By Dayton
Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Don't worry about Bob Nash.
He is, after all, the best rebounder to ever play for the
University of Hawai'i men's basketball program.
One day after
being terminated as the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors, Nash vowed
to rebound in his life — maybe even as a basketball coach.
In an
emotional interview with The Advertiser yesterday at his home, Nash said
he is still "trying to decompress" after Monday's announcement by
Hawai'i athletic director Jim Donovan that Nash would not be retained as
head coach.
"Not going to work at the University of Hawai'i is a
hard thing for me," said Nash, who wiped away tears several times during
the interview. "It's a place that I love, and everybody in my immediate
family has been educated by the University of Hawai'i. So for me not to
have that opportunity to go there every day and help others the way the
university has helped me and my family is something I have to deal
with."
Counting his days as one of the star players on the
legendary "Fabulous Five" UH teams of 1970-72, Nash's affiliation with
Hawai'i basketball spanned 31 years.
The last three came as head
coach, and he guided the 'Bows to a 34-56 record during his tenure.
At
Monday's press conference announcing the coaching move, Donovan
described it as "a business decision," saying that Nash met five of the
six guidelines to which all UH coaches must adhere.
Nash, whose
seniors are on pace for a 100 percent graduation rate during his tenure,
was told that the only guideline he failed was the team's win-loss
record.
"If you have six goals for your coaches and you miss one
of them, that must have been the most important one," Nash said. "For
me, if you build a program, you start with the most important problem
first. You solve the academic issues. You do that, then you can put
other things in place to be successful and bring in players."
Limited
recruiting
Because the program faced penalties for academic deficiencies
prior to his tenure, Nash was told by then-athletic director Herman
Frazier to recruit only players who were academic qualifiers out of high
school.
In essence, that meant the 'Bows had to stay away from
the junior college pool of recruits that had nourished the program under
previous head coach Riley Wallace.
"I couldn't go out and find
the best players in junior college like we did before," Nash said. "We
had to recruit guys who had a certain academic background, and those are
hard to find in junior college. All that was not made aware to the
public."
The benefit of the plan was the perfect graduation rate.
The downfall was the loss of potentially better players.
If the
same plan had been in place years earlier, some players who never would
have been 'Bows include Anthony Carter, Trevor Ruffin, Marquette
Alexander, Tony Maroney, Julian Sensley, Matt Lojeski and Ahmet Gueye.
If
allowed to fulfill the final year of his contract next season, Nash
said he would have returned to recruiting all junior college players.
"My
plan was to put the academics in place, which we did," Nash said. "Now
we can go out and get guys who can help us right away. We just weren't
allowed to finish what we envisioned."
And in retrospect, Nash
said he probably wouldn't have recruited some of the players he did.
"One
thing I would change is that first year, not sign so many guys just to
fill the roster," he said. "If I took my lumps that year, maybe we would
have been able to bring in different players the following years."
No
ill will
Nash did not attend Monday's press conference, and did not
watch it on the Internet or listen to the radio.
However, Donovan
met with Nash several times in the final weeks of the season, including
late Sunday night. Donovan informed Nash of the decision early Monday
morning.
"I'm never going to harbor any ill will for this
decision," Nash said. "It was made in the best interest of the
university. It negatively impacts me, obviously, because I cannot finish
what I started. But if it's in the best interest of the university,
then I have to live with it."
Nash also noted that his tenure
coincided with the economic downturn.
"Obviously, if you're not
winning, that keeps more people away," he said. "You can talk about
declining attendance, declining season tickets ... reality is everything
is declining in this economy."
Nash said he tried to compensate
for the declining ticket revenue by making his own budget cuts,
including travel (the team went on just one non-conference road trip
this season).
Still wants to coach
Nash has fulfilled virtually every coaching duty during his
stint at Hawai'i, which started in 1981, when he was a graduate
assistant.
"I think coaching will always be in my blood," said
Nash, 59. "I think I have the knowledge of how this game is played. I
certainly would like to share that with another team some place. If I
had an opportunity that I thought was a great one, I would go and do it.
