2025-2026 Coaching Staff
Head Coach | Noel Wanner
Middlebury Crew is proud to welcome back Noel Wanner as Head Coach of the men's and women's rowing teams. A seasoned leader with deep ties to the program, Coach Wanner previously lead Middlebury Crew for seven years before moving to Tufts University where he brought them to a new level of national prominence as the Director of Rowing. Most recently, he served as assistant coach for Dartmouth’s lightweight men. A former U.S. National Team lightweight rower, Wanner brings decades of experience and a passion for athlete development. His return marks an exciting new chapter for Middlebury rowing and a new opportunity to bring Middlebury Crew into a new competitive bracket as the program is moved into the athletics department.
Assistant Coach | Stephen Kish
Stephen Kish joins the staff after 29 years of coaching at Bucknell University. Serving as Head Coach of men’s and women’s rowing from 1996-2005 and then as Head Women’s Coach until 2025, Coach Kish led Bucknell to 34 Dad Vail medals, seven Patriot League team titles, three ECAC Metro team titles, an IRA lightweight national championship, five appearances at the Henley Women’s Regatta, and the construction of the Bucknell boathouse and on-campus indoor training facility. Previous to Bucknell, Kish served as Head Coach of the men’s and women’s club program at the University of Rhode Island, leading three crews to medals at the New England Championships in 1995. Kish looks forward to supporting an experience that was similar to his undergraduate rowing career at Bucknell: a combined group of men and women, composed of talented walk-on student-athletes who are invested in the short and long-term growth of the program.
Assistant Coach | Kelly Harris
Kelly Harris comes to Middlebury with over twenty years of Division I and Division III assistant and head coaching experience and belief in the scholar-athlete model. Most recently, Harris served as Head Novice Women’s Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Bucknell University from 2022-2025, following a three-year stint at Dartmouth College that included a year as the Interim Head Women’s Coach. From 2007-2013, Coach Harris led a cultural rebuild of the Marietta College women’s program, resulting in two historic consecutive appearances at the NCAA Division III championships. Prior to her time in Marietta, Harris spent two years at Marist College as Head Women’s Coach, leading the Red Foxes to back-to-back MAAC championships. Harris loves the outdoors and is an accomplished ultramarathoner, excited for the Vermont landscapes and eager to share her passion for the sport of rowing.
Assistant Coach | Richard Connell
Connell graduated from Franklin Pierce College in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and computer science, and was a member and captain of the men’s varsity rowing team from 2004-2007. Upon graduation, he became the assistant rowing coach at Pierce from 2007-2009, earning his Master’s degree in Sports Management. Rich then went on to become the head coach of rowing at the Dublin School in southern New Hampshire from 2010-2015, leading the team to several state and national championships in that time. After a year coaching rowing at Vermont Academy (2016-2017), and prior to his current position at Middlebury College, he coached the Anchorage Rowing Association in Alaska (2017 and 2018).
Aside from coaching, Connell also rowed for the Merrimack River Rowing Association in Lowell from 2009-2015. During this time he competed at numerous national and international regattas such as the Head of the Charles, Elite National Championships, Canadian Henley, Club National Championships, and the Royal Henley Regatta. Personal accomplishments include taking 2nd at the Head of the Charles in the Club 4+ (2014 and 2015), 1st in the 4+ at 2014 Club Nationals, 1st in the 4- and 2- at 2012 Club Nationals, and 2nd in the 2- at 2011 Elite Nationals. Rich has taken up interest in extreme/Ironman distance triathlons as of late, but continues to remain active and compete in the rowing world in addition to being a full-time coach."
Assistant Coach | Elliott Munn
Elliott joined the team as an assistant coach in Spring 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 skier and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He lives near the college in Middlebury with his spouse Elizabeth and two daughters.