Posted on: Sunday, July 18, 2004
New coach at UH calls for new approach
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
When Jim Bolla stepped down as the women's basketball coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 1996, one of the people the school first looked at as a replacement possibility was Vince Goo, the Hawai'i coach.
Eight years later, with Goo stepping into retirement, guess who's moving into the Stan Sheriff Center to take his place on the bench?
Bolla, of course.
The irony involving these two former Big West Conference rivals is remarkable. And, so is the challenge that is being passed between them.
Not so much on the court, despite last year's 8-20 record, but in the stands and at the bank.
With just one losing season in the last nine years, and four starters among the 13 players coming back, there is a foundation to build on here. With just one scholarship to award, the cupboard is far from lacking, especially since 10 players on what was largely a freshman-sophomore team are eligible to return for two years or more.
With a graduation rate running at 100 percent among players who complete their eligibility in the program, the academics have been strong.
The challenge, then, is in rounding up fans and sponsors. Despite its on-court success with six 20-win or better seasons in the last nine years, the program almost annually cost $500,000-plus more to run than it brings in.
UH averaged less than 700 fans a game last season in a conference where Fresno State was the attendance leader at more than 4,500.
Even in the best of times, with winning teams that featured popular local stars Nani Cockett and BJ Itoman among them, attendance hit its peak at an average of 2,126 a game.
While women's basketball at UH doesn't figure to rival men's basketball or Rainbow Wahine volleyball for fan interest, it has long been thought there has been room to grow basketball attendance if only the athletic department would put its shoulder behind the project.
The new start that comes with this hiring gives UH a chance to do that on several levels. Which is where Bolla, especially, comes in. After stepping down from basketball, he became UNLV's director of athletic development. It was a position in which he helped secure a $3.15 million donation used to build a softball stadium and begin a women's golf team.
"New leadership could give us a great opportunity to spike the numbers in this sport," Herman Frazier, UH athletic director, told the regents recently. "The attendance has been down and we will strongly market this program the upcoming season."
John McNamara, the associate athletic director for external affairs, who spent several of the first nights in the job studying the women's basketball crowds, has promised to make marketing a priority.
While we can only guess what Goo might have been capable of at UNLV, we get a chance to see how his successor can improve on what he finds here.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
