Denison University

Now in his 14th season coaching at Denison University, Pete Grandbois enters his sixth season as Head Women's Varsity Fencing Coach for the Big Red. Prior to that, he was Head Club Coach from 2012-2022.

Under Grandbois leadership, Denison finished 2023-24 with a 29-16 overall record and 64 percent winning percentage. The 2023-24 season continued to see the rise of the Denison Women's Fencing program as they reached #2 in the Div III SPI ranking for the first time and #3 in the Coaches poll for the first time. The Big Red beat Ohio State on home turf at the Ohio State Elite Invitational marking the first time in history any Denison team has beaten a nationally ranked Ohio State program. Denison had two conference champions in Lal Ertun and Maggie Zhu, who won foil and epee, respectively, at the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference. Coach Grandbois and Coach Douglas received EWFC coaching staff of the year following the season. 

The 2022-23 season was a year of firsts for Denison women's fencing, including rising to No. 3 in Division III SPI ratings for first time in program history and entering the ranks of the US Fencing Coaches Association Poll (No. 5) for first time in program history. Freshman Velma Hall was named the 2023 Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) Denise O'Connor Foil Fencer of the Year while she and freshman sabreist Natalie Isberg were both named first-team all-conference and senior foilist Nina de Laperouse and freshman sabreist Delaney Brown were both named second-team all-conference. At the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference (CCFC) Championships, the Big Red went on to earn an historic third-place finish as a team while both the Denison foil and sabre squads took the third-place award in their respective disciplines. In addition, Denison once again had four all-conference selections as Hall, Isberg and senior sabreist Tessy Udoh were each named to the second-team while Brown was honorable mention all-conference. To round out the year, Denison qualified the maximum of 12 fencers (2 in epee, 5 in foil. 5 in sabre) to the 2023 NCAA Regionals, where Isberg (sabre) became the first Denison fencer in history to break through into the top-12 at regionals. Following the season, Hall (foil), Isberg (sabre) and senior Tristan Luu (epee) were each named to the Midwest All-Region Team for Division III while Hall and Isberg were both named Honorable Mention All-Americans for Division III by the The United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA), making them the first All-Americans in the history of the Denison women's fencing program. Lastly, Hall was named the National Collegiate Women's Team Foil Newcomer of the Year. Denison finished its fourth varsity season with an overall record of 34-19 (64% win percentage) while Coach Grandbois was nominated for the 2023 USFCA Women's Team Division III Coach of the Year award.

During Denison's third varsity season in 2021-22, the Big Red finished 20-30 while taking fourth place at the CCFC Championship and finishing seventh at the EWFC Championship. Additionally, the Denison women’s sabre squad finished in third place at the CCFC Championship, representing an historic first for the Big Red, who also had seven NCAA Regional qualifiers for the second full season in a row (2020-21 season was shortened due to COVID-19) and saw all four of their sabre fencers qualify as well. At the national level, junior Tristian Luu won the Women's Team Newcomer of the Year award for Division III, marking the first national award for a Big Red fencer. Luu fenced both foil and epee for the Big Red and qualified for NCAA Regionals in both events, another first for Denison. Though she qualified in both, the NCAA limits a fencer to competing in only one event, so Luu competed in foil, placing 15th at regionals. Additionally at regionals, junior Tessy Udoh finished 14th in the sabre competition and was named to the Midwest All-Region Team while fellow-junior Ollie Strasburg was 15th in epee and was also named All-Region. Last but not least, Udoh was recognized as an EWFC Woman of the Year honorable mention selection.

In its inaugural varsity season in 2019-20, Grandbois led the women's fencing program to an overall record of 20-25 while placing ninth overall at the Midwest Fencing Championships. The Big Red also landed seven NCAA Regional qualifiers, including a pair of top-15 performances from Udoh (14th) and Sé DiFilippo (15th).

Grandbois has been fencing since his freshman year at the University of Colorado. He rose up the ranks of the sport, becoming the fifth-best Foil fencer in the country as a member of the U.S. National Foil teams in 1993 and 1994. 

After a 20-year hiatus from competition, Grandbois returned to international competition in 2012 with the Team USA Veteran Team. In 2014, he took gold at the USA Fencing National Championships and the North American Cup in Foil. That year he qualified for a spot on the U.S. Veterans’ World Foil Team. Grandbois qualified again for the Veteran World Foil team in 2016. Also, a part of the Denison faculty, he has published fourteen books of prose and poetry and has had several plays produced.