When coach Dave Shoji gathers his 2013 Hawaii volleyball team for the first time this morning, seven seniors will dominate his vision.
Still, it will feel new and different, just as the 38 previous Rainbow Wahine teams were unique.
The changing nature of collegiate athletics is one of the aspects Shoji likes best about his job and, probably in less than a month, he will become the winningest coach in his sport. He goes into this season, which opens Aug. 30 against NCAA champion Texas, with 1,103 wins. He needs three to tie close friend Andy Banachowski at No. 1.
Banachowski is retired and Shoji is close — he still is not sure how close —which now makes every season more precious.
There are records to break and final fours to strive for. A fifth national championship, 26 years after the last, is still a possibility. And there are 18 young women to train and transform into a team, another aspect of Shoji’s job that never gets old.
"I’m pretty comfortable with what we’ve got," Shoji said. "There won’t be any big surprises. We’ve seen enough of even the newcomers that we know what to expect. We can start evaluating from Day 1, because we’re not having to do a lot of teaching. We need reps, but we don’t have to start with fundamentals because this is a veteran group."
Shoji characterizes All-American Emily Hartong (hitter), all-region Mita Uiato (setter) and all-calming Ali Longo (libero) as the only starters in his lineup so far.
"I can’t say that about any other positions," he said. "We have good competition in the middle and all our other outsides are up in the air."
A dynamic player is gone with Jane Croson’s transfer, but she also took nearly all the off-the-court problems from last year with her.
"Jane," Shoji said last season, in the midst of her suspension for violating team rules, "lives on the edge of everything in life."
The new players are local freshmen Tayler Higgins (Punahou) and Nikki Taylor (Kaiser), JC transfer Keani Passi (Pearl City) and freshman setter Kyra Goodman, from California. Kyra’s sister Kaela is one of the seven seniors, along with Hartong, Uiato, Longo, Courtney Lelepali, Kristiana Tuaniga and Ashley Kastl.
Replacing those seven won’t be easy next fall. Hawaii’s recruiting can’t escape the shadow of Shoji’s looming retirement, which hurts even more than the school’s geographic isolation and the growing dominance of big-budget BCS schools.
"It’s going to affect the recruiting when you can no longer promise recruits I’ll be here when they come here," Shoji said bluntly. "We’re now into 2015 recruits, so that’s something that’s different. I’m still trying to help recruit, but I’m not promising anybody I’ll be here. My line is, ‘Come to Hawaii because it’s Hawaii.’"
It is like nowhere else in the volleyball world, which these 18 Wahine understand better than most. They play under the microscope of an island home that adores them, before the biggest crowds in the country. Only once since they moved into the Stan Sheriff Center nearly 20 years ago have they averaged less than 6,000 a match. Most schools call 600 a "crowd."
Prodigious expectations come with that. The goal is always to get to the final four, the ultimate goal always to win it. Most years that is a distinct possibility.
Moments after this morning’s practice begins, Shoji will start looking at how to replace Croson’s four kills a game, and her unorthodox but extremely effective ballhandling. Kastl, Passi, Ginger Long and Tai Manu-Olevao — activated midway through her freshman year when Croson was suspended — are in the mix.
"The other (left-side) hitter is our first priority, because that will determine who is in the passing formation," Shoji said. "It will be looked at very quickly."
Next up is finding offense from the right side, where those first four are all possibilities, along with Kaela Goodman and Taylor, the 6-foot-3 wild card.
The third priority cannot be charted or quantified.
"Each team has to develop its own personality," Shoji said. "I have an idea who the most vocal players are, but a lot of it … it’s hard to be a leader from the bench, so you’ve got to win a spot to command respect in that area. Obviously Hartong has earned respect from everybody, and Longo, but you’ve got to be a player who is contributing to have a part in how the team is going to be."
Even when a coach is starting his 39th season, it helps to have seven seniors, which was basically the difference for the Wahine in their championship years of 1979, ’83 and ’87.
"We have a lot of maturity," Shoji acknowledged. "It helps when you have so many older players, it’s easier on the younger ones. They’ve got role models and they just follow them. If you are too young, you don’t have enough solid people. When you are a freshman or sophomore you are still trying to find your way, but because we have people like Hartong and Longo — all the seniors are terrific role models —you just fall in line."
