Dan Harrison enters his third year with harvard-Radcliffe hevayweights in 2025-26.
In 2024-25, Harrison helped lead the Harvard-Radcliffe program to its 17th NCAA qualification, the first time since 2019. The program ranked as high at No. 11 in the country and finished No. 13 overall at NCAAs. In just two full years, Harrison has helped the team consistently move forward in the national rankings.
Dan Harrison joined the Radcliffe heavyweight rowing program in Sept. 2023, as an assistant coach.
Harrison is back in the Boston area for the first time since 2014-15, and brings a wealth of experience from previous stops within the Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences.
Harrison arrived in Cambridge after serving as an assistant coach at Oregon State in 2022-23, which marked his third stint in Corvallis. Originally a volunteer in 2013, Harrison rejoined the Beavers staff as an assistant in the fall of 2015, working with the Oregon State novice program.
In between his first and second appointments with the Beavers, Harrison was a volunteer assistant coach at BU in 2014-15, working with the Terriers’ developmental boats. During his time in New England, he also served as an assistant coach to the varsity boys’ program at Wayland-Weston Rowing Association, helping with fitness and technique training plans.
In the spring of 2017, Harrison left Oregon State for Ohio State, joining the Buckeyes as a volunteer coach. During his time in Columbus, Harrison coached the 1V4 to a third-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Championships before leaving for a graduate assistant coach role at Michigan in Aug. 2017.
Harrison’s first season in Ann Arbor resulted in the Wolverines recording a seventh-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships behind the performance of their four All-Americans. In the fall of 2018, Harrison was elevated to a full-time assistant coach, working with Michigan’s novice rowers.
The Wolverines’ novice boats thrived under Harrison’s watch as the 1N8 captured two Big Ten gold medals (2019, 2021), with the 2N8 earning a bronze in 2019 and a silver in 2021. As a team, Michigan won conference championships in 2019 and 2021, while coming in third (2019) and fourth place (2021) at the NCAA Championships. The accomplishments of the 2019 squad helped the Wolverines coaching staff earn CRCA Region 4 Staff-of-the-Year accolades.
Before jumping into the coaching profession, Harrison rowed for four seasons at Seattle University as part of its club team. Harrison served as club president for three years and was chosen as the “Top Hawk” his senior year by his coaches, recognizing him as the club’s top performer. On the water, Harrison raced his way to consecutive Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships (2012, 2013) and captured the 2013 American Collegiate Rowing Association national title in the pair.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Harrison graduated from Seattle in 2013, with a bachelor’s degree in sport and exercise science. He also completed a one-year coaching education program in 2015, at the Institute for Rowing Leadership, which is designed to give fellows the necessary theoretical framework and experiential learning opportunities to achieve the knowledge, skills and abilities required of a master rowing coach.
