They talk of Terry Bowen as if he is Neptune, the mythical god of the water.

And there are hundreds of them. Water polo players, swimmers and divers who were both berated and befriended by Bowen, baptized by the coach in one way or another during his 25-year tenure at Cuesta College.

"He’s legendary," said former All-American Sam Hyman, an Atascadero native who played water polo for Bowen in 1996 and 1998 before starring at Loyola Marymount. "I’ve never met anyone in my life who cares as much about and is as dedicated to his vocation as he is. His door was always open for us and he cared more about the sport and his athletes than anyone."

But after a quarter century as the men’s water polo and men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach, Cuesta’s winningest coach will retire after the fall water polo season. Cuesta, runner-up at last weekend’s Western State Conference Championships, earned the eighth seed and opened the Southern California Regional Championships on Wednesday against ninth-seeded Cerritos at Ventura College. This is the 25th consecutive playoff berth for Bowen’s Cougars, who are shooting for a seventh state championship tournament berth. The Cougars last made the tournament in 2000.

"I just hope we can go out with a bang for him," said sophomore goalie Alex Martinez. "I feel privileged to be on his last team because you can’t ask for a better coach. He’s pushed me to my limits time and time again. He sees things on video that nobody sees and teaches me the tricks of the trade even though he’s not a (former) goalie."

When the Cougars have completed their last match this season, Bowen will conclude his pool-side residence as Cuesta’s winningest coach, with 858 career wins in both swimming and water polo and 49 conference titles, including:

But those aren’t the numbers he’s most proud of. "We’ve had hundreds of great kids over the years, but it’s not their personal accomplishments that stand out," Bowen said. "We’ve done a nice job of tracking our athletes and 90 percent go on to graduate from major universities. I’ve always said, we’ve never won a state championship, but I can tell you we have more graduates than (traditional powerhouse) Golden West ever will."

Cuesta women’s water polo coach Pete Schuler credits the Bowen Health Spa — the nickname given to Bowen’s infamous break-of-dawn workouts — for keeping him in shape and out of trouble during his crazed college days. "I was 18 when I first came here," recalled Schuler, who played on Cuesta’s two state runner-up teams in 1989-90 and was a two-time All-American goalie at Pepperdine. "I was talented enough to get away with a lot of stuff, but he always made sure I worked hard. It was the right program, the right coach and the right place for me at the right time. He pushed you to the next level, but he did it in a way that wasn’t demeaning.

"He gave me the discipline I needed to be a good student and a good athlete." The Bowen Health Club has churned successful coaches like Schuler, Cerritos men’s coach Joe Abing, Cal Poly club and Cougar assistant coach John Marsh and Cabrillo High’s Joel Jory. Not to mention countless successful business women and men like Straight

Down Clothing Company president Mike Rowley, a driver and shooter for Bowen in the early 1980s. "He’s the best coach I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve had a few

coaches along the way," said Rowley, also an avid golfer who last year teamed up with Roger Tambellini to win the Straight Down Fall Classic. "I attribute a lot of my success to him and the discipline principles he put into place."

Bowen demanded the most out of his players, especially the ones he thought had the most potential. Take Hank Peterson for example, a lanky shooter that "could barely swim when he came here," Bowen said. "He turned out to be the best player I’ve ever coached."

Peterson went on to break UCLA’s single-season scoring mark in the late ’80s, played two years for the national team and professionally in Italy for a year.

"He brought me from not being able to swim, to getting me a full-ride to UCLA," said Peterson, a physical therapist in Santa Barbara. "That’s the great thing about Terry. He gets guys with very little experience and develops them into great players. He’ll find your weakness and make sure you’re better in that area by season’s end. He’ll push you and kick your butt until you get it right and that’s why he puts together good teams every year."

That discipline came at any expense, and may have costed the 61-year-old coach his first and only state championship. "I remember when we won the regional finals and we were going to state for the first time," Schuler recalled of the 1989 team that went 33-3 and finished second in state. "Some of the guys were caught partying in their hotel room and at 6 a.m. the next morning he had us running a 5-mile stretch down to the jetty in front of Belmont Plaza (in Long Beach). ... We had to do like 500 situps, sprints, we ended up carrying three guys back. Then he made us swim in that sick, disgusting water in Long Beach harbor and I was sick for like a week."

That following weekend, the ailing Cougars were upset in the state championship game. "He sent us a message there," Schuler added. "Don’t give up that discipline when you get there (the championships). It was more important for him to teach us that lesson, than it was to get a state title. We were a little upset about it then, but it made sense in the long run."

After the season and the team barbecue, Bowen’s through with coaching. He loves water polo, he loves his "kids," but he has a life to live. He’s spent the past 25 years pool side, or driver’s side in a big white van, playing chauffeur for a chlorine-loving clique of swimmers and polo lovers. Bowen’s teams have traveled anywhere between 8,000-10,000 miles in a given year.

Now it’s time to spend some time with his family and wife, who he met, of course, during his playing days at Cerritos College. "Part of me will miss it," Bowen admits. "I have friends who have retired from coaching and I know they miss it. But I have a whole new

life now. My wife and I can finally go back in the fall to our cabin in the Sierras. We can go to Hawaii for a month. We can do anything we want, stuff we couldn’t do when I was coaching." As far as the future of Cuesta aquatics is concern, Bowen ensures the program is in good hands with Cougar assistant coach Marsh and Schuler around. Still, some wonder if the school can replace such a legendary coach and mentor.

Unless, of course, Neptune is looking for work this spring. "This is Terry’s program. He built it from the ground up," Schuler said. "Whoever takes his place, I just hope it’s someone who respects the program and wants to be part of the team like Terry did. What he’s established here is really special."