Interim coach propels women to new heights

Ask Will Porter, the head coach of the women's crew team, what it's like to make the switch from being a lifelong men's coach to coaching women, and he'll tell you he doesn't think of his rowers as women or girls, but as athletes. Take one look at the finely-tuned bodies of his team and you'll understand why. Porter has the privilege of working with one of the finest crew programs in the nation at Yale, and he's well aware of the honor. "The bottom line is that coaching rowing at Yale means working in the best rowing program in the country," Porter said. "Our facilities are amazing." Unbeknownst to the average passerby, the small pools with oars on the first floor of the Payne Whitney Gym are, in fact, some of the finest rowing tanks in the world. In addition, next season the team will be equipped with the newly constructed Gilder Boathouse, which Coach Porter believes will be one of the country's top facilities.

A graduate of Rutgers, Porter began coaching to support himself as he worked to make the U.S. National team. "I started at Stanford, and then worked at Rutgers while I trained for Nationals," Porter explained. "I never made it to the Olympics though." While his dreams of Olympic gold never came to fruition, Porter managed to win quite a few honors in international competition. As an oarsman for the U.S. National team, he garnered a silver medal in 4- at the Pan Am Games in 1991, and received a bronze medal in 8+ at the 1993 World Championships. This combination of struggle and success has contributed to his skills as a coach. "His coaching is brilliant because he combines his knowledge of the sport with his experiences as an athlete who had to truly persevere to realize success," Francine Chew, DC '00, said.

As his personal rowing career began to wind down, Porter realized he had developed a passion for coaching crew, and when former head coach Chris Wilson asked him to interview for a position as an assistant, he willingly obliged. For the past two years, Porter has served as the novice women's coach at Yale, and was asked to serve as the interim head coach this season. As an interim coach, Porter is only under contract through June 2000, at which point his work with the crew team this season will be reviewed. If his dedication to Yale rowing is any indication, there is no doubt Porter is an incredible leader. "I want nothing more than to be the head coach here," Porter said. "We're just starting to see the success of our recent recruiting, and I think continuity is really important in maintaining that success."

Since becoming head coach this year, Porter has helped raise the women out of their worst finish ever in the Eastern Sprints last year (14th and 15th places). This past winter at the Crash B Sprints the Elis not only placed two rowers on intercollegiate finals and six in the top 30 rowers in the country, but also had nearly 90 percent of the team record their personal bests.

Above all, though, Porter has unending faith in his team. "These girls have grown so much as a team and have given so much," Porter said. "That's what has been the key to our small amount of success." While he remains modest, it's hard to deny that his role with the Bulldogs this season has certainly added some bite to their bark.

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