New coach hired at Oak Ridge Rowing Association

Marc DeRose has been hired as the new head coach and director of rowing at the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

“We were absolutely blown away by the quality of the applicants,” said ORRA President Bob Franks. “Even with such great applicants, Marc was clearly the person for the job.”

DeRose comes to Oak Ridge from the University of Central Florida, where he has served as assistant coach of women’s rowing. His resume includes coaching the 2011 Canadian National Champion in men’s eight at St. George’s School in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Oak Ridge has such outstanding facilities and such spectacular water on which to row,” Derose said. “But it is the people here that make it even more appealing. The association has a great history and a growing number of committed rowers.”

DeRose, who has a bachelor’s degree from Trent University and a master’s from McGill University, also has extensive experience in both strength training and fundraising.

“To find someone skilled in so many diverse areas was truly remarkable,” Franks said.

DeRose expects to arrive in Oak Ridge by early September.

The ORRA has been in existence since 1979 and regularly hosts national and regional regattas. Membership in ORRA consists of about 90 masters and another 100 youth rowers associated with the Atomic Rowing program. The organization is supported by both membership and corporate sponsors. It receives no direct taxpayer subsidy.

“I’m eager to get started and become a member of such a vibrant community,” DeRose said.

DeRose will replace, at least in part, longtime head coach Allen Eubanks, who no longer works for the ORRA. The rowing association’s board agreed unanimously in July that Eubanks, who had been in Oak Ridge 13 years, was “no longer needed for the position he held.”

The board declined to elaborate on that personnel change, calling it a business decision.