Mike Hughes
Navy

Mike Hughes enters his 7th year as the Head Coach of the Women's Crew.  During his tenure, the team has steadily increased speed and competitiveness in the Eastern Sprints League.  

Hughes came to Navy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991 as the Varsity Men’s Lightweight Coach. While at Penn, his Lightweight Freshmen medaled twice at the Eastern Sprints. In his second year at Navy, he led the Lightweights to their first winning season in many years. In the fall of 1994 Hughes took over the Heavyweight Freshman team and in 1997 his Second Frosh won the Eastern Sprints.

A 1972 graduate of Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, Hughes has been coaching since 1975. He has managed numerous National Teams and the 1988 Olympic Team.

Dave Collins is the Head Coach at JEB Stuart High School in Virginia. *Coach Collins has also coached at Rutgers and Georgetown. *While at Georgetown, the Freshmen Heavyweight Team won the 1998 Champion International Regatta.

Coach Collins’ rowing achievements include 6 years on the United States National Rowing Team and concluded his career earning a Bronze Medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. *Other highlights include; 1995 Gold Medal (Pan American Games), 1991 Bronze Medal (World Rowing Championships), and 7 United States National Championships.

Larry Connell took over as the Head Coach for Men's and Women's Crew at LaSalle University in the Fall of 2004.  A 19 year veteran of the University of Pennsylvania, Connell served as an assistant coach to the heavyweight program, where his main duties are with the freshman heavyweight squad, in addition to working as the men’s rowing programs’ recruiting coordinator. Connell left Penn after the 2003 season to form a rowing consulting company called “Rowing Services LLC” and trading as rowingservices.com. The Company offers a variety of rowing services including: Program Development, Individual or Group Lessons, Boathouse Management, College Recruiting Seminars, Corporate Team Development, Shell Rigging and Sell Repair. 

Prior to joining the Penn program, Connell was the freshman heavyweight coach at Rutgers University for five years and the head coach at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, N.J. for three seasons.

During the 1986-87 rowing season, the Penn freshman heavyweight team went an impressive 33-0 and captured both the IRA and EARC Championship titles. It was only the third time in school history that Penn won both championships in the same season. For his accomplishments, Connell earned EARC Coach of the Year honors.

In 1989, Connell’s freshmen won the Eastern Sprints and advanced to the Henley Royal Regatta, where they rowed to the semifinal. He then experienced Henley tradition once again when his freshman eight boat won the 1997 Eastern Sprints and sailed into the semifinal at Henley. Penn lost to eventual winner Goldie, the second varsity boat from Oxford University.

Since 1982, Connell has been involved in the coaching and development of the U.S. Junior Men’s Rowing Team. In 1982, as one of two coaches of the Junior Men’s Eight, Connell’s crew won a silver medal at the Junior World Championships. In 1983 and 1984, along with current Penn Head Coach Stan Bergman, Connell coached the Junior Men’s Eight in the Junior World Championship

Dr. Mike Davenport was appointed Washington's sixth head coach in the summer of 1990. Prior to that, he was head coach at the University of Albany. Mike graduated from FIT in 1978, where he won several Dad Vail medals. After graduation, he was an assistant coach and was instrumental in FIT winning several national titles as well as the Dad Vail overall point trophy.

Davenport's coaching experience has extended well beyond the collegiate experience realm and onto the National Rowing Team. For two years, he was an assistant coach to the US Pre-Elite Heavyweight team. He spent the summer of 1991 in Cuba as a member of the Pan American team and was a member of the 1992-95 US World Championship teams. Most recently, Davenport was a member of the 1996 Olympic Team in Atlanta, GA.
 

Davenport's experiences have carried the Washington College rowing program to great levels of competition and have earned the team several Dad Vail and IRA medals.

Karin  Hughes is in her sixth season as the Women’s Rowing Coach.  Prior to accepting the Novice Women's position, Hughes assisted with the Freshmen Men’s Crew and the Varsity Women’s Crew.  A 1991 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Hughes was the Captain of the Varsity Women’s Crew and served in the US Navy as a Supply Corps Officer following graduation.

