Men’s rowing head coach Mark Davis announced Friday a new assistant coach will join the Colonials for their upcoming season.

Thomas Guncik will work primarily 0n recruiting and with the freshman rowers.

Prior to coming to Foggy Bottom, Guncik was the assistant rowing coach and recruiting coordinator at Bates College, a Division III program. He helped Bates to its best performance in team history at the 2011 New England Rowing Championships, where both the Varsity 8 and 2nd Varsity 8 boats finished in third place at the championship regatta. The Varsity 8 and 2nd Varsity 8 also took seventh and fourth place, respectively, at the Eastern College Athletic Conference National Invitational Rowing Championships.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to coach the George Washington University men’s rowing team,” Guncik said. “Coach Davis has a vision and plan I believe in and this is definitely a program ready to enter the top tier of collegiate rowing.”

Guncik has also worked as a head coach at the New Haven, Conn. Rowing Club, Portland, Maine, Community Rowing Association and at the Thompson Boat Center in D.C., the venue where the GW rowing program is based.

He was the captain of the Ohio State University Crew Club and rowed as a member of the Varsity Pair that finished in eighth place at the 2006 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta.