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David Matlin had never hired a coach when he took the University of Hawaii athletic director’s job in 2015. Read more

David Matlin had never hired a coach when he took the University of Hawaii athletic director’s job in 2015.

But in less than two years in the position he has opportunities to shape UH’s coaching staff unmatched by his predecessors in the Division I era.

When he selects a successor to Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji, Matlin will have filled the three most prominent spots in the school’s 21-team lineup. Its three biggest income producers — football, men’s basketball and Wahine volleyball — all in a row.

No AD in the major college period at UH, some serving for nearly a decade, have filled the three spots in their tenure or anything approaching it in such a short period in office. Not Ray Nagel, Stan Sheriff, Hugh Yoshida, Herman Frazier, Jim Donovan or Ben Jay.

UH is advertising for a successor to Shoji, contingent on the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame coach stepping down after a record-setting 42-year run.

Matlin, who was announced as AD in March 2015, hired Eran Ganot as men’s basketball coach before officially moving into his campus office. Seven months later he hired Nick Rolovich to replace Norm Chow, whom he had fired less than a month earlier.

Some ADs at UH have had scant opportunity to put their mark on the hirings of the top revenue sports. For example, in his four-plus years Herman Frazier’s most prominent hires were men’s basketball coach (Bob Nash) and women’s coach (Jim Bolla). In his three years Ben Jay got none.

And sometimes the ADs don’t even get to make the call that is nominally theirs, as we were reminded when the administration rebuffed Jim Donovan’s choice of Dirk Koetter and mandated Chow instead.

Matlin’s hiring of a basketball coach was made easier by a previous association with Ganot, whom he’d come to know through the Diamond Head Classic. Rolovich was also not an unknown figure.

But Wahine volleyball is a whole other field of endeavor, one that Matlin had little opportunity to cross paths with while working for ESPN Events or the Houston Astros and UH ticket offices.

This is where Shoji comes in even as he prepares to depart. “He’s giving me a lot of pointers, a lot of advice and I will talk to him about any and all candidates and seek his input, absolutely,” Matlin said Wednesday. “He’s been on the job for 40 years and we’ve talked about what characteristics we need.”

To that end Shoji has give him four names to consider, reportedly including Pittsburgh’s Dan Fisher and Pepperdine’s Scott Wong.

Fisher played on the 1995 UH men’s team and served as an associate to Charley Wade. His wife, Joni Abel, played soccer at UH. Wong was an assistant for five years under Shoji and was a head coach of the SandBows.

But Shoji won’t make the final call, Matlin maintains. For as much as they “owned” their programs, Les Murakami, Dick Tomey, Riley Wallace, Vince Goo and June Jones didn’t get to pick their successors, either.

“I’ll tell you one thing, I’m hiring the next coach,” Matlin said, shooting down suggestions to the contrary. “I’ll recommend the coach to the chancellor.”

He’s certainly getting experienced at it.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529- 4820.