University of Hawai'i volleyball coach Dave Shoji had just caught part of a radio newscast noting that somebody "with two national championships" had resigned at Hawai'i Pacific University.

Of course, he didn't have to ask who. Just why. There would be no doubting who that had to be: Reydan "Tita" Ahuna, HPU's women's volleyball coach and senior women's administrator.

There would instantly be wonder about the why, of course. And that question grows mightily despite the ubiquitous "for personal reasons" explanation from the school and Ahuna's "beyond my control" reason in her statement yesterday.

In the nearly 30 years of athletics at HPU there has been no more decorated coach at the downtown campus. Two Division II national championships. Five conference titles. A 206-58 (78 percent winning percentage) record in 10 seasons. A commanding body of work that carried with it considerable respect in the sport.

Not the kind of thing you easily step away — or are dragged away — from. Not when you have invested so much and not when it is a resume that many people expected to catapult Ahuna into a sure finalist for the UH job when Shoji left some day.

Those people included Shoji, her once-upon-a-time coach (1984-87) in Manoa. "Naturally, I thought she'd be a candidate for my job when it became time," Shoji said. "She's obviously familiar with the program, has paid her dues at the Division II level. I would have thought she would have been a natural candidate."

Indeed, what Ahuna has managed to do at HPU has been remarkable — mixing local, Mainland and foreign players. Seeing her take them through pre-dawn workouts on the Roosevelt High track is to glimpse both her dedication and what she demands of her players.

"I'm not sure anybody else could have done as much with what she had," Shoji said. "Especially in her situation with no (campus) gym, no practice facilities and the campus really isn't a normal campus. It can be a tough place to recruit to and a tough place to win."

Whatever the Sea Warriors' program has become, it has been Ahuna who made it so. "Coaching," Shoji said, "just like she played. She put everything into it. She played every point hard and coached the same way."

Once, well before there was a revolving door on the administration and coaches' offices, HPU was a place where you could match the names of the coaches and the sports with ease. All were easily identifiable. And winners.

There was, for example, Tony Sellitto in basketball. Allan Sato in baseball. And, of course, Tita Ahuna in volleyball.

Now there are none of the above. And for all the statements, we are still left to shake our heads and wonder why.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.