Steve Perry begins his first season as assistant coach on the Big Red men’s heavyweight rowing staff, brining over a decade of collegiate caching experience to East Hill.
This past season, Perry served on the George Washington women’s rowing staff, after spending the previous eight seasons as the lightweight head coach at both Navy (2009-13) and Dartmouth (2005-09).
With the Midshipmen, Perry coached the varsity four to the title at the 2012 IRA National Championship, after leading the varsity eight to the runner-up spot at the 2010 IRA National Championship. In his first year as head coach in 2010, the Mids' varsity crew boasted a regular-season record of 6-2, and won the Johnson Cup (vs. Yale) and Callow Trophy (vs. Penn).
Perry was the head coach at Dartmouth for four years and guided the Big Green to a 15-7 record during his tenure. In 2007, he was named the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Coach of the Year after his first varsity boat won the Ivy League and the Eastern Sprints Championships before taking fourth at the IRA National Championship.
Prior to his time as head coach at Dartmouth, Perry had his first stop at Navy as the assistant coach for the Midshipmen’s lightweight program, leading the first freshmen boat to an impressive 33-1 record during his three years on staff. During that time, he also mentored the Mids' first freshmen boat to first-place finishes at the Eastern Sprints Championship in 2003 and 2005, while helping the second freshmen boat to three-consecutive Eastern Sprints titles.
Before his first arrival in Annapolis, Perry spent two seasons at Rutgers (2000-01) and one season at Penn (2002) as lightweight assistant coach. With the Scarlet Knights, he produced an 11-6 record with the first freshmen crew, including a fifth-place finish at the Eastern Sprints Championship. During his lone season at Penn, he led the Quakers' first freshmen boat to a 5-2 record - their first winning season in 10 years.
Perry also has experience as a national team coach, working with the with the U.S. Under-23 Women's National Rowing Team in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, he served as assistant sweep rowing coach and helped the women's eight crew win the gold medal at the Under-23 World Championship in Brandenburg, Germany. The following summer, Perry served as the head sweep rowing coach, where he selected, prepared and trained the silver medal-winning women's eight boat at the Under-23 World Championship in Racice, Czech Republic.
Perry graduated from Rutgers in 2001, where he rowed all four seasons with the lightweight crew team, including three years in the first varsity eight. He served as the team captain in 1999, during which the Scarlet Knights won the silver medal at the IRA National Championship. In 2001, he traveled with the Rutgers varsity crew to compete in the Henley Regatta and Britannia Cup.
