Liz Hills

Liz Hills has had a long career in rowing. She attended Dana Hall Prep School, and began rowing at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), where she graduated in 1976. She competed at the 1976 Olympics and was named to the ill-fated 1980 US Olympic team. Hills competed at five World Championships (1977-79, 1981, 1983), winning bronze medals in double sculls (with Lisa Hansen) in 1977-78 and a silver medal in the eight in 1981.

Hills married and became Liz O’Leary, the name by which she is best known as a coach. She first coached at UNH and then at the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. In 1986 O’Leary succeeded Hansen (by then Lisa Stone) as head women’s rowing coach at Harvard. She had immediate success, leading them to titles at the 1987 and 1989 Eastern Sprints. O’Leary has been the Harvard coach for almost 30 years, as of 2015. She has also coached US international teams, notably at the 1988 Olympics, the 1986 Goodwill Games, and at the World Championships in 1985-86, 1994, and 1996-97.