Posted on: Friday, May 3, 2002

Dobelle wants to give Wilton deal

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — University of Hawai'i president Evan Dobelle, in town for the NCAA final four, said he favors extending volleyball coach MIke Wilton's contract.

Wilton's contract expires Aug. 15 — five days before his 10th anniversary with the school. Wilton has sought a multi-year contract since his three-year deal expired in 2000. Since then, his contract has lapsed two times before he received retroactive one-year extensions.

Dobelle said the successor to retiring athletic director Hugh Yoshida will negotiate with Wilton's attorney.

"But I can't imagine, when you have a coach who goes to the final four three times in the last seven years, you don't want to keep him," Dobelle said. "Someone would have to explain that kind of rationale thinking to me. I suspect the coach, who has family and grandchildren in Hawai'i, would like to stay. We have to do everything we can to make those things happen."

Dobelle departed Honolulu on a 4 p.m. flight to Chicago on Wednesday.

"I was doing some strategic planning and budgets on the plane, which was a mistake, because I ended up not sleeping," he said. "That wasn't a great idea."

After a layover in Chicago, he took a commuter flight to Harrisburg, Pa., then drove to nearby Hershey to speak to a group on low-income loans.

He then drove two hours to University Park, checked in at his hotel on the Penn State campus and attended last night's match.

The whirlwind schedule proved beneficial. He bought NCAA T-shirts for a staff worker and his son, and was able to assist UH middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic.

Miladinovic was seeking treatment for back spasms. Miladinovic ran into Dobelle, who asked his hotel manager for help in finding a jacuzzi.

"He said, 'Here's the key,' and (Miladinovic) went down and spent 20 minutes in the jacuzzi," Dobelle said. "Hopefully, it helped his back."

"It was great," Miladinovic said.

Dobelle said the trip has been worthwhile, even though he was awake for nearly 40 hours straight.

"Anytime your university plays for a national championship, if you're the president, you're there," he said. "I'd be here if one of our faculty was getting a distinguished teaching award or if some researcher was getting a great honor. This is prime time."