Erin Neppel - Women's Rowing Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

Erin Neppel

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
eneppel@unc.edu
Phone:
850-313-3363

Erin Neppel, one of the most decorated rowers in University of North Carolina history and an assistant coach for the three-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia Cavaliers, was named the head coach of the North Carolina rowing program on June 30, 2021.

Neppel (pronounced nuh-PELL) became the third head coach in Carolina women's rowing history, joining Joel Furtek (1997-2002) and Sarah Haney (2002-2019). Emilie Gross and Thomas Revelle served as interim co-head coaches for the two seasons prior to Neppel's hiring.

Neppel comes to Carolina from Virginia, where she helped lead the Cavaliers to ACC titles in 2018, 2019 and 2021 (no championship was contested in 2020 due to the pandemic). The Wahoos swept all five Grand Finals in 2021, rowing to first-place finishes in the Varsity 8, 2nd Varsity 8, 3rd Varsity 8, Varsity 4 and 2nd Varsity 4 races.

Virginia placed fifth, 10th and fifth in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 NCAA Championships and finished fourth in 2018 in the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta in Cambridge, Mass., behind Stanford, Yale and Princeton.

Neppel was heavily involved in recruiting for the Cavaliers, signing 50 rowers in her last three seasons, whilemanaging the novice rowing program.

Prior to her four seasons in Charlottesville, Neppel coached at Canisius in Buffalo, N.Y., where she worked with Furtek as an assistant coach for two seasons and served as the interim head coach in 2016-17. In 2016, she was named Region 2 Assistant Coach of the Year. Her Varsity 4 was Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion in 2015 and the Varsity 8 was second in the MAAC in 2016. In 2017, Neppel led the Griffs to a third-place finish at the MACC Championship, which matched the program's best conference finish.

Neppel has also coached at UCF and the West Side Rowing Club in Buffalo. While at West Side, Neppel coached the U.S. Senior Development Camp.

Neppel was a second-team All-American at Carolina in 2001 and earned All-ACC and all-region honors in 2000 and '01. She is one of three All-Americans in UNC rowing history and one of three Tar Heel rowers to earn All-ACC honors in multiple seasons. Neppel was captain and Most Valuable Rower of the UNC rowing team, where she was the stroke of the Varsity 8, which was ranked in the top 15 in the nation and was invited to train with the U.S. National Team at the Chula Vista (Calif.) Training Center. Carolina was ranked in the top 20 during her career.

Neppel was a Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete honoree and earned her degree in exercise and sports science at Carolina in 2001 and her master's in sports administration at Canisius in 2016.