Mahar is Chaminade’s
new head coach and AD

After getting a sample of life as a head basketball coach last season, Matt Mahar is eager to take in the full experience starting this fall.

Mahar has been hired as head coach and athletic director at Chaminade University, taking over for Aaron Griess, who accepted the head coaching position at Augsburg College in Minnesota last month.

Mahar was Griess' top assistant and Chaminade's sports information director the last three years.

"Aaron and I had real similar ideas on a lot of things, so I just want to keep it going in a positive direction," Mahar said. "He did a fantastic job here in nine years, five as a head coach. I just want to continue to build on that."

Along with coaching the Silverswords, Mahar will oversee a 10-team athletic department for one year. Mahar said the university is considering restructuring the athletic department next year, but he could end up keeping the position beyond the upcoming season.

Mahar assumed head coaching duties during a four-game road trip last season, when Griess stayed in Honolulu to care for his wife. Mahar led the Swords to wins over Grand Canyon and Western New Mexico, followed by two losses at Montana State-Billings.

"That went really well," he said. "I had a taste of it then and the team responded pretty well. So I'm looking forward to it and the players are happy and looking forward to coming back."

Mahar said assistant Darrell Matsui will return for his third year on the Chaminade staff, and he has a couple of potential candidates in mind for the vacant assistant position, which will be advertised later this month.

Mahar, 33, worked as an assistant coach for the last eight years. He coached at Champlain (Vt.) College, the University of Vermont, Johnson & Wales (S.C.) University, and Johnson State (Vt.) College before joining the staff at Chaminade in 2002.

He takes over a Silverswords team that went 16-11 in Griess' final season. Griess guided the NCAA Division II program to a 71-61 record in his five years as coach.

"Matt has great relationships with the team and has a lot of great ideas for the athletic department," Griess said.

"Matt knows the game of basketball very well and he's going to be able to relay that to the players. They were a little concerned after it was dropped on them that I was leaving. It's always the most comfortable thing for an assistant to get hired."