So far, I love the hiring of Robyn Ah Mow-Santos as Dave Shoji’s successor mainly because I love a good story.

And this is a great one.

If it were not for Shoji, the new University of Hawaii volleyball coach and three-time Olympian might have never stepped foot on a college court — or a college campus, for that matter.

While at McKinley High School in the early 1990s, she had no plans for further education. But after Shoji visited a McKinley counselor, he convinced Robyn that with some summer school she’d be ready for the next level academically.

There was never a doubt athletically.

Today the girl who got homesick on a camping trip a few miles from her family’s home in McCully has circled the world countless times and is back where her sublime setting guided UH to the national championship match in 1996.

Now she’ll try to get the Rainbow Wahine there from the sideline.

“It’s a great success story,” said UH athletic director David Matlin, who hired Ah Mow-Santos. “She talked to me about that, Dave coming in and talking to her counselor. Think about how life-changing that is. And now she wants to do that for other kids. That’s transformational. I think she’s paid that forward and will continue to.”

Protege-replaces-mentor is one of the oldest story lines in sports. It doesn’t always conclude with a happy ending, but it’s hard not to root for one, especially here.

On the surface, Shoji and Ah Mow-Santos appear to be very different, maybe even polar opposites. But you don’t have to dig too deep to see quite a few similarities.

They were both setters.

They’re both focused and intense perfectionists, but cool under pressure.

They’re both straightforward communicators.

Ah Mow-Santos has never been overly talkative, but the athletic director doesn’t see that as a problem.

“If you can say something in two words instead of 10, that can be good. … She might be more introverted with external people. But with her players and people she coached, she’s known as a very effective communicator,” Matlin said. “I tell you one thing: Ask anyone who played with her, does she communicate effectively to them as a coach, and I think they’ll say yes.”

Most importantly, Ah Mow-Santos is fully invested — and a lot of that has to do with her predecessor. She played at UH because of Shoji, and she was an assistant coach at Manoa because of him.

“She’s got very deep roots here, a very strong bond with the program,” Matlin said. “The players know that, and they know she has their best interest always in mind.”

A lot already has been made of her being a first-time college head coach.

Well, at least according to the early returns, Matlin is 2-for-2 with hires of first-timers at the helm.

In their first seasons, Eran Ganot’s men’s basketball team won an NCAA Tournament game, and Nick Rolovich guided the football team to a bowl win and its first non-losing season in six years.

Speaking of first-time college head coaches, UH took a chance on one 42 years ago. His name was Dave Shoji.

Of course, Ah Mow-Santos has a tougher act to follow than did Ganot and Rolovich.

And the great-player-doesn’t-make-for-a-great-coach crowd is out in force, as you might expect.

But it should be remembered that Ah Mow-Santos wasn’t just on three Olympic teams. She was a leader of them.

“I think a great strength of Robyn’s is who she has played and coached with. She’s learned from the best. Do you realize from 2002 to 2010 … she was (national) team captain? Every year. Think about that,” Matlin said. “And it’s not like she’s the kind of person who says, ‘Make me the captain.’ ”

She’s even coached college men, as a student assistant at UH in 2011.

“Robyn brings an incredible level of credibility and professionalism,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade told me at the time. “They get to be around one of the best setters in the history of the sport. She’s never been in-your-face, but when she says something everybody listens. Unlike many coaches, she can quickly get to the crux of what matters … she’ll say that other stuff doesn’t matter, here’s what does.”

Yes, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos’ story is a great one, in so many ways. It will be even greater if she can continue to succeed at a level anywhere near that of Dave Shoji, one of the greatest coaches in volleyball and Hawaii state history.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.