Jana Weinberger Named Head Nordic Coach at CU

BOULDER — Jana Weinberger, a two-time individual national champion skier for the University of Colorado and the assistant Nordic coach for the Buffaloes the last 11 seasons, has been named head Nordic coach at her alma mater, CU ski program head coach Richard Rokos announced Tuesday.

Weinberger replaces the role left vacant by the retirement of Bruce Cranmer on July 1. Cranmer had coached Colorado for 18 seasons and for all but three of his years Weinberger was affiliated with the program either as a skier (2003-06) or assistant coach (2008-18).

"I am very excited to start the season as Nordic head coach," Weinberger said. "We have incredible athletes and I look forward to working with them and helping them to become better skiers. I have been a Buff in a different capacity since 2003 (athlete, assistant coach, head coach), this position carries lot of responsibility and I will do my best to carry on success of the CU ski team."

In Weinberger's 11 seasons on Colorado's coaching staff, the Buffs finished first or second in the Nordic points standings at the NCAA championships eight times and in five of those seasons CU won the mythical Nordic national championship (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015).

"It is good to have her," Rokos said of promoting Weinberger to the head role for the Nordic team. "Honoring old Buffs and knowing that they come from within the organization, they know our philosophy and they have connections in department, so it is the logical step.

"She's been successful in her time here, during her tenure we've got four national titles. She was a part of them as an athlete and part of them as a coach, so she knows what it takes to win."

As a skier, Weinberger, the former Jana Rehemaa, raced 28 collegiate races, claiming 27 top 10 and 23 top five finishes. As a senior in 2006, she captained the national championship team and herself swept six consecutive races, including winning the individual titles in both the freestyle and classical events at the NCAA Championships.

After joining the coaching staff in 2008, she went on to help lead the Buffs to NCAA titles in 2011, 2013 and 2015 while CU has finished as runner-up six times, including in each of the past three seasons.

In her 11 seasons on the Colorado coaching staff, a total of 16 different skiers have won 86 races and she coached nine different Buffs who have won a combined 14 NCAA individual national titles. Additionally, she has seen 20 different Nordic skiers garner a combined 51 first-team All-America honors.

"It was a good blend," Rokos said of the success of the Nordic program the last 11 years with Cranmer and Weinberger coaching the Buffs. "Bruce was a very experienced boxer and was into it and then on the other end Jana was very close to the athletes because she came from within and with better access to women skiers helped her to do her role very well."

Most recently, Weinberger has been fundamental in the tutelage of Petra Hyncicova and Mads Stroem, who both finished their careers as Buffs within the past two seasons. Hyncicova swept the Nordic titles at the 2017 NCAA Championships and competed in the 2018 Winter Olympic games for her home country, the Czech Republic. Stroem won three total NCAA titles and was an eight-time All-American (seven first-team honors), tying the program record for the most All-America honors and first-team accolades in a career in Colorado history.

Hyncicova and Stroem are two of four Buffs in program history to have swept the Nordic national titles in the same season (with Weinberger being one herself thanks to her 2006 sweep).

Weinberger graduated from the University of Colorado in 2006 with a degree in international affairs. She is married to former CU All-American and her predecessor as the assistant Nordic coach, Dan Weinberger, and the couple has three children, Klara, Alexander and William.

Colorado is in the process of its search to hire a new assistant Nordic coach and hopes to have that vacancy filled by the start of the school year (classes at CU start on Monday, Aug. 27).

"It is exciting because there is fairly good interest about the job," Rokos said of the assistant Nordic position. "We have more applicants than we expected."

On the alpine side, Stefan Hughes, a two-time All-American who skied for the Buffs from 2007-10, will return for his second season as the alpine assistant coach under Rokos.

"He is pretty much set for his stay with CU for a long time," Rokos said of Hughes. "He is an old Buff and with good experience in coaching."

Colorado University Athletics

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