named 

Dartmouth

rowing coach

By Ron P. Coderre

Linda Muri, a 1981 graduate of Killingly High School, has been named the head coach of the Dartmouth College varsity women’s rowing team.  Muri, who is a 1986 graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, also earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard University in 1997.

Muri’s rise to her current position all started as an athlete at Killingly High School, although she never had any experience with rowing in high school.  She had a varied athletic career with the Redgals, where she captained the field hockey team and was named an Eastern Connecticut Conference all star.  Muri was also a four-year member of the basketball team and was on the softball team in her freshman and sophomore years.

When Muri attended Killingly the school didn’t offer cross country for the girls so she ran with the boys’ team for four years.  She also was a member of the track and field team her junior and senior years, serving as the captain in her final season.

In assuming her role with the Big Green at Dartmouth, Muri brings a background filled with solid experience as a rower and coach on the collegiate and international levels.  She spent the past 13 years in Cambridge, Mass., as the assistant coach of the Harvard men’s lightweight crew team.  While at Harvard, Muri led the Crimson freshmen lightweights to seven Eastern Sprints medals and five IRA medals.  In addition she was the program’s head recruiter, developed and implemented training and injury-prevention programs and coordinated team travel.  She also held similar positions at Cornell University for three years.

On the international level she coached former Harvard rower Andrew Campbell, who earned significant recognition in World Rowing U23 Championships.  In 2004-2005 she served as an assistant coach on the U.S. Junior Women’s team and in 2006 guided the U23 men’s lightweight-4 to a seventh place finish in the world championships.

In addition to her coaching responsibilities, Muri has held numerous leadership positions.  She served as president and director of the World Rowing Championships from 2007 through 2013.  She was a director of the Cambridge Boat Club, Boston Athletic Association and US Rowing Board.  In 2009, Radcliffe and MIT women’s lightweight crew renamed their annual race the Linda Muri Cup in her honor.

As a rower, Muri was a nine-time U.S. national team member and three-time world champion.  In 1994, she was a semifinalist for the James E. Sullivan Award that recognizes the top amateur athlete in the country.  She is also an 18-time U.S. national champion and has earned five Head of the Charles championships.

Linda Muri is the daughter of the late Frank Muri and Mari Muri, a former first grade teacher at Killingly Memorial School, who currently lives in Cromwell.