In the Boat with Rudy Wieler

It's 6 a.m. and the light is just beginning to show over the tree line. A dismal fog runs the length of Tonawanda Creek. The piercing cold stings hands and ears as the 14-foot motor boat cruises lightly behind one of the nine member crew boats.

Yet the man at the helm of the little kicker has a smile that is much wider than expected. His team is performing well today, and as he shouts instructions through a megaphone one cannot imagine someone looking any happier.

For Rudy Wieler, head coach of the women's crew team, this might be about as good as it gets. To Wieler, coaching here is not a job, it's a passion -- something he truly enjoys.

"I never considered coaching to be a job, I always considered it to be fun. I'm a lucky guy to get to do this," said Wieler. "It's a pleasure to be out here, I mean I'm 60 years old, this keeps me young."

Wieler started coaching at UB during the 2001-02 season, where he took on a collegiate program for the first time. With most of his coaching experience in Canada, Wieler has coached everything from high school girls to Olympic silver medalists in the 1984 Olympics. He has compiled over 30 years of coaching experience.

Wieler's impact was felt immediately at UB as his first year of coaching yielded several first place boats, and a second place finish at the New York State Championships.

Other than just coaching the women as they row their morning twelve miles on Tonawanda Creek, words of motivation, tips on techniques and most importantly words of encouragement come from Coach Wieler's megaphone.

"As a coach he has pushed my teammates and myself farther than we thought we could go," said UB rower Michelle Schwach. "He has done a really good job in making the team grow and in giving us what it takes to win."

Many of Wieler's athletes say he gives those who are lucky enough to row for him something that they can carry with them the rest of their lives.

"I have a ton of respect for Rudy as a coach. We have butted heads a few times, but he always had the big picture in mind for us." said Sara Sheffer, a four-year rower at UB. "We had never worked that hard in our entire lives and probably never will again."

While his mornings and weekends are caught up in the fervor of the world of boats and oars, summer days can leave a little time for Wieler to spend encompassed in other endeavors.

"I do have a hobby. I play golf," joked Wieler. "I won my club's "C" flight championship this year, I was very proud of that."

Coach Wieler also is a true family man, and his son Andrew joined his father to coach here at UB in the 2004 spring season.

"What I really enjoy is my family, I'm very fortunate to have my son who is a graduate of Northeastern where he was the team captain working with me. I've got a wonderful daughter who is a teacher and a son-in-law who is like a son," said Wieler. "My wife is a fantastic human being, she's got to be a little nuts to stay with me all these years but she is just a great woman and I think that is what gets me through sometimes."

In the rowing world, Wieler is a star, but few at UB even know about his team or the man behind the success. He has taught his team one of the very principles preached by today's military: "instant willingness, obedience to orders."

The UB women's crew team will be in action for the last time this fall on Saturday, Nov. 13 when they will take part in the Foot of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass.