I went to the UH women’s basketball game against Utah State. The Wahine didn’t play as poorly as in many other games this season, but still lost, 52-43. It’s the team’s eighth defeat in a row, dropping UH to 3-16.
Brian McInnis will have a full report in the Monday Star-Bulletin, and I wrote a column on whether it is time to find a new coach. I asked coach Jim Bolla a few questions after the game.
On improvement:
“I think the effort was there tonight. We’ve had spurts where we’ve had effort, I think tonight was the most sustained effort. I think, especially in the first half, we did a good job rebounding the ball. We had situations where we would shoot it, miss it, rebound it, and do it again. That typically has happened to us. Progress was made there. We just couldn’t get a shot to drop. We just missed too many layups, I think six in the first half.”
On the critics:
“I don’t mind, if people come to the game and pay to come, you can criticize me all you want. But these people that sit at home, don’t give the university a dollar, don’t know what’s going on at practice, aren’t here every day and understand how hard these young ladies are working. OK. You know, that’s just the way it is. And it’s not just here, it’s everywhere. It’s not something that’s a Hawaii thing, it’s anywhere. People want to see winners, and right now we’re not winning. But it doesn’t mean the kids aren’t practicing hard, aren’t playing hard.
“They played hard. You can’t fault them for not playing hard. But anybody who does that (criticize) I don’t know what to say to a person who does that.”
Has he heard people are saying the team has given up on him?
“That’s someone talking to someone else, someone who’s not around these kids every day, knowing how hard they’re working. And that’s fine. They can criticize all they want. If I went to watch them at their job, I’m sure I could probably criticize them about their job. They don’t have that luxury. I’ll put my coaching abilities against any one of these critics. OK. How many games have they won as head coach. It’s easy to criticize people when you don’t understand their job. All you see is what the end result is. You know, same thing is going on with Bob (Nash). I see Bob in the office early, I see Bob in the office late. I see him working with his kids, I see him breaking film down. It’s not that the effort’s not there. The results aren’t there. OK. It’s just the nature of the beast right now.
“You hear football got a late start. Well you know what, I got hired on July 17. I lost two recruiting years. It took four years for me to get a full-time staff. How far behind am I? So let’s get the real story out there, where we are.
“It’s easy to say in your fifth year you should be good. And I said, at the (preseason) press conference, I said that myself. We should be good. But you know what, when I have one assistant coach my first year and get hired in July, I didn’t lose one year, I lost two years recruiting. And when I don’t have a full-time staff, until going into my fifth year, of November my fifth year, is when I get my full-time coaching positions filled? OK. But you know what, it is what it is. I can’t change that. All we can do is work every day with these young ladies.
“People can say what they want to say. You know what, get your facts straight. I tell you what, 5,000 people come to this game, they can criticize me all they want.”
Has he met with Jim Donovan since the start of the year?
“No. No. Nope, not at all.”
– By Dave Reardon
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