Posted on: Tuesday, June 26, 2001

Konishi perfect fit for UH baseball coaching job

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

At the opening pitch of early-morning games, he would be there.

At the final out of yawn-inducing tournaments that crowded midnight, he would still be there.

Long before new University of Hawai'i baseball coach Mike Trapasso knew Chad Konishi by name, he had come to know him by reputation.

"Anytime I was out on the West Coast (recruiting) or at some tournament, Chad was always there," Trapasso said. "He is what we call a 'grinder' — the kind of a guy who puts in the hours. You'd see him there from the first pitch. It might be 8 in the morning, but he'd be there to the last one of the 9 p.m. game, which might end after midnight."

So when Trapasso got the UH head coaching job, he already had an idea of somebody to check out for a pivotal position on his staff. Even before the 80-something applications hit his desk, Trapasso had an affordable option.

Trapasso recalled what a national major league scout advised him when he took the job: "Konishi is somebody you should really take a look at."

Now, as the Rainbows begin to rebuild their baseball program, the role the 30-year-old Punahou School and Cal-Berkeley graduate will play is one of considerable importance. For while all three full-time members of the staff are allowed to recruit under NCAA rules, Konishi's contributions — as the team's recruiting coordinator, pitching coach and area point man — will have a lot to say about UH's fortunes over the upcoming seasons.

With Trapasso and hitting coach Josh Sorge coming from Georgia Tech, the Rainbows will be counting on Konishi's ties in Hawai'i and the West Coast, experience developed during six years as the top assistant at the University of San Francisco.

As the Rainbows attempt to keep more of the top high school players home, they will depend on Konishi to take the lead in reversing the trend.

"It is, like they say, being successful in recruiting is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration," Trapasso said. "And, Chad certainly has that."

Bob Milano coached Konishi at Cal, gave him his first coaching job as a graduate assistant and later battled him in recruiting. "Chad enjoys the whole recruiting process," Milano said. "He likes to go head-to-head with anybody."

For where the Rainbows are in their rebuilding process — and where they aren't — the job description all but demands someone who is not only undaunted by the challenge but who embraces it from dawn to dusk.

In other words, a "grinder."

Ferd Lewis has been reporting on sports in Hawai'i since 1973.