A member of the 1997 National Rowing Team, she stroked the Women’s Double in the World Championships at Aigubelette, France.  In 1998, Hughes and her partner won the Championship Double at the Head of the Charles in Boston, MA.  In 1999 Hughes  won a Silver Medal as the stroke of the Women's Double in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Kevin Luecke is a first-year graduate assistant coach with the University of Wisconsin Women's Rowing program. Luecke works primarily with the Openweight squad while pursing master's degrees in Urban & Regional Planning and Public Policy. Prior to returning to school and coaching, Luecke severed as Head Boatman for the men's and women's rowing programs at Wisconsin for 18 months.

Luecke previously served as a jack-of-all-trades at ZLAC Rowing club in San Diego: he was the Head Junior's Coach, Facilities Manager, Boatman, learn-to-row coordinator, and occassional master's coach. Luecke got his start in coaching serving as the Varsity Assistant Coach for the University of Notre Dame Women's Rowing team.

Luecke graduated from Northwestern University where he majored in American History and Political Science and rowed as a lightweight.

Mitchell is entering his fifth year as the Head Women's and Men's Coach at Jacksonville University. The Dolphins have won state championships, Southern championships and medals at Dad Vails every year since Mitchell arrived in Jacksonville.

Prior to Jacksonville, he served as assistant women's rowing coach at West Virginia. Mitchell was named the Mid-Atlantic Assistant Coach of the Year in 2003 and one of five finalists for the
National Assistant Coach of the Year Award.  Prior to WVU, Mitchell was the men's head coach at Miami from 1998-2002 and the head rowing coach for the Atlanta Junior Rowing Association from 1994-1998.

Mitchell rowed at Tennessee-Chattanooga, and was part of the Top 20 wrestling squad. He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Tennessee-Chattanooga in 1992 and received his Master's in special education from Georgia State in 2001.

After serving as an assistant coach in 1998-99, Gerry Quinlan is in his third-year as head women’s varsity coach at Saint Joseph’s University. A 1991 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Quinlan brings more than a decade of collegiate head coaching experience to Hawk Hill.

Since his arrival at SJU, Quinlan has been one of the driving forces behind the growth of both the men’s and women’s rowing programs. Nearly doubling in participation during his tenure, Quinlan has been active in the development of the new boathouse, maintaining alumni support and coordinating several local regattas.

Quinlan’s resume includes a six-year stint as the head coach of Northwestern University’s men’s and women’s programs and a three-year stint as the head women’s coach at Notre Dame. His teams have won medals at the Dad Vail Regatta, Champion International Collegiate Regatta, and the Head of the Charles and have competed in the Henley Royal Regatta and the Mexico City International Championships.

During his prep career, Quinlan rowed at Monsignor Bonner High School. He then went on to a successful career at the college level for the Irish.

Louis Renzulli is in his seventh season as head coach of the Drexel men’s and women’s crew teams. The Absecon, N.J. native came to Drexel after serving as the head crew coach at Ohio State University. Renzulli served as the Buckeyes’ head coach for four seasons before coming to Philadelphia.

Renzulli led last year’s team to an impressive second place finish at the 37th Annual Kerr Cup hosted on the Schuykill River. The women’s crew team won the varsity eight race and was rewarded with the Lela H. Kerr Cup during the Colonial Athletic Association Crew Championship. The women’s team placed first in the finals at the Occoquan Sprints in varsity eight.

At Ohio State Renzulli supervised more than 110 student-athletes and three assistant coaches. His 1997 men’s second varsity eight won the Champion International Collegiate Regatta silver medal and his 1995 women's lightweight eight won a gold medal in the same event.

Prior to his stint at OSU, Renzulli served as the head crew coach for the Cincinnati Rowing Center where he directed all rowing for a 100-memberclub. His junior men's eight crew rowed to a silver medal in the 1993 USRA National Championships. He coached three national championship squads in 1992 as his junior men's four captured a gold medal and the boys' varsity four and boys' quad won the Scholastic National Championship that same year.

Renzulli served as teacher and assistant crew coach from 1986-1991 at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, his alma mater. He coached five consecutive Stotesbury Cup medalist crews, including boys' junior eight and boys' lightweight eight. He began his coaching as an assistant lightweight crew coach at Rutgers University (1984-86).

Renzulli, who graduated from Trinity College in 1983 with a degree in philosophy, competed on the varsity crew team for four seasons.

