Chris Clark and Eric Hansen have much in common beyond the fact they're highly regarded coaches at the University of Wisconsin.

Both are among the longest-tenured in their positions at UW: Clark has overseen men's rowing since 1997, while Hansen has handled men's and women's swimming since 1999.

Both men have tremendous passion for the so-called "suffering sports" --such as crew, cross country, swimming and wrestling -- which are defined by the prolonged, intense exertion involved.

Both have elite coaching staffs that include Olympic medalists.

Both have produced Olympic medalists during their time at UW and have worked closely with U.S. national teams.

Clark and Hansen also have distinct handicaps within their programs, the kind that make their successes that much more impressive.

Clark has perhaps the premier facility in all of collegiate rowing -- Porter Boathouse, built at a cost of $8.56 million along the southern shore of Lake Mendota, was unveiled in 2005 -- but he has no scholarships to give and men's rowing isn't sanctioned by the NCAA.

Hansen, meanwhile, had scholarships valued at nearly $400,000 and spent nearly $50,000 on recruiting in 2006-07, but the 40-year-old UW Natatorium is probably the most outdated athletic facility on campus, and a practice area at the Southeast Recreational Facility can't accommodate competitive meets in part because it has no seating.

Clark and Hansen prefer to downplay their respective shortcomings.

"There can't be woe-is-me because it carries over (to the psyche of the team)," Clark said. "Then you're just giving guys an excuse.

"We don't focus on what we may not have going for us. Just focus on the positive."

Hansen said his time is better spent on the things he can control.

"I spend the majority of my time focusing on the things that we need to do to get better," he said. "The biggest part of that is continuing to recruit better and better athletes, and also continue to evolve as coaches.

"We don't spend a lot of time worrying about the what-ifs or what we don't have."

A record of success

These philosophies have served Clark and Hansen well in building three of the best Olympic-style programs at UW.

The men's rowers are ranked third in the latest USRowing college poll. The Badgers have gone to the West Coast and knocked off perennial powers Stanford and California. They also have gone to the East Coast and won the Cochrane and Jablonic Cups.

The big target for UW is the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championships June 5 to 7.

"Certainly the obstacles placed before the program are immense," said John Jentz, the UW associate athletic director who oversees rowing. "But (Clark) has got a positive attitude. He knows what he has to work with and he just deals with that and moves forward."

Meanwhile, the UW men's and women's swimming and diving teams have each had multiple top-20 finishes in the NCAA meet under Hansen and have flirted with the goal he established early in his tenure: top-10 finishes in the same season.

"I think Eric sells our swim program," said Terry Gawlik, the UW associate athletic director who oversees the swimming programs. "It's Eric Hansen and what he's done."

Significant support

Both coaches recognize that despite major obstacles to building their teams -- based on feedback from other schools, Clark believes he's the only major rowing program not to offer scholarships -- they get significant support from the UW Athletic Department.

That is reflected in the fact that men's rowing spent just more than $251,000 in travel during the 2006-07 school year, which was the most among non-revenue sports at UW. At the same time, men 's and women 's swimming spent just more than $363,000 on travel and $392,000 on scholarships.

For reference, UW men's basketball spent just more than $580,000, football just more than $578,000 and men's hockey more than $273,000 on travel in 2006-07.

Based on feedback from other schools, Clark believes he's the only major men's rowing program not to offer tenders, but asked if he would trade his facility for a pool of financial aid, he offered an emphatic no.

"I don't want to go any further than that," he said.

The wish list

Clark would like his sport to join women's openweight rowing and be brought in under the umbrella of the NCAA. Such a proposal was made two years ago, but a lack of cohesion between schools that offer men's rowing derailed it.

"There's sort of been a split in this sport and I think it's going away to some extent," Clark said. "I want to be a regular sport. No asterisk."

The earliest another proposal could be forwarded is in June 2009. Clark said if that happens, NCAA ratification would be roughly five years off.

A new campus aquatic center has been discussed for years -- there is more than $1 million set aside for such a project -- but it's at least five years away from being built.

Hansen has a clause in his contract that calls for him to receive a $100,000 annuity if one isn't built by 2010. He would rather not collect.

"It's not about that," Hansen said. "It's about seeing what you can do."

When he was interviewed for the UW job, Hansen was asked at what point the lack of a quality facility would become a limitation.

"When both teams get into the top 10," he said. "Until we're both in the top 10, I'm not going to worry about that."

When will that happen?

"With these two recruiting classes coming in, I'm hoping I'm a year or two away from it," Hansen said.

In the meantime, there have been talks about upgrading the practice area at the SERF. The project -- which would include locker rooms, a meeting room and a bank of windows to open up the pool area -- would be in conjunction with the new hockey practice and competition facility by the Kohl Center.

"That would totally change my outlook," Hansen said, adding the upgrades "would be a step in the right direction."

BY THE NUMBERS

MEN

BASKETBALL

Coach: Bo Ryan $950,000 ($400,000 base salary from UW athletics, $550,000 from sports-generated multimedia program revenue).

Assistants: Gary Close $137,902; Greg Gard $137,902; Howard Moore $102,566.

Recruiting: $55,254.

Scholarships: $138,471.

Travel: $580,848.

CROSS COUNTRY

Coach: Jerry Schumacher $81,628.

Recruiting: $2,726.

Scholarships: $0.

Travel: $20,618.

FOOTBALL

Coach: Bret Bielema $1.3 million ($400,000 base salary from UW athletics, $900,000 from sports-generated multimedia program revenue).

