Trinity College

Heather Barney enters her sixth season at the helm of the Trinity women's rowing team, having guided the Bantams to a productive yet shortened season in 2020-21. In the 2019 fall season, her varsity eight earned the No. 13-ranking in the final 2018-19 USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) National Division III Poll .  Trinity came in second in the Wormtown Chase and third in the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta in the fall of 2019.  The previous season, the Bantams placed third in the varsity-four race at the Head of the Charles Regatta, came in 11th and 12th, respectively, in the New England Rowing Championship (NERC) and the National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC) regattas.  In 2017-18 season, Barney helped guide the team to a nine-win improvement in dual racing (10-10) and a top-ten finish in the New England Rowing Championships (NERC) Regatta.  Barney came to Trinity in the summer of 2016, after leading Nova Southeastern University to back-to-back NCAA Division II Championship Regattas in 2015 and 2016 and serving as an assistant coach at Bucknell University, Georgetown University, and her alma mater, Williams College, prior to her two years at Nova Southeastern.

In Barney's first two seasons, Trinity jumped from 15th to ninth in the NERC Regatta and 16th to 12th in the National Invitational Rowing Championships (NIRC) Regatta.  Antonia Bowden was named to the All-NESCAC Team in 2017 and 2018, while Kirsten Thiim '20 received All-NESCAC honors in 2019.  The Bantams have had 55 honorees on the NERC, NIRC and NESCAC All-Academic teams over the last five seasons.  Julia Gorka' 19 was honored as Trinity's top junior female scholar athlete in 2018 and its top senior female scholar athlete in May of 2019.

Barney led Nova Southeastern to fifth place in the 2015 NCAA Regatta and sixth place the following spring, and also guided the Sharks to a silver medal in the collegiate fours race at the 2015 Head of the Charles Regatta. She led Bucknell's lightweight-eight crew to third place in the 2014 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships and its varsity four won the 2013 Patriot League title and silver medals in both the Dad Vail Regatta and the Knecht Cup under her watch. During Barney's four-year stint at Georgetown from 2007 to 2011, that program rose from seventh place to second in the Big East Conference standings and her crews won a gold medal in the 2009 Eastern Sprints (novice 4) and a bronze in the 2011 Big East Championships (2nd varsity eight). Barney also helped Williams College win numerous New England Rowing Championship and NIRC medals and consecutive NCAA Division III Championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Barney graduated with honors and Phi Beta Kappa from Williams in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in economics and history, and added a master's degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University in California in 2014. She was a highly-decorated oarswomen for the Ephs, serving as captain and rowing the bow seat for the fastest boat in Division III rowing in her senior spring. Barney trained and raced with the Potomac Boat Club from 2001 to 2006, and assisted with coaching that organization's Elite Sculling program in 2011-12. She holds a USRowing Level 3 certification and attended the NCAA Women Coaches Academy in 2006.