KING

University of Washington Husky rowing coach Bob Ernst

Fourteen-hour work-days, constant pressure to win, cold, windy mornings on Lake Washington. It's all part of Bob Ernst's world.

The University of Washington Husky rowing coach has been at Montlake for more than 30 years now and if he stays healthy, don't count out 30 more.

This has been Ernst's outdoor office for more than half his life: as freshman coach, women's coach, head coach. Thousands of athletes, millions of oar-strokes, 33 years on the water at Montlake - all boiled down to a single word:

"Awesome," says Ernst.

"You just couldn't ask for a better ride. I feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world to get to come here in the first place," said Ernst.

Ernest has won national championships and Pac 10 titles. His teams have competed all over the world. Outside his Husky duties, Ernst has served as a national team coach and consultant over the years. He won a gold medal with the U.S. women in 1984 and has done a television commentary and on-course announcing for the Olympic Games.

They were all great experiences, but he says the core of his professional world is time on the water early in the mornings. The athletes are the reasons he comes back season after season. The kids, he says, keep him energized.

"They've figured out that nobody is going to give them an easy life, that you have to work to survive, and they work hard. They have a strong work ethic," said Ernst. "If you don't work hard in this program, you don't last very long."

Rowing has been part of the school's sports scene since 1903. The boathouse wall is covered with pictures of past captains, keeping an eye on the present.

Ernst, a history buff, says the trophies and pictures from the past bring pride, not pressure. These are really family photos.

"They're coming to watch the guys race. They're coming out to watch practice. They're sending us checks. They're sending us their kids and grandkids to be Husky rowers," said Ernst. "So no these people don't scare - they're all friends."

Like most good coaches, he is part teddy bear, part grizzly bear, protective and fiercely competitive.

"Because it's opening day and you have to beat the kiwis, everybody got that?" he tells his rowers.

He became a father in his late forties and says that has changed his job.

"Because now when I'm coaching, I don't just see an 'athlete' when I look out there," said Ernst. "I see somebody else's kid and that's huge. That's a huge difference."

He claims to love it all - time on the water, videotaped race reviews (It helps when it's a big win over Cal), dockside pep talks, even office time and all those phone calls.

But his favorite moments might be when prospective employers call about rowers who grew up in his program.

"I say 'You're lucky,' because you know what. It's never going to be too early, never going to be too late at night. And they're never going to be too tired and they're never going to tell you they can't get it done. They'll die trying to get it done for you," said Ernst.

It's a cliché, but a cliché used openly and happily. Bob Ernst says he'll stop coaching when it stops being fun.

Ernst has won 10 Pac 10 Coach of the Year awards and his men's team is very strong again this year, ranked number one in the coaches poll as they head into this weekend's Windermere Cup.