WAC reprimands Bolla for comments about refs

Hawaii women's basketball coach Jim Bolla was reprimanded by the Western Athletic Conference yesterday for comments he made following the Rainbow Wahine's 74-69 home loss to Nevada last week.

In a statement released by the WAC yesterday, Bolla was found to have violated the conference's sportsmanship code.

The reprimand is in effect a warning, and doesn't come with a suspension or fine.

Bolla was upset at the officiating crew for a perceived lack of fair calls awarded to Hawaii in the Wolf Pack's come-from-behind victory Feb. 9.

"We're the home team, we shoot six free throws and they shoot 20? Are you (kidding) me? That was a joke out there with those people with the stripes on," he said to reporters after the game.

At the time, Bolla had a good idea of what was coming.

"If the commissioner (Karl Benson) wants to reprimand me, fine. They need to look at the tape," he added.

"Coach Bolla's comments clearly violated the WAC code and will not be tolerated," Benson said in the statement. "Any further violation may result in him being suspended for a minimum of one game."

Bolla responded in the statement with, "I apologize for my violation of the WAC code and will work to better represent myself and our program in the future." Bolla didn't have an additional comment over the phone yesterday.

Hawaii interim athletic director Carl Clapp had this to say: "All of our coaches' and student-athletes' actions must advance the reputation of this great conference and be in line with the sportsmanship code."

The Wahine (9-14, 3-7 WAC), who had this week off, have split the first two games of a four-game homestand.