An Honorary Doctorate is the university's most prestigious honour and vice-chancellor Neil Quigley says it is in recognition of Tonks' substantial and ongoing contribution to high-performance rowing.
Tonks had made "a significant contribution to New Zealand through preparing some of our most successful Olympic athletes," Quigley said.
"Their successes have brought New Zealand immeasurable amounts of pride and some of our most memorable sporting moments,"
Tonks' coaching methods are based on the philosophy of "miles make champions", first advocated by athletics coach Arthur Lydiard.
But Tonks has also worked with the university's Department of Sport and Leisure Studies since 1998 to learn how far athletes can be pushed in training by testing blood, saliva, hormone levels, immune function, muscle damage and heart rates.
"He has certainly fulfilled the criteria for this award and proved himself a worthy recipient of the title of Honorary Doctor at the University of Waikato," Quigley said.
Tonks said the recognition was unexpected and he struggled to understand what he had done to deserve it.
"I guess it's the most unexpected source to be recognised by," he said. "It's not something you can aim for and to come from an organisation with such a reputation and history as the University of Waikato is quite an honour."
Tonks was born in Wanganui and as a rower, won a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich in the coxless four.
After retiring as a competitive rower he turned to coaching, initially working nights so he could coach during the day. In 2003 he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rowing.
