Thursday, December 3, 1998
Haven't we
seen these
guys before?
Finalists for the UH football
By Paul Arnett
coaching job might look similar to
the top five three years ago
Star-BulletinThere may be as many as 20 people interested in the vacant head coaching position at Hawaii, but the five finalists could be strikingly similar to the ones in 1995.
Three years ago, the finalists were Duane Akina, Norm Chow, Cal Lee, Bill Young and Fred vonAppen. Although University of Hawaii Athletic Director HughYoshida hasn't announced the top five this time around, it's likely Akina, Lee and Young will receive strong consideration.
Akina arrives on Monday for his interview with Yoshida, who said yesterday that he wants to name a head coach no later than Dec. 18.
Akina came close to landing the job the last time around, but couldn't match the experience vonAppen had to offer at the collegiate and professional levels.
Akina, 42, was on Hawaii's staff from 1981 to 1985 before moving on to Arizona with former Hawaii head coach Dick Tomey. Currently, the Arizona associate head coach handles the secondary for the Wildcats and said yesterday that he is intrigued with the position.
Lee met with Yoshida Monday night and has expressed an interest in the job. Many believed Lee's 1995 interview was strictly for political purposes.
Yoshida praised Lee's record at St. Louis School during yesterday's hastily called press conference, and conceded Lee has been an outstanding high school coach.
"I think he has had great success," Yoshida said. "I think part of the whole deal will be to look at his plan and work from there because I think he has demonstrated that he is a successful coach.
"You've had coaches in the past move from high school to college, who weren't successful, so you never know about those kind of things."
Lee also is not that far removed from the embarrassing trip to Las Vegas earlier this year that led to St. Louis forfeiting a game with Kamehameha Schools.
What could help Lee gain the necessary Division I experience is if current Utah head coach Ron McBride lands the job. McBride, 59, was asked by Yoshida on Monday if he would consider the position.
Surprisingly, he said yes.
"I guess if I was ever going to leave, now would be as good as any," McBride said yesterday. But he added that he was still happy to be the head coach in Utah.
His offensive coordinator, Tommy Lee, hasn't been contacted by Yoshida, who said he is busy talking with coaches already expressing an interest.
Tommy Lee said Monday night that he hadn't talked with anyone and didn't want to do anything to hurt his brother Cal's chances of landing the job. But of the three Lee brothers (Tommy, Ron and Cal), Tommy has the Division I experience.
"We haven't been able to contact Tommy," said Yoshida, who will get help from an anonymous three-man search committee this time around.
Yoshida also has yet to contact San Diego Chargers head coach June Jones.
At least that's what Jones told a group of reporters in San Diego yesterday morning.
"I haven't talked to anybody over there," Jones said. "I'm worried about the (Washington) Redskins right now. I played there and stuff, but it's bad timing for me. I'd just really rather not comment at this point."
It's believed that Jones is the leading contender to be named the full-time coach for the Chargers. That announcement could come over the next two weeks.
Interestingly, Yoshida originally said the university wanted to have the process completed no later than Dec. 13. That extra five days might give Jones the time he needs to see if the Chargers want him to be their man.
"I think June would be the guy if he were still just the quarterbacks coach," a source close to the situation said Tuesday night. "But I don't think we can afford to give up on him just yet."
Young and Navy offensive coordinator Kenny Niumatalolo could also make the final five. Three years ago, Young was the last coach Yoshida interviewed.
At the time, he was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State. And had Yoshida not set his sights on vonAppen, Young might have been the man.
Young currently is the defensive coordinator at Southern California. Last week, USC blanked Notre Dame, 10-0.
Niumatalolo served as an assistant at UH under Bob Wagner. He left with former offensive coordinator Paul Johnson in 1994 to go to Navy.
Wagner slams
Associated Press
UH administrationFormer University of Hawaii football coach Bob Wagner was feeling a bit vindicated yesterday when he criticized the school's administrators for the sorry state of the football program.
Wagner was fired as UH football coach in 1995, after officials cited his declining won-loss record and a drop in attendance at Rainbow games.
He was replaced by Fred vonAppen, who was fired Monday after an 0-12 season and 5-31 record in his three seasons as coach.
Wagner says the football program is in the same position it was when he was fired, and said changes may need to be made at a higher level than the coach.
"I guess the thing I wonder is has anybody figured out yet that it might not have been me that screwed that thing up," Wagner said. "That's the message that's being lost."
Wagner said the administration needs to re-evaluate the job performance of athletic director Hugh Yoshida, but added that was unlikely to happen, given the politics of the situation.
"It would be nice for a change for the people of Hawaii to have a voice in the matter, as opposed to having all the good old boys make all the decisions," he said.
Yoshida said everybody has an opinion as to what is wrong with the program, and that he is critical of some things Wagner did as UH coach, in much the same way Wagner is critical of some of his actions.
"There are certain things that he is critical of and we have some criticism, but it's not something we want to dwell on," Yoshida said.
Wagner, now the linebackers coach at Arizona under Dick Tomey, another former UH coach, says he would choose Arizona assistant head coach Duane Akina or Navy assistant Kenny Niumatalolo as the next UH coach.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
