2007
STAR-BULLETIN STAFF PHOTOS
Colt Brennan, Natasha Kai and the successor to Riley Wallace will likely be three of the biggest names on Hawaii's sports scene in 2007.
|
|
What to look for in the year ahead
Warriors should find out soon what kind of year lies ahead
There are big pukas and even bigger question marks for the football Warriors.
Hawaii still has four open dates to fill for the upcoming season and the clock is ticking ... loudly.
There also will be openings on both sides of the football with the departure of 20 seniors, eight of whom were named All-Western Athletic Conference.
Back for his senior season will be wide receiver Jason Rivers, who caught 14 passes for 308 yards in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl -- a record for any bowl game -- but who will be throwing to him is still up in the air.
Record-setting quarterback Colt Brennan, the Sammy Baugh Award winner as the nation's top passer, might forego his senior year, and a second shot at the Heisman Trophy, by leaving early for the NFL Draft.
The deadline for Brennan to declare for the draft is Jan. 15.
UH basketball coach Wallace leaves some big shoes to fill
The Rainbow Warriors head into the new year and conference play with one certainty: Coach Riley Wallace will be gone when his contract expires at the end of this season, his 20th in Manoa.
Wallace officially announced his resignation -- but not his retirement from coaching -- in an oddly timed press conference Friday.
Athletic director Herman Frazier said an advisory committee would be formed and the search process begun by the end of the month, with the hope that the new coach would be announced shortly after the season concludes.
Wallace's pick would be associate coach Bob Nash, a member of the Fab Five and in his 26th year on the Rainbow coaching staff.
Kahuku, UH alum Kai seeks shot to play on 'World' stage
There is plenty of room for a 16th tattoo, one to commemorate Natasha Kai's anticipated selection to the U.S. Women's National Team roster for September's FIFA World Cup.
Kai, 23, made an impressive national team debut last year at the Algarve Cup in Portugal, becoming the fourth player in U.S. WNT history to score in her first two caps (international appearances).
The aggressive, athletic Kahuku graduate is being touted as America's next great forward, in the mold of Mia Hamm. The three-time WAC Player of the Year out of Hawaii tunes up for the World Cup with this month's Four Nations Tournament in China. It could be the first of three trips to China in two years for Kai, the first from Hawaii to play on the WNT. The country also hosts the World Cup and the 2008 Olympics.