Whether it's (NCAA) Division II, or junior college, or high school, if
it's in Europe, or Asia — as long as it's a good opportunity to continue
coaching and is something that excites me, then I would pursue it."
Nash,
who is due $240,000 from UH as part of a buyout of his contract, said
he is financially stable and does not need an immediate coaching job to
pay his bills.
"I'm in a position to sustain myself and my family
through my hard work early in life," said Nash, a former first-round
selection in the NBA draft. "I don't want to keep coaching because I'm
driven by money or ego. I still have a lot of energy and passion for
helping young people get better as players and students."
The
next UH coach
When Riley Wallace announced his resignation as Hawai'i head
coach in 2006, he endorsed Nash as his successor.
Nash has no such
endorsement.
"I certainly don't want to stir up any controversy
by suggesting a candidate," he said. "I think Mr. Donovan has a great
mind for what he wants to do, and I think he'll make the right choice."
Nash
said he may not even attend Hawai'i games next season, so as not to
take away from the new coach.
"I will always support the
University of Hawai'i," he said. "Whether I go to the games or not,
that's something I would slowly have to work my way back into. I can't
be a distraction for someone else who is trying to build the program."
He
emphasized, however, that he would be willing to help the new coach
make the transition, if asked.
"I'm not going to force my opinion
on anyone," Nash said. "But I would share any information and assistance
I could to help the program."
His only words of advice to the
prospective new coach: "Of the six things that matter, make sure that
the wins are taken care of, because in the end, that seems to be the
carrot that solves problems."
The Hawai'i hurdles
Wallace — and the UH coaches before him — always said that
Hawai'i's isolation made it difficult to build a consistently successful
basketball program.
Nash is no different.
"It's a difficult
job for a number of reasons," he said. "There's a disconnect between
how you recruit on the Mainland and how you recruit here. On the
Mainland, you can drive out to see a recruit and be back home in a
couple of hours. You can even make a 5-hour plane ride and be back the
same day. Here in Hawai'i, that's impossible.
"And there are only
limited funds you can use on recruiting, so you can only fly back and
forth so many times when you're in Hawai'i."
That same Pacific
Ocean separating Hawai'i and its opponents make for difficult road
trips. The 'Bows went 4-27 on the road during Nash's tenure, including
0-9 this season.
Losing an icon
Nash was a respected figure in the entire Hawai'i athletic
department.
During his years of employment, he was often asked to
serve as emcee, or to give the invocation, at various athletic
department functions.
Derek Inouchi, the UH sports media relations
director, asked Nash to be the emcee at the wedding reception for him
and wife Michele in 2006.
"There was no other person we wanted,"
Inouchi said. "He knows us both very well so it made for an entertaining
and comical wedding reception, all with his signature style."
With
Nash's termination, a UH athletic department tradition may also come to
a halt. Every April, Nash would treat all the secretaries in the
athletic department to lunch on Administrative Professionals Day.
"He
would even have games ready for us to play," said Bobbie Omoto, the UH
basketball secretary.
Ultimately, though, his first love was
Hawai'i basketball.
"Coach Nash has three children — Erika, Bobby
and UH basketball," assistant coach Eran Ganot said. "And to understand
what that means, you have to understand what a great family man he is."
Immediate
future
For now, Nash just wants to relax. But part of that relaxing
includes exercise.
He said he is in good health and will begin
training to enter a marathon in June. His plan is to complete the San
Diego Marathon with his daughter, Erika.
"I'm not ready right now,
but I got plenty of time to catch up," he said.
In effect, he
said the only change in his life is unemployment.
"I'm going to
continue to try and be a good father and husband," he said. "The rest of
my life stays the same. Unfortunately, I have to move on from a place I
love dearly. I'll just take a step back from the public eye and kind of
fade away to the scenes and just be a normal person."
Nash did
not get a chance to make a formal farewell from UH, but said he
appreciated the fans who did show up for his team's games.
"I have
to thank all the fans who showed up and supported me and the program,"
he said. "Tom Ishii did a great job with the booster club, Sidney Hamada
with our annual golf tournament, Ruth Ono, Carolyn Berry, the Al Saake
Foundation ... there's so many who made this a memorable experience for
me."
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.