Louise Dinard is headed back onto the international stage this weekend, with the Rutgers senior set to race for France in pairs at the U23 Rowing Championships in Kruswicza, Poland, on September 5-6.
For Dinard, it marks a second straight international assignment this summer. She already represented France at the 2026 U23 World Championships in Duisburg, Germany, in late July, where she earned bronze in pairs and placed fourth in the inaugural mixed 8.
Her Rutgers résumé has been just as steady. In the spring of 2026, Dinard helped the Varsity 8 finish fifth in the petite final and 11 th overall at the NCAA Championships, while also repeating as silver medalists at the Big Ten Championships.
A year earlier, as a sophomore in 2025, she was part of the Varsity 8 that placed second in the petite final and eighth overall at NCAAs and again took silver at the Big Ten Championships. As a freshman in 2024, Dinard rowed with the Second Varsity 8, which finished 14 th overall at the NCAA Championships and third at the Big Ten Championships.
Dinard’s international experience stretches beyond this summer as well. She helped the Scarlet Knights win the Island Challenge Cup at the 2025 Henley Royal Regatta, beating out 43 other entries and surviving five head-to-head races on the River Thames. On the French side of her résumé, she has won a French U17 championship in pairs, finished runner-up in the four, and was selected twice for France for the Coupe de la Jeunesse.
In Other News...
Rutgers Fans Are Facing The Greg Schiano Question Again
Greg Schiano is back in the familiar spot Rutgers fans know all too well: the season has barely started, and the conversation is already shifting from results to his future. Now in his seventh year of his second stint in charge, he enters 2026 with a 31-41 record in this return engagement, a number that has kept the scrutiny around the program from ever really going away.
The latest jolt came in the season opener, when Rutgers lost to UMass after falling behind by 17 points at halftime against a team carrying a long active losing streak. For a fan base still measuring progress against expectations, the larger issue is now unavoidable again because Schianos contract carries a buyout that would cost the school about $17.3 million if he were let go at seasons end. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Just Opened The Season With A Loss Fans Cant Ignore
Rutgers opened the season with a result that will linger well beyond Week 1, falling 37-21 to UMass in a game that the Scarlet Knights were expected to control. The Minutemen arrived carrying a 16-game losing streak against FBS opponents, but they played with far more edge than the odds suggested and put Rutgers in an early hole that never really disappeared.
Pop Watson was the spark for UMass, guiding an offense that found rhythm through the air and enough movement on the ground to keep Rutgers from settling in defensively. The Minutemen also tightened up in a way that changes the conversation around them after a rough run of seasons, getting into the backfield consistently and creating problems all afternoon, while Rutgers is left sorting through how a season-opening setback like this happened so quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Week 1 Opener Carries One Betting Assumption Fans Should Notice
Rutgers heads into its Week 1 opener against UMass with the kind of setup bettors tend to circle early in the season, especially in a slate where several games are being sized up through the lens of roster changes and coaching adjustments. The Scarlet Knights are part of a three-game betting breakdown that also leans over in Georgia Tech-Colorado and points in UAB-Illinois, but the Rutgers angle is the one most tied to how cleanly the matchup lines up on paper.
The broader case around this game is built on Rutgers personnel advantages and the way UMass projects defensively, with the Scarlet Knights expected to find enough separation to make the number manageable. There is also one matchup note worth watching for those who follow the betting market closely, since Rutgers has a receiver who could create problems for the Minutemen secondary and tilt the game script early. [Read more 🡒]