For Stanford volleyball coach Don Shaw, the last go-around has hardly been merry.

The Cardinal is 4-18 overall and 2-14 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. "I'm trying to find a way to win with a team that doesn't have much talent right now," said Shaw, who is retiring at the end of this season, his 26th at Stanford.

Shaw, whose team hosts Hawai'i tonight and tomorrow, had hoped for a better ending to a career in which he has coached the men's and women's teams, sometimes both in the same academic year.

But the available talent pool has dwindled while Stanford's admission standards remain high. Each year, Stanford accepts 1,800 of the more than 20,000 applicants. "There haven't been many top recruits who have qualified," Shaw said.

Stanford last played in the postseason in 2003, when it was led by Curt Toppel, the nation's top attacker. "Then we lost a huge graduating class," Shaw said. "We lost starters who gave us size and ability. We haven't been able to replenish that supply for a couple of years, and we're paying the price right now."

The reconstruction will focus on setter Kawika Shoji, currently an Iolani School senior. "One of the things I regret is I won't be able to coach him," Shaw said. "His father (Dave) and I go way back."

The friendship between Shaw and Dave Shoji, coach of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team, dates more than 25 years. Because each had coached both the men and women, they had faced off at least twice a year early in their careers.

"Kawika is a great all-around player, and he's going to be very good (at Stanford)," Shaw said. "I've learned that a coach's kid can be a great asset to a team."

Shaw said he will remain at Stanford as a professor in the physical education department. He also will run volleyball camps and clinics.

"I'll be around," he said. "It won't be cold turkey."

Shaw said he felt the time had come for him to retire. "A lot of the reasons why I got into coaching had become a small part of it," Shaw said. "The games are great. The competition is great. But a lot of the other stuff — the paperwork, the administrative things, the rules and regulations — it got to be a job I didn't want to keep doing it anymore. I wanted to do some other things. I didn't want to wait until I was too old to be able to do them."

Despite the Cardinal's struggles, Shaw promised a competitive match against UH. Opposite attacker Ben Reddy averages 4.82 kills per game. Stanford also should be well-rested; this is its first match in two weeks.

"We probably don't have as much talent as a lot of the other teams," Shaw said. "In the MPSF, if you don't have equal amount of talent, you have a lot of work ahead of you. There are no nights off in the MPSF. We don't want anyone to have a night off when they play us. We're going to give them all we can give them."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.