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2008-09 MEN'S CREW COACHING STAFF

Phil Carney - Head Men's Crew Coach
(860) 685-2923
pcarney@wesleyan.edu

      A 1985 graduate of Trinity College where he was a co-captain of the Bantams varsity heavyweight crew, Phil is in his 22nd year at Wesleyan and holds the rank of adjunct professor of physical education.  Phil coached the frosh at Trinity for two seasons before coming to Wesleyan in 1987. Phil has won several medals at the USRA Nationals as a member of the Pioneer Valley Rowing Association and has been active in coaching lightweight men since that time as well. He was a U.S. Rowing lightweight development coach in both 1988 and 1992. In 1993, Phil founded the Riverfront Recapture Rowing Club, a community rowing program serving the Hartford area. He continued in his role as head coach there through 1996. In the summer of 1997, Phil served as a guest coach at the Craftsbury Sculling Center in Vermont. In the summer of 1999, Phil took over the head coaching job for the Middletown parks and recreation department crew program and for several year fashioned a team that went on to compete during the fall at the Head of the Connecticut and the Head of the Charles Regattas. Last year all three of Phil's varsity eights (first varsity-bronze, second varsity-silver and third varsity-bronze) captured a medal at the New England Rowing Championships.
 
Norm Graf - Associate Coach

      Formerly the head crew coach at Trinity College for nearly 20 years, Norm Graf joined the Wesleyan coaching staff in 1995, serving as an associate coach through 2002. He returned to lend a hand again in 2006-07 after a four-year hiatus and completed his second straight year with the program again in 2007-08.  A 1951 graduate of Rutgers, where he rowed for four years, Norm also coached the Yale lightweights for five years during the 1960s. With an impressive 85-percent varsity winning percentage during his tenure at Trinity, Norm led his men's varsity crew to a 1976 victory in the Ladies Plate event at the Henley Royal Regatta. In recent years, Norm has spent a portion of his summers at the Craftsbury Center in Vermont, as well as coaching two masters women's crews to the Canadian Masters Championship.
 
Justin Watson - Assistant Coach

     Justin Watson officially joins the Wesleyan crew coaching staff for the first time in 2008-09.  After graduating from Franklin Pierce in 2007, Justin began coaching at his high-school alma mater, Middletown High while also handling duties with a women's masters program.  During the spring of 2008, he helped Wesleyan with a men's four but now will assume a larger role within the Cardinals' program.  Justin also has experience coaching in the Middletown Park and Recreation program.
     Justin began his rowing career at the age of 14 by way of the same Middletown Parks and Recreation rowing program. At Middletown High, Justin was a four-year varsity rower and served as a team captain while earning team MVP honors.  At Franklin Pierce, Justin was the stroke of the varsity boat. He competed annually in many historic New England events including the Head of the Charles, Head of the Fish, the New Hampshire Championships and the Textile River Regatta. Justin won the FPC men's crew Most Valuable Rower award two years in a row (2005 and 2006), and in 2007 was honored with the team's prestigious Coach's Award.