Happy birthday to coach Shoji
wished him early one at the end of last night’s press conference.
He is on the mainland for a few days, be back Wednesday, which is my itinerary as well.
no news on Taylor. believe they are waiting to do some X-rays.
COMMENTS
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Haoli la Hanau Dave! Mahalo nui loa for all you and your staff has done all these years. And for all the hard work the Wahine have endured! We still love you all and are very proud of you for representing Hawaii! GO BOWS!
Did Emma Smith really not record a dig?
2. No, 8 digs. http://hawaiiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?id=20767&path=wvball
Happy Birthday Coach – job well done. I was told from a very good source that Dave never reads these comments. If true, I am glad as many of us would have had to apologies for things we said about him over the years. If it is not true, damn it Dave, get your tail back here – we have a lot of work to do to make another deep run.
Thanks Mav….in the Star Advertiser’s box score, she is credited with 0.
Don’t mean to drag this on, just commenting on the fact that recruiting is done for 2017, etc., so the time frame of his announcement, IF he retires doesn’t matter. Playing devil’s advocate again here….I’m the son of a lawyer, it’s natural for me. 🙂
Anyway, back to my point. When a coach retires or leaves a program, ALL signed NLIs become null and void and the athlete can choose to change their commitment if they want. The current roster can also choose to transfer with no penalty, if they want. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it is a common trend that when a coach leaves, the roster can take a hit. It should be expected. I’m hoping that is not the case here at Hawaii and they all choose to stay IF he does retire. But we should expect the worst and hope for the best.
The only team I can remember staying together after a coach leaves is Washington when Jim left for Notre Dame. However, the program was returning a VERY STRONG senior class and leadership and was expected to make a run the next year for the title. That senior class kept them together. Hawaii just lost a HUGE senior class and leadership. We are vulnerable to some leaving.
With that being said…if Dave announces his retirement and some spots open up due to transfers, we will need the time to wrap up a coach and some possible transfers that may want to follow a new coach here.
So, yes, although 2017 recruiting is done, a new coach with the possibilities of spots opening up and knowing how every year there are BIG time transfers that happen (probably due to everyone committing when they are in 7th grade, for crying out loud. Exaggeration, but you know what I mean)
I keep thinking about Kelsey Robinson. When she transferred from Tennessee to Nebraska, I know from a very reliable source that she wanted to come to UH, but they had no spots open. Then after she commits to Nebraska, who ups and leaves but Jane Croson. We could have had Kelsey Robinson that year if we knew in time. Timing is everything during the off season, especially now that transfers are happening all the time.
This is the ONLY thing that I have a problem with Dave announcing his retirement after the season. Well, other than being able to reward him with a send off that he is deserving of. If he announces it sooner, we hire a coach sooner, we get potential to plant some seeds sooner in transfers. Bing, badda, boom. We get a national championship team next season. 🙂 Haha…ok, a little too much. But just trying to obnoxiously prove my point…hopefully in a fun way. Like I said, Dave owes us nothing and he can announce his retirement any time he wants….just my thoughts on it being sooner rather than later.
I have only this one sentence to say. Thank you Hawaii Womens Volleyball for making our Fall into Winter such a wonderful time year after year!!!
Oh…you know what would be a great idea when Dave does announce his retirement.
I understand he doesn’t want to take away the attention from the seniors on senior night. I respect him even more for that.
So, we could do a “passing of the torch” type of ceremony at the first match of the next season. He deserves his send off and see the appreciation we have for him. That would be a great celebration and event as he retires and welcomes the new coach aboard. It could be a great thing if done properly.
