[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
Search for Goo’s
successor continuesHawaii has its list of candidates
pared down to "four or five"
The hiring of a women's basketball coach at the University of Hawaii took another step forward yesterday with two finalists being interviewed over the phone by members of the search committee.
Athletic director Herman Frazier would not release the names of the candidates to replace Vince Goo and would only say that the list was down to "four or five" out of some 70 applicants.
Rainbow Wahine associate coach Da Houl confirmed that she was scheduled for an interview at 6 this morning. One other interview will also take place today with a possible fifth interview tomorrow.
Frazier has asked that the committee recommend three finalists, which will be submitted at next week's monthly meeting of the Board of Regents. The committee members are Paula Asato, UH athletics personnel officer; Doris Ching, vice-president for student affairs; Tony Guerrero, vice chairman of First Hawaiian Bank; Milia Macfarlane, a current Wahine basketball player; Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano, associate athletics director; John Nelson, men's tennis coach; Donna Vuchinich, UH Foundation vice-president for development; and Dina Yoshimi, a UH associate professor of Japanese.
"What I can say is, after looking at all the applications, we have a quality pool of coaches to interview," Moniz-Kaho'o- hanohano said.
The list apparently includes both local and mainland candidates as well as both female and male coaches. The committee leaned heavily toward candidates with current collegiate coaching experience, although current high school coaches with previous college experience were considered.
Houl, 39, is the only member of Goo's staff this season to apply. She has been an assistant for the last 12 years and was a guard for the Wahine from 1983 to '87.
"I definitely want the job and to continue Vince's legacy," Houl said yesterday. "I had mixed feelings at first. I was in denial. I didn't want Vince to hang it up. He has so much more to give to the game.
"This is not a steppingstone for me. This is home."
Neither Serenda Valdez nor Gavin Petersen, the two other Wahine assistants, applied for the job. Former UH assistant George Wolfe (1987-99), let go by Portland State after five seasons, had applied but has since taken a non-coaching job in Washington, D.C.
Goo retired after 17 years with a 334-166 record.
