PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania's Nicholas B. Paumgarten Head Coach of Men's Heavyweight Rowing, Al Monte, has announced the promotion of Phillip Brunner to the position of Associate Head Coach.
 
Brunner has been with the program as an assistant coach since August 2019.
 
"Phil has been instrumental in helping to push this program forward over his time at Penn," said Monte, who recently completed his second year overseeing the program. "His work ethic, coaching ability, and recruiting talents are all a cut above. I am lucky to have him as my right-hand man and I am confident that together we will continue to elevate this program. This is a well-deserved promotion."
 
"I'd like to thank Dr. Alanna Wren, Mary DiStanislao, head coach Al Monte for his continued support, and the Penn athletes I get to work with every day," said Brunner. "I am excited to see what's ahead for the program as we work toward filling the trophy case at the Burk-Bergman Boathouse. As fun as the last five years have been, there is more work to do and more speed to find. I look forward to helping this squad achieve its full potential."

Brunner helped Penn earn the Clayton W. Chapman Trophy at the 2023 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships, indicative of the program that improved the most in the overall team points standings from the previous year. The 2024 season saw the Varsity Eight take fifth at EARC Sprints, its best finish at that event since the 2001 crew also finished fifth, and at the IRA Championships the 1V8 finished eighth (its best finish since 2000) while the 2V8 and 3V8 both beat their pre-race seeds in finishing ninth and 12th. As a team, Penn took ninth in the Ten Eyck Trophy standings for total team points. The Quakers also swept the Madeira and Wray Cups from Cornell during the regular season, winning the Madeira for just the fourth time this century and the Wray (total points) for the first time since 1998.