I did a bit of research out of curiosity, and these quotes from coxswains at https://www.sfgate.com/sports/ostler/article/Steering-toward-gold-is-a-coxswain-s-f

I did a bit of research out of curiosity, and these quotes from coxswains at https://www.sfgate.com/sports/ostler/article/Steering-toward-gold-is-a-coxswain-s-fine-art-3684648.php https://www.sfgate.com/sports/ostler/article/Steering-toward... stuck with me: "My (two) guys were very mechanical. Every 30 seconds, they wanted the stroke rate and the position of the boats that were even with us or ahead of us. Guys really need to know where they are... We control the psychology of the athletes in the race ... You try to wring every last bit of power out of those athletes. If you do that, you can lose a race and eventually come to terms with that." Any manager out there, at any level, would nod and approve.