Coolen gets grand total after delay of a day

The lei were a bit wilted and moist.

Some of the flowers were a day old, and it had been a long, humid afternoon at the place I like to call Bob Coolen Coliseum.

And who could blame the University of Hawaii softball coach for spilling a tear or two on the garlands stacked over his shoulders, climbing above that square jawline?

“Dave Shoji sent me a text (Friday),” Coolen said. “He said we’d better win, because they were bringing a lei.”

But it wasn’t to be. Coolen’s total number of victories as a college softball coach would remain for at least another day one short of a grand because of — what else? — a grand slam. Seattle’s Kaylee Ree’s bases-loaded homer held up for a 4-3 win for the visitors.

Coolen would have to wait to join legends Shoji (volleyball) and Les Murakami (baseball) in UH’s 1,000-victory club. And with rain clouds hovering over Manoa Valley all afternoon, the two chances on Saturday could’ve been washed out.

“That would’ve been … tumultuous,” Coolen said. “I still had butterflies from the (Seattle) game.”

After the Friday night loss, Nanci Coolen tried to distract her husband by involving him in her new hobby, making soap.

It worked, for a while.

“It took my full attention, because it’s dangerous,” Coolen said. “That lye stuff can burn you pretty bad.”

But by 10:30 Saturday morning, he’d had enough of working with chemicals and went to the field … for a game that wasn’t scheduled to start until 2 p.m. There was so much to do. You know, like … well, no actually there was nothing to do, except think about numbers like 999 and 1,000.

He knew there was no need to fret, he knew the milestone win would come eventually. But Coolen wouldn’t be Coolen if he didn’t worry about it.

The Wahine let him finally relax, scoring in every inning as Dana Thomsen pitched a two-hitter in a 7-0 win over Charleston Southern. Then, before the official celebration, they got Coolen on the road to the next thousand, beating Toledo 4-1.

The first time I met Bob Coolen was around 1990, soon after he’d arrived from Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., to be an assistant coach for the fledgling Wahine softball program.

My first impression was that he wasn’t going to last very long in Hawaii. He seemed too brash, talked too fast and too loud.

I learned quickly I was dead wrong, and I’m glad I was.

If you really listened to what he said, it was all good stuff, the right stuff. And he backed up anything he said with hard work. He proved over and over again that he would fight for his program and his players.

Coolen got his hands dirty every day, taking care of the field himself and with the help of a dedicated group of local boosters, and his consigliere, long-time volunteer assistant John Nakamura.

And all of those wins aren’t just because he’s been here a long time. Although the program is on a bit of a down cycle right now, the Rainbow Wahine have had several turns near the top of the college softball world on Coolen’s watch. There have been 10 NCAA tournament appearances and six conference championships.

He found star players everywhere from Australia to Kauai to California.

You know you’re good when they change the rules because of you. After UH got to the College World Series in 2010 with a record number of home runs that season, their favorite bats were taken off the approved list.

I asked him if, while growing up in Brockton, Mass., if he’d ever envisioned himself coaching softball, winning a thousand games, most of them in Hawaii.

“You know, I watched a lot of surf movies,” Coolen said. “We had parties in college (Wesleyan University, where he played baseball, football and swam), and we’d watch these movies. I remember one where a sailboat tried to make it over a wave at Waimea Bay.”

I guess he found that intriguing at least partly because he was a lifeguard.

The key connection came in 1986, which, as any Boston Red Sox fan such as Coolen knows, was a year that ended very badly. But it was also when Coolen met Rayla Allison. Allison coached UH in 1990 and ‘91, and Coolen was her assistant.

Coolen survived a national search to be hired as her replacement as UH’s head coach when Allison left to become the executive director of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

“I knew I made a great hire,” Allison said on Coolen’s tribute video.

Friends and family and Coolen’s players from the past quarter-century congratulated him and told him to get busy on the next thousand.

Three-time Olympic medalist Brooke Wilkins summed it up best.

“So many have come out better players,” she said. “And better people.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.