2011 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
Entering his 14th season at the helm of the Dayton women's rowing program in 2023-24, Michael Wenker has established the Flyers as a viable competitor.
Wenker earned the 2011 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year after leading Dayton's Varsity 8 to the conference championship. At the 2011 A-10 Championship, Dayton's Varsity 8 not only won, but set a conference record winning the event by 12.25 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark of 12.0 seconds. The Flyers finished with a time of 7:52.20.
The Dayton Women's Varsity 8 was voted the week's Crew of the Week on Row2k.com for their winning their first ever Atlantic 10 Championship.
Three Dayton Flyer earned spots on the 2011 Atlantic 10 Women's Rowing All-Academic team, the most selections in the conference. In addition, UD had two A-10 All-Conference selections as well.
Prior to his arrival at UD, Wenker was an assistant coach for two seasons at the West Virginia University.
Wenker is the fifth head coach in the program's history since being moved to varsity status.
A native of Cincinnati, Wenker previously served as assistant coach for the men’s and women’s rowing programs at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. There, he assisted with all aspects of the program.
Wenker acted as the varsity women’s coach for the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club from 2000-07, after working with the novice squad in 2000. As head coach, Wenker led the team to three gold medals at the USRowing Youth Invitational from 2002-03 and 35 gold medals at the Midwest Junior Rowing Championships from 2000-07.
After graduating college, Wenker was assistant coach of the Saratoga Rowing Association, where he instructed new athletes in the fundamentals of rowing. He completed his bachelor’s degree in economics from Skidmore College in 1998.
