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Dave O'Neill is now in his 10th year as head coach of the Cal program. The list of accomplishments over his nine years is long and impressive by any measure. The program has been invited to the NCAA Championship each year, won three Pac-10 Championships and two NCAA Championships. The program has taken home five trophies from NCAAs by finishing among the top four nationally, including the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Champions trophies.
Under O'Neill, Cal's varsity eight has placed among the top three at NCAAs four times (1999, 2002, 2005, and 2006). The varsity eight was undefeated in regular-season competition from 2004-06 including the 2005 crew that completed its perfect season by setting an NCAA record (6:20.7) to win the varsity eight national championship. In addition to the success of the varsity eight, the second varsity eight has finished among the top three at NCAAs the last five years and won five straight Pac-10 titles.
In O'Neill's nine years at the helm of Cal women's crew, he has garnered numerous awards including the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association's (CRCA) national Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2005 and has been named Pac-10 Coach of the Year three times (1999, 2004, 2005.) The CRCA named him Coach of the Year for the west region those same years. He was also named collegiate Coach of the Year by Independent Rowing News in 1999 and was awarded a similar award by the Joy of Sculling conference in 2002. O'Neill's 2005 varsity eight was named Crew of the Year by Independent Rowing News.
Throughout his coaching career O'Neill has been involved with international rowing. O'Neill coached various boats for the U.S. women's under-23 national team in 2006 and 2007. In July of 2007, he helped the U.S. quadruple sculls take gold and the varsity eight collect bronze at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Strathclyde, Scotland. He led the women's eight to a gold medal at the 2006 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium, and the crew established a world best time in the process (6:06.7). In 2002 he helped coach the U.S. squad that raced at the World U23 Regatta in Genoa, Italy, where he was responsible for the women's pair that finished second. Eight of the women O'Neill has coached at Cal have gone on to race for their respective senior national teams, and there have been eight Golden Bears racing on U23 national teams.
Before coming to Cal, O'Neill headed the women's program at Boston College for seven years. Under O'Neill, the BC women were the only club program in the country to compete against Division I varsity competition, and they did so with tremendous success. His crews won numerous championships at the Big East Regatta, New England Championships, Champion International Regatta, and the IRA.
As an athlete, O'Neill became one of the country's top lightweight oarsmen. During his freshman year at Boston College, O'Neill was a founding member of the rowing program. Soon after, O'Neill was invited to pre-elite camps, as well as elite training programs at the Riverside Boat Club and Boston Rowing Center. After medaling at the USRowing Nationals, Olympic Festival, CRASH-B Sprints, and the Canadian Henley, O'Neill decided to focus on his coaching but continues to train for and compete in the country's most prestigious cycling races.
A '91 graduate of Boston College with a B.A. in history, O'Neill is a firm believer that the best way to succeed is to provide the athletes with an environment conducive to learning and achievement: "If we make the everyday experience of Cal crew a worthwhile and meaningful one, results will follow."
