Mike Teti

Men's Head Coach

Well-known in national and Olympic rowing circles, Mike Teti became head coach of Cal Men’s Crew in 2008. As head coach of the 2008 U.S. men’s Olympic rowing team, his tenure at Cal began on September 1, following the conclusion of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Teti launched his coaching career in 1982 with a seven-year stint at Temple University in Philadelphia, where his crews won six Dad Vail titles. In 1989, he became freshmen coach at Princeton University, leading the freshmen men’s eight to five Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) wins. Teti has coached at the national and Olympic level since 1996, and has amassed an impressive record of wins. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, he led the U.S. men’s eight to a world record in the heat and a gold medal in the final. This win was significant, and the first time the U.S. had won gold in the event since 1964.

At the 2003 world championships, Teti’s men’s four with coxswain won gold and the men’s eight won silver. At the 2002 world championships, the men’s eight won the bronze medal. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, all of Teti’s sweep boats made the finals and the men’s pair took home a silver medal. In 1999, he guided the U.S. men to four gold medals at the world championships. His crews won three medals at the 1998 world championships. In 1997, Teti’s eight and pair with coxswain won gold. His lightweight four won bronze at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition, Teti was the coach of the only U.S. men’s eight in the country’s history to win three consecutive world championship titles, from 1997 to 1999. These wins prompted US Rowing to name Teti National Coach of the Year for three consecutive years. USRowing named him Developmental Coach of the Year in 1996.

Born in Upper Darby, Pa., Teti started rowing in 1973 at Monsignor Bonner High School. One year later, he earned a spot on the junior national team and rowed the junior eight at the 1974 FISA Junior World Championships. He rowed at St. Joseph’s University, and was named to their Hall of Fame in 1999. He is also a member of the Monsignor Bonner High School Hall of Fame and the USRowing Hall of Fame.

Teti is a 12-time national team member and a three-time Olympian. From 1977 to 1993, he won 24 national titles, a silver medal at the 1979 Pan American Games in the four, and bronze and gold medals in the eight at the world championships in 1985 and 1987. In 1988, he won a bronze medal in the eight at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. USRowing named him Male Athlete of the Year in 1987 after he rowed bow in the world champion U.S. men’s eight.

Teti is married to Kay Worthington, also a world-class rower, who won two gold medals in the women’s four and eight at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.