We are very excited to announce the Coach-Con Class of 2016! With such a high volume of outstanding applicants and nominations, we decided to expand the class from 12 to 14 this year. We are looking forward to meeting everyone in June!
Alexander Mann – University of Washington Men’s Rowing
Mann, a Bend, Ore., native comes to Washington after a year of coaching the Princeton lightweight men. Prior to that, Mann completed the Advanced Certificate in Rowing Leadership in 2014 from the Institute of Rowing Leadership, were he coached the Boston University heavyweights. He also assisted at the U.S. Junior Men’s Sculling selection camp, helping to select the single, double and quadruple sculling boats that representing the U.S. at the 2014 Jr. Worlds in Hamburg, Germany.
Prior to enrolling at IRL, Mann coached for two years at his alma mater, the University of Puget Sound. Mann graduated from UPS in 2011 with a degree in International Political Economy. He rowed for four years and was named team captain 2009-11.
Ashley Donnell – Humboldt State Women’s Rowing
Donnell began coaching at her alma matter after graduating from Humboldt State University in 2011. During her coaching tenure, HSU has won two NCAA DII National Championships in 2012 and 2014, and in 2015 they came in third. This year HSU is heading to NCAAs with an at large bid.
In addition to her coaching duties at HSU, Donnell coaches Masters for the Humboldt Bay Rowing Association. Next year she will be taking the helm of the of the men’s team at HSU with the hopes of building up a larger roster and a successful team.
Asiya Mahmud – Drexel Women’s Rowing
Asiya Mahmud joined the Drexel Crew staff in the summer of 2015. Prior to Drexel, Mahmud served as the varsity assistant at Bucknell University and spent time coaching her high school alma mater.
Hired at Bucknell University in the fall of 2014, Mahmud served in a recruiting role and coached the women’s second varsity eight.
Prior to Bucknell, Mahmud began her coaching career at her alma mater, Oakcrest High School. The following year she was promoted to head coach, and she earned both the Atlantic County Coach of the Year and Press of Atlantic City Coach of the Year awards.
A 2012 graduate of Drexel University with a degree in criminal justice, Mahmud’s career included a Dad Vail gold medal, Colonial Athletic Association silver medal and a Henley Women’s Regatta quarterfinal appearance.
Ben Urbanowski – Franklin & Marshall Women’s Rowing
Ben Urbanowski joined the Franklin & Marshall rowing staff in 2015. He competed for the Mercyhurst University lightweights. Urbanowski has also rowed for Wyandotte Boat Club and Penn AC.
Originally from Brownstown, Michigan, Urbanowski graduated from Mercyhurst University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. Urbanowski has aided in Learn to Row programs at Wyandotte Boat Club and Mercyhurst University.
Cecelia Madsen – Cornell Women’s Rowing
Cecelia Madsen is a 2012 graduate of Cornell University and an Ithaca native. She first began teaching rowing to adults and high school and middle school students during her summers while at university.
She was inspired by her coaches at Cornell to pursue coaching after she graduated, and worked as the intern coach with the Cornell Women during their 2012-2013 season. After serving in Senegal in the Peace Corps, Madsen is excited to be back in Ithaca working with the Cornell Women and Heavyweight Men’s teams.
Chuck Rodosky – Duke University Women’s Rowing
Rodosky joined the Blue Devils Staff in August, 2015, following six seasons as an assistant coach at the Ohio State University. Rodosky capped his Buckeye career with his third consecutive NCAA title as Ohio State became the first team in NCAA history to win three consecutive national championships.
Prior to his role with Ohio State, Rodosky served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Iowa women’s rowing program (2006-10). Rodosky made significant strides in recruiting, and advanced several novice athletes onto the varsity team each year.
Before coaching at Iowa, Rodosky was an assistant coach at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. (2005-06). Rodosky began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach at Ohio State, where he spent three seasons (2003-05).
A rower (1995-99) and team captain (1997-99) at Bowling Green State University, Rodosky earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1999.
Ian Accomando – Harvard Lightweight Men’s Rowing
Ian Accomando joined the Harvard lightweight crew staff as an assistant in September 2012. As the last-ever freshman lightweight coach during the spring season, Accomando led the F8 to an undefeated spring in 2015 before joining forces with the varsity.
In the summer of 2015, Accomando coached Alexander Bonorris ’15 to a fourth-place finish in the lightweight pair at the U23 World Championship.
Before coming to Harvard, Accomando served as an assistant coach of the junior men at the Pennsylvania Athletic Club in Philadelphia.
Accomando joins the Crimson with a wealth of Ivy League experience. He is a former captain of the Dartmouth lightweight crew, where he helped the Big Green earn a silver medal at the 2012 IRA National Championship and a bronze at the 2011 event. Accomando earned two second team All-Ivy honors during his four years in Hanover, N.H.
Originally hailing from Andover, Mass., Accomando earned a B.A. in government from Dartmouth in 2012.
Jason Hilton – Stanford Men’s Rowing
Jason Hilton joined the Stanford men’s rowing coaching staff as an assistant coach in 2014.
In his first season at Stanford, Hilton helped lead the team to a bronze medal in the varsity four at the IRA National Championships and 18th place finish in the varsity eight.
Hilton came to The Farm from the Oakland Strokes where he coached the Varsity men to silver medals at the Youth National Championships in 2013 and 2014.
