For his young age, new freshman heavyweight coach William Boyce boasts a substantial and varied history of involvement with Ivy League crew. He was a national champion at Cornell as an undergraduate, served as a coaching intern at Cornell for the men’s lightweight crew, and held a position as assistant coach at Yale for the 2009 and 2010 Ivy League seasons.

In addition to being a national champion, Boyce was named member of the All-Ivy League team and awarded the Cornell Captains’ Award during his senior year. But such an illustrious season did not come effortlessly to Boyce.

After graduating from Princeton Day School, Boyce arrived at Cornell to study film and row for Todd Kennett on the Men’s lightweight rowing team.

As a scrawny freshman at Cornell he was hardly a perfect specimen of the sport.

“He was really weak,” Kennett recalled from his first encounters with Boyce. ”Matter of fact he was physically weak enough that we highly questioned whether he would be able to make a boat”.

But Boyce would go on prove to Kennett and the Ivy League that what he lacked in natural talent he could certainly make up for in determination.

“We loved his attitude and we thought that with his work ethic he might get away with what he wanted to do,” he said. “He was a determined guy; he really knew what he wanted.”

Upon his arrival in Ithaca, Boyce set to work right away and earned his first of many payoffs by making it onto the first freshmen eight.

“When he got here immediately he was one of those guys that you could tell that physically he wasn’t where he needed to be [if he wanted] to be a championship rower,” Kennett said. “But his work ethic alone was just amazing and every year he worked really hard. His freshmen year he got himself pretty darn competitive.”

The following year, he made the junior varsity boat as a sophomore and won a gold medal in the 2006 Eastern Sprints.

“His junior year he was again on the JV, but he was exceedingly competitive and he had a bunch of younger guys in it with him now,” Kennett said.

Boyce was competitive again in the Eastern Sprints as the JV boat earned a silver medal.

“They led the sprints the whole way and ending up losing in the last 10 seconds,” the Big Red coach remembered.

But all of Boyce’s small victories were only precursors to his big payoff during his final season with Cornell.

“His senior year he came back, and he was a huge player right away,” Kennett said.

Boyce earned a spot as the six seat of the lightweight varsity eight in 2008, and helped his boat to first place at both Eastern Sprints and the IRA National Championships.

At IRAs, the boat came from behind to win in the final 500 meters of the race. After claiming the national title, Boyce and his team reached the quarterfinals at the Henley Royal Regatta.

“They were a pretty darn good boat,” Kennett praised. “And [Boyce] was a big part of it … he was going to get out of it what he put into it.”

After his season and graduation from Cornell, Boyce remained in the rowing community and became a coaching intern at Cornell for the 2008-2009 season.

He then left Cornell and joined the Bulldogs. Boyce was assistant coach on the varsity men’s heavyweight team for the 2009 and 2010 seasons before joining the Crimson squad as the freshmen men’s crew coach this year.

“We’re just really pleased [to have Boyce]”, said Harvard heavyweight coach Harry Parker. “He has a great background as an oarsman at Cornell ... very successful, a good student of coaching … We think it’s going to work out really well.”

Boyce’s trials, experiences, and successes as a rower have definitely made a contribution to his coaching abilities.

“I hate coaching against him,” Kennett said. “And [Cornell is] not looking forward to it because we know he works really really hard at what he does … and he knows how to be determined and persevere.“

Folks at Harvard have already caught on to Boyce’s coaching skills.

“He obviously knows what it takes to win; there is no doubt there,” captain Mike DiSanto said. “I think that he pushes the freshmen to work pretty hard.”

Boyce is looking forward to using his experiences to provide freshmen with the opportunity to thrive as competitors.

“I definitely enjoyed being on a team that if you worked hard you have a chance to be successful,” he says. “I want to be able to give back to the sport in that way and allow these guys to have their own successful experiences.”