September 2026 -- The Navy lightweight rowing program and head coach Shawn Bagnall are pleased to announce the addition of Brooks Spires to his staff in the role of assistant coach. A five-year veteran of collegiate coaching, Spires was most recently the Associate Head Coach at Marietta College.
"The Navy Lightweight program is incredibly blessed and fortunate to welcome Brooks, a true student of the sport,” remarked Bagnall. “His vision for developing walk-on talent and inspiring recruits to meet Division I standards will elevate our performance both on and off the water. Mentored by one of collegiate rowing’s finest in Coach Greg Myhr, Brooks will undoubtedly make an immediate impact on our team speed. Most importantly, he understands our athletes' ultimate mission post-commissioning and will build upon the Navy Lightweight Men's Rowing tradition of developing exceptional Navy and Marine Corps officers."
"I could not be more fired up to join the staff here at Hubbard Hall and the N150's,” said Spires. “The Academy is truly a special place and the ability to develop future leaders and officers through the sport of rowing is truly an honor. I'm grateful for the opportunity and am ready to get to work!"
Spires joins the Navy staff after five years with the Marietta College program first as an assistant coach from 2021 to 2025 before earning the title of associate head coach prior to the start of the 2025-26 season. Working in conjunction with head coach Greg Myhr, he was in charge of the program’s recruiting efforts, running practices, helping develop training plans, coordinating logistics for race weekends and advising students with academic needs.
Spires’ efforts with recruiting increased the Pioneers’ roster by over 20 percent and that added talent resulted in the team collecting gold in the Dad Vail Regatta in the D3/Club 8+ classification in back-to-back seasons. He also helped Marietta qualify its entire team for action at the IRA Championship for the first time in program history in 2025. The Pioneers received an automatic berth after finishing as the top DIII team at the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championship in May of 2025.
Away from the world of collegiate rowing, Spires has coached at the Youth and U-23 levels at Ready, Set, Row, the Marietta Training Center, Navy Boys Crew Camps and the West Side Rowing Club.
A 2020 graduate from Marietta, Spires earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. As an undergrad, he earned four varsity letters rowing with the Pioneers from 2016 to 2020 and served as team captain during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns.
