Rowing was added in 2000 as the 13th and most recent women's sport to be sponsored by the Big Ten Conference.  Since its inception, Michigan has captured four Big Ten championships, including back-to-back victories in 2000-01and 2003-04.  Ohio State, which claimed the 2006 conference title, also placed first in the standings in the 2002 event, while Michigan State earned its lone league title in 2005.  In addition to the aforementioned schools, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin also compete in conference action.

Michigan's Kate Johnson earned the first two Athlete of the Year awards for rowing in 2000 and 2001 and helped lead the Wolverines to a second-place finish at the 2001 NCAA Championships.  Erin Kopicki (2003) and Heather Mandoli (2004) joined Johnson as the other Wolverines to be named Athlete of the Year.   Michigan State has had two rowers voted as the Big Ten's best in Krista Buzzell (co-2002) and Erin Robertson (2005), while Ohio State has also had a pair honored in Conny Kirsch (co-2002) and Ninett Kossowsky (2006).  Kirsch (2000-02) joins Minnesota's Melissa Roche (2002-04) as the only conference rowers to have been named All-Big Ten three times.

Wolverine head coach Mark Rothstein has been honored by the conference as Coach of the Year on three occasions (2000-01-04), while former Spartan mentor Bebe Bryans shared the honor with Rothstein in 2000 and won the award outright in 2003.  Matt Weise, who succeeded Bryans in 2004, was given the award a year later in 2005.  Minnesota's Wendy Davis and Ohio State's Andy Teitelbaum shared Coach of the Year honors in 2006, which gave the Buckeye teacher his second accolade after he won outright in 2002.

Both Michigan State and Ohio State have advanced to the NCAA Championships seven-straight years since Big Ten rowing began in 2000.  Michigan has made six appearances, while Wisconsin has made three and Iowa and Minnesota have each earned one bid.