"I don't feel that it is unreasonable to give all of yourself to coaching and to expect at least that much from your swimmers," he insists.

In contrast to his younger brother's intensity. Texas coach Eddie Reese comes across as fun loving and low key, yet no less successful in the win-loss column. In three short years he has rocketed the Longhorn men swimmers from 22nd to first place in the national standings.

Eddie's secret appears to be a genuine amount of personal concern for his swimmers: "My main objective is to keep everyone happy," he says. "My philosophy has always been that the chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so I like to work a lot on an individual basis."

Working one on one with swimmers sometimes means a lot less pool and training time in Eddie's program. "If a guy comes in and doesn't want to swim one day. I'll talk to him for an hour and a half about how he's feeling and what's bothering him." Eddie says, "I think it's a lot more important to keep swimmers motivated than to just throw them into the pool every day."

Eddie's interest in "protecting the swimmers from the neck up" is reflected in the structure and variety of his practices. "I haven't repeated a workout in 16 years," he says. "I figure if I'm bored giving the workout, then the guys got bored half an hour earlier."

Not only does he alleviate boredom by constantly varying his workouts, but Eddie is also well known for his sharp wit and his ability to make everyone laugh--especially at himself. Former Harvard swim captain Richard Greer, who trained with Eddie for several years in Florida, says that the coach's contagious zest for life helps his swimmers.

"I think Eddie is the most popular swim coach in the country," he says. "You can always tell who Eddie is at a swim meet because so many people are clustered around him."

Texas breaststroker Nick Nevid praises Eddie's coaching style, saying that his easy-going nature and his obvious concern for the team's well-being has earned Eddie the Longhorn squad's whole-hearted allegiance. "Even if he sits in his office during a workout instead of watching us, we never goof off." Nevid says, adding, "I don't know any other coach who commands that kind of respect."

But calling Eddie easy going does not mean that he lacks intensity--the elder Reese brother runs what has been called "the hardest dry-land program in the country." In addition to free weights, nautilus work, stretching and running. Eddie is renowned for devising several demanding and unique exercises every year.

"We believe that our program is the best in the country," he says flatly.

Eddie is also a master at the tricky art of tapering. True to his stress on individuality. Eddie tapers each swimmer differently, pulling some out of the water completely and only moderately reducing the yardage and intensity for others. "I don't know how to taper at all," Eddie jokes, but it just seems to turn out right every year."

Although Eddie makes it all sound very easy, things turn out right for him and his brother only because they put so much of their own time and energy into creating successful programs. Long hours and emotional investments are as necessary in producing winning coaches as they are in creating good swimmers. As Eddie accurately says about both types of participants. "The best thing about swimming is that it parallels life in demonstrating that it is the hard-working person--not just the talented one--who is going to succeed in this world."