Basically this is the last thing Dave Shoji said five-plus years ago at “Da Man, Da Myth, Da Legend,” his warm-and-fuzzy-yet-frenzied Aloha Ball Retirement Celebration:
“I’ll remember this night forever. It was my pleasure. And I’ll be real close by.”
So it’s no surprise we see the former University of Hawaii coach at nearly every Rainbow Wahine volleyball home match since he retired in February 2017. He usually sits on the lower level opposite the benches, a few seats away from wife Mary, old and new friends and sometimes perpetual-motion grandkids.
Two weeks ago, as Hawaii played former fierce rival Long Beach State, I couldn’t stop looking at the guy who guided the Wahine to four national championships and 1,202 victories. He watched, as always, in studious concentration. I kept wondering what is going on in his head?
“I’m not coaching but I’m observing and I’ve got my opinions on just about everything that’s going on out there,” he admits.
Does he share those opinions?
“Oh no, I keep everything to myself.”
At that point, Mary interrupts.
“Until he walks in the house and we … review.”
Apparently Mary and sons Kawika and Erik — both Olympians and professional volleyball players — are the only ones Shoji shares his analytical thoughts with.
It’s not his nature, and simply not cool, for a coach to verbally break down every twitch of someone else’s team, especially if its coach is your former All-American, three-time Olympian — with a silver medal to prove it — and close friend Robyn Ah Mow.
But Shoji simply can’t stop coaching in his head. He doesn’t watch a game like we do, and he doesn’t seem able to thoroughly enjoy the magical moments.
But he is often happy at the end. Ah Mow is 104-35 in her first five seasons (2020 was not played because of the pandemic). She is close to lifting the Rainbow Wahine to their 40th NCAA Tournament appearance — and 29th in a row — and third consecutive Big West title.
For that Shoji is extremely grateful.
“We want the best for the program, want the best for Robyn and the staff because we feel pretty close to them still,” says Shoji, who even follows live stats in the afternoon when the Wahine are on the road. “So when they win it’s gratifying. For Robyn to have won 100 matches already in her career is pretty amazing. She got there pretty fast. That’s a good sign.
“Obviously I see things that I either really like or don’t like, but in the end I’m a fan and I want them to win. It’s enjoyable because I don’t have to make the decisions.”
He readily admits to analyzing “just about every play, that’s just my nature.” He says he does the same thing when watching football games involving son-in-law Coleman Hutzler, now Alabama’s special teams coach. But talking to them about the game is “off limits” to Shoji.
While coaching and competition is still in his blood, there are things he doesn’t miss — regular-season road trips and the daily grind of coaching that goes beyond the games, for two.
His wife enjoys being able to have a conversation at the games now, instead of constantly trying to read emotions on the court.
Along with not having to make difficult decisions anymore at UH, Shoji is now free to enjoy coffee and the newspaper when he wakes up … until his 2-year-old granddaughter comes upstairs.
And his health is “pretty good,” often the first question people ask him. Shoji was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016. Now he is “pretty much cancer-free.”
“He’s doing very well, not just pretty well,” Mary says, adding that her husband is “gone way more than I am — golfing, surfing, golfing, surfing. He loves to cook and does a great job in the kitchen.”
Shoji was making guava jam last time I saw him. That threw me almost as much as watching him at that Long Beach match and wondering what he could possibly be thinking, and why he wasn’t smiling at how Hawaii played … until the end.
His only regret at this point might also be a surprise for a guy who crafted the first revenue-producing volleyball program in the NCAA, and captured Hawaii’s imagination in the process.
At Shoji’s retirement, former Pacific and Stanford coach John Dunning said he “changed the sport.” Former Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro told Shoji “There is no place but Hawaii where volleyball is a way of life and you are the person responsible … we will really miss you.”
But Shoji now wishes he had shared those amazing feats, and feelings, more with Hawaii fans.
“I don’t think I made it clear how important the fans were to me and the program,” he says. “I don’t really know how to reach out to them. We had a booster club, but not everybody is in the booster club.
“To this day, people tell me about their grandmother having to watch Wahine volleyball. Everything stopped when Wahine volleyball was on TV. It was really heartwarming for me, but I just didn’t know how to acknowledge that.”
Just keep coming to the games. And smile. You earned it.
