On one hand bringing back Angelica Ljungqvist to be an assistant coach recalls some of the glory years in University of Hawaii women’s volleyball.

Ljungqvist, after all, was the American Volleyball Coaches Association and Volleyball Magazine national player of the year in 1996, the last time the Rainbow Wahine reached the NCAA Championship match.

But the hiring of the four-time All-American also speaks to a much-needed modern investment in not only the volleyball program but in women’s athletics in Manoa.

That is because, in order to create the opening to hire Ljungqvist, UH had to make Jeff Hall, who had been doing double duty as indoor associate and beach head coach, solely a beach coach. (Kaleo Baxter has been retained as the other indoor assistant).

For all the wisdom in separating the positions, it remains something of a rarity in the Big West Conference, where UH’s opponents also double up on the coaching jobs to save money.

Meanwhile, it has been the increasing practice at the highest levels of the sport where teams that aspire — and win — national championships split up the positions for the betterment of both programs.

You see it, for example, in reigning indoor champion Stanford as well as USC, UCLA, Nebraska and other well-heeled programs.

“I guess what we were seeing is that if you are really serious (about competition on the highest levels) you are going to separate at some point so you can have the maximum coaches, recruiting and opportunities at top levels,” said Marilyn Moniz-Kaho’ohanohano, UH associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator.

Indeed, UH had talked about separating the positions since taking up beach volleyball in the inaugural 2012 season. But when push came to shove amid the annual budget crunch and urgent “asks,” it had always assigned an associate indoor coach to double up on the beach. Initially it was Scott Wong and, then, Hall, overseeing the beach team.

And while the SandBows have fared well, you wondered what it might have taken away from the indoor side where the number of competing schools is higher and the competition deeper.

The retirement of Dave Shoji undoubtedly opened the door for UH to finally make the move. Because whatever his successor, first-time head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos is making — and her contract has yet to be fully executed, a spokesman acknowledged Wednesday — it is considerably less than the $179,328 Shoji was earning toward the end of his record 42-year run.

With that — and by reportedly tapping foundation accounts — UH made the arithmetic work even with the addition of Ljungqvist and whatever adjustments were made with Hall’s package.

In the past any savings along those lines likely would have been invested in any number of competing projects inside the cash-strapped department.

Even now UH is scratching for funds to try to boost its cost of attendance stipends for scholarship athletes. Then, there is the funding of a 10th assistant football coach position the NCAA has cleared the way for in January. That is also a position UH has said it wants but does not currently have the resources to underwrite.

In her inaugural season and beyond Ah Mow-Santos is going to need all the recruiting help she can get and having Ljungqvist as a year-around assistant is one significant step in that direction.

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