UW fires women's head coach McElvaine

Washington has fired Eleanor McElvaine as coach of the women's rowing program after four years.

"Our program has not been able to maintain its position for the last several years, and I feel that it is in the best interests of the long-term direction for the Husky women's crew to make a change," UW athletic director Todd Turner said in a statement.

The firing wasn't a surprise because the UW women's program had slipped from its elite status among rowing schools. Several top local rowing prospects were choosing other schools.

Turner said he had "the utmost respect for Eleanor, who has put an indelible stamp on the Husky program both as a student-athlete and coach."

McElvaine, who couldn't be reached for comment, had one year left on her contract that paid her a base salary of $65,160 this year.

Under McElvaine, the Huskies varsity eight never made the final heat at the NCAA championships and never won a Pac-10 varsity or junior-varsity title.

The Huskies lost the varsity race in their dual regatta against Washington State for the first time in 2006, then got beat again this year. McElvaine's varsity boats were 0-4 against California in the dual series.

However, McElvaine did keep alive UW's streak of being invited to the NCAA championships. The Huskies and Brown are the only two schools to have had crews in all 11 NCAA regattas since women's crew became an NCAA sport.

The search for McElvaine's successor will be conducted by Jeff Compher, executive associate athletic director, and director of rowing Bob Ernst.

Ernst is head coach of the UW men's crew that just won the national varsity, junior-varsity, open-four and overall championship at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta last month. Men's crew is not an NCAA sport.