The University of Hawaii at Hilo’s next interim athletic director already has previous experience at his job.
Former longtime baseball coach Joey Estrella will run the athletics department, taking over for Tim Moore, until a permanent replacement can be found.
School chancellor Donald O. Straney previously told Stephens Media Hawaii he would start the search for a full-time athletic director in January. He also has previously asked for community support to help strengthen the athletic department, and he stressed that point once again in a university release Monday announcing Estrella’s hire.
“Now more than ever, successful intercollegiate athletic programs and a solid community partnership go hand-in-hand,” Straney said. “With this appointment and the selection of a new AD, strengthening that relationship between Vulcan Athletics and the community will be job one.”
If anybody knows the community, it figures to be Estrella, who will turn 64 in January.
“I’m pretty sure that helped my selection,” Estrella said. “Being born and raised here and living here all these years, we’ve sought out the community in everything we’ve done.
“It’s a community-based program.”
Estrella has maintained a presence at the university as a booster and part-time public-address announcer since he retired in 2013 after 37 seasons at the helm of a baseball program he founded.
He also served as UH-Hilo’s athletic director from 1980-89, and he joked that life in education is all he’s known since he was a kindergartner.
“When I retired, I told them anytime you need my help, I’ll always be there,” Estrella said.
Stressing that his primary goal was gaining community support for the athletics department, Estrella said he hoped to continue the “good” work done by Dexter Irvin and Moore. Irvin stepped down as AD at the end of 2013, and Moore took over on an interim basis. His appointment ends Dec. 31.
“I think we want to continue to develop the program like (they) did and go from there,” Estrella said. “Along the way, things will pop up and we’ll put out some fires.”
While Straney will lead the search for a permanent AD, Estrella hoped to expedite the process.
“I’d like to start very quickly and get a (hire) in by the fall, when school starts,” he said.
Basketball postponed
UH-Hilo’s home opener against Washburn on Monday was postponed because Washburn couldn’t make its connecting flight to the islands, forcing a schedule reshuffle at the Vulcans Thanksgiving Classic.
The Vulcans will play Washburn at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, pushing back the Vulcans’ contest against Northwest Indian College until 9 a.m. Thursday at their campus gym.
Wednesday’s schedule at Hilo Civic remains the same — Washburn faces Northwest Indian College at 2 p.m. and the Vulcans take on Seattle Pacific at 7:30 p.m. — but Tuesday’s game between Washburn and Seattle Pacific was cancelled.
In Monday night’s opener, Cory Hutsen scored 20 points and Mitch Penner added 19 as Seattle Pacific routed Northwest Indian 119-53.