Gene Kininmonth
Head Coach
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

At a time in collegiate sports when the rush to raise money to build the best teams is now referred to as an arms race, what better person to serve as head coach of the Trojan Navy than a former investment banker.


Head Coach Gene Kininmonth

In July 2002, the Crew Board of USC staff, crew alumni and team captains welcomed new head coach Gene Kininmonth into the Trojan Navy.
Coach Kininmonth, a former UCLA men’s head coach who most recently coached at George Washington University in Washington DC, brings a wealth of experience to the ‘SC Crew.

“Gene comes to us with great credentials,” said Stu Neffeler ‘56. “He is originally from Melbourne, Australia, rowed on the Australian National team and is a former UCLA men’s coach. He has a strong background in alumni relations and management and holds an MBA in finance.”

Coach Kininmonth made his USA coaching debut at UCLA in 1992, when he led a gutty UCLA Bruin crew to a seventh place finish at the National Collegiate Rowing Championships.

That was the year after the UCLA program was cut as a varsity sport and the result remains the highest finish ever by a club team at a national rowing championship.

Coach Kininmonth then left the sport and worked the remainder of the 1990s in investment banking, raising money for companies in IPOs, secondary financings and corporate spin-offs. Beginning at Bear Stearns & Co, he was quickly recruited to Lehman Brothers before crossing over to Boston Group where he rose to the rank of Senior Vice President.

Kininmonth earned his MBA in Finance at George Washington University and coached that university’s crew to a silver medal in the coxless fours event at the IRA National Championships in 2000. He also coached GW to its first Atlantic 10 championship in 2001 and repeated the win in 2002.

Since returning to Los Angeles, Coach Kininmonth has helped revive the rowing program at USC to a stature not seen since being stripped of its varsity status by Athletic Department officials due to Title IX.

In his first year at USC in 2003, Coach Kininmonth’s varsity crew beat UCLA in the annual dual race to break a 43-year drought. He returned the Trojans to the varsity eight finals of the San Diego Crew Classic and PAC-10 Championships, and his crew also won a silver medal in the fours event at the IRA National Championships.

Since then, Coach K has led USC on three overseas tours to England’s Henley Royal Regatta and his Trojans won the 2004 National Collegiate Club Rowing Championships and the Open 8 event at the 2004 Newport Autumn Rowing Festival.

In an unconventional move to bolster the ranks of the Trojan Navy, Coach K assumed responsibilities for the freshman squad in the 2005-06 season and his first freshman eight finished fourth at the PAC-10 championships, the highest finish ever by any USC eight-man crew at the PAC-10s.

Off the water, Coach K is proud to serve the Los Angeles community. He is an advisory board director of the USC After School Sports Center, a program that offers sports programs to underserved youth in the schools neighboring USC. Coach K returned to coaching the varsity squad in the 2008 spring semester.

Joe Richards
Varsity Coach
Hometown: Syracuse, NY

In the Fall of 2005, Coach Joe Richards was recruited to the Trojan Navy by Head Coach Gene Kininmonth to coach the Trojan varsity squad.

Coach Richards, a former oarsman at George Washington University, most recently coached novice women at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia.


Varsity Coach Joe Richards

“Coach Joe is a terrific fit for our program,” said Coach Kininmonth. “He has competed successfully at the highest collegiate levels and as one of his former coaches, I know him to be one of the most respected and revered individuals in the sport. In spite of his limited coaching experience, Joe has the magnanimity of character that would suit any varsity program and we are fortunate to have him join the Trojan Navy.”

At George Washington, Richards was one of the most highly decorated undergraduate oarsmen in that school’s history. As a sophomore rowing under Gene Kininmonth, he soon became a key member of the GWU varsity crew that won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in 2002, setting a school record of 5 min 43.3 seconds at the Camden, NJ course. In 2004 he was a member of the GW Colonials coxed four-man crew that won silver at the IRA National Rowing Championships. A four-year letter winner in his senior year, Richards was voted Captain of Boats and named MVP for the 2003-04 season.

Coach Richards says he is excited to have the opportunity to coach at USC. “I feel very confident that I could lead either a novice or varsity men’s crew to success. Having competed at a high level in college myself, I know what it takes to bring a crew to that level,” said Richards.

Under Coach Richards’ guidance, the Trojan varsity program has not missed a beat. In the 2005-06 season, his Trojan Crew has won the 2005 National Collegiate Club Rowing Championships, the George Gordon Cup, the Robert Hillen Cup and finished a USC best-ever third place at the San Diego Crew Classic.