Knopf named coach at College of Charleston

The College of Charleston announced Wednesday the hiring of Eric

Knopf of Huntington Beach to the position of assistant coach for the

Cougars sailing team.

Knopf graduated from Edison High, then UC Irvine, where he was an

outstanding crew member on the Anteater’s successful sailing team.

After graduating from Irvine, Knopf spent two years with Vanguard

Sailboats in Middleton, R.I., then returned to coach at both UC Irvine

and Newport Harbor High, which won a high school national championship.

For the past two years, Knopf served as an assistant coach at

Stanford, working under head coach Steve Bourdow, an Olympic medalist.

“Eric brings much coaching experience from two very successful

California collegiate sailing programs to the College of Charleston,”

Cougars head coach George Wood said.

Knopf comes into a College of Charleston program that is ranked sixth

nationally in the preseason Sailing World rankings.