Assistants: DelVaughn Alexander $70,000; Bob Bostad $137,700; Paul Chryst $300,000; Kerry Cooks $132,600; Dave Doeren $196,350; Henry Mason $153,000; Randall McCray $118,320; John Settle $114,240.

Recruiting: $177,170.

Scholarships: $937,067.

Travel: $578,813.

GOLF

Coach: Jim Schuman $64,122.

Assistant: Brian Brodell $33,000.

Recruiting: $774.

Scholarships: $40,779.

Travel: $56,057.

HOCKEY

Coach: Mike Eaves $229,511.

Assistants: Mark Osiecki $97,926; Kevin Patrick $85,285.

Recruiting: $82,526.

Scholarships: $245,303.

Travel: $273,380.

ROWING

Coach: Chris Clark $65,723.

Assistants: Matt Boyle $32,640; Eric Mueller $37,979.

Recruiting: $8,720.

Scholarships: $0.

Travel: $251,439.

SOCCER

Coach: Jeff Rohrman $58,295.

Assistants: Nick Pasquarello $31,991; Jon Szczepanski $38,019.

Recruiting: $22,348.

Scholarships: $152,424.

Travel: $94,035.

SWIMMING AND DIVING

Coach: Eric Hansen $49,422.

Assistants: Geoff Hanson $27,339; Dan Kowalski $20,000; J. Tom Micheal $21,165; Kari Woodall $26,804.

Recruiting: $24,739.

Scholarships: $158,444.

Travel: $186,492.

TENNIS

Coach: Greg Van Emburgh $71,341.

Assistant: Evan Austin $36,415.

Recruiting: $9,925.

Scholarships: $99,811.

Travel: $50,492.

TRACK AND FIELD

Coach: Ed Nuttycombe $95,748.

Assistant: Mark Guthrie $61,200.

Recruiting: $17,457.

Scholarships: $160,365.

Travel: $239,297.

WRESTLING

Coach: Barry Davis $65,281.

Assistants: Bart Chelesvig $42,794; Don Pritzlaff $45,900.

Recruiting: $18,599.

Scholarships: $97,275.

Travel: $74,434.

WOMEN

BASKETBALL

Coach: Lisa Stone $274,205.

Assistants: Donna Freitag $87,888; Ty Margenthaler $58,650; Latasha McDowell $81,384.

Recruiting: $44,509.

Scholarships: $168,106.

Travel: $426,628.

CROSS COUNTRY

Coach: Jim Stintzi $22,245.

Recruiting: $2,966.

Scholarships: $0.

Travel: $43,978.

GOLF

Coach: Todd Oehrlein $57,746.

Assistant: Lori Murphy $27,589.

Recruiting: $7,628.

Scholarships: $49,218.

Travel: $69,172.

HOCKEY

Coach: Mark Johnson $140,000.

Assistants: Tracey Cornell $48,454; Dan Koch $47,767.

Recruiting: $36,757.

Scholarships: $232,048.

Travel: $206,082.

OPENWEIGHT ROWING

Coach: Bebe Bryans $56,969.

Assistants: Amy Appleton $37,979; Nicole Borges $43,405.

Recruiting: $10,925.

Scholarships: $258,093.

Travel: $165,338.

LIGHTWEIGHT ROWING

Coach: Bebe Bryans $18,990.

Assistants: Dusty Darley $27,398; Erik Miller $39,270.

Recruiting: $6,964.

Scholarships: $0.

Travel: $122,921.

SOCCER

Coach: Paula Wilkins $90,000.

Assistants: Cord Farmer $30,000; Tim Rosenfeld $55,000.

Recruiting: $25,418.

Scholarships: $188,866.

Travel: $107,802.

SOFTBALL

Coach: Chandelle Schulte $74,469.

Assistants: Kimberly Martin $50,000; Julia Wright $51,000.

Recruiting: $37,752.

Scholarships: $145,339.

Travel: $109,283.

SWIMMING AND DIVING

Coach: Eric Hansen $49,422.

Assistants: Geoff Hanson $27,339; Dan Kowalski $20,000; J. Tom Micheal $21,165; Kari Woodall $26,804.

Recruiting: $24,706.

Scholarships: $234,456.

Travel: $177,083.

TENNIS

Coach: Brian Fleishman $75,000.

Assistant: Katherine Dougherty $40,000.

Recruiting: $7,773.

Scholarships: $78,770.

Travel: $60,244.

TRACK AND FIELD

Coach: Jim Stintzi: $66,736.

Assistants: Nathan Davis $47,000; Will WaBaunsee $54,257.

Recruiting: $28,211.

Scholarships: $202,870.

Travel: $178,660.

VOLLEYBALL

Coach: Pete Waite $98,998.

Assistants: Colleen Bayer $45,032; Stephanie Schultz $36,781; Rod Wilde $44,463.

Recruiting: $25,828.

Scholarships: $144,398.

Travel: $159,266.
 
Head coaches with 12-month contracts: Bielema, Bryans, Eaves.

Head coaches with 11-month contracts: Clark, Fleishman, Hansen, Johnson, Nuttycombe, Oehrlein, Rohrman, Ryan, Schulte, Schumacher, Stintzi, Stone, Van Emburgh, Waite, Wilkins.

Head coaches with 10-month contracts: Davis, Schuman.

Note: Salary information is for the 2007-08 school year. Program expenses are those reported to the NCAA and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act following the 2006-07 school year.