Hilo to interview top 3
Finalists for volleyball coaching job
include former Vulcan Adams
By Jerry Campany Chaminade coach Glennie Adams, former Illinois State coach Julie Morgan and Baldwin Wallace coach Vicki Brault have been asked to interview for the vacant Hawaii-Hilo volleyball coaching job.
jcampany@starbulletin.comRetired Vulcan coach Sharon Peterson said she was pleased with the quality of the list.
"It sounds like a good group," Peterson said. "The ones I know are outstanding coaches and Hilo can't lose."
Adams and Morgan both played for Peterson, who retired after 25 years last season.
Adams was an All-American for the Vulcans under Peterson and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1990. She has coached at Chaminade since 1993, taking the Silverswords to the national tournament for the first time last year.
Adams is scheduled to interview for the job April 30. She declined to comment yesterday.
Morgan will interview May 1. She is currently the head volleyball coach at Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City. She spent 13 years leading Illinois State to a 289-121 record, before moving to Utah for family reasons.
Morgan grew up in Hawaii and played for Peterson at Punahou School. She capped her collegiate career with a national championship at Southern California in 1977.
Brault will interview May 2. She has coached NCAA Division III Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio, for the past 12 years, leading her team to a 27-7 record and No. 14 ranking last year.
Brault is 208-142 in her career, 120-50 over the last five years. She coached at Claremont (Calif.) McKenna-Mudd Scripps College for four years before moving over to Baldwin Wallace.
Brault has never met Peterson, but says it would be the first thing she would do should she get the job.
"I read up on her; she has really had a phenomenal career, both coaching and playing," Brault said. "Trying to fill those shoes would be unbelievable, and the first thing I could do would be to seek her out and absorb everything she knows."
Peterson is watching the process from the outside, but is still excited about it. She is particularly pleased that the top three candidates are women.
"They need to have some females in that department," Peterson said. "Girls need role models, too."
Athletic director Kathleen McNally, the only woman in the department since Peterson retired, said that having three women as finalists is a coincidence, but one that she is pleased with.
McNally didn't learn who the finalists were until yesterday. Assistant athletic director Jim DeMello was charged with weeding through the applications.
"It was a complete coincidence," McNally said. "From my perspective I find it amazing that three women with such qualifications would be out there interested in our program. I am pleased at the balance. There is a lot of experience on this list."
McNally said that the job will not necessarily go to one of the top three candidates. After interviewing Adams, Morgan and Brault, the school will decide if any is the proper fit.
If not, they will interview the next three candidates on their list and keep going until they find a coach they are happy with. That list contains names like Brigham Young-Hawaii assistant Mike Apo, Ka'u High School coach Guy Enriquez, and Montana State-Billings coach Paulasi Matavao.
UH-Hilo Athletics
