Coaching Staff

Head Coach Michael Alton

Assistant Coach Michael Hoepp '05

Assistant Coach Tony Shelton

Assistant Coach Ford Weiskittel

Head Coach Michael Alton

Michael Alton began his tenure as as the head coach of the Hobart crew team in January of 2006. He made an immediate impact on the Statesmen, earning Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year accolades in both 2006 and 2007.

In his first two seasons, Alton led Hobart to back-to-back Liberty League Championships. The Statesmen won all four events they entered at the 2006 conference championships, and three of four in 2007. Alton also coached the varsity four without coxswain to a silver medal at the 2007 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships, and guided Hobart to three medals (1 gold, 2 silver) at the New York State Championships.

Alton’s squad garnered 11 (out of 12) Liberty League Boat of Week awards in 2007, including nine straight to start the season. The Statsmen also earned the Liberty League Crew and Novice Crew of the Year awards.

Alton came to Hobart following five very successful seasons as the head coach of the Vassar College men's and women's crew teams. The Brewer women finished two of his final three seasons ranked in the College Rowing Coaches Association Division III top-10, climbing as high as No. 7 in 2003. That year, Vassar earned a spot in the grand finals of the New York State Championships for the first time and later qualified three boats for the ECAC Championships, also a first. A year later, the Brewers made their first appearance in the grand finals of the ECAC Championship. In 2001, Alton guided the men's varsity four to a silver medal in the New York State Championships and a bronze medal in the ECAC Championships.

Alton was also an assistant professor of physical education at Vassar.

Prior to his time in Poughkeepsie, Alton spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Drexel University men's and women's crew teams, working primarily with the varsity women. Under Alton's guidance, the Dragons took first place at the Occoquan Sprints, the Marietta Invitational and the Mid-Atlantic Championship. In 1999, his women's varsity eight made the grand final of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship regatta.

Alton's coaching career began as a graduate student at Wichita State University in 1993. He served one year as the Shockers' assistant women's rowing coach before he was promoted to head coach the following year. While completing his master's degree in exercise physiology, he led the varsity eight to a win at the Kansas state championships and back-to-back appearances in the grand finals of the Dad Vail regatta, earning a bronze medal in 1994 with the second varsity eight and a fifth place finish in 1995 with the varsity eight.

As a scholarship rower at Temple University, Alton's boat won three Dad Vail titles and competed in the Henley Royal Regatta in England. He was the Owls' Rookie of the Year in 1989 and later earned the team's Coaches Award. Alton graduated from the Philadelphia institution with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1992.

Alton earned Level III coaching certification from the U.S. Rowing Association in 2000. He and his wife, Stephanie, are the parents of two daughters, Danielle and Alexandria.

Assistant Coach Michael Hoepp '05

Michael Hoepp '05 returns for his third season as an assistant coach at his alma mater. During his first two seasons as a coach, he helped the Statesmen capture two Liberty League Championships and was recognized by the conference as a member of the Coaching Staff of the Year twice.

During each of his final two seasons with the Statesmen, Hoepp helped the varsity eight to the Liberty League Crew of the Year Award, as Hobart won the gold medal in the varsity eight during the inaugural conference championships in 2004. (The 2005 Liberty League Championships were cancelled due to poor weather.) Also among his Hobart highlights, Hoepp sports a gold medal in the varsity eight collegiate division from the 2002 Head of the Charles and a silver medal in the varsity eight in the 2003 ECAC Championships, and a bronze medal in the varsity four in the 2005 IRA Championships.

A native of Bedford, N.H., Hoepp received the Charles "Chip" Hart '90 Award at the 2005 Block H Awards Banquet. The award is presented to the oarsman whose determination and commitment throughout the season have been inspirational to the team.

With more than eight years of rowing experience, Hoepp brings a broad knowledge of the sport back to his alma mater. He began rowing as a freshman at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn. After winning both of his events at the 2001 Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and the 2001 USRowing National Championships, Hoepp's accomplishments earned national recognition when he was featured in Faces in the Crowd in "Sports Illustrated."

An active member of the campus community, Hoepp was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Counsel and was president of his senior class. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology.

In addition to his responsibilities with the Statesmen crew program, Hoepp also serves the Hobart and William Smith community as a residential area coordinator, supervising residential advisors in the Colleges' dormitories.

Assistant Coach Tony Shelton

Tony Shelton, who helps coach the novice crew, is a professor of entomology and associate director of international agriculture at Cornell University, where he has worked since 1979.

Shelton rowed varsity lightweight crew for three years at St. Mary's (Calif.) College. He graduated with a degree in classics and philosophy in 1971. His interest in crew was rejuvenated when he was on sabbatical in the Netherlands in 1986 and joined a local rowing club where he rowed sweep and learned to row a single. His most memorable row was a 20-kilometer race in a pair on the Rhine for which he was the first member of the club to be awarded a certificate from the Royal Netherlands Rowing Association. Upon returning to Geneva he was the interim coach for the varsity men and women crews until former head coach Jim Joy was hired. A chance meeting in a parking lot with Kris Thorsness, a local rower and former Olympian, led to his decision to assist the Statesmen novices in 2003.

At Cornell, Shelton's research, teaching, and outreach efforts focus on insect management using techniques ranging from indigenous agriculture to biotechnology. From 1993 through 2001, he served as associate director of research for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.

Tony is married to the former Ann Michaels, a 1978 graduate of William Smith. They live in Geneva and are the parents of five children ranging in age from 17 to 29.

Assistant Coach Ford Weiskittel

Ford Weiskittel founded the modern rowing program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1982 and served as its first coach from 1982 until 1986. He rowed at Henley Royal Regatta in England in the coxless pairs with Hans Feige, Hobart '86, competing as Hobart College, the first time the College raced at Henley.

A former professor of classics and ancient history at Hobart and William Smith, Weiskittel was the chair of the classics department from 1979 until 1986, leaving to become director of Trireme Trust USA, a non-profit corporation which sponsors research into ancient maritime history and operates a research vessel in the Mediterranean. This vessel, a replica of a fifth-century B.C. trireme, was designed and built by the Trireme Trust and is the largest man-powered ship in the world, with a crew of 170 men and women rowing together on three levels. Launched in 1987, she was christened Olympias and is a commissioned warship in the Hellenic Navy. Olympias represents the largest, most expensive, and most elaborate archaeological experiment ever undertaken.

Weiskittel earned degrees from Princeton University, where he studied architecture and art history, and Oxford University, where he studied philosophy and ancient history. He has published articles on Roman architecture, Pompeii, Vitruvius, and the Greek trireme. He was one of the oarcrew for the first season of sea-trials in 1987 and has been rowing master for the series of sea-trials since then.