Colgate’s Department of Athletics announced that the men’s rowing coach position will be renamed the Khaled Sanad Endowed Head Men’s Rowing Coach. 

The endowed position was made possible thanks to the generosity of Robert Long Glendening ’71 and Beverly B. Glendening, who are providing a permanent endowment fund to help cover men’s rowing expenses, including but not limited to operating costs, administrative support, recruiting, and travel.

The gift, made in honor of Sanad, comes on the 20th anniversary of the Glendening Boathouse dedication. The news was announced during a team breakfast in Boston, when the Raiders competed at the Head of the Charles in October.

Men’s rowing joins football, swimming and diving, men’s hockey, and men’s soccer as the only Colgate sports with coaching positions named after coaches who had a major influence on their programs.

“I’m stunned and extremely grateful to the Glendening family,” Sanad said. “I’ve known Bob and Beverly for more than 20 years. In addition to being dedicated supporters of Colgate and Colgate rowing, I consider them close friends. Their generosity means so much to me, our students-athletes, our program, and the Colgate rowing community.”

Robert Glendening said his family wanted to recognize Sanad for building a proud rowing program. “We want to honor and recognize Coach Sanad for all his years of coaching service and elevating the Colgate rowing program to a level that makes us all Colgate proud.”   

Nicki Moore, then–vice president and director of athletics, applauded the Glendening Family for the gift. “The Glendenings have demonstrated their love for Colgate and their belief in the value of the sport of rowing relative to the mission of the University time and time again,” Moore said. “From the funding of our beautiful boathouse to the establishment of Colgate scholarships, the Glendening Family is helping to position Colgate rowing for national prominence.”

Moore thanked the Glendenings for choosing to name the endowed coaching position after Sanad. “Coach Sanad has built and led this program,” Moore said. “He has shaped and inspired young men and women to work harder than they believed they could and to achieve at a level akin to some of the most venerable collegiate rowing programs in the country. The success of Coach Sanad’s teams are worthy of this recognition, and I look forward to the continued evolution and success of this program whose head coaching position will hence forth bear Coach Sanad’s name.”

Sanad completed his 22nd year at the helm in 2021–22, a season in which Colgate’s varsity eight earned a top-20 finish at the IRA National Championship for a third-straight year. 

The IRA outcome capped off a big year that included first-place finishes at the Knecht Cup Regatta and Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship. The varsity eight also earned a bronze medal at the Dad Vail Regatta.

Sanad arrived in Hamilton in 2000 and helped the team transition from club status to a varsity-level program. He has since guided the Raiders to the IRA National Championship 10 times and helped the team earn a total of 18 medals at Dad Vail.

Four years after he was hired, Sanad recorded the first national championship in Colgate history when his team won the gold at the IRA in 2004. The following year, the Raiders earned the silver in the event. 

In the 2005–06 season, Colgate earned its first gold at the Head of the Charles, then finished No. 1 again at the same race the following year.

Using his knowledge of the sport and innovation in coaching, Sanad has guided men’s rowing, a non-scholarship program, to perennial success against programs with tremendous advantages in funding and tradition. 

Sanad, who studied at the Sports Science School in Cairo, is a former member of the Egyptian national rowing team. In Egypt, he was a boxer and soldier, working as an engineer for the army.

He began his coaching career with a position at Grand Valley University while conducting research in physiology. He also coached the Penn AC elite, a prestigious rowing club in the U.S., and he later coached the Egyptian National Team.