Bill Manning, who has more than 25 years of success as a rowing coach both in the Ivy League and internationally, was named the head women's rowing coach at Penn on August 13, 2024.
His first season with the Quakers saw a continuation of the success that the program has enjoyed in recent years. Penn competed in the NCAA Championships for the fourth year in a row and took 17th overall, after a regular season that saw the Varsity Eight post 17 wins and the Second Varsity Eight with 15.Â
Prior to his arrival at Penn, Manning was a high-performance coach at Penn AC on Boathouse Row and a senior national team coach with US Rowing who previously spent 23 years as a coach at both Princeton and Harvard.
Manning's national and international coaching success dates to 1996 with US Rowing as a head and assistant coach. He served as an assistant coach with the men's pair, men's double and men's lightweight double at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He coached multiple medal-winning boats at the 2015 and 2023 Pan American Games including in 2023 the gold medal winning women's pair and the silver medal winning women's eight, women's four, and women's lightweight double. He was also Team USA's head coach at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, in addition to coaching at five Senior World Championships (2003, 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023).
Manning also organized, directed and coached U23 camps to compete at three World Championships (2006, 2007, 2019) and at the U19 selection camps and World Championships (1996-02, 2016-18) winning multiple medals with the U19 Women's Team. Over the past three years at Penn AC, Manning coached 10 athletes at the World Championships and one on the U.S. Olympic Team.
Collegiately, Manning coached eight years at Princeton as an assistant coach with both the women's rowing (2019-21) and men's lightweight (2013-19) programs. In 2021, Princeton finished 12th at the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships. With the men's lightweight program, Manning helped the Tigers to consecutive silver medals at the IRA National Championships in 2018 and 2019, two Eastern Sprints titles in 2016 and 2018, and three straight medals at IRAs with the LM4- and LM4+, which included a national title in 2015.
He also coached at Harvard for 15 years, including his final two years in Cambridge as the associate head coach from 2011-13. Harvard won the Rowe Cup at Eastern Sprints in 2012 and 2013 and swept Yale, and the first varsity eight won the Eastern Sprints in 2013. The team medaled at IRAs both seasons and won the Prince Albert Cup (2011), Ladies' Challenge Plate (2012) and Visitor's Challenge Cup (2013) at the Henley Royal Regatta.
As Harvard's freshman coach from 1998-2011, Manning led the Crimson to medals at Eastern Sprints in 12 of his 13 years including seven victories. Twice, Harvard won the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley. His first freshman boat did not lose a dual race in his final five seasons, defeating 35 consecutive opponents from 2007-11. Â Harvard also won three silvers and three bronzes at IRAs from 2003-11. Harvard won three consecutive IRA National Championships in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Manning received his bachelor's degree from Holy Cross in 1987, where he rowed and served as team captain, and a Master of Education from Harvard in 1998. He earned a Level III Coaching Certification from US Rowing and is a frequent contributor to Rowing Magazine.
Â
