Hawaii columnist says give Bob Nash one more year

Providing one more year for Hawaii Coach Bob Nash to prove his mettle seems to us like an exercise in futility. But not in the way you might be thinking.

How will Nash recruit to address the Rainbow Warrior deficiencies when any UH target will certainly be hearing from other recruiters that going with Nash and Hawaii is a big-time gamble? That the recruit could be facing a new head coach coming in after the 2009-2010 season and, well, you know what new head coaches have a tendency to do.

This is the epitome of a rock and a hard place. The Hawaii AD would have to be extremely confident to advance Nash's contract years but not doing so is the veritable kiss of death.

We hope we are wrong.

Beleaguered Nash deserves 1 more year
Dave Reardon
Honolulu Star Bulletin
March 8, 2009

So this is what happens on a senior-less senior night. No seniors to play for, so the home team gets run off the court.

More to it than that, of course. Basketball's an emotional game, but an 11-point loss at home also comes down to sad facts. Hawaii's just too easy to figure out. Play zone and double Rod Flemings. No one's going to hit that open jumper consistently enough to make a difference, that is if they get to that point without a turnover.

But coach Bob Nash is befuddled, says he "can't put his finger on it."

Some of you think it's time to fire Nash, perhaps barring a miracle run in the WAC tournament. Buy him out, you say -- doesn't matter that the athletic department is already in a hole.

I say give him one more year, even if the Rainbows lose the tourney play-in game Tuesday. And if this team isn't significantly better a year from now, it will be time to reassign him to some other job, like guy in charge of campus parking. If you think that's cold, a bad way to treat a school legend, then you're too young to know there's precedent. Ask Red Rocha, who coached Nash and the rest of the Fabulous Five but was later fired -- and found out at the team banquet. College sports was business first, even as far back as the 1970s...

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