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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, May 17, 2001

Furutani grateful to Coach Les

 •  Coaches, seniors will say aloha Saturday
 •  Murakami made successful pitch for Tatsuno

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

As much as he tried to leave his own imprint on University of Hawai'i baseball, Carl Furutani's style still ended up a reflection of his mentor: Les Murakami.

Like his mentor, acting UH head baseball coach Carl Furutani is retiring.

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Furutani, who enters the final weekend of his coaching career at UH, became acting coach after Murakami suffered a stroke on Nov. 2. Nearly a year ago, Murakami announced that this would be his final season.

Even though Furutani had been coaching under Murakami since 1980 — from graduate assistant to part-time assistant to full-time assistant — there still was a period of adjustment for the players.

"It was hard in the beginning because of the transition, making them understand that my style was a little different," Furutani said. "I think a lot of things that Coach Les did showed up without thinking about it. It was his style, but I didn't look at it that way because it's hard to do something Coach Les' way. That's Coach Les. Only he could accomplish things the way he accomplished things, just by his presence, the way he is. It took (the players) a while to sense that, too."

That his style might have followed Murakami's was simply a compliment to the way Furutani was taught by a man who was like a father figure.

"Being under Coach that long, he's pretty much guided me, molded me, gave me direction," Furutani said. "And the important thing (he taught me was) how to deal with the players."

Still, even with 22 years experience as an assistant, Furutani said there were still surprises about being head coach. He said as an assistant, he would offer ideas to Murakami. But now, his assistants — Les Nakama, Thomas Gushiken and Dave Murakami — were doing the same and, ultimately, the final decisions were left to him.

"The assistants that I have, I rely on them a lot, but they let me know that, 'Hey, you still gotta make that decision.' Which I thank them for because they've been great assistants," Furutani said. "They've helped me a lot as far as going through this year."

Furutani said he is proud of the way the players performed. He said it was about a month into the season before they felt relaxed under his command.

"They could really see ahead how we were thinking," he said. "It took a little longer than I thought it would, but that's the way things are."

Furutani did not want to comment on his future plans. He had been a physical education instructor at UH before the baseball positions at UH became full-time. Asked why he did not apply for the head coaching job, he said it was time to change priorities.

"When Coach announced that this would be his last year, he and I spoke about that," Furutani said. "I told myself this is the time for me to step back because it's time for me to give back to my family. It's not that I felt that I needed to. It's something I want to. There's a big difference there. That's No. 1 for me right now."

There have not been many players who can say they saw Murakami's dream come to fruition. When Furutani was a freshman pitcher out of Waimea High on Kaua'i, there was no Rainbow Stadium. He is one of the few who have watched the program grow. He said there were many highlights along the way. But none could match working for Murakami.

"He has done so much for me," Furutani said. "He's been a father for me. He's always been there. Not only him, his family, too. Dot (Murakami's wife) has been awesome for us. Just that, the association with Coach Les. And his friends, too. They've done a lot. It meant a lot for me and my family."