KINGSTON, Ont. (September 2, 2016) – Phil Marshall has been named the head coach of the Queen's Gaels rowing program and a Performance Coach for the Kingston Rowing Club (KRC), as announced by Sean Scott, Director, High Performance Sport Operations, on Friday.
 
"I am pleased to announce Phil Marshall as our new varsity rowing team head coach," Scott said. "Marshall brings a wealth of experience from the international, provincial and university levels, and we are confident he will bring strong leadership in the development of high performance rowers at Queen's."
 
Queen's and the KRC have partnered together to support this jointly funded coaching position that will support both Queen's and KRC's programming.
 
"This partnership builds on an already strong connection between KRC and Queen's, and we're very excited about the experience and focus that Phil will bring to competitive rowing in Kingston," says Michael Vandenburg, club president at the KRC. "With a dedicated group of volunteer coaches, our athletes have represented Kingston well on the provincial, national and international stage, most recently at the Olympics. We're fortunate to have Phil join us to build on that tradition of excellence."
 
The Gaels current head coach of the rowing team, John Armitage, will continue through the 2016-17 season while Marshall finds his footing at Queen's.
 
"This is an exciting time for Queen's Rowing and for me," said Armitage. "Thirty nine years ago a group of committed individuals embarked on a mission to make Queen's and Kingston rowing a force in Canada. With the passing of the torch to Phil our rowing team will take the next step to becoming a dominant force in Canada and the US.  I look forward to assisting with this transition and serving as a volunteer assistant to Phil."
 
Marshall brings over 30 years of high performance rowing experience, most recently as a member of Canada's Olympic coaching staff leading up to Rio 2016.
 
Dating back to 2010, Marshall has been a senior coach at the National Development Centres in Ontario. From 2013 on, he has also been the head coach for the national U23 lightweight men's team.
 
Before getting a chance to work with national team athletes on a full-time basis, Marshall earned his stripes at ROWONTARIO. He developed and managed the province's rowers in advance of the Canada Games and National Rowing Championship, in addition to organizing a talent identification and selection process for athletes and coaches alike.
 
At the university level, Marshall was an assistant coach on an OUA Championship winning team at Western in the late '90s before heading south of the border. At Syracuse University of the NCAA, he was the freshmen men's rowing coach and the recruitment coordinator, implementing in-season and off-season training programs that focused on technique and injury management.

Marshall will take the reins from Armitage, who, as the Gaels longest serving coach, has dedicated over 40 years to Queen's Rowing.