Posted on: Thursday, July 15, 2004
Six finalists for HPU's AD/hoops coach post
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The new Hawai'i Pacific athletic director and men's basketball coach will be drawn from a pool of six final candidates, and should be announced within two weeks, a key selection committee member said yesterday.
"Our intention is to have somebody announced within 10 days," said HPU vice president Rick Stepien, who is on the selection committee and will make a recommendation to HPU president Chatt Wright. "Within the next week or two, we hope to make an offer and announcement."
Stepien said five candidates are from the Mainland and one from Hawai'i. The basketball coaching experience of the candidates range from junior college to NCAA Division I. Stepien declined to name them.
The new hire will oversee the school's 10 men's and women's sports and take over the flagship men's basketball program. HPU, an NCAA Division II program, is the only university in Hawai'i that has won a national championship in men's basketball.
Stepien said one candidate is a senior associate athletic director at a Louisiana school. The candidate also served as head basketball coach for two Division I programs that advanced to the NCAA Tournament and National Invitation Tournament.
Two candidates work on the East Coast; one is a basketball assistant for a Division I mid-major, and the other is an assistant athletic director and top basketball assistant at a Division II school that has advanced to the Elite Eight in the past few years.
Stepien said another candidate is a head basketball coach in one of the "best junior colleges" on the West Coast, and was an assistant at a "very successful Division II school."
Of the final two candidates, one works at a "highly successful NAIA program" in the Northwest and the other coaches in Hawai'i.
Stepien said the school received 150 applications for the job that became open when Russell Dung announced in May that he would step down on June 30 and assume the role of assistant athletic director.
The selection committee of Stepien, Dung and faculty athletics representative Barbara Burke narrowed the field to 16 two weeks ago and to eight last week, Stepien said.
The finalists have met with the committee and have toured HPU's campuses and facilities, Stepien said. Last night, Wright was scheduled to dine with the last candidate to visit.
"We're absolutely optimistic," Stepien said. "You've got some pretty high-powered people here who can do a wonderful job and get HPU into that national (basketball) tournament."
Dung said the men's basketball team is intact for this season, and has one remaining scholarship should the new coach want to bring in a player. Practice starts Oct. 15.
"The team is set," Dung said. "The returning players are all eligible. Everything has fallen into place in about the same timeline as last year. I don't see that much obstacles the new guy has to face."
In 1993, the Sea Warriors staked their claim in Hawai'i history by winning the NAIA national men's basketball championship under former head coach Tony Sellitto and Dung, his top assistant.
In addition to the basketball title, the HPU women's volleyball team won national NCAA Division II titles in 1998 and 2000, and the NAIA championship in 1990.
