Phillip Brunner has been an assistant coach with the University of Pennsylvania heavyweight crew program since August 2019.
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 2023-24 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.
Penn had another solid campaign in 2024-25. All five boats made the Grand Final at Sprints, and the Quakers placed tenth in the Ten Eyck Trophy standings. During the regular season, the Red and Blue retained the Madeira Cup and Wray Trophy and gained possession of the Burk Cup (beating Northeastern) and the Blackwell Cup (beating Yale and Columbia). The last time Penn held all that hardware in the same season was 2001.
Brunner came to Penn from Yale University, where he spent 2018-19 as an assistant coach overseeing the Bulldogs’ Third and Fourth Varsity Eights. Both of those boats earned victories at EARC Sprints, and overall Yale placed all of their boats on the podium at the IRA National Championship regatta for the first time in program history. It was Brunner’s second stint at Yale, as he also spent the 2014-15 year with the Bulldogs.
In between his Yale coaching stints, Brunner spent three years at Princeton University where he coached medal-winning crews at Sprints and IRAs every year. In 2016, his first year, the Tigers had their best IRA finish since 1998 and was the only heavyweight program to medal in all events entered.
Brunner rowed for Notre Dame’s club program in college, graduating in 2011. He then spent three years on the Fighting Irish’s coaching staff—the first as freshman coach, then the next two as head coach. In his final year as head coach, Notre Dame made five of six grand finals and earned two medals (including one gold) at the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championship regatta.
Brunner—who also has experience coaching both the New York and Pennsylvania Athletic Clubs—graduated with a degree in history from Notre Dame.
