Erin (nee Sprague) Mhley is in her fourth season as assistant coach for the Navy offshore sailing program in 2023-24.
Mhley joined the Midshipmen in March 2021 after spending three years as the head offshore sailing coach at California State University Maritime in Vallejo, Calif., also serving as the Director of Sailing and Recreational Boating. During her tenure with Cal Maritime, she led the Keelhaulers to victories in the Shields Trophy, McMillan Cup and Kennedy Cup.
Prior to that, Mhley was the sailing director for the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Conn., where she managed all adult and junior programming as well as competitive events hosted by the club. During her time in Greenwich, she was actively involved in coaching high school sailing for Greenwich Academy.
A native of Massachusetts, Mhley began racing keelboats during summers on Nantucket and racing International One Designs with the local syndicates.
Along with her coaching role at Navy, Mhley has also continued racing competitively, competing in the 2019 Sydney Hobart Race, the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race and being on the winning crew of the US Sailing International Women's Keelboat Championship in both 2016 and 2017. Most recently, she was a co-skipper in the RORC Caribbean 600 and helped her crew win their class in all three attempts: 2019, 2023 and 2024.
Mhley earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in 2012, also competing for four seasons on the Riverhawks' rowing team. She later earned a master’s degree in Leadership from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Mhley’s recent master’s research project "Key Experiences and Leadership Lessons Learned for Midshipmen through Competitive Offshore Sailing" focused on how educators can assess their impact on student-athletes and better curate competitive experiences to improve experiential learning outcomes.
