Niles Garratt

Niles Garratt is in his 10th season on the Stanford men's rowing coaching staff in 2026-27 and serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator.

Stanford is coming off one of its best showings in recent memory at the IRA National Championship in May 2026. The Cardinal’s first varsity placed sixth overall on Gold River’s Lake Natoma, securing its 11th top-six finish in program history and just second since 2010. The Cardinal made the A Final of a full-field national championship for the first time since 2009.

Stanford was fifth in the Ten Eyck Trophy points standings with 209 points, tying a program record for best finish. The Cardinal was also awarded the Clayton Chapman Trophy at the conclusion of racing, given to the school that accumulates the greatest year-over-year increase in its Ten Eyck total point count. It was the first time in program history all three eights finished in the top 12 at the IRA National Championship (2V8 - 7th; 3V8 - 11th).

Garratt has helped mentor 16 IRCA All-Americans on The Farm, including a program-record four in both 2026 and 2021, the first year the IRCA began recognizing athletes with All-America honors. Caspar Griffin was named the IRCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2026 and Stanford received IRCA Comeback Team of the Year honors in 2021.

First-year Cardinal have won three of the past four conference freshman of the year awards - Griffin in 2023 in the Pac-12 and Elliott Donovan-Davies (2025) and Finn Lorgen (2026) in each of the past two seasons in the MPSF. Peter Chatain was named Pac-12 Athlete of the Year in 2021.

Among the biggest highlights during Garratt’s Stanford tenure was the development of Chatain into an Olympic-level rower. Chatain was invited to join the U.S. senior national team after the 2023 collegiate season and went on to win an Olympic bronze medal as part of the U.S. eights that competed in the Paris Games.

Garratt served as the interim head coach for the final two months of the 2019 season. He arrived at Stanford in August 2017, after serving as an assistant coach at Washington.

A native of Seattle, Garratt joined the Huskies’ staff as an intern assistant coach in December 2014. In his first year, he coached an undefeated freshman eight that won the 2014 IRA championship by nearly six seconds. Garratt coached Washington’s varsity four to another IRA championship.

In 2015, Garratt worked as a graduate assistant coach and was hired as a full-time assistant coach in 2016 after coaching the second varsity eight to a national championship. 

Before coaching at Washington, Garratt studied history at Cambridge University and rowed in the Blue Boat in both the 2012 and 2013 Cambridge-Oxford Boat Races, winning in 2012.

During his collegiate career at Washington, Garratt won four IRA championships, was a member of four Ten Eyck Trophy-winning teams and never lost his Washington tank. While at Washington, Garratt double majored in history and political science and was named to multiple Pac-10/12 All-Academic teams. 

Garratt attended Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, where he was part of the swimming and diving team for three years, including team captain as a senior. Garratt rowed for Green Lake Crew in the four years he attended Shorecrest, finishing his senior year with a second-place finish at the USRowing Youth National Championships in the men's youth 8+ and served as team captain. In the summers after his last three years of high school, Garratt rowed for the Northwest Development Camp, winning the junior 8+ at the 2007 Club National Championships.