6. I don’t think NLIs are voided when a coaching change occurs:
http://www.nationalletter.org/nliProvisions/coachingChange.html
well..tough break for na wahine. they still made minny had to fight for it in each set rather than being pushed over. got to make amends for next season.
unfortunately the M in minnesota probably stands for murphys law which na wahine didnt take into account where everything that can go bad will go bad and not have a substantial backup to nikki. credit is still due to them that they run a really fast offense whereas na wahine havent really perfected since they swept the beach at home.
that amends of murphys law and wahine next year probably can deploy some more tactics such as noreens ‘rebound’ kill and perhaps follow up with a ‘counter block kill’ where 2 plays go up to kill not simultaneously but in succession so that player 1 who gets blocked, her teammate who jumped up after her can counter by the block whom should be going down by following it up immediately with a spike on the just blocked ball.
Congrats to Nikki Taylor. IMHO the best wahine ever. She could do it all.
RE: Transfers / NLI
Bottom line: players can do what they want, go where they want. (with consequences)
A student who signed a NLI can go to a different school immediately but forgets a year of eligibility (sits out a year). Furthermore, a student athlete who signed a NLI can opt out for a different school after 1 year fulfillment.
A good coach can alleviate player concerns, given time. (Especially if he/she has won a national championship.)
oh and happy bday to dave as well 7 and O!
(other amusing things/junk food for thought) if you think the ncaa and/or its selection committee was unfair in seeding/bracketing perhaps have them and/or their bylaws sued including impugn them, accuse them of being nefarious, fraud with intention to deceive, and/or conflict of interest personal gain. (think of tcu getting an at large despite a losing season with more losses than wins, and those wins barely and washington despite getting some bad losses getting a seed)
however regardless of circumstances they should beaten k state and u-dub. additionally they should of redshirted greeley from the getgo. what a waste of a year of eligibility for her.
6. The other reason NLIs aren’t null and void is to protect the players. In your example, UH would have no obligation to keep the players on scholarship through the end of the academic year (after VB services have been rendered), especially if the player is not productive or the university wants to save some money. You may have meant something other than null and void, maybe something like asking for a release without any of the eligibility penalties that blunite mentioned. Think that’s how we got Natasha Burns.
This program has great tradition that will continue, regardless of who the coaches are. Look at football programs like Alabama, where the tradition continues year after year, with legendary coaches and national titles. And everyone will remember all the players who, over the years, have built this tradition.
Imho, great coaches teach excellence, instill the right attitudes and motivate. Great players always want to excel, push themselves to be the best, elevate to the next level. Just my two pennies and nothing more.
correct Mav. The student athlete does not have to stay with their original commitment, but the incoming coach has to honor. Sorry, null and void did sound both ways. My bad.
Happy bday Dave! Regardless if he does retire or not, we are really blessed to have had him, wish we could keep him forever. All the blood, sweat, and tears he’s poured into the program to make it what it is, his legacy will live on. As to when or how he does it, it is what it is, I would just let it be, yea there is timing and all that jazz but really, in the end, it all pans out. I don’t think we have a right to say “he screws us over” or “should have been a different way”. We will just deal with it when it comes down the pipe. I get that we are all passionate about vball and in the end, the players have to decide whats best for their futures and all we can do is wish them the best of luck in whatever they decide, whether to transfer out or not. It’s COMPLETELY ok, and someone else will come to take their place. Now as to whether Nikki is the best all time, I respectfully disagree. One thing I observed is that on defense, a lot of times she wasn’t ready to play defense. Standing straight and tall and not in a defensive position. Thats just my observation. I think Kanani might be all time.. She could do it all. But I may be biased, local girl done good.
I don’t believe NLI are voided when teams change coaches but I do believe most coaches will grant the kids their releases if they ask for it. The kid never signed on to play for the new coach and the new coach never recruited the kid so it’s a good parting if the kid is not fully committed.
It’s unfortunate that none of our current assistants are head coaching material yet. It would have been great to hire from within to keep the player “in system” but none is ready to take the helm.
I would like to see Charlie Wade throw his name in and hand the reign of the men’s team to Milan Zarkovic. I think Charlie have grown as a HC by picking up a lot of stuff from the men’s game and can bring them over to the women’s side. I also like Charlie’s recruiting philosophy of recruiting world wide. The Wahine could get more game ready players instead of recruiting raw kid and hope they can help down the line.
