The Way I See It
IT'S beginning to look like Hawaii will finally have a women's track and field outdoor-indoor program in the spring of 2001. A good coach might put
Wahine on right trackIt will take several hundred thousand dollars to get it going, and I'm not sure how successful Hawaii senior women's administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano will be in getting the money she needs.
But I will suggest this much.
If you're going to do it, please do it right.
The athletic department should follow the same philosophy set forward in hiring head football coach June Jones.
Go out and hire a head coach who has the influence and mainland contacts to make Wahine track and field a competitive program right away.
Seek the best man or woman available and don't be afraid to ask anybody.
You never know if a highly successful coach at an established program would like a change of venue and an exciting new challenge.
THIS is the week of the 27th Honolulu Marathon and a number of prominent coaches, athletes, agents and officials of major international races are descending upon the Outrigger Reef Hotel in Waikiki (marathon headquarters).
So, I decided there was no better place to broach the question, 'Who would want to coach track in Hawaii?'
The answer I got was, almost anybody.
Money may not be an obstacle to landing a top-notch track coach.
People at the higher levels of this sport are natural challenge seekers, I was told. High-energy, cerebral types who see things as they could be and say, why not?
So, try John McDonnell, longtime men's coach at Arkansas. Why not the best?
His team just completed a clean sweep of the indoor, outdoor and cross-country national championships, as well as Southeastern Conference championships.
He's done it all at Arkansas. Maybe he'd like to take on Hawaii.
Florida men's coach Doug Brown and former U.S. 5,000-meter record holder and sub-4-minute miler Duncan Macdonald were also mentioned.
Both understand what it's like to coach in a year 'round warm climate.
Mike Mittlestaedt, who has coached several Olympians (including three-time Boston and New York City Marathon winner Ibrahim Hussein) is in town to help with the marathon. Mittlestaedt said he'd be interested in the Hawaii job.
IF it's a female coach they want, he said he'd highly recommend Regina Jacobs.
Jacobs is still competing and won a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships 1,500 meters this year. She is an Olympian, the U.S. record holder in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters, and has many times been America's top 1,500-meter runner.
Even though she's never coached, there are good reasons why Hawaii should court her.
Jacobs is universally respected and would lure recruits.
She is a two-time Waikiki Mile winner who has said she loves Hawaii. She is married to a coach (Tom Craig). She is a dynamic personality who exudes fiery enthusiasm, but she also communicates well with youngsters. Finally, she is 36, approaching the end of her career.
With Hawaii's program a little more than a year away from reality, this could be excellent timing for a talent like Jacobs. Someone just has to ask her.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.