The college’s crew and rugby teams have moved under the umbrella of the Middlebury Athletics department, beginning the process to exit the supervision of the Student Activities Office (SAO). Anonymous donations made the transition in February possible by funding new coaches and other support for the men’s and women’s teams of both sports.
The process of finalizing the transition is likely to take several years, team leaders said. The move to Middlebury Athletics will not affect their organizations’ status as club teams for the foreseeable future.
Since its founding in 1988, Middlebury College Crew has been overseen by the SAO. But discussions of moving it to Middlebury Athletics have gained momentum in recent seasons. During the past two years especially, the comparatively low salaries the SAO is able to offer coaches of club teams has led crew to struggle with hiring and maintaining a proper coaching staff.
Assistant Crew Coach Rich Connell said the team received a donation this winter large enough to fund a higher coach salary and transition to Middlebury Athletics.
“It's been kind of talked about for many years, and there was not a lot of opportunity for it to happen with staff dollars and just the way the structure had been set up,” Connell said.
While this change is crucial for securing a long-term coach, the day-to-day operations of the crew team will not change dramatically, he clarified.
“The rowing team has always kind of had to follow similar guidelines to the varsity sports,” Connell said. The team has access to athletic trainers at the college and thus follows standard guidelines for sports medicine and injury reporting. “I think it's going to remain fairly similar to what it has been the last, like, 10, 12, 15 years.”
The oversight of both crew and rugby will soon transfer to a newly created Assistant Athletics Director position, who will work directly under Director of Athletics Erin Quinn ’86. The transition process is still ongoing; the SAO continues to collaborate with Athletics to hire coaches and reallocate responsibilities. For now, the crew team is working with both departments in the college as it waits for its new head coach to start in June.
Rugby’s transition is slightly delayed, with changes expected to take shape in the fall once the SAO provides them with the operational specifics of the transition. Men’s Rugby President Cole Siefer ’25 said that the process for securing a coach and finalizing the transition will not be finished this year.
The Middlebury Men’s Rugby Team competes against both club and varsity teams throughout the Northeast.
“This transition is a multiyear process,” Siefer wrote in an email to The Campus. “There are still a lot of details to be figured out on what exactly the transition will look like for each team.”
Despite the administrative change, competitions for all three teams — men’s rugby, women’s rugby and crew — will remain largely unchanged. Both the crew and rugby teams already follow demanding training schedules and competitive calendars similar to varsity programs.
In its races throughout the Northeast, the crew team competes against other NESCAC schools and a mix of club and university teams.
“The team already kind of held itself to varsity standards: training six days a week, and in the racing season, it's like a race every weekend,” Connell explained. “I think the racing schedule will remain relatively the same. Even as a club, especially in New England, there's not a huge club-varsity distinction besides the D-Is and the Ivies, so, a lot of the D-IIIs, D-IIs, and clubs all race each other anyway.”
The rugby team competes in Division III of National Collegiate Rugby, primarily playing against other club teams, according to Siefer.
“We mostly compete against other club teams, but we do compete against some varsity programs — we played at a tournament hosted by Norwich University a few weeks ago, which is a varsity program,” Siefer wrote.
Neither team hopes to pursue varsity status because doing so could mean cutting players and changing the team’s culture.
“I hope we remain a club team,” Siefer explained. “The club being student-led is an important part of our history and culture — we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the club in 2022. I think that the transition to being managed by the Athletics Department will only elevate our operations and success, and I cannot wait to see where the team goes next year.”
Crew Co-Captain Aliya Hosford ’25 echoed this hope to remain a club team, underscoring the importance of keeping the team open to all students — which is only possible by remaining a club.
“One of the best parts about Midd Crew is that it is a group of people who are choosing to show up each day to row,” Hosford wrote in an email to The Campus. “No one was recruited, most of us didn’t even row before coming to Middlebury. And yet, we have a 70 person team that loves what they do and loves to spend time together. Moving to varsity would eliminate this part of Midd Crew and it would no longer be a no cuts team.”
Connell agreed with this sentiment about the team’s unique spirit as a club team.
“I almost don't want to see it be varsity, because the spirit of Middlebury Crew is that anyone, no matter your background or what you did before in high school they can come here and you can try rowing,” Connell said. “We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we still work hard and we race hard, and then when we beat those higher-funded varsity teams, it’s way more fun."
Rosella Graham '25 (she/her) is a News Editor.
Rosella is an International Politics & Economics major and Spanish minor from San Mateo, California. She spent her junior year in Madrid and outside of The Campus she enjoys co-hosting a radio show and playing lacrosse with friends.
