Frazier has 71 applications to succeed Wallace at UH

Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier will keep busy on his trip to Atlanta next week.

Frazier said he'll spend part of his stay at the Final Four interviewing candidates for the position of UH basketball coach and hopes to announce the successor to Riley Wallace the following week.

"I will be at the Final Four and meeting with applicants," Frazier said yesterday. "I won't make a decision there."

UH had received 71 applications for the job as of yesterday, with a few more possibly trickling in next week.

The final count could grow even though the period for applications to be submitted to the athletic department ended Wednesday. Those postmarked by that date will be accepted and Frazier will soon begin sifting through the pile of those interested in becoming the program's 18th head coach.

"I haven't seen the applications yet. I want to look at them all at one time," he said.

Frazier is also working on finalizing the committee that will aid in selecting the new coach. He said the committee will be made up of "roughly five people," and will be announced soon.

The Final Four, set for March 31-April 2 at Atlanta's Georgia Dome, is an annual gathering place for the nation's college coaches. The National Association of Basketball Coaches holds its convention in conjunction with the event.

After a selection on a coach is made, the candidate's name will be presented to the UH Board of Regents for final approval. The board's next meeting is scheduled for April 13 at Kapiolani Community College.

The board approved raising the pay range for the new coach to $184,836-$400,000 at its meeting on March 15.

Wallace ended his 20-year tenure as head coach this season, with the Rainbow Warriors going 18-13 in his final campaign. He formally announced his intention to step down as coach in late December, and will officially close his UH career when his contract expires on April 30.

UH associate coach Bob Nash, a member of the school's famed Fabulous Five teams in the early 1970s and a fixture on the UH bench as an assistant for 26 seasons, has applied to move into the top spot and has been endorsed by Wallace.

Scott Rigot, who worked at UH as an assistant from 1999 to 2002 and served at Kentucky for the last five years, declined to comment yesterday on a possible candidacy. His status at Kentucky was left uncertain by head coach Tubby Smith's decision to leave for Minnesota.