The University of Hawaii football coaching tree continues to spread its limbs.

On a day when one UH coaching alumnus (Jeff Monken) replaced another (Rich Ellerson) as Army’s head coach, a former UH player (Ivin Jasper) loomed as a possibility for a head coaching position in a chain reaction.

Monken, the head coach at Georgia Southern, who was a graduate assistant at UH under head coach Bob Wagner and offensive coordinator Paul Johnson in 1989 and ’90, was announced as the Black Knights’ head coach Tuesday.

Monken replaces Ellerson, who had been Army’s head coach the past five seasons. Ellerson is a UH graduate who coached in Manoa in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

Meanwhile, Georgia Southern has reportedly asked for permission to interview Jasper, Navy’s current offensive coordinator. Jasper, a UH quarterback from 1991 to ’93 and graduate assistant, has been at Navy for 14 seasons, the past six as offensive coordinator.

The Citadel is also said to be considering Jasper for its head coaching vacancy.

Army, Navy, The Citadel and Georgia Southern all run variations of the triple option employed by UH from 1987 through 1995, when Wagner was head coach. Johnson was UH’s offensive coordinator from 1987 to ’94, coming from Georgia Southern, and subsequently became head coach at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.

"Ivin is very deserving of the interest being shown in him," said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, himself a former UH quarterback and assistant coach. "I would hate to lose him, but every assistant dreams of some day becoming a head coach. He’s had people look at him for several years."

Jasper has worked with Navy quarterbacks for 12 years.

"Ivin is ready to be a head coach," Wagner said. "He’s very bright and a hard worker."

Last week, Dino Babers, a former UH defensive back (1979-83), was named head coach at Bowling Green. He had been the head coach at Eastern Illinois for two seasons and his defensive coordinator is Kim McCloud, a UH defensive back from 1987 to ’90.

"You look around and there are a lot of guys from UH working their way up," Niumatalolo said. "Guys like Brian Norwood at Baylor, Joe Seumalo at Oregon State."

UH alum Keith Bhonapha (1999-2002), an assistant at Boise State, was named an assistant at Washington earlier this month.