Like a lot of college basketball coaches, the University of Hawai'i's Dana Takahara-Dias will be hitting the recruiting trail this week.

Unlike the rest, however, her mission will be, in part, re-recruiting her own players.

When Takahara-Dias took over the Rainbow Wahine 38 days ago, she inherited 12 players who were largely unknown to her and vice versa. Players, through no fault of their own, caught in the middle of one of the most prolonged and acrimonious transitions in UH athletic history.

What should be notable here is twofold: that they are also players whose loyalty in — so far — standing by the tattered program merits a visit from the new coach now tasked with leading them, and that the coach, with so much to be done in so little time, fully recognizes and appreciates it.

In a business where daily detail work counts, the Rainbow Wahine program suffered the absence of a head coach's guiding hand for more than three months. From the time that Jim Bolla was placed on indefinite leave in February, through the point where he was terminated in April and until Takahara-Dias was finally hired after the meandering search process, there had been little direction given to the Rainbow Wahine program. And even less done to hold it together.

The surprising thing through it all is that there have, apparently, been no defections. The players eligible to return to UH all intend to, according to Takahara-Dias.

That says a lot about these players' loyalty to UH, not to mention their patience. It also says their needs and concerns deserve to be listened to and more than perfunctory introductions made.

Too often when there is coaching changeover, especially one that comes so late, the players that stick around are treated like little more than chattel. They might as well be pieces of office furniture the new coach is assigned.

That Takahara-Dias intends to go into each of their living rooms, already having scheduled home meetings with players and their parents, is encouraging. Well, the ones in Hawai'i and the Mainland, at least, since Latvia, New Zealand and Australia are beyond UH's waning budget.

Parents need to know, Takahara-Dias said, that the daughters they are sending, in many cases, several thousand miles from home have a coach who is interested in more than the form of their jump shot. They need to be apprised of the expectations and responsibilities on both sides.

That's something that hasn't always happened at UH but for which there is a need for now. And, most important, a commitment to doing it.