Nov. 2, 2009

LOS ANGELES - LMU rowing has completed its coaching staff with the hiring of Scott Charette to head the men's program, Head Coach and Rowing Coordinator Dawn Regan announced. Charette comes to LMU after eight years at UC Irvine, including the last four as the head men's rowing coach.

"We are excited to have Scott on board, he brings enthusiasm and hard work to our program," Regan said. "Scott is the coach that has proven success and is capable of bringing the men's program to the next level."

Charette began coaching at UC Irvine in the fall of 2000 when he coached the novice women. In the fall of 2002, Charette added the novice men to his responsibilities, then coached both crews for the next three seasons. In the fall of 2005, Charette became the Head men's rowing coach.

Charette began his coaching career in the fall of 1988 at his alma mater, Long Beach State, where his men's novice 8 won the San Diego Crew Classic and both his novice 8 and novice 4 won the Pac-10/W.I.R.A Championships. The following year, his varsity 8 won the Cal Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic. During his last season with the 49ers, his varsity men competed in the Copley Cup at the Crew Classic. During his tenure at LBSU, Charette helped to increase the size of the program, taking a Heavyweight Varsity Men's Crew that had three members when he arrived and when he left it had three varsity eights of rowers.

Charette spent the next two seasons at USC, where he coached the novice men, taking a brief break his first season to go back east to go through the Olympic trials process with training partner and former athlete Ron Long. At the conclusion of his second season at USC, the men's program was cut and Charette returned to Long Beach State to coach the novice women. After two more seasons with the 49ers, Charette moved from part time loader to full time driver with UPS and decided to take a break from coaching to focus more energy on his own training.

As a student at Orange Coast College, Charette discovered rowing in 1984. Despite being cut from the team after his first semester, Charette continued to train on his own, running and lifting weights. The next spring, he made the top novice 8 and sat 2 seat in the undefeated novice 8 that won the San Diego Crew Classic by 15 seconds over second place Cal.

He continued his studies and his rowing at Long Beach State, where he rowed #7 in the 2V that placed 6th at the PAC 10/W.I.R.A. Championships. The following season, his senior year, Charette was the stroke of the 1V and, the next season after graduation, began his coaching career. Charette received a BA in Kinesiology with an emphasis on Strength and Conditioning, Secondary Education and Coaching from Long Beach State in 1988.

During his coaching career, Charette continued to train through three Olympic cycles, where he raced in various trials and speed orders as well as attending I.D., Pre-Elite and Elite camps. Charette rowed and raced in both lightweight and open categories. In 1999, Charette took a break from coaching to make one last push for the 2000 Olympic games. Unfortunately he never made it to the trials. A back injury sustained in a car accident and exacerbated by his job as a UPS driver eventually resulted in surgery ending over 12 years of US National Team attempts. He did come away with one silver and one bronze medal from the Elite National Championships as well as a silver medal from the Olympic Sports Festival.

Charette is an avid cyclist and completed an Ironman in 2004.