Ryan Lillis

Biography

Lillis joins Cornell after serving as an assistant coach at the Nereid Boat Club in Rutherford, N.J., for two-plus years. While at Nereid, Lillis helped grow the club program from 20 athletes to over 60, while developing technical and physical capabilities of all athletes, which led to numerous club erg records. He also helped coach the men's under-19 1X to a fifth-place finish at the USRowing Youth Nationals in 2023, as well as the boys novice 4x to first- and third-place finishes at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. Before his tenure at Nereid, Lillis served as a volunteer assistant coach for Georgetown's varsity men's rowing team for the spring portion of the 2019 schedule. At Georgetown, he assisted with on-water development with the Hoyas' EARC heavyweight program. During his undergraduate studies at Marist, Lillis served as a coxswain for the Red Foxes' varsity 8+ from 2015 to 2018. He also served as a coxswain for the Vesper Boat Club's U23 8+ and 4+ during the summer of 2017. When not racing, Lillis also served as a counselor and coach at Mary Whipple's ninth-seat coxswain camp in July 2018, while also serving as a youth coach at the New York Rowing Association during the summer of 2018. Lillis has garnered a trio of first-place finishes during his rowing career, which includes the 2017 Royal Canadian Henley in the men's U23 8+, and at the 2017 USRowing Club Nationals with the men's intermediate 4+. Both first-place finishes came while rowing for the Vesper Boa