2022-23 Coaching Staff

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• Rich Connell enters his fifth year as head coach of the Middlebury College rowing program, having assumed the role in the fall of 2018.
• Connell graduated from Franklin Pierce College in 2007 with a double major in psychology and computer science, and was a member and captain of Pierce's rowing team from 2004-2007. 
• Upon graduation, he became the assistant coach at Pierce from 2007-2009, earned his Master’s degree in Sports Management, and then went on to become head coach of rowing at the Dublin School in southern NH from 2010-2015. 
• After a brief stint coaching Vermont Academy (2016-2017), and prior to his current position at Middlebury, he headed the Anchorage Rowing Association (ARA) in Alaska in 2017 and 2018.
• While in Vermont, Rich has also spent time coaching during the summers at Craftsbury Sculling Center (2019 to present), adopting their small boat focus with the Middlebury athletes. 
• Aside from coaching, Connell also rowed for the MRRA in Lowell, MA from 2009-2015. During this time he competed at numerous regattas: Head of the Charles (2nd in club 4+ in 2014 & 2015), USRowing's National Championships (1st in 4- & 2- in 2013, 1st in 4+ in 2014), Canadian Henley (2nd in 2- in 2012), and the Royal Henley Regatta (quarterfinals in Britannia Cup 2013). 
• Rich has taken up interest in various outdoor pursuits since then, including long endurance events, and continues to remain an active competitor in the rowing world in addition to being a full-time head coach.
• He currently lives in Monkton, VT with his wife, Sabra, and husky, Dakota.

Office: 219 South Main Street Middlebury, VT, 0575

• Whitney Standefer-Smith is beginning her first year as an assistant rowing coach for Middlebury. 
• Prior to coaching at Middlebury, Whitney was the assistant boys coach at Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN for two years (2018-2020) as well as assistant varsity and interim head varsity coach for Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN for four years (2010-2011, 2014-2017). 
• Whitney began her rowing career in high school at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN after which she was offered a rowing scholarship to the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA).
•  She rowed for two years at UCLA and qualified for U23 National Team selection camp before being injured and medically retired from high level training. 
• However, she still enjoys rowing and racing recreationally as well as helping young rowers learn the sport and reach their own goals.
• Whitney is also a business, tax, and IP attorney with a J.D. from Vermont Law School and an LL.M. in Tax Law from Villanova University.
• She has her own law practice with offices in Chattanooga, TN and Brandon, VT. 
• Whitney currently lives in Rutland, VT with her husband, Trevor, and young daughter, Adeline. 

• Elliott joined the Middlebury Crew coaching staff as an assistant in the spring of 2021. 
• Before ever laying hands on a racing oar, he fell in love with rowing as a high school senior after reading Stephen Kiesling's The Shell Game.  
• Attracted to the sport by its beauty, camaraderie, and fierce  competition, he joined the rowing team at Bowdoin College a few months later. 
• He rowed for four years as a student and he got his first taste  of coaching as an intern at St. Paul's School Advanced Studies Program.
• Elliott is also an avid alpine skier and an ordained minister in the United  Church of Christ. 
• He currently lives near the college in Middlebury with his spouse Elizabeth and daughter Lydia.