When an NCAA school makes a decision to have one individual recruit and coach two separate teams, it does so fully aware an element of risk is involved in the consideration.
By their nature, personnel decisions are always uncertain so choosing one person to do the job of two, is very much like doubling down on the blackjack table at Las Vegas. While it is still early, there are indications that the University of Hawaii at Hilo might have made a sensible gamble when former athletics director Dexter Irvin hired Lance Thompson as “Director of Soccer.”
Thompson will be starting his third season as head coach of both gender squads, Gene Okamura, a former Vulcan player, assists in each endeavor. They aren’t miracle workers, but they each have some important skins on the wall that can enhance the possibilities for success.
Thompson knows the Pacific West Conference as well as anyone, having coached a playoff team at Notre Dame de Namur. He was 77-46-8 at two NAIA schools prior to that. Irvin hired a PWC insider when he selected Thompson.
Okamura played high school soccer across the street at Waiakea, closed out his senior season for the Vulcans in 2009 and is in the middle of coaching and directing the Rush club soccer program in Hilo. The head coach knows personalities and issues in the conference, his assistant knows where to find talented locals.
They even have a thick supply of interest arriving on a weekly basis.
“There’s no question,” Thompson said one day last week in his modest one-room office, “people want to come here and play soccer, actually quite a lot of them are contacting us.”
Thompson said the two soccer programs each get about 150 emails or letters a week from players around the country interested in Hilo. That’s 300 a week for the two programs, 1,200 a month. Receiving interest isn’t the problem.
“The problem,” he said, “is finding the right fit.”
The first question is financial, what the family can afford, ways the school might be able to help, what student loans might be available, that sort of thing. Next is academics. Thompson can’t afford to recruit a player who gets the financial part covered but isn’t motivated to get the job done in the classroom.
If the first two objectives are met, the social aspect comes in. What kind of kid is this, will they fit in and thrive on the Big Island or will it be too jarring for them based on their past?
After all that, Thompson and Okamura try to figure out if the interested party can play competitively at the Division II level.
Thompson has a master plan that just might work. His players on both soccer squads are embedded in the community, coaching youth league soccer, assisting on high school and club teams, some officiate games, everyone out there represents eyes and ears that can detect the kinds of players who might do well representing the Vulcans.
The plan has succeeded in attracting two of the better players on the Big Island, Waiakea’s Sabrina Scott and Tiani Teanio. If they can start a trend that energizes UH-Hilo soccer for local players, this could work out well.
“I looked at other schools,” said Scott, the BIIF Division I player of the year who made the cut for regional and national US Soccer tryout camps, “but I really like living here, the school is good, the coaching is good and I like the idea of being part of something here.”
Scott considered both Oregon and Oregon State before realizing she wanted to stay close to home. Teanio didn’t even go that far.
“I didn’t respond to any of the offers,” said Teanio, who began her soccer career as a 4-year old playing on an 8-year old club team. “I grew up a fan of UHH, I always thought it would be great to play there and when I looked at their science and nursing programs, I realized they had everything I want academically, so I felt like my decision was made.”
Her time, and that of her teammates and players on the men’s Vulcan team, will come soon enough.
If the awareness and excitement extends to other top Big Island players, the brain trust at UHH soccer might reap the benefits that come from knowledge of the conference and deep involvement in Big Island soccer.
Send tips, ideas to Bart at barttribuneherald@gmail.com
