HONOLULU – Largely lost in the celebratory atmosphere surrounding Eran Ganot’s hiring as new University of Hawaii men’s basketball coach on April 9 and the weeks after was the fate of outgoing coach Benjy Taylor.
Appropriately, UH Manoa chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman and Ganot each opened their remarks with congratulations and gratitude for Taylor and his staff for this past 22-13 season, in which the Rainbow Warriors overcame tremendous early turmoil to finish in the Big West Conference championship game and only 10 points away from an NCAA Tournament berth.
It was the first conference title game appearance for Hawaii since 2002, and along the way Taylor and the Rainbow Warriors provided the school and fans with a lot of positive energy during an otherwise gloomy period of UH athletics.
As it turns out, Taylor and his staff did indeed literally disappear from the scene for about a month after the season, until Taylor finally showed up in a sharp brown suit for last Wednesday’s annual postseason banquet at the Sheraton Waikiki.
To the banquet organizers’ credit, Taylor was given the honor of presenting the individual awards and also was able to offer his personal thanks to the players and fans.
“Well there was a lot of speculation about whether I was going to show up or not, but … I’m here,” said Taylor, smiling broadly to loud applause. “It’s really strange because it just hit me that I never had an opportunity to visit with my staff and the team since everything happened … we haven’t been together since our last game in Anaheim, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to say goodbye to you guys.
“So hopefully I can get through this without getting emotional, because I haven’t seen you guys in a long long time, and I miss you and I love you, I just wanna say that.”
And if there was any doubt about whether Taylor would take the high road and focus on the positive, rather than express any sense of regret or bitterness … well, he erased that right away.
“This was a great season, and everybody is wondering about the future of the program and with me and these guys,” Taylor said. “I just want to assure everyone that we’re all gonna be just fine. We’ll be fine. We’re winners, we’re all good people, we came together at the right time for a cause. Everyone in here is going to be successful, that’s the important thing.”
Taylor also did not focus on himself or his staff when looking back on the season’s success; he used the word “we” often and gave just as much credit to the players as himself or his assistants.
“We talked about making history, each player individually talked about making history, what was important to them, and we came together,” Taylor said. “We had guys playing out of position, we had guys playing all over the place, we had guys just working their tails off in practice and competing every day. Everybody got better and better. We didn’t have the benefit of a lot of individual (instruction) and breakdowns and a lot of practice time. We just fought hard every night, and we came out to play every night, and we made history.”
The back-to-back 20-win seasons are the program’s first since 1996-97 and ’97-98, and Taylor made note of the fact the combined 42 victories for a two-year period ranks fourth all-time in school history.
Taylor also presented sophomores Stefan Jankovic and Negus Webster-Chan with the Community Service Award, for developing a friend/mentor relationship with Tristan “T.J.” Fernandez, a 14-year-old boy who is battling an inoperable brain stem tumor.
“Man, this is a special group of guys – not only did we win 22 games, but we did it the right way,” Taylor said. “It’s great group. We did a lot of stuff, and this is one of the best things we did all year was really taking T.J. on and making him part of our ‘ohana.”
In closing, Taylor showed his sense of humor when he strongly hinted that there is a way boosters and other fans can show their gratitude in the future.
“Get a job lined up for all these guys who (will) come back here and be back in this community,” Taylor said. “And I’m looking for one, too. There’s gonna be a jar back there, let’s get your business card in it. I’m willing to do anything, I’ll start at the bottom. I know I can’t start right out at the cash register – if I gotta sweep first, I’ll sweep first, do whatever.”
As the sudden, unexpected interim head coach this year, Taylor was busy “sweeping floors” and doing everything else especially early on when it seemed the season was on the brink of falling apart. Head coach Gib Arnold and longtime assistant Brandyn Akana were fired in late October, top returnee Isaac Fotu was declared ineligible and turned pro soon after, and top recruit Sammis Reyes announced his intention to transfer, with others possibly following him.
Many had predicted a “lost” season, but Taylor and his staff and the players managed to keep it all together and instead turned it into a fun, highly successful season to remember.
At night’s end Wednesday, emcee Bill Van Osdol – the Konawaena graduate better known as “Billy V.” – summarized the fans’ appreciation for Taylor and the 2014-15 Rainbow Warriors:
“As long as he will live … he will be known here as ‘Coach,’ ” Van Osdol said. “Not just Benjy Taylor. He has been the head coach here at the University of Hawaii, and we thank you.”
What followed was a standing ovation and loud, grateful applause – just the kind of sendoff Taylor deserved.
