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Mitch Brindley, head coach of the ODU sailing team, has been integral in building the Monarchs as a national powerhouse in the world of intercollegiate racing. Now in his 14th season at the helm for the Monarchs, Brindley has solidified his place among the nation's best sailing coaches. ODU has seen much success recently with Brindley guiding the team, including four National Championships in the last seven years. The head coach has been directly involved in obtaining eight of Old Dominion's 15 national titles. ODU has won four national championships in the last seven years under Brindley, and the women's team has qualified for eight of the last nine national championship regattas. In 2004, the Monarchs were able to repeat as the ICSA Women's Singlehanded Champions, giving ODU their 15th national title and Anna Tunnicliffe a spot in the history books as she became the first sailor ever to win back-to--to-back women's singlehanded championships. This summer, Brindley helped coach Tunnicliffe to Olympic Gold for the United States this summer at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games. He was her coach at the Olympic Trials and was a supporting coach for Tunnicliffe-Funk at the Olympics as he continues to coach the most successful sailor in ODU history to international prominence. In 2007-08, Brindley guided three Lady Monarch sailors to the ICSA Singlehanded Championships for the first time in school history. In 1997-98 Brindley guided his teams to national titles in the ICYRA Team Race and the ICRYA Co-ed Dinghy Championships. As both a crew member and coach, Brindley has been directly involved in obtaining nine of Old Dominion's 15 national championships. He is currently the President of the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA), the national governing body for collegiate sailboat racing. Brindley formerly served as an assistant coach at Old Dominion for four years under former head coach K.C. Fullmer, who left the program in 1995. As an assistant, Brindley helped guide the Monarchs to a sloop national championship in Hawaii in 1992. As a competitor for Old Dominion, Brindley was twice named team captain and twice selected to Sailing World's All-Star Crew. He crewed for the Monarchs when they won the ICYRA Sloop Nationals in 1988, the Dinghy National Championship team in 1989, and the team's fifth place finish in the Team Race National Championship in the spring of 1989. Despite the demands of coaching, Brindley remains an active competitor in national and international sailing. The Sugarland, Texas native graduated from Old Dominion in 1989 with a degree in economics. He, his wife Dawn, and two children currently reside in Smithfield.
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