The men’s will still be in good shape with Milan as he was a HC for the Serbian Jr. National Team and various other club team.
#17 Nikki Taylor is a local girl!!!!
Congrats to Dave for starting off a brand new decade in his life. As healthy & fit as Dave appears to be, I’m sure he has many years ahead. Whether he decides to stay for a while or spend them playing golf, I wish him the best, and a very happy birthday!
Number 6
You put a lot of time and effort into a post that is completely WRONG. Maybe that’s the way it should be, but an NLI is binding no matter what the coach does.
RE: Coach Talk
Interesting coaching comments. (Good play is often recognized regardless of match result.)
Mike Sealy’s attention to detail:
“I think if we can dial in the consistency and trajectory of the set, we’ve shown in previous matches that we can be cleaner.”
“I think we can control the quality of the dig, the quality of the set transition, we can really fire back, clicking on offense.”
Nebraska’s John Cook on TCU:
“I thought (TCU) played some really good defense. They served really tough, but I thought our block and defense put a lot of stress on them.”
(Wong-Orantes had 24 digs, tying the Husker record for most digs in a three-set NCAA Tournament match.)
Penn State”s Russ Rose:
“Pitt’s a great opponent and when we lost the first game it was clear they were better prepared to play at the onset than we were but I thought we steadied out.”
BYU’s Heather Olmstead:
“Congrats to UNLV on a great match and a great season,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “ That first set was a battle.”
Dave Shoji:
“We’re not the same team without Nikki Taylor, that’s obvious,”
One more quote from Porky Pig:
“Bde-bde-bde, that’s all folks!”
Rabbit Ears, you are right, I completely stand corrected, I think I completely forgot she’s from hawaii kai and went kaiser. It wasn’t on purpose or a race thing, I simply forgot. Still think kanani is all time. I do wish Nikki best of luck in her future, whatever she ends up going into!
I would have to put Teee Williams (NPOY, Co-NPOY, Olympian) as the greatest all around ever but Nikki is clearly the best OP ever. And Nikki has been the best player spoke-person ever to articulate and model what being a wahine means. Nikki’s parents have so very much to be proud of – a job truly well done in parenting.
Switching gears a little. I looked at Shaney Lipscomb’s stat line for Cathedral Catholic’s championship match and she wasn’t much of a factor, if the stats are accurate. 1-0-2, .500, no blocks, digs, service attempts or receipts (and yes, I know the team has a 6-3 and 6-4 sister combo, the former a USC commit). I only mention this as some have written that she could have a starting or impactful role for UH next season, similar to what was written about Sibley last year (she did ok as a freshman, but needs another year or two to blossom). Just hope folks don’t put too many expectations on Shaney and give her the time to develop. Same with the other signed commits.
Shaney Lipscomb’s year stats, kills 147-68-344, .230%, 2.3 per set, 4th on team (top 3 hitters are 2.7 and below), blocking 0.4, no significant serving, digging, serve/receive stats so she was probably playing only front row. The Trojan recruit is Brennan Willhite 6’3 middle, her sister (can’t recall her name or position) is a 6’4 sophomore. Shaney’s listed at 6’2 on the roster, stats are decent and probably a year or two project for D1, not an impact.
Cindy on today’s article, you probably have already realized it, or have been told of it, Iosia is not the FOY for the BW. Have a safe trip back, Aloha!
Since we’re addressing the new incoming class of outside hitters, Arden Misrage, listed on HS roster 6’0, for 2016 season kills 57-35-169, .130%, 0.4 blocks, no significants for backrow digging, serve-receive, serving. Probably only a part-time starter and certainly a project like Lipscomb. Granato and Greeley will probably start on the outsides and Kirsten Sibley is a front runner for a the third outside hitter position. Kirsten has had her coming in party this season and I expect her to be much improved next season. Didn’t she have a desire to play sand?
