Taking advantage of campus lakes and the close proximity to the St. Joseph River, student-led organized rowing clubs at Notre Dame originated in the nineteenth century and have been a consistent presence on campus ever since. The modern history of Notre Dame rowing dates to the founding of the Notre Dame Rowing Club in the mid-1960s. Interested students including Andy Monaghan '66, Ed Dadura '67, Michael Murray '68, and Jim Montie '68 first organized a rowing club in the spring of 1964, and the group received formal recognition as the University of Notre Dame Rowing Association (UNDRA), a University-sanctioned club sport in January 1965. Monaghan served as the first President with Dadura as Treasurer.

The UNDRA soon joined the Mid-America Collegiate Rowing Association. New rowing rivals, Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin provided second-hand shells and oars at a discount rate to Notre Dame. In the spring of 1965, Notre Dame rowers traveled to Philadelphia for training sessions with coaches from the Pennsylvania Athletic Club and the Vespers Boat Club. The team's first intercollegiate contest was a loss in a dual match against Wayne State University in April 1965. Notre Dame hosted its first home rowing regatta in Mishawaka in April 1966.

After the advent of full co-education at Notre Dame in 1972, the Notre Dame rowing club welcomed women rowers in the fall of 1973. The men's and women's teams trained together, and both Notre Dame rowing teams found success as club sports.

The Friends of Notre Dame Rowing Club was founded by rowing alumni in about 1970 as a non-profit organization to raise funds, promote rowing, and provide guidance to the Notre Dame rowing club.

Men's and women's rowing remained club sports for more than two decades until women's rowing successfully petitioned for varsity status and became one the University's official intercollegiate sports in 1998-99. As of 2025, the men's Notre Dame Rowing Club remains a successful and competitive club sport, competing at the highest levels of club rowing in the country.