Boston College Athletics
Sailing Coach Greg Wilkinson Earns US Sailing Honor
November 17, 2010 | Sailing
Nov. 17, 2010
Chestnut Hill, MA - The Boston College sailing team continues to garner honors. This week the Eagles sailing Head Coach Greg Wilkinson was recognized by US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) the 2010 National Coach of the Year.
The OSC has also nominated these winners to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for consideration for the 2010 Coaches of the Year Awards across all Olympic and Paralympic sports. The awards are a part of the USOC Coach Recognition Program, which highlights the accomplishments and contributions of coaches who train athletes at all levels of sailing.
Wilkinson has helped Boston College reach impressive heights on the water as the Eagles maintain the No. 1 national ranking for a majority of the year by winning three of five national Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) championships (ICSA Women's Singlehanded Championship and ICSA Sloop National Championship, in September, and ICSA/Gill Coed National Championship, in June.).
For the 2009-2010 school year, the BC Eagles received the Leonard M. Fowle Memorial Trophy, which annually recognizes the best all-around performance in college sailing determined by points accumulated at major Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Championships.
With the school year spread over two calendar years, the team competes in multiple coed and women's events (there is no men's collegiate sailing) on most weekends between September and November and again between February and May. In the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Conference Championships for the 2009-2010 school year, the BC Eagles won four titles - Women's Singlehanded, Sloop, Coed Dinghy and Team Race - and finished in third place at the Women's. During the current 2010-2011 school year, the Eagles captured the Match Race title and finished in second place at the Women's Singlehanded.
Based on Wilkinson's philosophy of being "one team, not individual sailors," the Eagles draw on a large pool of talent among 36 athletes to field consistently successful teams. The team culture also paid off with seven BC sailors named to the 2010 ICSA All-American list including finalists in the Sailor of the Year and the Quantum Female Sailor of the Year categories. BC is the sixth school in 42 years of Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association history to win all three spring championships (ICSA Women's Nationals, ICSA/APS Team Race Nationals, and the ICSA/Gill National Championship).
In 2010 BC sailors and alumni won the Vanguard 15 Nationals (Andrew Schneider '09, crew) and the 2010 U.S. Team Racing Championship (Carrie Amarante '09, crew); finished second at the Snipe Nationals (Brian Kamilar '09, skipper); and fifth at Bermuda Gold Cup (Taylor Canfield '11, skipper and Alden Reid '08, crew).
In addition to coaching the highly successful BC Eagles, Wilkinson is heavily involved in the administration of collegiate sailing. He served as Conference Commissioner of the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association for four years, and has also served on the Board of Directors of the national governing body of college sailing, the ICSA. In late 2008 he joined the Eastern Yacht Club (EYC) in a newly created position - year-round Sailing Director/Sailing Professional. In 2010 he coached an EYC team to second place at the Hinman Master Team Race championship.