A right side hitter for 2017:
A poster from VT envisioned Granato for the RS position. Yes, she’s stretching only 5’11, but has shown as a decent blocker and she has had some heavy kills out of the backrow. I love her playing demeanor and at times wish we had 6 players like her on the court, no fear!
High school stats are often misleading, I remember watching Emily Hartong in CIF finals and she just had like 3 kills and a few blocks and was basically a non factor, but of course she made an impact right away as a freshmen at UH.
To me I think Skyler Williams has the potential to contribute right away. She just gets up so high and puts the ball away with authority, depends on how fast she picks up the speed of the college game though especially as a blocker. But I get serious Olivia vibes from Skyler.
I think it’s more likely we see Mags at Opposite than granato especially if Natasha and Casey keep improving and Skyler is ready to contribute right away ( or Sophia)
Although I do like the idea of Mckenna at right side. especially if we run a faster offense. just have her concentrate on hitting bombs and not passing.
Who is better MJ or Lebron?
I am for playing Granato anywhere except where she needs to pass or block. Sibley has 10 times the potential which in mho was not nurtured last year.
Rabbit ears, K.B. or K.A.J. or M.J.
If they (Shoji? new coach/coaches?) intend to move Maglio to the right, it’s wise to do it now than later. Like Spring training now, not later in August. An early season starting lineup with first line backups will be very beneficial. No bachi with injuries, of course.
Unfortunately none of the ’17 recruits are impact players, definitely no terminating type. Sophia Howling is ranked in the nineties for ’16 top seniors.
If Shoji’s retire, I hope the AD looks for a coach willing to after Minnesota type recruits. Sure the naysayers will say we have no chance against the Power 5. Maybe but what if NaWahine is successful 1 of 25 times, is it worth it? Is getting a Lanier-type worth getting every 3-4 years? I say yes.
I think reason Mckenna played over Kirsten is just armswing, hopefully Kirsten will train hard in the weight room this offseason so her hits pack more of a punch.
34. LeBron is the better Cleveland Cavalier, MJ is the better Chicago Bull.
38. Like your attitude. I thought I read somewhere that Shoji gave up on recruiting the top players because UH wasn’t even on their radar. Maybe you need to hold mainland camps for a few years as a marketing tool to get girls interested. Be more aggressive on the recruiting front, including internationally. Lots of internationals are coming to the US, and are not coming to UH. I agree that one Willoughby every three or four years will make a huge difference.
Rankings don’t matter, USC had a number 1 and 2 ranked recruit and UH still beat them. USC always recruits very well but they still have a losing record against Hawaii.
What helps Minnesota is how much talent that state currently has, Wilhite , their setter and those tapp twins are all homegrown talent.!!! That’s huge for them.
Hawaii just hasn’t had that much talent lately which is why we havn’t signed many local girls lately.
we Had Nikki but missed out on Kan, Anae, and Mau. Would have been different if we kept all of them home but then again no one expected them to be as good as they have been in college back in their high school days. Kan was supposed to be a libero, Anae and Mau were under the radar types not ranked in the top 100 either.
35. and 39. Hello Ron! I fully agree with you and warriorfan on Sibley. That girl has a no fear demeanor like Granato, can sky and swing with authority. A year in the weight room and maybe on the sand will be very beneficial. Ron, hope all is well with you and yours on Maui.
To Ron, Cindy and all the bloggers on VT have a joyful and peaceful holidays!
41. Minnesota had 5 or 6 top 40 senior aces on the floor against UH. Rankings are not the complete story, but it sure helps to bring in top players. Today, you can’t rely on upcoaching projects and finding under-the radar-types who end up being great to compete against the top 5 (i.e., compete for a national championship). For every Mau or Kan are many who never pan out.
