Wagner moves on as BYUH athletics wind down

Ken Wagner could find home anywhere.

Perhaps more aptly, home could find Wagner, the longtime athletic director and basketball coach of Brigham Young-Hawaii. It didn’t matter where he was. A quiet town on the North Shore. A basketball camp in China. An obscure Hawaiian-themed restaurant in Massachusetts.

“He’s built all these relationships. He always finds a way to be at home,” PacWest commissioner Bob Hogue said.

Over the course of decades and countless miles traveled, Wagner put that unique skill to good use, building lasting bonds with people across the globe.

Those connections led to a stunning announcement out of Laie on April 26. After 26 years, Wagner stepped down at BYUH, the out-of-the-way program the 62-year-old spent nearly half his life building up.

An opportunity to coach the Taiwanese national hoops teams — men and women — for the next year and a half was tough to turn down.

The imminent elimination of athletics at BYUH factored in strongly. In March 2014, the school announced a three-year plan to phase out sports in favor of diverting more resources to building student enrollment.

“It was always a great place to work, great environment,” Wagner said. “You know, you make friends … for life, you’re like a family. It continues for 27 years. I guess you end up with a lot of kids.”

BYUH has one more year of competition, the 2016-17 athletic calendar, before its Seasiders are no more.

Until recently, it was Wagner’s intention to see it out to the end.

“I just think it was too good an opportunity to pass up,” said Hawaii Pacific basketball coach Darren Vorderbruegge, who considers Wagner a friend and mentor. “I don’t think any of us know how we would respond if someone said, ‘OK, your position’s ending in a year.’ “

In Wagner’s case, the response was reluctant.

“The one thing I’ll remember the most, which is probably the hardest thing for him, was when he told the players he was leaving,” said assistant coach Gabriel Roberts, a possible successor to coach out the final year. “He didn’t want anyone to find out until they knew first. To him, relationships are very important. Relationships you have with your players is key to being a successful coach, and just with getting along with people in general. He always treated people really well.”

Even with BYUH’s remote location, by no means did the Seasiders toil in obscurity under Wagner’s watch. Within two years of arriving for the job in 1990, he coached the basketball team to the NAIA final four.

He compiled a 501-241 record in his 26 years across NAIA and NCAA Division II competition, highlighted by an appearance in the D-II national championship game in 2011. His teams, often with heavy international flair thanks to his extensive recruiting network, were known for their solid chemistry and consistently competed for PacWest titles.

For more than 20 of those years, he was his own boss as athletic director. That meant devoting considerable time to the Seasiders’ other 10 sports programs. Many of them, particularly tennis, have excelled since Wagner guided the school into the NCAA in 2000. The women’s tennis team boasts seven NCAA D-II championships.

“I’m a sports junkie, so I loved watching our other teams,” said Wagner, who credited his coaches.

Since the announcement to phase out sports, the Seasiders have remained largely competitive, even in the face of recruiting difficulties.

“I, for one, think that Ken’s done a really admirable job in handling what was an unprecedented situation,” Hogue said. “No other school that I am aware of, and I’ve talked to people at the NCAA, no one has ever done what BYU-Hawaii decided to do over a prolonged period.”

That call was made by former president Dr. Steven C. Wheelwright and BYUH’s board of trustees. His successor, John Tanner, has not voiced any plans to reverse course.

There was a petition to keep athletics going and there have been offers of private donations — “very solid amounts” Wagner said — but not enough.

“Ken is an excellent coach and colleague,” Tanner said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. “His contributions at BYU-Hawaii have been significant, certainly with the number of wins — over 500. Beyond that, and most notably, he has been a valuable member of the Seasider ‘ohana in developing the character of our students, those he’s mentored on and off the court, those who are student athletes and those who are not. We are going to miss him at BYU-Hawaii and wish him the best.

“Our first concern is for our students. We’ve already begun the search for the best (AD) replacement who will provide a great experience for all our student athletes in this last season. We’ve been impressed initially at the interest and support — we hope there will be an announcement soon.”

Wagner doesn’t fault Tanner, whom he said has attended and supported athletics events since taking the post in July 2015.

“It’s tough to come in and change a decision like that immediately, because obviously they felt in some ways it would be a good thing,” Wagner said.

But he laments that something will be lost beyond the absence of wins and losses.

“We’re so far out you need a lot of things to entertain your students, have a well-rounded life,” Wagner said. “So I think they’ll miss it. I think it’s unfortunate, but obviously we’re a little prejudiced because we love athletics. We’ve seen how it changes lives, changes people, and has made a real positive impact on our school.”

Friends marvel at how players and their families from 20 or 30 years ago still call him to keep in touch.

HPU’s Vorderbruegge summed it up thusly: “He’s a legend. he’ll be missed.”