A rebuilding University of Hawaii women’s basketball team will be guided by a restructured coaching staff.
Following the departures of two staff members in the offseason, head coach Laura Beeman promoted Alex Delanian to associate coach and recently hired Calamity McEntire as assistant to the head coach. Beeman said the final vacancy on the four-member coaching staff could be finalized as soon as this week.
Delanian joined the program as director of operations in 2013 and is entering his third season on the coaching staff. He assumes the title of associate coach previously held by Mary Wooley, who accepted the same post at Loyola Maryland after four years at UH.
“He’s going to pick up a bulk of the coaching the X’s and O’s, the teaching, the recruiting as well,” Beeman said. “The kids love him and they’re familiar with him. Losing two coaches, having Alex on board has been really tremendous. He’s just been an unbelievable help to me the last few months.”
McEntire fills one of the open positions with 12 years of Division I experience, the last four as an assistant at Arizona. She was a manager for Pat Summitt at Tennessee and made stops at Fresno State, Boise State and UC Santa Barbara prior to her tenure at Arizona.
“She has a really great basketball mind,” Beeman said. “She will be able to bring us experience on the offensive and defensive end of the court. Great teacher on the court, very bubbly personality. The kids have just gravitated toward her, so she’s just going to be a great fit for our program.”
The third assistant coaching position opened up in the spring when Dekita Williams left the program. Sybil Dosty was hired in May but resigned shortly after arriving in Hawaii.
“Unfortunately she had some personal things come up on the mainland that she had to take care of and really handled it the right way,” Beeman said.
With the final coaching position again close to being finalized, Beeman said the turnover offers an opportunity to “hit a little bit of a reset button.” She plans to shuffle assignments on the staff as the Wahine blend nine newcomers into the roster coming off of a Big West tournament title and NCAA tournament appearance.
“We’re in a good spot. We’re young, it’s a lot of growth, it’s a lot of change, but it’s OK,” Beeman said. “We’re going to work through it and we’re going to make the best of it. That’s just what we do.”
