The relationship between the University of Hawaii basketball program and head coach Eran Ganot is as solid as steel.
Ganot reached an agreement on a three-year contract extension that will run through the 2025-26 season. If he fulfills those terms, his 11th season — the so-called steel anniversary — will boost him to second behind Riley Wallace in coaching longevity in the program’s all-intercollegiate history. Wallace coached 20 UH seasons through his retirement in 2007.
Negotiations amplified after the 2021-22 season. His current contract was set to expire next summer.
“I am excited to continue to work with Eran as he builds a program that the university and state of Hawaii can be proud of,” UH athletic director David Matlin wrote in an email. “He represents Hawaii with class and focuses on the right things, which is developing young men via education, athletics and community engagement.”
Since being hired as successor to interim head coach Benjy Taylor in 2015, Ganot had to endure an inherited NCAA probe, a pandemic and several injuries. Two potential starters incurred season-ending injuries ahead of the 2021-22 opener. But the Rainbow Warriors still achieved their fifth winning season in a row, including a 10-5 mark against Big West opponents. Ganot’s overall winning percentage (.597) is the best since UH went to an all-collegiate schedule in 1966.
Despite “COVID, ever-changing (NCAA) landscape, unique injuries, we’ve never fallen off the cliff,” Ganot said. “We were excited about the group we had the past year.”
Ganot said he is not surprised at his long-term tie with UH.
“I kind of gravitate toward that, to be honest,” said Ganot, who coached under Randy Bennett at Saint Mary’s, and Wallace and Bob Nash at UH. “I think a lot of us do in terms of building a program, continuity, stability, all those things.”
Ganot added: “I played at one high school (Tenafly High). I went to one college (Swarthmore). This is my 20th year actually in coaching. I’ve only been at two schools.”
The ’Bows have 10 returning players. Associate head coach John Montgomery was on Ganot’s initial coaching staff.
In Ganot’s first season, the ’Bows won the Big West title, then knocked off Jaylen Brown-led California in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Brown is now a star with the Boston Celtics. Ganot said the program’s next step is to return to the NCAA’s postseason.
“As good a feeling as it is to be in the NCAA Tournament, to advance in the NCAA Tournament, it will be a better feeling to go through what we’ve been through and get back there,” Ganot said, “and then be consistent in putting us in a position to get back there.”
The ’Bows are in their second week of offseason training, in which they are allowed to meet eight hours each week, including four hours in basketball-related workouts. Ganot said wing Samuta Avea, who underwent back surgery last year, is “pretty much full go.” Point guard Juan Munoz, who underwent knee surgery, is expected to be fully healthy by the end of the summer. Guard Noel Coleman has recovered from an orbital fracture that forced him to miss the final month of the season.