A 1996 graduate of the University of Kansas, Romens was a member of the Varsity Rowing Team.  Following graduation, Romens assumed an assistant coaching position at Kansas for two years before accepting the position at Michigan State.

Caren is currently the Novice Women's Coach at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.  She holds a USRowing Level III Coaching Certification and continues to row herself with the local club.  Caren rowed for the University of Virginia from 1992 to 1996 and served as co-captain during her fourth year.  After graduation from UVa's Curry School of Education in 1997, Caren took a full time job as a high school history teacher in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  After teaching for four years, she accepted the position with Washington College and moved to Chestertown.

Joe Scholsberg is in his fourth season as an assistant rowing coach at Notre Dame. In his role, he is responsible for alumni relations and equipment management. Scholsberg also assists in coaching the varsity program and coxswains and works primarily with the varsity four crews.

Scholsberg has had a great impact working with the varsity four program. During the past two seasons, Notre Dame's varsity four boats have experienced great success. In 2004, the varsity four and second varsity four crews copped gold medals at the BIG EAST Rowing Challenge in leading the Irish to their first-ever team title. The victory for the varsity four boat marked the third straight year that the varsity four boat earned the gold medal. The Irish claimed four victories on the day, tying the championship record for most individual titles. In addition, the varsity four boat finished fifth at the Central/South Regional, while the varsity boat earned an at-large berth for the second time in school history and finished 11th overall.

"Joe is a definite asset to our program. He has a tremendous background in engineering, which helps us in preparing the boats on a daily basis. He also took the initiative to train with some of the nation's best rowing coaches and has brought new drills and ideas to our team. Much of our success in the fours is because of Joe. He is invaluable to us," head coach Martin Stone says.
 
Schlosberg came to Notre Dame after serving as an assistant rowing coach at Northwestern in 2000-01. With the Wildcats, Schlosberg worked with the men's novice team and assisted with the men's and women's varsity squads, teaching the fundamentals of rowing and designing workout programs. He also was responsible for all of the rowing equipment.
 
A 2000 graduate of Northwestern with a degree in mechanical engineering, Schlosberg competed for the Wildcats' crew team from 1996-2000. He was captain in 1998-99 as his team won the Midwest Sprints and the Big Ten Sprint Championship in 1998. Schlosberg was an executive board member of the rowing team from 1998-2000, as well as the team's marketing assistant and equipment manager.

Sharrow was a coxswain for the Gophers since the start of the program in 2000 and a member of the Minnesota club team the previous two years.

Sharrow, a native of Bloomington, Minn., participated in every varsity contest in the past two seasons. Sharrow was the varsity captain her senior year, leading the Gopher team to a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Sharrow was the coxswain of the first Varsity Eight boat, which defeated Big Ten opponents Wisconsin and Iowa on April 20. With the two wins over conference opponents, Sharrow along with eight rowers were named the Big Ten Boat of the Week, the first weekly conference award for the Gophers.

Sharrow was a two-time recipient of the Academic All-Big Ten team and a Patty Berg Award honoree. She was recently named a national scholar athlete by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. Sharrow graduated from the University of Minnesota in the spring with a bachelor's degree in political science.

Nicky Stimpson is currently the Assistant / Novice Coach for the Navy Women’s Crew. Nicky primarily coaches the Novice squad and assists with coaching the Varsity program. She also plays an integral part in the recruiting process for the program.

Nicky began her rowing career in 1996 as a freshman at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. She originally went to Washington College to swim but after giving crew a try she participated in both sports throughout her collegiate career. By her senior year Nicky was the co-captain of the Women’s Swim Team and the Women’s Crew. She was voted MVP of the Women’s Crew for the ’99-’00 season by her coaches and peers.

After graduating in 2000 with a degree in Economics and Political Science, Nicky began work as the Assistant / Novice Coach for the Wesleyan University Women’s Crew. That summer she was honored by the Watchung Hills Optimist Club as its collegiate athlete of the year in 2000.

While coaching at Wesleyan, Nicky took classes towards her Master’s Degree in Liberal Studies. She also worked as the data entry specialist for the Head of the Connecticut Regatta in 2000 and was Regatta Coordinator for the HOCR in 2001. Nicky has worked at the Navy Rowing Camp for Girls since 2000. 

