Dana Takahara-Dias has never taken on anything close to the challenge of picking up the pieces of a shattered Rainbow Wahine basketball program.

Rainbow Wahine basketball has never taken on anyone quite like Takahara.

She brings a breadth of Hawai'i experience unlike any of the previous six coaches. She grew up here, played for the 'Bows and served as their administrative assistant solely to soak up the collegiate coaching atmosphere. She was an immensely successful coach immediately at Moanalua High School, where her full-time job was teaching special education.

She was promoted to Moanalua athletic director and left that for an opportunity to work with Mayor Mufi Hannemann. For the past 10 months she has overseen a $22 million budget and 300 employees as Director of Customer Services.

Hannemann is still her extremely supportive boss and mentor, until Takahara finally tells him the day she will leave to start at the University of Hawai'i. She was named the new coach May 28. She plans to start recruiting early next month.

Hannemann can do the math. Takahara always has.

This won't be your name-the-former-coach's team, it will be hers.

"We talk about bringing back tradition and that's very important," she said, "but I want to set some new traditions here. I want us to take a page from the very successful Vince Goo years and also make it our own. We are playing in a very different era now.

"I've never been a coach who based success on how many wins or losses we've had. I've always believed, even from Moanalua days ... they were not the biggest but they worked hard and had fun doing it. They represented themselves and their school and family well. Everybody wants to do well. We hope to instill a lot of respect and love and hard work. This is not going to be kick-back by any means. The fun is going to come in just building together something very special."

MORE THAN A COACH

If she can make something special from what remains, she will earn every bit of her six-figure salary. Maybe the most telling part of her interview came when she told the search committee flat out that "with all due respect, I think you're looking for more than a coach. You're looking for a leader."

Takahara believes everything she has taken on and accomplished the past 25 years — including bringing up young sons Hunter and Logan — has prepared her to lead, particularly in this time of turmoil. Hawai'i hopes she is right.

Women's basketball is the biggest money loser in the athletic department. This last losing season saw five-year coach Jim Bolla suspended mid-season for allegedly kicking a player. He was terminated with what UH said was "with cause" April 6 and filed suit April 12 seeking damages and reinstatement.

All that, and a turnstile count that barely crawled above 200 some nights, could cause the program to lose $1 million this year, not counting legal fees.

RECRUITING ESSENTIAL

The program Takahara inherits has never truly caught Hawai'i's imagination. Even when Nani Cockett and BJ Itoman helped lift Hawai'i to its only conference championship (1996) or an adorably underdog team hosted WNIT games, crowds of 4,000 were the exception and "gatherings" of 400 the norm.

To change that, Takahara does not just need to lead or coach. She has to recruit, something no women's basketball coach has had much success with in Manoa.

Rainbow Wahine volleyball has won four national titles and consistently challenged for more by supplementing the best Hawai'i players with great — not just good — recruits. Softball has also brought in its share and been a major player. Of the big three women's sports, only basketball has consistently failed to bring in world-class athletes.

The only All-Americans in the history of the program were Judy Mosley, Cockett and Raylene Howard (all honorable mention). Mosley — the program's best player — recruited herself to Hawai'i and Cockett just moved over from Kamehameha. Goo found Howard in Australia and developed her talent while building a team around her.

UH has never been able to bring in an elite impact player on its own. Not coincidentally, while it was ranked as high as 12th twice, it has never seriously challenged for a national title and rarely made serious runs at conference titles.

In its five NCAA appearances it won just one game, nearly 20 years ago. Its only second-round NCAA game was decided at halftime. It hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in a decade and has never won a WAC title or had a Player of the Year.

Takahara the "leader" calls herself a "teacher by trade" who has always had coaching in her blood. She can't wait to hear "Coach Dana" again from someone other than Hunter and Logan, who only say it when they want to cheer her up.

REVITALIZE THE PROGRAM

Her first priority is to help her players heal and assure their families things will be better. Recruiting is next and it doesn't scare her.

"People might think I'm worried about recruiting," she said. "I'm not. I'm looking forward to it. ... I don't have any fear or I would have never accepted the job. I'm excited."

She plans to revitalize the program and involve the community again, and more than ever before. She can tell you precisely how many alumnae there are (174) and wants them all to share in the program's rebirth. She wants her players to become role models and know they "will have a wonderful experience as a student and an athlete. We'll make sure they are loved and cared for."

"I think our 'mission statement' is to take care of one another," Takahara said. "It's always been to have a competitive team, but right now we have to do the little things and hope the winning comes with it."

She accomplished that quickly at Moanalua, taking a team with marginal talent — and three tireless Baraquio sisters (future Miss America Angela Baraquio would come later) — to its first state tournament in 12 years. The Menehune would go again the next four years, coming closer every year to what would prove an elusive state title.

Can Takahara have the same success with women a few years older? Can she fill the three available scholarships with impact players willing to take a chance on a rebuilding program?

"Our selling point has always been a negative: Student-athletes at 18 or 19 do not want to come to Hawai'i because it's too far from home," Takahara said. "But I think that's the lure, the catch and the hook. These athletes should come to Hawai'i to experience something very different — the culture, the aloha spirit.

"I do believe we can have those very good recruits come here. I'm going to sell them on the experience, a good education because I've lived it, I've been there. I didn't turn out half-bad. I believe we can go in and find the recruits we want. Granted, we would love to have the blue-chip athlete, but it's more important to find the players that fit our program and will enjoy the experience of being in a supportive system. With hard work and heart, it will be very beneficial for both sides."

HUMBLED BUT UPBEAT

Takahara is humbled by the challenge, but relentlessly upbeat. She promises to be "genuine" and warns she will "change everything."

She wants to assure players "They are more to us than a name or a picture on the wall." And more than the 8-23 team that gamely worked its way through last season's heartaches.

"Coach Dana," a "teacher by trade," sees a group of "battle-tested" returning players who will be willing to play her uptempo style and learn.

"All it is is teaching life skills, teaching some basketball and making sure they're learning some really valuable things," she said. "They need more than a coach at this time."