As his team prepares for the 2026 IRA National Championship in California, Coach Shawn Bagnall sat down with the Navy Letterwinners Association to talk about his men's lightweight rowing team. Coach Bagnall is the longest-tenured Navy lightweight rowing coach and, among his other accolades, has helped guide 10 midshipmen into the Navy Athletics Hall of Fame.

Navy Letterwinners: In 2021, you guided Navy lightweight rowing to win the IRA National Championship. What was so special about that team?

Coach Bagnall: Coming off the COVID year, the national championship was not a guarantee. We did our best to make sure the Class of 2021 and their teammates had some semblance of a racing year. The team weathered that challenge and everyone in our program was bought in, from the erg testing to preparing for competition. So, when it came to the race day of the national championship, our guys were prepared to win.

Navy Letterwinners: Can you talk about Thomas Kelly '26 and his recent selection as the 2026 Trident Scholar Prize Award winner?

Coach Bagnall: Yes, Tom was a walk-on athlete who never rowed before Navy. It took him some time to figure out the sport, but he quickly became committed to developing into a D1 rower both academically and athletically. Tom was a three-year letterwinner but was not always in the top boats. Regardless, he was a leader among the team and his academic accomplishments are outstanding. As an Aerospace Engineer, his award-winning Trident project was for "Experimental Study of Degree of Polarization Invariance in Vectorial Structured Laser Light Propagating Through Underwater Optical Turbulence." He wound up being ranked #2 on Overall Order of Merit, not the valedictorian, but we love him anyway.

Navy Letterwinners: Academic success is no stranger for your lightweight men's rowing team, correct?

Coach Bagnall: Yes, our team won the USNA Dean's Award, for having the highest GPA of any varsity team, four years in a row from 2020-2023. That included four valedictorians: Kaden Dohm '20, Will Jarrett '22, Robby Klanac '24, and Owen O'Malley '25. It's truly been a pleasure coaching a group of high achievers in everything they do. The Dean's Award typically goes to teams with small rosters, so having the highest team GPA with 50-60 guys on the roster is pretty special.

Navy Letterwinners: Where do most of your rowing recruits come from and do you still have a large walk-on culture within the program?

Coach Bagnall: Most of our recruits come from the Eastern Seaboard in areas that focus on rowing, but we have athletes coming from the Midwest, Ohio to Milwaukee, as well as a small group from California, Oregon, and Washington. However, 50 percent of our roster are walk-on athletes who learn to row at Navy. We have some exceptional muilti-sport high school athletes who arrive at the Naval Academy looking for a new sport. We spend a lot of time on development and are proud that some of these guys can compete against the best collegiate lightweight rowers in the world.

Navy Letterwinners: Was Ed "Mix" King '11, Navy Olympic rower, a walk-on?

Coach Bagnall: Yes, Mix was a recruited cross country runner but wanted to try something different when he arrived at Navy. He picked up the sport quickly and broke many of our team's erg records by the time he graduated. As a Naval Intelligence Officer, he was able to keep training and was eventually invited to U.S. Rowing National Team Camp. Mix was able to compete his way into the Lightweight Men's Four (4-) which competed in the 2012 Rio Olympics, placing 10th overall.

Navy Letterwinners: What do the Navy alumni mean to your program?

Coach Bagnall: Our alumni are the fuel that inspires us coaches to put in the long hours to develop these amazing athletes. From recent graduates to flag rank officers, from Navy SEALs to CNOs, it's amazing to see our rowing alumni come back to the boathouse, ride along for practice, and talk to the team about being leaders in the Fleet. On my first day coaching, Terry Benedict '82 stopped by the boathouse to watch practice. Here was a 3-star admiral, in his whites, riding along in the motorboat. I quickly learned this is a very special place to coach.