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Wednesday, February 21, 2001
UH narrows Has the list of some 70 candidates for the University of Hawaii head baseball coaching job been narrowed to four finalists?
search for baseball
coach ... maybe
A.D. won't confirm list
is down to four namesBy Al Chase
Star-BulletinNone of those involved in the search who were contacted by the Star-Bulletin last night would say.
Hawaii athletic director Hugh Yoshida declined to confirm or deny that a list of finalists had been drawn up by the selection committee.
"We're still involved in the search process," Yoshida said. "There is a confidentiality issue with the personnel involved.
"There is a lot of speculation in this whole deal. I don't think the media helps, but I understand the interest. Sometimes the media throws names out there and hopes one sticks."
The coaches mentioned are either assistant or head coaches and all are well into the 2001 season with their respective teams.
On a recent radio broadcast of KCCN's Sportpage show, UH associate athletic director Jim Donovan talked about the search.
"We aren't going to jeopardize whatever situation any individual is in right now," he said. "We don't have the right to do that and we won't."
He also indicated the timetable for announcing Les Murakami's successor is flexible.
"Whether (UH selects) an assistant coach or a head coach, we could make the decision in-season or at the end of the season. That solely depends on the situation of the person involved," Donovan said.
One candidate, Ed Cheff, head coach at Lewis-Clark State University, withdrew his application last month.
"The job was interesting and I appreciated the consideration that UH gave me as a candidate," he said. "However, I had a hard time convincing myself that leaving Lewis-Clark State would be something I really could do."
KHON-TV last night reported that the finalists were Brigham Young assistant David "Boy'' Eldridge, the former coach at Hawaii Pacific; Arizona State head coach Pat Murphy; LSU assistant Henry "Turtle'' Thomas; and Mike Trapasso, an assistant at Georgia Tech.
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