Help is here for UH's offense

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

UH hitting coach Brian Green worked on earning his players' trust before working on mechanics. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Who: Brian Green Age: 31 Degrees: BS Business Management from New Mexico State, MS Educational Administration from National University Family: Married (Becki), no children As a player: Riverside (Calif.) JC two years; Chapman University one year; New Mexico State one year As a coach: Graduate assistant New Mexico State (1995); assistant Riverside JC (1996); assistant Cal Poly Pomona (1997-1998); assistant Chapman University (1999-2000); volunteer coach Oregon State (2001); assistant San Diego (2002). Also coached Kenai Peninsula Oilers of the Alaska Collegiate Summer League

Although he enjoyed success in his first full-time Division I coaching job at the University of San Diego last year, he didn't impose himself on the Rainbows as a know-it-all. Instead, he watched and got to know the players' personalities and, of course, batting characteristics.

"I've been on the move as a coach, so I've been the new guy quite a bit," he said. "So I felt the most important thing when I got here was to be very patient. I wanted to take two weeks. Although I had my plan on how our guys were supposed to swing, I didn't want to impose it on them until I saw and evaluated exactly how the guys were swinging the bat here. So I was patient the first couple weeks. That's a hard thing to do because you want to get in there and make changes, but I wanted to gain their trust. I wanted to let them know I was with them and I cared about them, establish a relationship before we got into the mechanics."

Second-year coach Mike Trapasso is putting his trust into the 31-year-old Green to improve the Rainbows offense, which ranked last in the Western Athletic Conference in nearly every category last year. The dismal performance left the Rainbows with a 16-40 record, the worst in the school's history, and led to the departure of then-hitting coach Josh Sorge.

"He's (Green) one of the best young coaches in America," USD coach Rich Hill said. "The University of Hawai'i is very fortunate to have him at this stage of his career. He has a brilliant offensive mind, and he works well with players."

Under Green last year, the Toreros led the West Coast Conference in on-base percentage, runs, RBIs, hits, doubles, triples and steals en route to winning the conference title and securing a regional berth. One of his goals for the Rainbows is to even the ratio of strikeouts to walks plus hit by pitches.

"If you have a 1-to-1 ratio, that's extremely successful," he said.

Last year, the Toreros ratio was .97 in strikeouts to walks/hit by pitches, which was tops in the WCC. Meanwhile, the Rainbows were at 1.56 (391 strikeouts to 251 walks plus hit by pitches), fourth in the WAC. San Jose State, which was second in the conference at 45-17, was the best at 1.07 with WAC champion Rice following at 1.32. Green said he is seeing improvement in the Rainbows hitters, at least in intrasquad scrimmages.

Green wasn't looking for a job when the UH one opened; after all, he had just landed one at USD after serving as volunteer assistant at Oregon State the previous year. But as Trapasso was getting opinions on candidates, he said Green's name always surfaced. "Unsolicited," Trapasso said. So Hawai'i approached Green. Pitching coach Chad Konishi made the initial call to check on Green's interest. While UH's season was over, it wasn't for the Toreros, who were in the regionals. Just hours before USD's game with Arizona State, Green got the call at his hotel room.

"As soon as I was approached, I went after this thing as aggressively as I could," he said. "I talked to every coach that I worked for and told them to expect a call or if they could make one for me on my behalf."

Of course, that meant yet another move for he and his wife, Becki. After finishing his playing career at New Mexico State, Green served as a graduate assistant there in 1995 before moving to Riverside JC as an assistant. He then went on to be an assistant for two years each at Cal Poly Pomona and Chapman. But in 2001, he bit the bullet by leaving paying jobs to become a volunteer coach at Oregon State just so he could be back in a Division I environment. Then USD had an opening for a paid position. At last, a job in Division I.

But the UH job presented a better opportunity professionally (stronger conference, better facilities) and financially. Even USD coach Hill encouraged him to go for it.

"He said, 'I want to keep you, but you have to go.' " Green said of Hill. " 'Maybe in five years you'll be in some big place and you can pay me more (to be an assistant).' "

Green said he and his wife spent two weeks looking for a place before settling on a rental in the Liliha area. He was quickly introduced to the aloha spirit.

"The one thing I noticed is that the people are really nice here," he said. "Just like anyone, if you're respectful of their culture or anything like that, people are very open. We had a lot of help. Neighbors were bringing us dinner (when we first moved in)."

The relationship he has built with his new neighbors is the same with his new players.

"I've always based my philosophy on relationships with players and trust," he said. "I just think as a coach, you have to prove yourself everyday to the players. I think they can feed off that, if they know that you're trying to make it better for them everyday. I think they'll play hard for you and be loyal because they know that you care."