Al Monte was named the University of Pennsylvania’s Nicholas B. Paumgarten Head Coach of Men’s Heavyweight Rowing in September of 2022. His impact has been immediate and recognized by his peers—Monte was the 2023-24 recipient of the Intercollege Rowing Coaches Association's (IRCA) Leadership Award, one of six finalists for the Division 1 Coach of the Year honor after his first year at Penn, and one of just four finalists for the same award following his second year on Boathouse Row.
Monte's first year overseeing the heavyweights was certainly a success, as the Quakers captured the Clayton W. Chapman Trophy as the program to improve its points standing the most from the previous year at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships in June. All three Eights earned top-12 finishes at IRAs, the Varsity Eight earning its best placement since 2016, and all three were top-10 at EARC Sprints.
The 2023-24 year continued the program's ascension. The Varsity Eight took fifth at the 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 Cup and Wray Trophy 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.
In just two years at Penn, Monte has coached three student-athletes to a total of five IRCA All-America certificates, has had 28 student-athletes earn IRCA Scholar Athlete status, and had 13 student-athletes named Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) All-Academic.
Monte came to Penn after eight years as Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Dartmouth College. There, he helped lead the Big Greeh’s historic rise at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships, as they finished third in 2021 and fifth in 2022. During that time, Dartmouth won the Clayton W. Chapman Trophy—awarded to the most improved team at IRAs—in 2017 and again in 2021.
As Dartmouth’s primary recruiter, Monte helped bring in some of the strongest classes in the program’s history, which culminated in a third-place finish at the Eastern Sprints last spring. He was part of the Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021 at Dartmouth and coached the Big Green to multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Head of the Charles, Princeton Chase, Eastern Sprints, and IRA National Championship in all boat classes. In 2019, he coached the USA U23 Men’s Pair to a ninth-place finish at the FISA World Rowing U23 Championships.
Prior to arriving at Dartmouth in 2014, Monte was the head men’s rowing coach at Bucknell for three years. He was named the 2012 American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Coach of the Year, and in 2014 all Bison boats made the finals of the Knecht Cup, Dad Vail, ECAC and ACRA regattas. He arrived at Bucknell in 2008 as the program’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and led the Bison Freshmen 8+ to gold at the ECAC (NIRC) championship in 2011.
Monte is no stranger to coaching on Boathouse Row where he has led programs at Fairmount Rowing Association and Vesper Boat Club. At Vesper in 2011 and 2012, Monte served as head coach for the senior and under 23 men and led his crews to multiple titles at the USRowing National Championships and Royal Canadian Henley Regatta.
During his time on the US rowing scene, Monte was an eight-time USRowing national champion, a two-time Royal Canadian Henley winner, and has experience rowing on the United States National Team. He represented the USA at the 2003 World Rowing Junior Championships in Athens, Greece and in 2006 he was invited to the World Rowing Under 23 Championships Selection Camp.
A Philadelphia native, Monte graduated from Roman Catholic High School in 2003. He then went on to the College of the Holy Cross, where he was a team captain and four-year letter winner. Monte was a member of the Crusaders’ Varsity Eight for four years, stroking the boat to a historic best finish at the 2005 EARC Sprints. He graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s in history.
