HONOLULU – University of Hawai‘i athletics director Jim Donovan announced the addition of two positions to women’s basketball head coach Jim Bolla’s staff Thursday, including an assistant coach and a director of operations. Both positions will begin immediately.
Dallas Bolla, who is the wife of Jim Bolla, will join the staff as an assistant coach, in time for Friday’s season-opener against Loyola Marymount. Dallas Bolla was previously the head coach at Long Beach State for eight seasons, from 1995-2003. She has nearly 20 years of coaching experience, including assistant coaching stints at Purdue and Louisville.
A four-person selection committee interviewed and recommended Dallas Bolla to athletics director Jim Donovan. The committee included UH assistant athletics director for facilities Teri Chang, UH ticket manager Walter Watanabe, Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association media relations director Natalie Iwamoto, and civil rights counselor Jill Nunokawa.
Due to UH Board of Regents policy on nepotism, Jim Bolla could not be involved in the selection process. In addition to UH, Washington State also features a husband-wife tandem on its coaching staff – June and Mike Daugherty. (Former Rainbow Wahine women’s basketball head coach Bill Nepfel and his wife Mary Hile-Nepfel coached together at UH from 1985-87 before becoming co-head coaches at the University of San Francisco for 13 years.)
“After having interviewed with Dallas, I concurred with the recommendation of the selection committee and offered her the assistant coaching position,” Donovan said. “Her head coaching experience, recruiting success, and almost 20 years of coaching made this decision self evident.”
Also joining the staff is Kevin Hashiro as director of operations. Hashiro was the women’s basketball play-by-play announcer for ESPN 1420 for the past nine seasons and is no stranger to the program.
“I’ve known Kevin for many years through his work at ESPN 1420,” Donovan said. “He’s well-liked and respected by both the Rainbow Wahine basketball program and UH athletics department. I’m confident he’ll do a great job with operations for the Rainbow Wahine basketball program.”
Both Dallas Bolla and Hashiro will join the team in Hilo, Hawai‘i, for the Bank of Hawaii Invitational this weekend. The Rainbow Wahine host the four-team tournament which includes LMU, Arizona and Toledo. All games will be played at the Hilo Civic Center.
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