CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard athletic department has announced the hiring of Billy Boyce as the Friends of Harvard Lightweight Rowing Coach for Men's Lightweight Crew.
"We are incredibly pleased to announce Billy Boyce as our next head coach of men's lightweight crew," said Bob Scalise, the John D. Nichols '53 Family Director of Athletics. "An outstanding lightweight rower from the Ivy League, Billy knows the demands of our student-athletes and will be a great teacher and mentor."
"I am thrilled to make my return to lightweight rowing and in particular, the chance to work with Harvard varsity lightweights," Boyce said. "This is a special league and I look forward to starting the season and building a championship-caliber team. I am incredibly grateful for the support from athletic director Bob Scalise, senior associate director of athletics Pat Henry and heavyweight head coach Charley Butt."
Boyce spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the men's heavyweight staff.
The last freshman coach of heavyweight crew at Harvard, Boyce took over the second varsity boat in 2016, leading the Crimson to an undefeated dual season, an Eastern Sprints title and the first Crimson IRA National title since 2006. The crew went on to make the final of the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.
The 2015 freshman crew won the EARC Sprints, besting Wisconsin by over two seconds with its finishing time of 5:46.604. It marked the third time over four years that the freshman eight had won the Sprints title. Boyce coached Crimson student-athletes to a quarterfinal finish in the Visitors Challenge at Henley and were semifinalists in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup.
In 2014, Boyce helped guide the Crimson to a silver-medal finish at the EARC Sprints after a neck-and-neck race the entire 2,000 meters. The crew was Henley finalists in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup.
Under Boyce, the Crimson won back-to-back Sprints championships in 2012 and 2013. Harvard posted an undefeated dual season in 2012, finishing in the quarter finals at Henley in the Temple Challenge. In 2013, the Crimson boat was a finalist at Henley in the Temple Challenge.
Before heading to Cambridge, Boyce spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Yale. He coached the freshman eight in 2009-10 and the third and fourth varsity eights in 2010-11, while overseeing domestic and international recruiting during both seasons. His third varsity posted a 4-0 record in dual competition in spring 2010.
A 2008 Cornell graduate, Boyce previously served as a coaching intern at his alma mater. He assisted the heavyweight varsity staff in the fall of 2009 and coached the lightweight third varsity eight in the previous season. He led the lightweight third varsity eight to a runner-up finish at Eastern Sprints.
At Cornell, Boyce rowed the six seat of the lightweight varsity eight as a senior and won gold at both the Eastern Sprints and IRA National Championships, as the Big Red pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory in the last 500 meters to claim the national title. The crew went on to reach the quarterfinals of the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Boyce was named to the All-Ivy League first team in 2008 and won the highly coveted Captains Award at Cornell for "outstanding performance by an oarsman as selected by the captain." He was a three-year varsity letterwinner and graduated with a degree in film. He was also part of the Sprints-winning Cornell lightweight second varsity as a sophomore and the silver-medal lightweight varsity as a junior.
Boyce stroked the Mercer Junior Rowing Club Varsity 8 that finished fourth at the Youth National Championships.
Boyce and his wife, Naomi Bocarsly, reside in Framingham, Massachusetts with their newborn son, James.
