Wallace wants to stay

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Riley Wallace is UH's winningest basketball coach. Advertiser library photo • Jan. 31, 2002

It's that time of year to crank up the rumor mill again.

Wallace, the head coach of the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team, has heard his name mentioned on the long lists of several schools with basketball coaching vacancies this week. However, he insists that everything, so far, has been unofficial.

"It's all street rumors," he said. "It's nice and flattering to have your name come up, but I have not been officially contacted by anyone about any of those positions."

Wallace's name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for openings at Fresno State, Texas Christian, New Mexico, Boise State and Bradley.

Wallace said a few fans from Fresno, Calif., called him this week, asking him to apply for the position at Fresno State recently created by the retirement of Tarkanian.

Several media outlets in both Fresno and Albuquerque, N.M., have also called Wallace this week to inquire about his interest in the Fresno State and New Mexico jobs, respectively.

"I've said all along that my loyalty is with Hawai'i," Wallace said. "This is where I want to stay."

Wallace's current contract with UH will expire on April 30. He is hoping to receive a raise on his current base salary of $120,000.

Although Wallace's first choice would be to remain with UH, he said he is willing to listen to official offers from other programs.

"You have to at least listen to find out what's out there," he said. "If somebody makes you an incredible offer, you have to give it some serious thought."

Wallace, 60, just completed his 15th season as head coach of the Rainbow Warriors. He is already the winningest coach in school history, with an overall record of 243-204.

This season was arguably the greatest in school history, with a final record of 27-6. For the first time ever, the 'Bows won both the regular-season and conference tournaments of the Western Athletic Conference.

Wallace has also guided the 'Bows to three of the program's four appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including the last two seasons.

Disputable study: For the record, former Hawai'i point guard Kalia McGee is a UH-Manoa graduate.

Given that, Wallace disputed a study released nationally yesterday by Bloomberg News Service focusing on the graduation rates of basketball players from schools in this year's NCAA Tournament field.

According to the study, Hawai'i was one of three schools that did not graduate a single player who entered school as a freshman between 1991 and '94. Oklahoma and McNeese State were the others.

However, Wallace said McGee, who entered UH as a freshman in 1991, did graduate from UH in 1997. What's more, Wallace said at least two other former 'Bows who entered UH as freshmen during those years went on to graduate from other schools after transferring from UH.

"It's obviously not an accurate report," Wallace said.

Further, the study does not count players who graduate after transferring from a junior college. During the period from 1991-94, Wallace said a majority of UH's recruits were JC transfers.

Since last season, six of UH's seven seniors have either graduated or are on track to graduate within the next year.