The University of Washington’s national search for a new women’s crew coach ended up right back at Montlake.

The Huskies announced Friday that longtime men’s coach Bob Ernst will return to the women’s program, while Michael Callahan, who for the past three years has coached the men’s freshman team, will become the men’s varsity coach.

Ernst keeps his role overseeing both programs as the school’s Director of Rowing, while returning to the women’s program he coached from 1980-1987. During that span, Ernst’s teams won every Pacific Coast championship and won six titles at the National Collegiate Rowing Championships.

Ernst, who has been the men’s coach for the past 20 years, and led the varsity eight crew national titles in 1997 and 2007, had no problem giving up the reigns to the men’s team.

“I’m not giving anything up except an opportunity for Michael Callahan to step up and be a varsity coach,” said Ernst, a 10-time Pac-10 men’s coach of the year. “It’s a pleasure. He’s ready for the job.”

Ernst, along with executive associate athletic director Jeff Compher, spent the last month looking at candidates, but he always had the idea of promoting Callahan in the back of his mind.

“This has been a consideration of mine for a long time,” Ernst said. “We went outside the program, I talked to some of the people that I think are the best coaches in the country, and the bottom line is, we decided that this is the best solution for Washington rowing.”

The women’s job became vacant last month after the firing of Eleanor McElvaine, who served as head coach for four seasons.

Callahan, who rowed for the Huskies under Ernst in the 1990s, returned to his alma mater as an intern coach in 2001. He has been the freshman coach for the past three years. Callahan continued to row after college for the U.S. National Team, but couldn’t pass up an opportunity to work under Ernst.

“You don’t turn down the University of Washington,” he said. “It’s a special place, a special program. It’s just something you can’t pass up.”

He admitted he wasn’t expecting the varsity job to be his so soon.

“It was a little bit of a surprise,” said Callahan, who also coaches the U.S. men’s under-23 team. “It’s a little bit earlier than I expected.”

Callahan knows the shoes he is filling in his first college head coaching job couldn’t be bigger.

“Bob’s been at the pinnacle, and he’s left me a program that’s in very good shape,” said Callahan. “Bob has always been my mentor. I think we make a really strong team. This will be a fun challenge for him and for me. It’s a good thing his office is only a couple doors away. I’m sure I’ll spend a couple of hundred hours in there. There are very few people in the sport that know as much as Bob. He’s an incredible resource.”