In the Summer of 2002, Nicky began work as the Assistant/Novice Coach at the United States Naval Academy.

Martin Stone is in his fifth year as the Notre Dame Head Coach, Women's Rowing.

Since coming to the Golden Dome, Stone has put Notre Dame rowing on the map both on and off the water as the Irish finished the 2001-02 season ranked 16th nationally, narrowly missing an invitation to the NCAA Championships.

Before arriving at Notre Dame, Stone served as the women's rowing coach at the United States Naval Academy for five years. In 1994, Stone coached the Mids to a NCAA Division II national championship by winning the varsity eight title at the Champion International Collegiate Rowing Championships.

In 1992, Stone began his head coaching career at the U.S. Naval Academy. That same year, he directed the Mids' varsity eight to its first gold medal at the popular Dad Vail Regatta, the East Coast's largest crew regatta.

A 1983 graduate of California-Berkeley, Swinford rowed on 5 US National Teams and the 1988 Olympic Team, winning the Gold in the 1986 World Championships in Nottingham, England.  As a coach, Swinford has coached programs at  several universities such as Jacksonville University and clubs, including Penn AC where he helped coach the 1996 World Champion Women's 4-.

Taylor begins her seventh year on the coaching staff at the University of New Hampshire. Taylor has served as the Head coach since 1999. Prior to accepting the Head Coaching position, she served as the Women’s Novice coach from 1998-1999, leading the Novice team to an undefeated season in their conference and the school's first ever gold medal at both the New England Championships and ECAC's in Worcester, MA. In 1999, the Wildcats also won the all-around Women's Point Trophy at ECAC's.

Taylor continues to guide the Wildcats to the top ranks in their region. The University of New Hampshire Women's Crew team ended its 2003 season by capturing the all-around Women's Point Trophy at the ECAC Rowing Championships. The Wildcats captured second place in both the Varsity Eight and the Novice Eight events and third place in the Second Varsity Eight event. At the New England Championships last spring, Taylor also led the Varsity to a silver medal in the Varsity Eight and a silver medal in the Second Varsity Eight as well.

Prior to joining the coaching staff at UNH, Taylor coached the Novice Girls at Phillips Exeter Academy for five seasons. In 1995, Taylor was invited to the Olympic Development Rowing Camp in Hanover, NH. She medalled in both the women's eight and the women's four at the American Rowing Championships.

 Taylor graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1996 with a degree in Political Science and History. She earned her Masters in Early American History from UNH in 2002.

Wendy Wisehart is entering her sixth season as an assistant coach for the Hawkeyes. Wisehart, a native of Cedar Rapids and an Iowa alum, returned to the University of Iowa in 1998 after two and a half years as the head coach at New York University.
From 1998 to the spring of 2002, Wisehart worked as the varsity assistant, handling coaching and recruiting duties. During the fall seasons, Wisehart worked with the second and third varsity groups in 2‘s, 4’s and 8’s, and coached the varsity 4’s in the spring.

Before returning to Iowa, Wisehart was head coach at New York University, and directed all aspects of the men’s and women’s club program. The team had several successes, taking gold at the NY Metropolitan Championships in the Women’s Open 4+ (‘97), two golds at the Grimeldi Regatta in N.Y., one in the Women’s 2- and one in Men’s Novice 4+ (‘98) and a gold in the Men’s Novice 4+ at the Murphy Cup in Philadelphia (‘98).

Wisehart learned to row at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., and later transferred to Iowa to continue rowing with the university’s club program. Wisehart rowed bow in the Women’s Varsity Lightweight 4+ in 1992, which went undefeated in its spring sprint season. They won gold at the Midwest Championships, Dad Vail Regatta, Eastern Sprints and a national title at the Collegiate National Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wisehart served as varsity co-captain and the club’s secretary in 1992-93. Currently, she holds a Level III Coaching certificate from US Rowing.
Wisehart graduated in 1993 from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Women’s Studies. She graduated in 1999 from New York University with a Master of Arts degree in Women’s History. Her thesis, entitled “Broads in the Boathouse: There Goes the Neighborhood,” discusses women’s rowing history.