After being introduced as the new University of Hawai'i head coach for men's volleyball, Charlie Wade, covered in lei and emotion, acknowledged: "We're home."

Wade succeeds Mike Wilton, who is retiring from the UH system after 17 seasons as the Warriors' head coach. Wilton's current three-year contract expires June 30. He already has accepted an assistant coach's position with the Brigham Young women's volleyball team, starting July 1.

Wade was the top assistant to Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji for 11 years before becoming Pacific's head coach in 2006.

Wade's wife (Tani) was raised in Hawai'i, their two children were born here, and they still own a house in Kailua.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Wade said. "It's been a whirlwind. But I know this is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and it's going to be great."

Wade will receive a five-year contract worth at least $100,000 annually in base pay.

Because the financial terms fall within the position's current salary range ($53,820 to $107,540), Wade's appointment only needs approval from UH President David McClain and Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. (Wilton is earning $105,000 this fiscal year.)

Wade is scheduled to begin work June 15, although he already has been busy. He sent personal e-mails to each of the returning players, and he plans to meet with Wilton, associate head coach Tino Reyes and assistant coach Mason Kuo to discuss personnel and recruiting.

"I think he's definitely going to jump-start the program," UH middle blocker Steven Grgas said.

Wade has promised to resurrect a program that has waned in popularity and revenue in recent years. Under Wilton's guidance and opposite attacker Yuval Katz's powerful left arm, the Warriors achieved rock-star celebrity in the mid-1990s. They played to SRO crowds whose tween fans stayed around after matches until the players sneaked away in laundry carts.

But attendance then slipped, largely because of an increase in ticket prices and implementation of a premium-seat fee.

The turnstile counts dwindled even during the 2002 season, which concluded when the Warriors defeated Pepperdine in the title match of the NCAA tournament. A year later, the Warriors were forced to forfeit the 2002 NCAA semifinal and final victories when it was ruled that star outside hitter Costas Theocharidis had once been a member of a club that had professional teammates.

The number of season tickets is now under 2,000, and the program is facing a loss of $275,000 for the current fiscal year on a program that once turned nearly a $400,000 annual profit.

"You don't have to be a genius to see that attendance has gone down," said Basil Sparlin, president of the team's booster club and a member of the search committee. "That is a concern of ours. We want to see people in the stands. It's a great sport. It's a great program. We have great kids who are student-athletes in the truest sense of the word. ... We want to see the fans come back in. It becomes an event. It's invigorating. We were looking for somebody who could do that."

Wade had an impressive in-person interview, earning overwhelming praise — and the recommendation — from the six-member search committee.

Reyes, Rainbow Wahine assistant coach Mike Sealy, and Pepperdine assistant coach and former Punahou standout Scott Wong were the other finalists.

Athletic director Jim Donovan, who attended the sessions but did not participate in the post-interview discussions, accepted the committee's recommendation Wednesday night.

Thursday, Donovan notified Upper Campus officials that he would recommend Wade as the fifth head coach in the program's 50-year history.

Donovan said he was moved by Wade's "phenomenal passion for Hawai'i and Hawai'i men's volleyball, and his understanding of the sport and the community. That was the ultimate thing."

In addition, Donovan said, Wade had "a great plan for both on the court and to get the community involvement to sell tickets. (Wade's plan) was the most concise, communicated plan of the four finalists."

During his presentation to the committee, Wade outline a four-point plan to reconnect with Hawai'i's volleyball community and fans. and to boost local recruiting.

Wade said he showed "the emphasis on recruiting, and local recruiting specifically, and how we were going to go about that. It's one thing to say you're going to do it, but another to have strategies and proven experience doing it."

He added: "First, you have to convince anyone who is good enough to be in the (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) you really want him on your team. ... (We are going) to be involved in the volleyball community — where we are out coaching and out working with coaches and teams and players — so we really know who the best players are, and they look to us. You start identifying them when they're in the eighth or ninth grade, and you get a chance to interact with them and get to know them and their families, where you become part of the volleyball culture in Hawai'i. I think that will go a long way in convincing people that this is an environment they want to play their collegiate career in."

Wade recalled his original plan when he joined the Rainbow Wahine staff in 1995. At the time, he believed, the job would be a steppingstone.

"But then I really started to see how much volleyball meant to the people," he said. "The players were playing for people they didn't even know. It really got to the point where, man, I really wanted to stay here. Then I went through a fair amount of time where I never planned on leaving, that 'I'm going to go the Bob Nash route and see if, hopefully, I can get a shot when Dave (Shoji) retires.'"

But with his wife pregnant with their second child, and the change in the athletic landscape, Wade knew he needed a head coaching job on his resume. "You have to have that line on your resume," Wade was told by friends.

He accepted the Pacific job with the hope it would somehow lead him back to paradise.

"We're happy to be back," Wade said.

Blog: http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.