Post-Presser Coverage, Reinebold Leaving (w/UPDATES)

Here's an article about Greg McMackin's hiring, from Dave Reardon. Some quotes from Artie Wilson:

“I just called him and asked if he would consider being the guy, if there was any chance he would consider that,” said Wilson, who was on the selection committee that chose McMackin.

After gauging his interest, Wilson then made the more difficult call, the one to Jones.

“I had concerns about it,” Wilson said. “I know June’s appreciation and love for what Mack does. In his mind, part of going to SMU was he already knew he had his defense taken care of because he had Mack. That left him with a void, but June’s resilient. He took it well. (Jones said) If they take care of Mack and do the things they need to do, he’s the perfect guy.”

From the Advertiser:

"We have something special going on," McMackin said. "We have leadership. Every team has a different personality. Honestly, I think defensively we can be better than we were last year. Obviously we lost some good offensive players. The coaches and players are going to have to do a great job of recruiting and get some guys in here, which we are prepared to do."

McMackin said UH will continue to use the run-and-shoot offense. "No need to fix something that isn't broken," he said.

Here's articles from the AP and the Sports Network.

Here's video coverage from KGMB (what Chawan uploaded) and KITV.

And in all the great news today, there may be some bad news. According to Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News, Jeff Reinebold is expected to join SMU this weekend. We'll hopefully get more news about that later on.

UPDATE: Stephen Tsai confirms that Reinebold is leaving.

Jeff Reinebold said he is joining June Jones' staff at SMU as an assistant coach. He said he will leave Hawaii tomorrow morning, but will keep his rental in Waimanalo.

The rest of the post has notes on the new staff and some of the people in the athletic department. Farewell Sun God! Sorry to see him go.

UPDATE 2: Dave Reardon has a few words from Jeff Reinebold as he prepares to leave tomorrow.

“I made a decision this morning and didn’t want to talk to anyone about it until the players knew. It comes down to you have to take care of your family. I know for three years I lived my dream. How many people get to say that?”

“Sometimes you have to go away to come back. I love these people. I told the players that I’m lucky I have a soft place to land. It doesn’t work that way usually in this business. I will miss them every day. I truly believe the front seven will be the best in the WAC and Hawaii will win the Western Athletic Conference championship again.”

He'll definitely be missed.