She quotes from Steven Keesling's book on crew, "The Shell Game": "A good coxswain has audacity, a lot of audacity." Mahony says, "I think that sums it up pretty well."
Coupled with technical skill, Mahony's audacity has earned her the respect of teamates and coaches, not as a woman coxswain but as a good coxswain.
One novice cox for a men's freshman boat, Yardling Caroline Hunter says of Mahony, "she's the most respected cox in the boathouse."
"It must be a very complicated situation, but she handles herself quite well," says Radcliffe Head Coach Lisa Stone.
Even the initial reservations that teammates harbored are gone.
"I always thought it was peculiar that Devin was surrounded by reporters and was resentful of the reporters for trying to create a controversy that isn't really there," says McDougall. "But in the long run, it's nice having an attractive girl around the boathouse."
Teammates seem to agree when McDougall says, "as a member of the boat, now, she's kind of asexual." Even crews from other colleges don't seem to notice, the senior observes, noting that a Penn boat last year found out only after the race that Mahony is female.
Her deadly serious approach to crew has necessitated "staying away from any romantic relationship with someone on the team," Mahony says.
She says she envisions the role of cox as part coach, part cheerleader and part sports psychologist. "A cox has to play the role of ego for the boat. You're its mouthpiece and by articulating its goals and how it feels about them, it is a constant reminder," says the Eliot House resident.
"Some coxes work under negative influence and their crew hates them," says Mahony. "Most of the people who do crew are incredibly competitive, but everyone has a heart as well as a killer instinct. That's the element of positive influence in coxing--tapping both the heart and the emotion."
Doing this presupposes a certain understanding of one's crew, because "everyone is driven by a unique thing," Mahony explains. Her sex, though, sometimes cuts her off from team activities.
"There's only one difficult area, if there is one," Parker says. "That is, there is a certain amount of training done upstairs in the exercise room, also the men's locker room. I think it bothers Devin, because she'd like to be a part of everything."
When asked why she does crew, the English concentrator credits the sport's discipline. "I'm not a naturally organized person," she explains, "but crew disciplines your mind to be organized and it disciplines your emotions."
"I never get nervous before a race," she says. "I greet that type of pressure with a lot of positive feeling. I revel in it."
Naturally, she is looking forward to tomorrow's regatta, describing it as "a huge party where you never know what can happen to you."
It combines two great things, she sums up, "competition and a convention place for crew aficionados from all over."