Ganot’s first hire
Eran Ganot came into the Hawaii basketball job knowing his first staff hire would be a big one. In terms of setting the tone for the group he planned to assemble and culture he hoped to build, getting it right was paramount.
That hire is now known. It is Pacific’s top assistant, Adam Jacobsen, a man who’s been with the Tigers for most of this century and was a player for the Orange and Black prior to that.
UPDATE: Here’s quotes from Ganot and Jacobsen given Friday in a UH press release.
“We are thrilled to have Adam on board as he checks all the boxes,” said Ganot. “Adam is a man of tremendous character, work ethic, and really cares about his players. He has a proven track record of success as a coach and a player and is fired up to be part of the Rainbow Warrior basketball program. As an added bonus, he has a great understanding of the Big West Conference, having been part of five league titles as a coach and two more as one of Pacific and the conference’s best players. Please join me in welcoming Adam, his wife DeAnn and children Presley, Ava, and Luke to our Ohana!”
Jacobsen said: “I’m excited to be working with Coach Ganot and building a program with the goal of winning Big West championships and making NCAA Tournament runs. I believe in Coach Ganot and the kind of person he is and the type of program he’ll run. I’m also excited about working with the staff at the University of Hawaii and enjoying all the support we get from the community.”
What’s not yet known is what capacity Jacobsen will serve on Ganot’s staff. Will he be the associate head coach, a position he held at Pacific for the last two years? Or will he be a standard assistant? Logic would seem to dictate the former (though it is not a given).
The Tigers have had a rough go of things in the two years since they left the Big West for the much tougher West Coast Conference. But you can bet Jacobsen, a California native, is still very familiar with the lay of the land in the BWC.
Here’s an interesting read in the Los Angeles Times archives about Jacobsen’s prolific playing career, in which he became the Big West career leader in 3-pointers made. (That record of 311 has since been broken by former UC Davis guard Ryan Sypkens).
The Adam that was recently thought to be Ganot’s first hire, Adam Caporn, didn’t pan out, though he was said to be in discussion for a staff post for a time. The Australian connection Caporn might have represented was promising, and it will be interesting to see if Ganot can replicate that with a future hire.
Ganot has two more full assistants to bring aboard and a full complement of scholarships to assign. From the sound of things, scheduling is very much still a work in progress. Also, UH’s date to respond to the NCAA notice of allegations is drawing nigh — the end of the month.
Ganot departed for the mainland Thursday night — what’s believed to be his first flight back there since being introduced as UH coach on April 9.
POORLY, AMBIGUOUSLY WRITTEN ARTICLE.
So much for the Australian pipeline… .
Let’s Go Bows! Let’s Go Bows! Let’s Go Bows!
I guess Coach Jacobsen was there when Michael Olowokandi was a Tiger.
It is my hope that the new coaching staff let Stefan Jankovic let him live out his Dirk Nowitzki dreams.
I think the previous regime made the mistake of turning him into a back-to-the-basket center in the middle of the conference season, causing Jankovic to lose confidence in his perimeter shooting.
I’ve read Coach is wanting the 3 game, it read like he wants to emphasize that aspect of game he’s wants to employ. So… . But then again, you’d still want an enforcer in the paint but if you can’t land that recruit, guess you got to go with the flow where there may be more abundant talent available.
Just need that one or two Bigs to free up Janks/Chan
yes, a space eater in the middle is definitely needed to both enforce on defense, free up the outside shot and run a decent half-court offense – something that was lacking this past season though no fault of the coaching staff or players
Half court game non existent last season That was one if the major faults of past coach. Need to establish a good half court game.
What’s lacking is consistent perimeter shooting. Would have won a few more conferee games if the team shot 45% or better. Muscle man inside is not as critical as getting a top notch perimeter shooter. Javo can be a decent inside player (especially in our conference) and if Thomas builds some mass he may turn out decent (which he definitely wasn’t last season). Taylor gave preferential treatment to Thomas over Javo (a big mistake given who actually has more upside as inside player) as well as treating Fleming with kid’s gloves on. That’s sure to change under Ganot.
You broke the news before anyone else, Brian.
#7 – Who’s Javo?
Javo = Jovanovic = Jova; Janks = Jankovic; Savo = Savovic .
I remember a heckler calling Mike Robinson, “Dr. Robinson”, because he was a six-year player.
What happened w/ the Adam Caporn hiring ?????
We’ll find out come August or sooner. This keeps the juices flowing, lol
Excellent observation bouncing ball. I would like to see a more inside-outside game. I felt that Javo can post and use his ball handling skills to attack the rim much like Fotu did or kick it out to the open man. Most of last season was settling for the outside shot. More shot discipline will be in order with Ganot. Fleming and NWC especially took too many shots from 3 with only 5 seconds off the shot clock and no offense play implemented.
But then again, without that Big Man who’s a force your having to play Janks and Chan out of position. That’s the problem because it’s supposed Chan and Janks are good perimeter shooters. If you have that inside force you free up Janks to do more of his stuff, you can see he’s quick for such a tall guy and he’s got the shooting touch. Unreal sometimes. But I guess if you can’t get the Big player than you got to use Janks/Chan where you gotta to use them to cover the deficiencies at.
Janks only played 1/2 year last season. Both he and Chan out of position where they could do more harm offensively. If not already some type of break-out for Janks of what we seen, I think we see more from him and from Chan since Coach wants that 3 game. You really asking much from both of Janks/Chan and then them to be more consistent with the 3’s, they ain’t Pros. But who am I? lol