Trapasso made right call about UH

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

It seems all signs pointed to Mike Trapasso getting the University of Hawai'i baseball coaching job.

Mike Trapasso, only the second full-time baseball coach in the history of the University of Hawai'i, has rounded out his staff with assistants, from left, Keith Komeiji, Josh Sorge, Trapasso, and Chad Konishi. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

• As a teenager, he vacationed here with his family.

• In early 1986, he spent his honeymoon here with college sweetheart, Catherine.

• While recruiting for Georgia Tech, he considered seeking Scooter Martines out of Punahou School.

The nearly nine-month process it took to name Les Murakami's successor ended last May, when Trapasso became only the second full-time baseball coach at UH. He came with glowing credentials. Baseball America rated him the top assistant in the nation ready to take a major head coaching job. It was a factor in UH's search.

Arizona State's Pat Murphy, the leading candidate for the job, recommended that Trapasso apply for the job. Murphy also helped UH in an advisory role in the search.

"He said, 'You should get involved with Hawai'i,' " Trapasso said. "'It really sounds like they want to make a commitment to baseball. They want to be a top-20 program in three or four years. They're doing some things that will get you there.'"

Still, Trapasso, who turned 38 in September, didn't think he had a chance, being on the East Coast. But after an interview with UH officials in Los Angeles in early January of last year, Trapasso came out here the weekend of the Super Bowl to interview for the job. That's when his decision was made.

"I knew when I stepped into this facility (Les Murakami Stadium), I knew this was a place I'd enjoy working at," he said. "The facility, the campus. Everything was here (for the program) to be successful."

Trapasso said he had interviewed for head coaching positions in previous years. He had been the runner-up for several jobs, including Nebraska, which hired Dave Van Horn. But all those close finishes eventually made him available for UH.

With the facilities in place, Trapasso said he felt Hawai'i had enough talent in the state. Thirteen of the 15 players with ties to Hawai'i drafted last June and 13 of 14 from 2000 played high school ball in Hawai'i. (That includes college players drafted who played high school here.)

He also said he felt it would be easy to sell a Mainland recruit to attend school in paradise.

"When I had free time (during the interview with UH) at the hotel and walked along the beach, I said, 'Yeah, if I'm 18-years-old, I definitely would enjoy coming here.'"

But the big selling point wouldn't be the sun and surf.

"We want kids to know they can come here and develop as a baseball player," he said. "They can develop their skills to play at the next level, and can do that in an atmosphere that that is unique and unlike at any other college baseball program.

"I don't want (local players) to come here because it's the state school," Trapasso said. "I want them to come here because that's the best place for me to go and develop as a baseball player."

Trapasso should have seen the opportunity to coach here coming.

During the summer of 1978, while here on a family vacation, Trapasso obviously had no inkling that he would work here one day. But during his honeymoon, while he was still a minor leaguer in the Atlanta Braves system, Trapasso had heard about Rainbow Stadium, which was entering its third season. It had gained national coverage as one of the best collegiate parks in the country. Trapasso had to see it.

"Everybody knew what a jewel it was," Trapasso recalled. "We just wanted to drive by, take a look."

After the 1986 season, the left-handed pitcher's two-year stint in the Braves organization, which drafted him out of Oklahoma State in the 16th round in 1985, ended when he was released. A shoulder injury ended his career altogether after spending 1987 in the St. Louis Cardinals system. He never advanced past single-A.

It was time to get on with his life. He completed his degree from OSU in 1987.

With a bachelor's degree in marketing, he sought a job at a public relations firm in St. Louis, Mo. But the day he accepted the job, University of Missouri coach Gene McArtor, familiar with Trapasso's playing days in the then Big 8 Conference, offered Trapasso a graduate assistant job that night.

Trapasso initially declined, but called the coach the next morning to see if the job was still available.

"Within two weeks, I knew that coaching was something I wanted to do," Trapasso said. "That's why I always say my calling came with a phone call."

From 1989 to 1991, he spent three seasons at Missouri, earning a masters in education in the process. He then went on to be assistant head coach at South Florida from 1992-1994. The next seven years were spent at Georgia Tech, where he earned a reputation as a good pitching coach and top-notch recruiter. Each year there, his recruiting classes were ranked in the top 20 by Collegiate Baseball.

It was at Georgia Tech that another sign pointed to Hawai'i for Trapasso. As Tech's recruiter, Trapasso scouted at national showcases around the country. One summer, he spotted Punahou's Martines.

"I thought very seriously about recruiting Scooter," Trapasso said. "But I thought it was going to be too far a distance for him (to play in Atlanta). Of course, I found out he was going to Texas Tech. I was upset because nothing ventured, nothing gained."

But Martines, who was drafted in the 31st round by the Detroit Tigers upon graduation from Punahou in 1997, returned home after a season in Lubbock, Texas. A shoulder injury that forced him to miss last season extended his eligibility long enough to coincide with Trapasso's first season.

"I know there's a higher power," Trapasso said in general of his career and ending up here. "There are reasons these things happen."

Trapasso and his wife have two sons, Michel, 7, and Matthew, 4.