Board Blog

Dear AB Crew Families,

We have had a busy couple of months with a move to the new erg room, winter training and planning for our trip to FL.  Along with these items we have been actively searching for coaches for both winter training and the spring season.  This email serves as an update on the status of our coaching search.

As you hopefully all know, in December we had the great fortune of hiring Graeme Calloway to lead our varsity winter training sessions as well as engaging with Buzz Congram as a rowing consultant to our club overall.  By all accounts Graeme was well received by the athletes and Buzz has been a tremendous help on many levels, including transitioning the athletes to a revised stroke that results in greater speed and minimizes the risk of injury.

Unfortunately the time has come for Graeme to return full-time to his doctoral studies.  We will hopefully still be able to call upon Graeme to lead an occasional winter training session but he is no longer able to maintain the full schedule he had in December and early January.  We will always be grateful to Graeme for helping the team get through a challenging time and for bringing such a positive energy to every practice session.  

To fill the void of Graeme's departure we have hired Drew Tennant for the balance of the winter training season.  Drew was a varsity lightweight rower at Cornell for three years and is currently an assistant girls coach at CRI.  We believe he is a strong successor to Graeme as they have similar rowing experience and profiles.

We are very pleased to announce that Dave DeIuliis (pronounced De-Olus) will be joining AB Crew for the balance of winter training and the spring season as a varsity coach (squad still to be determined).  Dave has twelve years' of collegiate rowing experience; he is currently the head coach at Franklin Pierce University in NH but has also served as the head coach at Brandeis University and Wentworth Institute of Technology, among other programs.  Dave's first day with the club is February 1 but he hopes to attend and observe some winter training sessions prior to his start date.

A special thank you to the interview committee that was comprised of parents, rowers and Board members who interviewed both Drew and Dave for their respective roles.  Your input was welcome and valuable!

Buzz will continue to serve as a rowing consultant to the team into the spring season and also continues to source for an additional varsity coach.  He is in contact with additional candidates and we will provide another update when a second varsity coach is identified for the spring.  We are hopeful that we will have a strong complement of coaches and a fun, competitive spring season ahead of us.

Please join us in welcoming Drew and Dave to AB Crew.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding this message please do not hesitate to contact any of the Board members.

Respectfully,

AB Crew Board of Directors