Friday, May 25, 2001
[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
The closing of the Les Murakami era signals the end for the 2001 Rainbow coaching staff with the University of Hawaii baseball program. UH baseball staff
to leave the game
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinActing head coach Carl Furutani, assistant coaches Les Nakama and Thomas Gushiken and director of baseball operations Daryl Masanda are under contract until June 30, then will move on. All four plan to stay out of baseball for a while.
Furutani, a four-year letter winner for the Rainbows in the early 1970s, served 20 years as an assistant coach before filling in for Murakami this past season.
"At this stage, I just want to step back. There is no season for college baseball. You are up here every day of the year, not that I didn't want to be, but other people (family) suffered," Furutani said.
He plans to paint his house, take some vacation to visit family on Kauai and review his options.
"I'm just going to take it easy," said Nakama, a retired guidance counselor from Farrington who spent eight seasons with the Rainbows.
"Since joining the staff, there has hardly been a break. I'll probably play a little golf. I can still hit the ball, but I don't keep score."
Prior to joining the UH staff Nakama was an assistant at Damien and Campbell, head coach at Farrington and an assistant with Hawaii Pacific University.
Gushiken has coached at Waipahu High School, where he has been a counselor for 28 years, at Kamehameha and served as a scout for the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves. He also coached the Hawaii Island Movers for ten summers.
"Being here this year was unexpected, but I enjoyed it," Gushiken said. "I'm going to go fishing, shoreline with my friends. And, I have some serious home landscaping to do."
Masanda came to the Rainbows as a catcher his junior year from Bellevue (Wash.) Community College. He has served in his present capacity the past six years.
"Last summer I got into the golf industry a little bit at Navy-Marine. That's an option, but I'm not real sure what I'm going to do," Masanda said. "My wife is from Hilo, so we definitely plan to stay in Hawaii.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
