Giving 'em the green light

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Jim Bolla showed his true colors recently, sprucing up his Rainbow Wahine women's basketball office by painting it bright green.

"Our goal is to win the WAC this year, and if we can't ... we want to finish second, and if we can't ... we want to finish third," Jim Bolla says. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Bolla, 52, has become quite a colorful character at UH-Manoa since taking over the program earlier this year after Vince Goo retired after 20 seasons, 17 as head coach.

In just four months on the job, Bolla gave Midnight Ohana fans a good chuckle with his Terminator costume. Earlier, he held nothing back at the Honolulu Quarterback Club, vowing to beat Louisiana Tech, the top team in the Western Athletic Conference.

Tomorrow, the Rainbow Wahine open the season against Santa Clara (0-1) in the three-day, eight-team Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Under Bolla, Hawai'i will unveil a new coaching staff, a renewed sense of confidence and an uptempo playing style. WAC coaches picked Hawai'i (8-20 last season, 8th WAC) to finish eighth in the 10-team conference again this season.

"I think the main difference from last year is the structure of things," said Hawai'i's Jade Abele, an All-WAC first-team selection. "We play more on instinct than designated plays. This year, we're trying to get more run and gun. It's looking good."

So apparently is Bolla, who spoke of much good news at the Quarterback Club meeting in August. At the luncheon, Bolla took aim at Louisiana Tech, a team that has won every WAC title since joining the conference in 2001-02. Hawai'i is 0-13 against LaTech.

Bolla stood by his comments at a recent practice.

"My job is to get my young ladies to a point where we can beat them," Bolla said. "That's no different wherever I've been. Our goal is to be the best team in the WAC. If that means we have to beat Louisiana Tech, then we have to beat Louisiana Tech."

Those comments excited co-captain Milia Macfarlane, who along with co-captain Abele, are Bolla's only seniors.

"It's great to know our coach has that much faith in us," Macfarlane said. "That's how it should be. I'm not surprised he said that because it's the truth. We should have that much confidence in ourselves."

Macfarlane said one of the biggest questions this season is how the community plans to embrace the new staff. Under Goo, the Rainbow Wahine could always rely on a dedicated group of fans, regardless of wins or losses.

"Our community was very close to last year's staff," Macfarlane said. "It was nice to see people come out this year (in a scrimmage and alumnae game).

"Hopefully our crowds will come out for the girls," Macfarlane added. "I think once they come out and see we're here to play basketball, it's not going to matter who the coaches are."

As a coach and player, Bolla has been a winner. In high school, he played on an undefeated state championship team. In college at Pittsburgh, he was the starting center for the 1973-74 team that went 25-4 and was ranked in the top 10. That team fell one win short of advancing to the NCAA Final Four.

"I was the enforcer," Bolla said of his Pittsburgh career. "I did the dirty work. I rebounded, blocked shots, screened people out."

Bolla said he adapted Pittsburgh's uptempo and trapping style and modified it toward the women's game. He's taught Pittsburgh's amoeba defense — an aggressive man/zone coverage that attempts to disrupt the offensive flow by forcing the ball to the sideline — to the Rainbow Wahine.

"That's something that we've got to work on every day," Bolla said of the trapping defense. "If you don't practice it every day, you'll get killed."

Bolla said his philosophy in pressing defense is the same as UCLA coaching legend John Wooden — don't press opponents to steal the ball, press them into taking bad shots.

The Rainbow Wahine can be successful with the 30-second shot clock working in their favor if opponents worry about defensive pressure and do not attack the basket, Bolla said.

"By the time the opponent sets their offense, there's maybe only 10 seconds on the shot clock," Bolla said. "A lot of teams don't practice running their offense in 10 seconds. What happens is they take a quick shot, a bad shot. That's what we want. Then we want to get it off the glass and go."

Bolla has set some lofty goals for his team this season.

"Our goal is to win the WAC this year, and if we can't win the WAC we want to finish second, and if we can't do that, we want to finish third," he said. "We want to put ourselves in position to have the highest seed going into the WAC Tournament. I'm not satisfied with being a play-in team in the WAC. I don't want to be 10th, 9th, 8th, 7th."

As for the fans, Bolla said he hoped the new-look 'Bows would endear themselves to the crowd.

"If you really want to see how basketball is played, the women play the game the way it's supposed to be played," Bolla said. "It's real fundamentals.

"Come out and watch us once," he continued. "If you like what you see, come back the next game and bring someone with you. That's all I ask the community to do."

With Bolla, fans are bound to see something new. Even a green-painted office.

"It's definitely an interesting choice," said Hawai'i center Brittany Grice of Bolla's office. "I think it's fun. I need a Crayola box in front of me to match the color."

Notes: Pat Charity, a 1981 graduate of Western Michigan, is the Rainbow Wahine associate coach. Charity has two decades of coaching experience, and has been a head coach at Western Michigan (1990-97) and with the Birmingham Power of the National Women's Basketball League (2000-01). She was most recently the assistant coach at Long Beach State (2002-03).

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.