Lucas Wilhelm was named head coach of the Sacred Heart rowing team in November of 2021 after stints with Indiana, Boston College, UC Santa Barbara, and successful junior programs Saugatuck and Community Rowing Inc. He has a passion for developing athletes in an engaged and intense atmosphere. Luke also brings experience with the elite level of rowing having coached athletes at the Senior, U23, and Junior levels at trials.
Wilhelm has seen tremendous success with the Pioneers. This past season. the Sacred Heart 1V4 took home first overall, setting a MAAC championship record for the 1V4 category, earning the Pioneers their first gold medal at MAAC Championships. During the regular season, SHU defeated Marist, Holy Cross, and UConn. The 2024-25 roster reached the largest in program history.
During the 2024 MAAC Championships, the Sacred Heart finished second place, the highest in program history. Five athletes were named to the All-MAAC first and second teams. SHU medaled in every boat class in the championships, including the v8+ for the first medal in program history.
Wilhelm was named the 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Coach of the Year after the team had the best season in program history. He led the Pioneers to a fourth-place finish at the MAAC Championships and helped three rowers earn all-conference honors, while another was a regional scholar-athlete honoree.
After walking on to the University of California, Santa Barbara rowing team his freshman year of college, he was named an All-American for all four years by the ACRA. During his senior year, the team won the San Diego Crew Classic, a race that Luke competes in every year. After graduating Luke moved to Boston to join a group of elite scullers at CRI. Luke made the final at many USRowing trials, and Olympic Trials, and Medaled at Head of the Charles, Club Nationals, Elite Nationals, and many other regattas.
In 2017, Luke won the USRowing Trials in the 2x and raced it in Europe as part of the Schuylkill Navy High-Performance Group based at Penn AC out of Philadelphia. He captured a medal at the Holland Becker Regatta and raced at Lucerne World Cup 3. That summer he also won trials in the 4x and raced for Team USA as part of the men's quad at World Championships. Luke has made the final at USRowing Regattas in every boat class.
Luke is a 2015 graduate of the Institute of Rowing Leadership in Boston. His emphasis was on athlete development and training program design. He is also a 2013 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Linguistics.
Raised in Miranda, Calif., Coach Wilhelm now lives in Bethany with his wife Kristen, three kids, and a dog.
