Stephen Bidne has resigned as the University of Hawaii women’s golf coach to accept a position as the associate head coach at Kansas, the school announced Thursday.
Bidne led the Rainbow Wahine to four team victories this season, including the program’s first Big West championship. UH shared the title with Cal Poly, which won a playoff for the conference’s berth in the NCAA Regionals.
The Wahine posted six team victories and six individual titles during Bidne’s five-year tenure, both UH coaching records. The team’s scoring average of 298.3 this season was also the best in program history. UH set school records for low round (282) and 54-hole score (854) at the Fresno State Classic in March.
“I am so thankful for the opportunity David Matlin gave me five years ago, when he entrusted me to lead the Rainbow Wahine Golf program,” Bidne said in the announcement posted on the UH website. “While we were able to accomplish some pretty great feats these past five years, it is the people that I will miss the most — players both past and present, UH supporters, friends and co-workers. Hawaii will always have a special place in my heart.”
A national search for Bidne’s replacement will begin immediately, according to the UH release.
Brown joins Wahine basketball staff
De’Audra Brown will join the University of Hawaii women’s basketball program as an assistant coach, UH announced Thursday.
Brown spent the past five seasons at New Mexico State and fills the vacancy on head coach Laura Beeman’s staff left by the departure of Khalilah Mitchell, who moved on to San Jose State in April.
Originally from North Carolina, Brown helped NMSU win Western Athletic Conference regular-season titles in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons and the 2019 WAC tournament championship. She also coached at the junior college level at Seward County Community College in Kansas (2015-17) and Eastern Arizona College (2013-15).
Brown joins a UH program that went 20-10 and won the Big West regular-season and tournament titles last season.
Lau named CoSIDA Academic All-District
Kayleen Lau of the Chaminade women’s tennis team was named Thursday to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic Division II All-District At-Large Team as voted on by members of CoSIDA.
Lau was named to the District 8 Team, which encompasses the three conferences in the D-II West Region. She is now eligible for CoSIDA Academic All-America status, which will be announced in June.
The Wailuku native owns a cumulative grade-point average of 3.90 in cellular and molecular biology. She was the president of Chaminade’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Lau plans on forgoing her final year of athletic eligibility to attend the Boston University School of Medicine through Chaminade’s articulation agreement with the school.
