rowing to build relationships among students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to interact, or to compete together, which builds a diverse and competitive environment that is developed through the program. It's mission is 40 STEM to Stern programs and serve over 400 student-athletes across the United States in 2023.
The Tigers' coach is also the president of the IRCA (Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches' Association). The IRCA's mission is to promote and evolve men's collegiate rowing while embracing and support diversity, equity and inclusion in the sport. It fosters growth and development of rowing as a college sport in a manner that is demographically reflective of our society at large.
Hughes was a four-year lightweight rower under legendary Princeton coach Joe Murtaugh. A 1996 Princeton graduate, Hughes was undefeated in all of his four regular seasons and won two Eastern Sprints titles. He was an All-Ivy League rower on the 1994 and 1996 national championship lightweight crews. He served as team captain in 1996 and won the Gordon G. Sikes Award for the greatest contribution to Princeton lightweight crew. He would go on to be an alternate for both the 1997 and 1998 lightweight U.S. national teams.
| Year | Record | Ivy Record | EARC Finish | IRA Finish |
| 2010 | 4-4 | 3-3 | 2nd | 12th |
| 2011 | 7-1 | 5-1 | 2nd | 6th |
| 2012 | 6-3 | 3-3 | 4th | 7th |
| 2013 | 7-2 | 4-2 | 4th | 6th |
| 2014 | 8-2 | 4-2 | 3rd | 4th |
| 2015 | 8-1 | 5-1 | 3rd | 3rd |
| 2016 | 8-1 | 5-1 | 2nd | 3rd |
| 2017 | 6-2 | 4-2 | 3rd | 4th |
| 2018 | 7-3 | 3-3 | 4th | 5th |
| 2019 | 6-2 | 4-2 | 4th | 6th |
| 2021 | 4-0 | - | 4th | 8th |
| 2022 | 6-2 | 2-2 | 4th | 9th |
| 2023 | 9-1 | 5-1 | 2nd | 3rd |
| 2024 | 10-0 | 6-0 | 2nd | 4th |
| 2025 | 9-1 | 5-1 | 3rd | 4th |
| Totals | 106-26 | 56-22 | 12 medals | 4 medals |
