“[Wilbur] is so positive and enthusiastic,” Griffin says. “The coaches are so great, and she’s just a great addition to an already great staff.”

After witnessing Wilbur’s impact with the novices, O’Leary has not hesitated to include the coach in varsity practice when possible. Due to the team’s staggered schedule, Wilbur has seen her role expand immensely as the year unfolds.

But the young coach’s focus remains on the novices, and she has a few plans for preparing the squad for its Nov. 7 opener. In particular, Wilbur will use the race in which she often displayed top-notch talent as a teaching tool for her walk-ons.

“The one thing I’m saying to novices right now is to make sure they get down [to the Head of the Charles] and watch the racing and look for the basics of the stroke,” Wilbur says. “If they’re able to see what we’re doing applied to racing, it gives them a better sense of where we’re headed.”

Perhaps the walk-ons will be lucky enough to witness a Charles River performance comparable to that of Wilbur’s in 1999. The weekend’s competition holds a special place for the former standout after her stunning victory in the championship double, a competition she was not even slated to race.

“[The double] was not an event I was training for,” laughs Wilbur, recalling her role as a sweep rower at the time. “But I was able to get in with my partner and win it because we were really fit and worked well together.”

The unexpected gold marked another memorable moment in an outstanding rowing career.

And while Wilbur may have shifted away from this competitive phase of her life, she has the opportunity to continue forging success along the banks of the Charles. With the tremendous work she has done as an assistant, she may soon find herself putting on a whole new face—that of a program’s head coach.

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.