Prior to coaching at the varsity level, Hilton was the novice head coach for seven years, pushing his crews onto the medal stand in six of seven seasons.
Hilton graduated from the University of Washington in 2003 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture. After rowing for two years, including a 5th place finish at the IRA in the 4-, he switched to rugby and helped lead the Huskies to the top of the North West division.
Jason Bernard – Clemson Rowing Association
Jason Bernard began his rowing career in high school, but took a four year hiatus from the sport to serve in the Marine Corps. He returned to the sport as a rower a Clemson University, where he competed as both a coxswain and sculler at SIRA, the Dad Vail, and ACRA.
In 2014, Bernard was named assistant coach in charge of the novice squad for the Clemson University Rowing Association. His responsibilities include assisting with recruiting, coaching novice men and women, and training the coxswains.
Kelsey Arnold – Kansas Women’s Rowing
Kelsey Arnold enters her second season as a member of the Kansas coaching staff where she coaches walk-on novices and the third varsity eight.
Prior to Kansas, Arnold coached the novice team at Grand Valley State University from 2011-2014. In her first season, the novice eight brought home the ACRA National Championship. In her second season, the novice eight went undefeated.
A walk-on rower at GVSU, she was a member of the Laker Navy from 2007-2011 where she was a three time ACRA National Champion. She competed at the Women’s Henley Regatta in the senior eight and Elite eight in 2008 and 2010. Arnold also rowed Vesper Boat Club and the U-23 National Team Selection Camp.
Arnold has coached learn-to-row and competitive programs for youth, juniors, and masters at the Grand Rapids Rowing Association, the Detroit Women’s Rowing Association, and Southeast Juniors Rowing Development Camp.
Matthew Hanig – Boston University Women’s Rowing
Matt Hanig enters his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Boston University women’s rowing team.
During the 2013-14 season Hanig helped lead the Terriers to the Patriot League Championship in their first season competing in the conference, and a second-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships. In the 2012-2013 season, Matt helped coach the Terriers to their first CAA Championship, earning an automatic team bid to the 2013 NCAA Championships for the first time since 2001.
Prior to joining BU, Hanig served as sculling coach at Community Rowing in Brighton Mass. since 2009 and was varsity girls head coach and program coordinator at Wayland-Weston Rowing Association from 2008 to 2011. Prior to that, Hanig served as men’s assistant rowing coach at Colgate University from 2006 to 2008.
Matt was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is a graduate of UMass Amherst. Matt rowed on the varsity crew for the Minutemen for four years while earning a degree in pre-veterinary medicine.
Nancy Larocque – Wisconsin Women’s Rowing
In her third season with the Wisconsin women’s rowing program, Nancy LaRocque coaches the Badger women’s openweight frosh team.
LaRocque brings a wealth of coaching experience to the Badgers, having served eight seasons as a coach at the NCAA Division I level, most recently as an assistant during the 2009-10 season at Tennessee. Prior to that, she was the head coach at West Virginia from 2000-07, where she helped direct the Mountaineers move from a club program to the NCAA Division I level. Before joining West Virginia, LaRocque was an assistant for two seasons at Division III Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
The Dover, N.H., native rowed collegiately at the University of Massachusetts. She was a member of the Minutewomen varsity eight that placed second at the 1997 NCAA Championships and was a two-year captain for the squad.
Outside of rowing, LaRocque has spent more than five years with Specialized Bicycle Components in human resources, as a recruiter and as an executive assistant to the founder.
Ryan Worth – Stetson Men’s Rowing
Ryan Worth is in his first year as an assistant for the men’s and women’s programs at Stetson University.
Worth comes to Stetson from the Oak Ridge Rowing Association in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where he served as Head Coach and Boathouse Manager. Worth rowed at the University of Tennessee where he served as the novice team captain and the Club President.
Worth is a past Concept 2 World Record holder in the 20-29 year old age category for cumulative meters erged in a 24-hour period. In 2011, Worth rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, crossing from Morocco to Barbados with 15 others on the 13-meter catamaran, Big Blue.
Worth is a U.S. Rowing Level III coach, American Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor, Swiftwater Rescue Technician, and Wilderness First Responder.
Sheila Rinozzi – Louisville Women’s Rowing
Sheila Rinozzi is in her first season with the Louisville rowing program after serving two seasons as an assistant at Indiana.
During Rinozzi’s two seasons in Bloomington, she was the recruiting coordinator and played a key role in leading the Hoosiers to their first two NCAA Championship appearances where they finished 11th in the nation in both 2014 and 2015. She and the other IU coaches were honored as the 2014 National Staff of the Year by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association and were the 2015 Regional Staff of the Year.
Rinozzi joined the IU staff after spending the 2012-13 season serving as a volunteer assistant at Iowa, where she was a First Team All-Big Ten selection her junior and senior years as a coxswain for the Hawkeyes. Before Rinozzi returned to Iowa City, she spent two years as the varsity women’s assistant coach at Loyola Academy.
A four-year letterwinner for the Hawkeyes and native of Chicago, Rinozzi graduated from Iowa in 2010 with a degree in Interdepartmental Studies and Health Sciences. She spent a summer at the United States Rowing Association as a National Team Programs Intern before spending the 2010-11 season as a novice coach at Northwestern. She earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington in 2012 in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership.
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