Awards

The first ever Coaches’ Choice Award was presented to Andriel Doolittle, Director of Rowing & Head Women’s Coach at United States Coast Guard Academy. The Coaches’ Choice Award is intended to highlight and recognize a coach in attendance at The Conference who has shown exemplary effort in coaching and mentorship for their team, club or program. A true role model in the coaching community, this coach is a dedicated educator for both athletes and fellow coaches, an inspiring leader and mentor, and has a commitment to learning themselves. Nominator Bill Randall said this about Doolittle, “Coach Doolittle arrived at CGA in trying times, after the death of a loved coach. She stabilized the team and then grew the team. This year she the women’s roster is over forty rowers (that is 10% of the academies female students). But, beyond the growth, has been the culture change, she has created a stronger, more resilient, and more independent crew – a subject she will be talking about at the rowing conference in a few weeks. Two years ago, I stepped down as the director of rowing and Coach Doolittle took over the role. Thankfully, she did rehire me as the men’s head coach. Having the old director around could be very awkward – especially an older coach that has been with the CG for a long time, but she has been able to meet all the challenges and use the knowledge I have while maintaining her role as the director of rowing. The team has continued to flourish, and we have the largest roster and most competitive team CGA has had in well over a decade. In the spring we sent the first men’s boat every to the D3 IRA championships and this fall both varsity boats received automatic qualifies at the head of the Charles while the women had their best finish in over a decade. The bottom line is, while I am getting older and I have been at this for quite a while, I continue to learn from Coach Doolittle and the team continues to get better."

IRCA Hall of Fame