How much of the recruiting class quality is due to Hall being in his second year as assistant? I think last year’s class was done when he got the job. He probably needs time to establish relationships. Maybe someone on here is more knowledgeable and can comment.
43. True but they were all homegrown Minnesota talent I believe 5 of their 7 starters are Minnesotans and that is a huge advantage for them they we do not have.
Hawaii just isn’t producing that much talent lately. Nikki (20s ), Mckenna (70s) , Savannah (70s) and Tayler Higgins (20s) were the only senior aces from the entire state of Hawaii with Adora Anae (70s) in the entire NCAA.
obviously Kan and Mau were overlooked by those rankings.
I don’t see our state producing major talent until 2020 with Elena Oglivie and possible Maluhia Ma’a. maybe 2019 also with Lexis Akeo.
I doubt we keep Ma’a home, and not sure about Akeo but we really do need to keep Oglivie home IMO.
I’ve heard the same sentiment from my friends who used to play club here maybe 7-8 years ago and they all mentioned how the talent pool from Hawaii hasn’t shrank over the years for whatever reason. Before there was a plethora of guys AND girl talents playing vball at a collegiate level. Just not what it used to be. I was sitting in the same row as lisa strand-ma’a during the state tournament, I was rooting for Iolani, and thats when I was completely floored by that freshmen Oglivie. Lisa and her fam would obviously be cheering for Malu as they called her, I wonder if she would go to UCLA like her older brother (I THINK her older brother goes there and I THINK they are siblings )
43.
I think Jeff Hall has done a pretty good job considering he was recruiting boys just three years ago but he obviously is having more success with beach recruiting and will be even better at that when he becomes the full time beach coach IMO.
I think we will never seriously be in contention for non local top 10 -15 ranked recruits But I do think coach Shoji tries to recruit those in case those players ever transfer out. Sometimes we will get lucky with a top 10 recruit with dreams of being a rainbow wahine like ( jane Croson)
Our next coach just needs to keep doing what Dave is 1. keep the very top instate talent home ( Nikki), 2. get some top 50 mainland recruits ( Kalei and Norene)
3. supplement that with great foreign players ( like Mags) and impact transfers (like Annie)
I think some people just aren’t too excited about the 2017 recruiting class bcause it doesn’t feature any hose listed above, but I do really like all three of the recruits.
I think Skyler and Sophia will make a very quick and hard hitting middle duo that everyone will be happy with in a few years.
We all see the problem: the talent level does not match up with power 5 schools. So playing straight up with them has little chance of ultimate success (national championship).
Karch Kiraly faced the same problem and he decided to go fast sets (fast offense). USC, UCLA, Minnesota, and other PAC 12 and Big Ten schools have followed suit.
The one pre-requisite of a faster offense is passing “nails” to the setter. Hawaii has an AA DS who can do that. Iosia is arguably the top fast ball setter in the nation (currently setting “moon” balls at the coaches direction.)
Lastly, the seams created by the fast sets means that the hitters just need to be athletic. Naturally, you still need taller players in order to block.
Hawaii matches up just fine with most power 5 schools in talent, the only ones that clearly have more talent are the Nebraskas, Stanfords, USCs, Floridas, Texas,PSU, UCLAs but Hawaii still can hang with them as we beat half of them the last time we played them.
What we need to do is go back to our roots and have the best ball control around, Hopefully newcomers Gong and redshirt freshmen Okino will help out a lot and Greeley, Smith and Kahakai will improve greatly for next season. With solid ball control Iosia can do her thing.
Coulple of things
NLIs are binding They are signing with school not coach
If School releases them from binding NLI a player is eligible to play immediately If no release and player transfers then player has to sit out
Re FOY Iosia my bad really long day little sleep not sure what I was thinking wrote it on on the plane
Hall has recruited men and women He was doing both at UCSD
But as mentioned his goal is to be full time beach coach
Wade wiuld be interested if UH is interested
Shoji said quite a lot more than the one sentence you chose to use
All region teams out tomorrow